Regis Le Bris is quickly becoming the talk of the Championship, and it’s no surprise after his Sunderland side opened a five-point gap at the top of the table last time out.
Sunderland capped a perfect week with a 2-0 win over Oxford United at the Stadium of Light last Saturday.
The Black Cats made it a nine-point week with wins at Hull City and Luton Town followed up by the Oxford win, with U’s boss Des Buckingham full of praise for Sunderland.
Indeed, there’s praise being thrown at Sunderland from every angle of the Championship right now, or so it seems, with Le Bris’ fine start to life on Wearside quite unprecedented.
Few expected him to have such an impact, let alone have Sunderland five points clear at the top of the Championship table after 12 games.
He took over what was a sinking ship just half-a-year ago. Even compared to what was a successful Tony Mowbray side, Sunderland are doing much better.
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Jobi McAnuff makes Regis Le Bris and Tony Mowbray comparison at Sunderland
Speaking on the 72+ Podcast by the BBC, pundit Job McAnuff hailed Le Bris’ work so far, highlighting a key difference between him and Mowbray who guided the Black Cats to a top six finish in the 2022/23 Championship season.
McAnuff said of Le Bris: “The biggest credit I can give him; they were very exciting under Tony Mowbray, but they always looked very vulnerable, and open, and susceptible to conceding goals.
“They were so good going forward but there was always that side to them that, because they committed so many bodies forward.
“What he’s [Le Bris] brought is a real structure out of possession as well, and that excitement is still there.
“The likes of [Romaine] Mundle, Chris Rigg, that young crop of young players. Jobe Bellingham scored another really good goal the other night. [Wilson] Isidor up front, what a finish that was.”
Sunderland’s defensive record under Regis Le Bris compared to Tony Mowbray
Sunderland have already kept seven clean sheets in the Championship this season as goalkeeper Anthony Patterson surely eyes up the Golden Glove award.
But with nine goals conceded, Sunderland now have the worst defensive record in the Championship’s top four, with Burnley in second having conceded just five.
As things stand, Sunderland concede an average of 0.75 goals-per-game, which spread out across a 46-game Championship campaign would equate to 35 goals conceded.
Last season, the Black Cats conceded 54 goals in the Championship, and 55 in the 2022/23 season where they claimed a top six finish.
That season under Mowbray, Sunderland scored 68 goals. So far this season the Black Cats are the highest-scoring team in the second tier with 23 goals; 1.91 goals-per-game which would equate to 88 goals.
It highlights McAnuff’s point about Sunderland being strong in attack but having shored up defensively following a couple of leaky seasons.