Regis Le Bris’ warning to players over the Sunderland fans
REGIS LE BRIS has been blow away by the passion and devotion of the Stadium of Light crowd, but has warned his Sunderland players they cannot afford to take the club’s supporters for granted as they look to sustain their Championship promotion push.
Le Bris cited the Sunderland fanbase as one of the key attractions of taking over on Wearside earlier this summer, and has been hugely impressed by the level of support his side have received in the early weeks of the season.
On Tuesday night, more than 39,000 fans attended the midweek home victory over Derby County, an attendance figure that would be the envy of most top-flight clubs right across the continent.
Every Sunderland away end has been sold out so far this season, but while Le Bris says the fervent backing has not been a surprise, he has told his players they have to continually earn the fans’ support.
“You could see in the game against Derby this week, it was a midweek game, but the stadium was full,” said the Sunderland boss. “The energy of the crowd was there.
“The connection is very important, but as I explained throughout pre-season, we need to deserve this connection.
“With the way we are playing and working, and facing different challenges, helps that. We are showing the right mindset, trying to produce our best football, and I think the supporters recognise that.”
Sunderland have had an excellent start to the campaign, but while Le Bris has been pleased with his players’ progress in the last two months, he continues to insist it is far too early to be setting goals for the rest of the season.
“I don’t know what will happen,” he said. “It’s still difficult to assess the pathway of the team and the pathway of individual players.
“This team is young, but this team has good behaviour and the players want to learn. They want to learn from positive experiences, but also from negative experiences as well. We have reacted well after defeats so far, and that has been good to see.
“I think the potential is here, but we still have very strong opponents. All we can control is our behaviour, our way of improving our game, and our way of working on our weaknesses.
“Then, the scenario of the league is unpredictable. We can’t say what position we will be in at the end of the season, but if we continue as we have been doing, I am confident about the way we can play.”
