After seeing his Sunderland side drop points against Bristol City this week, Regis Le Bris has seemingly made a big demand of his players to help them reach the next level.
It took an injury time equaliser from Patrick Roberts to preserve Sunderland’s unbeaten home record and salvage a point against a spirited Bristol City side on Tuesday night.
Despite dominating for much of the game, Sunderland were punished for a spot of calamitous defending, and made to pay for not being clinical enough in the final third.
Roberts was the star player for Sunderland against Bristol City, but the winger has revealed how keen he and his manager are for improvements to be made going forward.
Regis Le Bris wants an extra 10% from his Sunderland players
Speaking to the official Sunderland Twitter/X account after the draw, Roberts explained how Regis Le Bris is demanding more from his team at both ends of the pitch, with a more clinical edge needed in attack if the Black Cats are to keep up their promotion push.
Roberts said: “At times we showed our quality. I think it’s just in that final area, we’ve had a lot of shots and you have to be more clinical. It was a sloppy goal for us to concede. The manager has said we need to add that 5-10% and if we get that to click we’ll pick up a lot more points.
“We take a point here but we’re disappointed and want to put it right at the weekend. We want to win games. We’re striving for objectives. We have to put these games, especially at home, to bed and get the three points.
“We’re a great team but sometimes were lacking in the final third. We have to put that right and punish teams. The fans want to see that. We’re plugging away in training and working every day to improve. But that 5-10% is key for our team going forward.”
Sunderland now head to Swansea on Saturday afternoon looking to get another three points on the board, but they’ll have to be far less wasteful in front of goal if they are to get anything against the Welsh outfit.
- READ MORE: Regis Le Bris says Sunderland star is ‘an example’ for his teammates after Bristol City clash
Sunderland can get promoted, but not this season
The point against Bristol City keeps Sunderland in the hunt around the top of the Championship table, but the teams behind them, namely Blackburn Rovers, are gaining fast.
Ultimately, this season may be a little too soon for Sunderland to truly challenge for promotion. Le Bris has a very young squad, who are playing great football, but they just lack that cutting edge needed to win ugly at times.
Le Bris has spoken about Sunderland needed to find a ‘new dynamic’ in games and have the ability to switch things up when things aren’t going their way, and that will only come in time.
By the sounds of Roberts’ comments, Le Bris knows what Sunderland need to do, it’s just a matter of executing that in training and then on the pitch. With the foundations they are building right now, we can surely expect the Black Cats to be a major force next season.