Regis Le Bris accepts Sunderland are in relegation scrap after loss at Coventry
The highs of last term, when the Black Cats finished seventh following promotion, already feel a long way away.
Regis Le Bris accepted his Sunderland side are in a relegation scrap after Saturday’s 3-1 loss to Coventry left them bottom of the Premier League – but he insisted their struggles were not unexpected.
The highs of last term, when Sunderland finished seventh following promotion, already feel a long way away with the Black Cats having taken only five points from their opening nine games, their sole league win against Fulham coming back in August.
While they have won four of five games in European and domestic cup action, Sunderland’s collapse in league form has put pressure on Le Bris, who heard boos from the travelling supporters at full-time.
Asked if his players recognise the peril they are in, Le Bris said: “I don’t think they are not aware of the situation at all. They own the reality of the club, this dynamic, we are growing fast. We are exposed this season with this busy schedule, it’s really demanding.
“Is it unexpected? I don’t think so. Many clubs last year experienced exactly the same situation. First year in Europe, you know you will have on average 10 less points. It’s our reality…
“Does it mean we are happy? Absolutely not. We have to get better. We have to play better than we did in the first half. It’s hard to be not able to play our football with confidence, with the ability to be ourselves.”
Sunderland dug themselves a hole through defensive mistakes. A missed clearance allowed Tatsuhiro Sakamoto to fire Coventry in front after 17 minutes, before they lost possession to let Taiwo Awoniyi double the lead by half-time.
Jack Rudoni all but killed it early in the second half with Enzo Le Fee’s 67th-minute penalty too little for the Black Cats, who squandered several chances before hearing it from their own supporters.
“I think it’s normal to react like this,” Le Bris said of that reaction. “But I know their support. I know that they believe in the club, and they’ve experienced a much more difficult situation than this one. And we’ll stick together.”
Victory for Coventry lifted them out of the bottom three and changed the mood after last Saturday’s 1-0 home defeat to a Fulham side who had also arrived at the CBS Arena in the bottom three.
“It’s a nice bounce for us,” Frank Lampard said. “We won two games, we lost two games, the feeling can change very quickly. We try not to let that affect us, but I’m talking about the feeling in the stadium.
“Fulham felt not great because there’s this strange expectation we’ll come here and win games and dominate games. It’s not that, it’s the Premier League. Everything’s different.
“We have to try and fight and be at our max every game to try and win. And when you get that feeling of what it takes to win a game, it takes every little bit of energy…
“I think the players have to understand all those things. So that’s really positive for us that we have that in the game, what it takes. We always want more, but it gives us a nice feeling that we can really compete here and let’s take that forward.”