Le Bris handed Lutsharel Geertruida a first Premier League start last week as he changed formation for the game in the capital, and it worked a treat as the Black Cats recorded their most impressive win of the season so far.
Afterwards, Maresca admitted he wasn't prepared for Le Bris' tactical tinkering, saying: "Sunderland, nine games in the Premier League, they never played with a back five from the start. Never.
"They played nine games, I watched all the nine games from Sunderland before our game. Never. They finished with a back five, they were winning 1-0, so to defend the last 10 minutes, they had a back five. But from the start, never."
Le Bris, in his typically understated fashion, said in response on Friday: "I think we played before with a back five so I'm not sure that it was a real surprise."
Sunderland's head coach is extremely flexible as a head coach and, as he demonstrated last week, is more than happy to move between formations depending on the challenge facing his side.
And that means he'll be keeping some of the world's best managers on their toes this season.
He said: "For us, it's important to manage different shapes against different opponents, different moments during the game as well and different phases because we can play with a back five in the deep block, the mid-block, change the structure in the mid-block, defend differently, higher up the pitch.
"It's a question of flexibility and I think we are getting better in that part of the game."
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Le Bris must now decide whether to stick with what worked at Chelsea for Monday's game against Everton or revert to a back four.
He said: "We'll see. In the beginning of the season, we often used this back five for deep block, for example using Granit who dropped into the back four.
"But for this game at Chelsea, it was obvious that because of their quality, we decided to press high, then to remove the mid block and to go deeper with a deep block with a back five, which worked well I think.
"Now for Everton it will be a new story, a new challenge, we'll see.
"Playing at home doesn't really make a difference [to the formation], because it will be another tough challenge, so after that you have to decide according to the players we have, the availability and the opponent, what will be the best plan."