Sunderland Head Coach Régis Le Bris has said that his players will be kept in a bubble ahead of the Championship Play-Off Final, to avoid being swept away by fan excitement ahead of the match at Wembley. Daniel Wales reports.
00:00Just over a week on from the commotion and ecstasy of Sunderland's play-off semi-final second-leg win over Coventry City, Wearside is now gearing up for a trip to Wembley in the play-off final.
00:16Supporters are beginning to make their way down to the capital, ready to take over Trafalgar Square on Friday night before the big game on Saturday afternoon.
00:24The Black Cats' last win at Wembley came in 2022 when they defeated Wycombe Wanderers by two goals to nil to be promoted from League One back to the Championship, having spent a few years in England's third tier.
00:39Now, of course, following several managers and plenty of different players coming into the team, Sunderland are looking to return to the Premier League with Regis Labrice as their head coach.
00:48And despite all of the supporter activity, Labrice was adamant that his players remain grounded.
00:55Regis, what's your plan for managing the players over the next 48 hours?
00:59Do you want them in their own little bubble, away from all the noise and the commotion that the supporters won't bring,
01:03or do you want them to actually see what the supporters are enjoying and be exposed to that a little bit?
01:09Bubble.
01:11One word.
01:15Is it enough?
01:16No.
01:18Yeah, it's important to stay connected with the routine, to be clear, because in this circumstances,
01:29it's easy to be attracted by atmosphere, fans, celebrations, I don't know.
01:37So, to be ready to deliver our game plan, our identity, the best version of Sunderland, and to be ready to adapt from many different events,
01:48we have to be focused 100%, so we'll keep our routine.
01:53At Wembley, Labrice understood that there would be no opportunity for second chances, and Sunderland must settle into the game quickly.
02:00We know that it's just one leg, so 90 minutes, maybe 120, so mistakes, the consequences of mistakes are always more important in this game, so, yeah, it would be tough, yeah.
02:18This is a fixture eight years in the making for Sunderland as a football club, and for Labrice's young squad, it could well be their coming-of-age moment.
02:28When you are young, sometimes you don't assess the consequences in the same way as well, so it's an advantage.
02:39It could be a problem, but it could be an opportunity as well, so I think the team is really balanced,
02:46and the way they behave this week, for example, was really balanced, so I'm not worried by that, to be fair.
02:53Sunderland commentator Nick Barnes has been impressed with the way that Labrice has managed his squad,
02:59and also spoke about the meaning to the fans.
03:01I think that Labrice has actually managed the squad very, very well from the start,
03:08and he always uses the word process and talk about routine,
03:13but I think it's proved that in having those processes in place, having that routine,
03:17and having a team that's been driven from the very start with one ambition in mind,
03:23and that's to get promotion.
03:24When you talk to the players, they say, well, there's been no panic behind the scenes,
03:27training's been very good.
03:28In fact, I was told that the training in the last couple of weeks of the season
03:32has probably been the most intense and the best of the sessions they've had all season,
03:36which I think is interesting and actually, again,
03:39quietly positive that they've had that mindset.
03:42For the fans and the people of Sunderland, it's been a long time coming.
03:44It's been a painful eight years, and there was a particularly painful four years in League One,
03:50and it got to a point in the fourth season in League One when there was a real crossroads,
03:55I think, of the fans fearing that if they stayed another year in League One,
04:02it could have been catastrophic, not just for the football club, but for the city.
04:06So they've been on a positive climb ever since that Wembley win three years ago against Wickham,
04:14and hopefully now they've got a foot in the Premier League and they can get both feet back in there.
04:20In Sheffield United, Sunderland will face a worthy adversary.
04:24The two teams, who finished third and fourth respectively,
04:27coming up against each other in the Championship play-off final at Wembley Stadium.
04:31Sunderland know that it will be a difficult match,
04:33and Registered Brees has made this very clear as well,
04:36but he has said that his young players are mature and ready to face the challenge at Wembley Stadium.
