Sunderland boss Regis Le Bris has confirmed a meeting took place to resolve one prominent issue.
Sunderland will travel to West Brom this Saturday, where the Black Cats will hope to build on their win against Millwall last weekend.
The Black Cats’ win against Alex Neil’s Millwall wasn’t pretty for Sunderland, with injuries hampering Regis Le Bris’ squad selection, and that led to several players out of position, but they still got the game over the line courtesy of a Trai Hume goal.
Sunderland had an opportunity through Luke O’Nien to score a penalty to bury the game and make it 2-0, a moment that sparked an ’emotional’ reaction by Romaine Mundle, but the defender had his effort saved from the spot-kick, making that four of five missed this season, including the two that Wilson Isidor couldn’t capitalise on against Burnley.
As a result of this issue, Le Bris has confirmed that a ‘clear decision’ must be made surrounding who will become Sunderland’s next penalty taker.
Sunderland boss Regis Le Bris confirms ‘leadership group’ meeting over penalty issue
Ahead of the clash with West Brom, Sunderland boss Regis Le Bris was questioned, per The Northern Echo, over the issues that his squad have faced in burying penalties this season, having just a 20% conversion rate in the 2024/25 campaign.
However, despite confirming that a meeting took place surrounding the situation, the Frenchman remained very low-key surrounding the outcome.
“Who will take it? It is a secret now,” said Le Bris. “But we will make a clear decision, and it will be very clear with the players.
“We had a session today with the leadership group, and it was a topic that was on the agenda. It will be clear. We have different options. Pat is the only one who has scored so far, so it could be Pat again. It could be Luke, it could be Wilson, it could be someone else. We will see.”
As well as Isidor’s two missed, and O’Nien’s most recent against Millwall, Patrick Roberts has had two penalties, one of which he was unable to convert in september in a 3-2 defeat to Plymouth Argyle.
Regis Le Bris should place trust in one man to become Black Cats penalty taker
It is always quite a bold and difficult call to reinstate someone’s role as penalty taker, especially considering their record this season, but Isidor should be handed the reins to be Sunderland’s man to rely on from the spot.
Despite his two penalty misses against Burnley, Isidor had a 100% conversion rate in his career before that, which has seen him score from the spot on eight occasions without a single one missed.
Alongside this, Isidor does find himself somewhat low on confidence, and a penalty goal could reignite the flame in his form, and could bode well for the rest of the campaign for the Frenchman.