Sunderland beat Burnley 3-0 at the Stadium of Light thanks to goals from Habib Diarra and Chemsdine Talbi
Régis Le Bris hailed Habib Diarra’s return to the Sunderland starting XI and backed the midfielder to have a huge impact between now and the end of the campaign.
Diarra’s two first-half strikes set Sunderland on the way to an emphatic win over Burnley, though the first has since been ruled to be a Axel Tuanzebe own goal. His second is therefore his first Sunderland goal on what was just his fourth start for the club after a lengthy absence due to injury and AFCON.
The head coach said he summed up what Sunderland had been looking for in their summer signings.
“It's a new signing for us,” Le Bris said.
“We spoke together this week about a new start. We supported him through his injury, then through AFCON and we were absolutely convinced that when he comes back with us, he will have the quality as a player, but he's really competitive as well. He wants to win, he wants to press, he wants to score and he gives us this energy, which is really important in this league.
“He was one of our first signings, so he set the tone for us when we decided to go with him and he agreed, obviously. He came late in the squad, but now I hope he will continue this kind of performances.”
Diarra formed a quick connection with striker Brian Brobbey, who was influential throughout the game without getting on the scoresheet.
“Brian is getting better,” Le Bris said.
“I think game after game you can see how strong he is in this part of the pitch. I think his teammates now want to play with him, want to feed him. When we get pressed man for man, for example, we still have this option to go long, then we can support and we can break the press. So it was really important today.
“He could have scored, maybe once or twice, but he worked really hard.”
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Régis Le Bris delivers verdict on Sunderland win
Le Bris praised the response of his Sunderland players to their disappointing defeat at West Ham a week previous, and said a tactical tweak to their pressing was key to their improved performance.
“It was important to react, to show once again the way we want to play, the ability to press high, to be aggressive, to regain possession,” Le Bris said.
“It was important to threaten the space in behind as well and I think we did really well. Today we created chances, we scored three goals, might have been maybe one or two more, so happy with the response, yeah.
“Sometimes it's connected with tactical problems [reacting to West Ham loss],” Le Bris added.
“So we spoke a lot this week about the way we defended in the mid-block and I think we were probably a bit too reserved and we tried to change it during the week, to be more aggressive in every phase. And it worked well today, even if sometimes Burnley had the ball. We were not passive, we tried to find the right trigger, to press and when it was possible to jump, we did it. So it gives us energy, power, intensity in every phase.”
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