Sunderland begin their Premier League campaign against West Ham United this weekend
Régis Le Bris insists that there are still places in his starting XI to face West Ham United on Saturday up for grabs in training this week.
Le Bris oversaw Sunderland's two final pre-season friendlies over the weekend, with a strong side beating FC Augsburg 1-0 on Saturday before heavy rotation in a 3-0 defeat to Rayo Vallecano at the Stadium of Light on Sunday. That has led to common consensus that Le Bris will name the same side that faced Augsburg this weekend and though that is clearly largely true, Le Bris insists he is still to make up his mind in a few areas.
"We'll see this week," Le Bris said.
"I hope I have many questions at the end because it's better to have more competition. This is still the case. In two or three positions I can choose one or two. I think we're in a good place. Now I'm looking forward to next weekend."
The starting XI on Saturday will clearly be guided in part by how Sunderland's transfer business develops, and to what extent their more recent arrivals are deemed match fit. The club are close to a deal to sign Getafe central defender Omar Alderete, while former West Ham United and Besiktas full back Arthur Masuaku joined as a free agent last week.
The Sunderland head coach explains why those involved in Rayo Vallecano defeat are still important to his plans
While Sunderland suffered a heavy defeat to Rayo Vallecano, Le Bris insisted it didn't mean that those involved wouldn't be involved in his plans for this weekend and beyond.
"It was a strong opponent ready for La Liga," Le Bris said.
"We need strong opponents to grow, even if our squad was today wasn't well connected for different reasons, it was a good test and it was better for the competitive fixtures to have this experience. We have come through the two games with no injuries, and with more game time for our players. Between Augsburg and Rayo Vallecano, we can feel that the first squad is very connected and this is the main squad for the beginning of the season. And then today, we have three, four, five players ready for this squad as well. It is more difficult for them in this moment because they are connecting with less experienced players and the level is a little below, but they worked [hard] and it was the right decision for next weekend."
Though Le Bris said he had not made his mind up as of yet, Noah Sadiki looks as if he could be at this stage ahead of Enzo Le Fée. The Sunderland head coach insisted that the midfielder was nevertheless a big part of his plans.
"We'll have two or three players like Enzo, really close to the starting XI but ay the same time we have to make a choice because we can only play with 11 players," Le Bris said.
"We need to build starters and finishes. Our midfielders will have this opportunity, that's really clear. It's the same for our strikers. It's positive and we will try to find this competition in every position before the end of the transfer window."
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