Régis Le Bris has a great set of tactical and strategic tests ahead as the Sunderland team prepares to make a valid season-long challenge in the Premier League; the 3 - 0 win over West Ham on Saturday was a great start. We have players from a host of different countries and cultures, from Norway to Africa, so the main project will be to meld this diverse group into a real team. By that, I mean a group of quality players who are marked by devotion to teamwork on and off the field, rather than individual achievement.
I have rowed competitively and played football at a decent level, concluding that it is very easy to see how rowing is a team sport. This was drummed into us by our coaches, for example, when I rowed in the Oxford Boat Race Squad in the 1970s. We knew that balance, looking out for each other in an eight, exhibiting terrifically coordinated strength and movement, was crucial to the success of a crew on the water. It was transparently clear to the cox, crew, and coaches when we really got it right; we could feel when everyone was pulling in unison.
In football, it is a bit different. The BBC website suggested on August 14th, just two days before the start of the new season, that: “It’s quite an effort, but integrating so many new signings may actually prove a problem.” All players have an ego, and becoming subservient to the team’s objectives can be a challenging behaviour to pick up, but I know that our Head Coach has a great background in sports psychology. He graduated with a Diplôme Universitaire in the mental training of high-level athletes from the University of Rennes in 2010, to add to his doctorate in sport physiology and biomechanics at the same institution.
My current research role in the biotech industry is within drug design for neuromuscular disorders; the lasting impression I have is of the complexity of the human brain, the way signals travel to peripheral nerves and rapidly activate muscle contraction. We are still learning a lot about this science and that of sports coaching.
SUNDERLAND, ENGLAND - AUGUST 16: Noah Sadiki of Sunderland during the Premier League match between Sunderland and West Ham United at Stadium of Light on August 16, 2025 in Sunderland, England. (Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images)
SUNDERLAND, ENGLAND - AUGUST 16: Noah Sadiki of Sunderland during the Premier League match between Sunderland and West Ham United at Stadium of Light on August 16, 2025 in Sunderland, England. (Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images)
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What, one may ask, is the neuroscience behind team bonding and performance? I can highlight two important brain hormones: oxytocin and cortisol. This is just a brief summary, but oxytocin is the hormone released when people hug and feel a sense of togetherness, leading to social bonding and even love. Cortisol is released in response to stress and low blood sugar, so its function is to improve performance, even survival, in stressful situations. Modern sports coaching techniques and diet can be modelled on selectively reinforcing neurotransmitter and hormone function. For example, chronic cortisol exposure is not helpful for higher brain function, so coaches need to integrate stress management techniques like mindfulness, meditation, and deep breathing exercises into team and athlete recovery from physical and mental stress.
Teamwork is clearly very important, but certain players do need to exhibit a bit of a selfish streak, for example, goalkeepers and strikers. It doesn’t mean they are performing for their own benefit - they want the team to succeed - but they do have to be ruthless in collecting the ball. It is rare for a goalkeeper to leave the ball for a team-mate to control or clear from the defence. Likewise, strikers need to be ruthless in pursuit of scoring, seeing that shot that others just do not and being able to execute it, just like Wilson Isidor did so amazingly well against West Ham. Attackers are motivated by the net bulging, but at the same time need to be aware, at times, for team advantage, to spot a player from their own side in a better position to receive a simple pass and make a scoring attempt.
We have seen down the road what effect negative, entitled player power can have on team morale. Alexander Isak has effectively refused to play for Newcastle, choosing to train in pre-season at Real Sociedad, and is trying to force through a move to Liverpool. He probably cost Eddie Howe’s team two lost points against Aston Villa. However, this behaviour has the potential to ruin his career if Liverpool move on to another target and Isak cannot repair his relationship with Eddie Howe and the Tyneside club’s fans. His team-mates in whatever team he ends up with may distrust him, see him as a prima donna, and question his motives; he will be seen as a selfish individual rather than a team player. He is a talented striker but in a strange limbo at present.
SUNDERLAND, ENGLAND - AUGUST 16: Granit Xhaka of Sunderland celebrates with his teammates Reinildo Mandava and Daniel Ballard following the teams victory in the Premier League match between Sunderland and West Ham United at Stadium of Light on August 16, 2025 in Sunderland, England. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
SUNDERLAND, ENGLAND - AUGUST 16: Granit Xhaka of Sunderland celebrates with his teammates Reinildo Mandava and Daniel Ballard following the teams victory in the Premier League match between Sunderland and West Ham United at Stadium of Light on August 16, 2025 in Sunderland, England. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
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I was born in Sunderland but learnt teamwork in Scandinavia, where, at least in theory, everyone is equal. I worked for over a decade at Novo Nordisk, an obscure company at the time but which recently became the most valuable company in Europe on the basis of Ozempic, a diabetes and obesity treatment, before a recent stock price collapse. Teamwork was a major focus there, so I attended many courses led by psychologists. Add to that two factors - my own background as a neuroscientist and living there when Denmark won the 1992 UEFA European Football Championship against all odds.
That successful Danish national football team was very odd in that there were only two recognised stars, Peter Schmeichel and Brian Laudrup. Who still remembers either John Jensen, who went to Arsenal, Henrik Larsen, the 1992 tournament’s top scorer, or any of the other Danish players for that matter? This is my point, though; the players functioned very well as a team with well-defined tactics, similar to those utilised by Jack Charlton when he managed Ireland. Everyone knew their job and did it extremely well - this is clearly Le Bris’s aim for a well-coached Sunderland team.
Many fans do not yet know the twelve newly arrived Sunderland players and their skills well, let alone them knowing each other. But the pressure for them to bond quickly into a team to be successful is real, and the first win showed that we are on a good path. They are all clearly talented but have had to get to know each other’s strengths, weaknesses, and style of play in a short time. The players making an immediate impact on the pitch will rapidly be acknowledged by the fans, especially if we win a few more of the upcoming fixtures.
Whatever team-building techniques our Head Coach uses in this new Premier League season, it is crucially important that all possible methods are used to bond our players from disparate backgrounds into a true team. This is where I believe that leaders on the field and in the dressing room, for example, Granit Xhaka and Luke O’Nien, can make a huge difference. Xhaka’s reaction to Dan Ballard’s goal tells its own story.