Sunderland’s second home league defeat of the season came with a considerable additional cost on Sunday afternoon as Nordi Mukiele, Jocelin Ta Bi, Romaine Mundle and Brian Brobbey all suffered injury setbacks.
The quartet are undergoing ongoing assessments to ascertain the full extent of their issues, but it is anticipated that at least one or more will be unable to feature in Saturday’s game at Fulham.
The Black Cats are still without Bertrand Traore, who was injured on international duty at the Africa Cup of Nations, and Reinildo Mandava, who is set to be sidelined for around a month after suffering a knee injury in the defeat to Liverpool.
Defensively, a long-term injury to Mukiele would leave Sunderland’s resources extremely stretched, but in Trai Hume, Lutsharel Geertruida and Luke O’Nien, Le Bris feels he has three players who could fill a variety of different positions across the backline if required.
“We know that we have two or three versatile players, and it's always really interesting to have those players because you never know what will happen,” said Le Bris, whose side return to action at Bournemouth on Saturday lunchtime. “If you watch Liverpool, for example, their right-back position has been difficult.
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“For us, probably the distribution [of the injuries] is a bit different, but you still need two or three players able to manage different options. It would be the case for Luke, and it would be the case for Trai and Lutsha, they have this ability.”
Further up the pitch, the potential absence of Mundle and Jocelin could open the door for Chemsdine Talbi to return to the starting line-up, while being without Brobbey would almost certainly mean either Wilson Isidor or Eliezer Mayenda stepping back up to the starting XI.
“The players will have this opportunity,” said Le Bris. “You often need a bit of time to step up because it's not easy starting on the bench with a huge amount of game time. Then, maybe you'll be a starter for two, three or four games.
“It’s not easy, but I think it's the life of a professional footballer. You train well and when the opportunity comes, you have to take it.”