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Regis Le Bris repeats three-word message to explain Sunderland's loss of form

The Black Cats stunned everyone with their brilliant start to the Premier League campaign and have spent the majority of the season in the top half of the table.

But Le Bris' side have now won just two of their last 11 league games and Sunday's defeat at home to Fulham means they've now lost three games on the spin for the first time this season.

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But Le Bris won't panic, and said: "In the Premier League, this is not unusual for us and for every team in the league

"You can be in the top six and you can have a long sequence of poor results.

"I think we are now in this part of the journey. Resilience, togetherness, consistency, standards. It's always the same values we need and we won't give up.

"Obviously it's a bit harder, but the journey is always defined like that by key moments.

"They were negative today. We'll try to find a way to change the situation."

While Le Bris played down concerns about recent form, he admits Sunderland are falling slightly short in certain areas compared to the early stages of the season.

He said: "We express less quality with the ball. We are a bit less dominant against direct play as well for the second balls.

"The momentum can shift sometimes just with one situation because both teams are ready to impose their ideas after those moments.

"Today we were just okay, not dominant, especially at home. We left an opportunity for the opponent to express their qualities."

It was also put to Le Bris that his side aren't as physical as they were in the first half of the season.

He said: "We can feel this small trend. We are a bit less dominant physically. I don't think it's possible, especially for the first season in the Premier League, to be at the top.

"It's probably a bad period at the moment, but I repeat, it's not unusual.

"We have to find solutions rather than searching for excuses. It is what it is. It's not unusual, so just move forward."

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