Sunderland have seven games to go this season, plus a play-off adventure still to come, but Regis Le Bris deserves credit for the work he has done already.
After the win over Millwall at the weekend, Sunderland are all-but confirmed to finish fourth in the Championship table.
The Black Cats will already be thinking about potential play-off opponents, and the promise of Premier League football is still a very real possibility.
Whether that happens or not, Regis Le Bris surely has to be commended for what he has achieved on Wearside in his first season, and one former Sunderland man certainly agrees.
Sunderland are ‘fresh and energetic’ under Regis Le Bris
Speaking on the club’s official social media channels, David Healy reflected on what has changed at Sunderland this season and underlined the impact of the Sunderland manager on the young team at the Stadium of Light.
He said: “When you see the setup of the team, the high press, the high energy, the way they keep the ball; it’s a youthful nature, very young and fresh and energetic team that they have.
“We should give great credit to, not only the people who have identified and brought in those high quality players, but the manager still needs to put that level of performance onto the pitch. In the time that he’s been there, the success they’ve had has been very good.”
Sunderland have the youngest squad in the whole division, and have spent far less than the three teams above them in the promotion race, and yet have managed to keep pace at the top for much of the season and pull away from the chasing pack behind them.
For his first season in England, that has to be seen as a big achievement for Le Bris.
Promotion or not, Regis Le Bris has taken Sunderland beyond their means
When you look at points tallies alone, Le Bris has surpassed all expectations and the standards set by Sunderland teams of the recent past.
He eclipsed Tony Mowbray’s points haul from the play-off campaign a couple of weeks ago, and also exceeded last season’s points tally (56) with plenty of games to spare.
| Position | Team | Played MP | Won W | Drawn D | Lost L | For GF | Against GA | Diff GD | Points Pts |
| 1 |  Sheff UtdSheffield Utd | 39 | 26 | 7 | 6 | 56 | 29 | 27 | 83 |
| 2 |  LeedsLeeds | 39 | 23 | 12 | 4 | 78 | 27 | 51 | 81 |
| 3 |  BurnleyBurnley | 39 | 22 | 15 | 2 | 53 | 11 | 42 | 81 |
| 4 |  SunderlandSunderland | 39 | 20 | 12 | 7 | 56 | 37 | 19 | 72 |
| 5 |  CoventryCoventry | 39 | 17 | 8 | 14 | 56 | 51 | 5 | 59 |
| 6 |  West BromWest Brom | 39 | 13 | 18 | 8 | 48 | 35 | 13 | 57 |
Le Bris has built a solid foundation for the Black Cats very quickly. Granted, it’s disappointing that Sunderland have fallen away as the season went on, but that’s only in relative to the massive overachievement we saw in the first half of the campaign.
To be just nine points behind high-flying Burnley and Leeds, considering what their promotion rivals have spent, is a miracle, really.
They may not go up this season, but that was never the goal before the season began. The fact that it is now is testament to how Le Bris has transformed this Sunderland team in his first year at the club.