Sunderland 'lack consistency' admits head coach Regis Le Bris

Regis Le Bris says he has identified a crippling lack of consistency within the Sunderland team, and he is not entirely sure how to fix it.

That comes as little shock to supporters, of course, as they were forced to watch their team go from the sublime to the ridiculous many times within a match, never mind a whole season.

It is probably, then, reassuring that Le Bris has cottoned on to the problem as quickly as he has, although whether he can do anything about it is the real question.

“I think the main topic for us is consistency,” he said. “We can play very well during the many phases with long minutes as well, but we can also have a lack of consistency.

“In a league like the Championship you need to be consistent. We have this confidence because we know we can reach a high level but the whole performance is the ability to keep that performance for a long time. That’s my main concern as a head coach.

“Even this morning during the training session, they can play here (raises hand above head), and they can play here (lowers hand beneath table). In five seconds.

“And we don’t know why at the moment. Maybe it’s a question of focus, of concentration, of leadership. We are working on it.”

Le Bris came into Sunderland cold after working in Ligue 1 with Lorient last season. He watched a lot of Sunderland matches after accepting the job, but you never really know until you get on the inside what a club is really about.

In that sense, the Frenchman says the summer has been invaluable.

“The preseason was very interesting and now I have a better understanding of the group, of the way of working,” he explained. “I think we worked well and we worked on the game model and different experiences against many teams.

“The game against Marseille was interesting because the pressing, for example, was a good exercise for us. It will be different against Cardiff for sure, but the capacity of adaptation was interesting, and now we are ready to compete."