Regis Le Bris is closing in on his first competitive match as Sunderland head coach.
It has been almost seven weeks since Le Bris took the reins on Wearside, overseeing the arrival of three new players and claiming three wins and two draws from their seven preseason outings.
Sunderland will now prepare to take on Cardiff City in this weekend’s opener and will look to start off strong, having ended the previous campaign disastrously.
While the Black Cats’ attack has been their main concern for the past year, Le Bris is eager to keep up their solid backline, even without Dan Ballard for now.
Le Bris sends Sunderland defenders three-word message
Aji Alese is expected to take up the centre-back role in Ballard’s absence and has since explained what the French boss wants him and his fellow defenders to do once the Championship kicks off.
Speaking to The Northern Echo, Alese said: “He’s just said, ‘Don’t concede goals’!
“Obviously, we want clean sheets, but we also want good defensive shape.
“We have a certain way of how we press when they’re playing out from the back, we have a certain shape we have when there’s a low block, leading the team from behind. But it’s (about) the importance of keeping clean sheets, because if you keep a clean sheet, that’s the foundation to win a game.”
Le Bris has been building the ‘foundations’ this summer
It could just be a coincidence that Alese mentioned it too, but Le Bris seems to have referred to building ‘foundations’ quite a few times since he arrived at the Stadium of Light.
Sunderland had a number of talented players when he arrived, but it was very clear that they needed a lot more than that.
The board seemed to previously think that because they had the likes of Ballard and Jack Clarke in the team, that’s all they needed to win promotion – but that certainly wasn’t the case.
Le Bris has come in and made it clear that he needs to help build the foundations to a successful club before they can start pushing for the play-offs.
That certainly isn’t to say the team can’t win games fairly sharpish, but it is clear that he is well aware that they need more than just the immediate talent.
He has largely focused on tactics, while the club have brought in some much-needed experience.
Le Bris isn’t getting too ahead of himself and it will be an interesting first half to the campaign, but we will surely see the very best of his football when it’s most important in the new year.