Sunderland fell to a 2-0 defeat against Burnley at Turf Moor on Saturday afternoon
Régis Le Bris rued Sunderland’s lack of clinical finish as they fell to a defeat against Burnley at Turf Moor.
The Black Cats spurned a couple of key early chances to score through Eliezer Mayenda and Chemsdine Talbi, and were punished shortly after half time when Josh Cullen opened the scoring. Sunderland struggled to create chances thereafter, with Jaidon Anthony then adding the second just before stoppage time.
Le Bris said he was pleased with large aspects of the first-half performance but said it underlined the importance of taking chances.
“Disappointed, because I think we started well, our first half was positive, we created two chances, and we were in our game plan, I think we dominated this first half,” Le Bris said.
“But at the beginning of the second one, we made a small mistake and conceded this goal, and after that the game changed completely, they dropped into their back five, four-one, deep, well-organised, aggressive block, and we struggled to find the good tempo, the good rhythm, to create chances, and in that situation, when you are a bit sloppy, but not accurate enough, I think it's really obvious that you will concede counter-attacks, and that was the story of the second goal.
“Fine margins, and if you score early, because it was possible today, I think the scenario changed completely, and for us it would have been the best option, and we created this chance, so it's positive, I think, because sometimes you don't create anything,” he added.
Le Bris said he was not overly concerned about the lack of creativity in the second half given the scale of turnover in the squad this summer.
He said: “Not at the minute, because we know that this problem is really hard to solve, so it's not about us, it's about, I think, every team in the league, so when you face a well-organised block like that, you need probably better references, shared references, better culture, and we're still in construction and work in progress for our team, so we started with eight or nine new players, so this situation is probably the most complicated, so I'm not too worried. I just know that we have to improve this part.”
Régis Le Bris issues early Dan Ballard injury update
Sunderland were also hampered by an early groin injury to Dan Ballard. Le Bris said it was too early to assess the damage but felt it was an important factor in the game.
“Yeah, especially against direct play like that,” Le Bris said.
“When we pressed high, they went long all the time, and Ballard is always really important in that situation, so we'll wait Monday to have a diagnosis. I don't know yet how serious it is.”
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