The youngster played a starring role in Sunderland’s win away at Newcastle United last week
Régis Le Bris has praised Chris Rigg's application behind the scenes after the youngster made a successful return to the starting XI in recent weeks.
Rigg's game time through the first half of the Premier League season was limited as the youngster adjusted to the level, and he did not make a league appearance between the 3-0 defeat to Brentford on January 7th and 1-0 win over Leeds on March 3rd. That period proved crucial, though, with Rigg ready to seize his opportunity. The 18-year-old was arguably Sunderland's best player in a 1-0 defeat to Brighton at the Stadium of Light, setting the platform for his excellent display in the 2-1 win over Newcastle United a week later.
Notable in the Brighton defeat was how much trust Rigg had from his more experienced team mates, both in terms of their close communication with him and their willingness to give him the ball in difficult situations.
Le Bris said that this was both credit to Rigg's application during a difficult period, and also a perfect example of why Sunderland have to be patient as they introduce much of their young squad to the rigours of Premier League football.
"When a player like Granit wants to play with you it's a good sign of maturity," Le Bris said.
"You need to earn the credit on the pitch. It's not about speaking, it's on the pitch. Riggy came from this period when he struggled and he wasn't so composed on the ball, so when you give the ball to a teammate and they turn the ball over quickly, sometimes you won't receive a pass for 30 minutes because you feel intuitively that you won't give the ball to his teammates.
"Now it's totally the opposite and he built this during the training sessions with his attitude and resilience and character. It just shows players need time and it's a really good example of our identity."
Speaking after the win over Newcastle United, Rigg said he believed his time out of the team had helped him improve.
"One hundred per cent," he said. I’ve had a lot more time to work on my game, especially this season, because I haven’t been in the team, so I’ve had a lot of opportunities to work on myself and get better, and I think I’ve done that. I just need to keep the consistency now."
Rigg is currently on international duty with England's U19 side as they bid to book a place in this summer's European Championships. Rigg was a second-half substitute as England lost 2-0 to Serbia earlier in the week, leaving them with an uphill task to finish top of the group and secure their place in the competition. They are back in action when they face Spain on Saturday morning (11am kick off) before concluding the round-robin with a clash against Croatia on Tuesday afternoon (1.45pm kick off).
Chris Rigg on the key to Sunderland’s Tyne-Wear derby turnaround
“Obviously, when we went 1-0 down, I thought we kept our heads really well because it could have gone one, two, three,” Rigg said.
“But it didn’t, and then we scored two, so I think that’s just how it went. It wasn’t a tactical problem, I think that it was just heart that was just us playing for the badge, playing for the city. We knew we had to go out there and give the fans something [in the second half]. I think that was just heart, and we had more heart than them today.”
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