Régis Le Bris reveals effective training philosophy that has transformed Sunderland

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Sunderland Head Coach Régis Le Bris revealed how his coaching of “linked phases” has helped to transform Sunderland into the versatile unit on display at the start of this season. Daniel Wales reports.

Transcript

00:00The dark days of early 2024 are not ones remembered fondly on Wearside. Regis Lebris was keen

00:07to point out the value of last season's failures, however.

00:10Even if it was tough last season, it was a great experience for them. So they know that

00:19they can play well, but they know as well that when they are not involved as a team,

00:26not involved in all the phases, they can lose and the team spirit can fail really. So this

00:38experience I think was very useful to restart this season. This is I think one of the main

00:43reasons. The second reason, maybe it's the way we are working as a staff and with them

00:52as well. We used the ideas of the last season, when they played well, what were the pillars

01:00at that moment and when they played bad, what were the reasons. And then we mixed all these

01:07ideas to start this season with them.

01:10The nature of the new Sunderland has been encapsulated in a free-flowing attack and

01:14defensive solidity, which Lebris revealed were two linked phases of play that he has

01:18been coaching.

01:20I always want to link the phases. So when we explained the game model, it wasn't like

01:32a different isolated moment or phases. They are always linked. So when we attack, when

01:39we have the ball, when we are in possession, we have in our background the way we will

01:44defend just after the losing of the ball. So all the phases are linked and we train

01:51like that. So I think now the players are more comfortable with these ideas and during

01:58this first half especially it was the case.

02:01Finally, the use of width as a team, particularly against Burnley, was very effective. Lebris

02:06explained the purpose of exploiting wide areas.

02:09These players are very important because they are creative and they can create with

02:17just five centimetres. They can create many things. So when they are wide, we want to

02:24pin the axial corridors or a side to give them spaces to create. And we want as well

02:34to give them some support with triangles. So for example for Patrick Roberts, Patrick

02:40can play well because he has Rigi and Trey very close to him to support, to give him

02:46the possibility to make a pass or dribble. So an isolated player can play well. He always

02:54needs support and I think these two triangles are working well at the minute.

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