Noah Sadiki Blames Sunderland Players And Not Regis Le Bris For Crisis

Sunderland midfielder Noah Sadiki has openly admitted that the Black Cats' recent freefall in form is on the squad, and that the club's barren run is not down to head coach Regis Le Bris.

Sunderland suffered a 2-0 defeat to Dinamo Zagreb on Thursday evening to see their unbeaten start to the Europa League campaign come to a close just days after the Black Cats fell to an abject 3-1 Premier League defeat to newly-promoted Coventry City.

With Xabi Alonso's Chelsea travelling to the Stadium of Light on Sunday afternoon, the pressure is mounting on Le Bris despite Sunderland giving the head coach a public vote of confidence ahead of the Zagreb defeat.

Sunderland's recent struggles in the Premier League and now Europe have seen a large chunk of the Stadium of Light faithful question whether Le Bris is reaching the end of his tenure, with both the Black Cats boss and squad looked dejected and out of ideas against the managerless Croatian champions.

Amid the question marks over Le Bris' future at Sunderland, central midfielder Sadiki has made clear that he and his fellow Black Cats teammates in the dressing room are responsible for their barren form.

Le Bris looked like a head coach caught in the headlights on the touchline against Zagreb, with his baffling decisions in selection and tactics causing Sunderland's downfall, as well as his side's shocking overall performance.

Several of Le Bris' Sunderland decisions in the Zagreb loss left the Black Cats faithful bemused, namely withdrawing Jules Ahoka and Dayann Methalie at half-time and failing to introduce attacker Chemsdine Talbi at any point despite chasing at least two goals.

Despite the responsibility ultimately falling on the Sunderland manager's shoulders, Sadiki has made clear that Le Bris is 'not the problem' at the Stadium of Light currently, and that the Black Cats squad are to blame.

As quoted by the Sunderland Echo, Sadiki said: "Of course. I don’t think the gaffer is the problem,

Sadiki went even further in his support of Le Bris, saying that the Sunderland squad "owe it to him" as well as the supporters to turn things around in their rotten rut.

He added: "We owe it to him, and we owe it to ourselves as well. We owe it to the fans. We owe it to everybody who comes to support us every weekend and every European game.

"We’re letting a lot of people down. We’re letting ourselves down as well sometimes. We need to step up in the next game."

With fourth-placed Chelsea up next for Sunderland, it will be an extremely difficult test for the Black Cats to get their first Premier League win since late August against Alonso's side, and the deflated mood at the Stadium of Light could worsen further if another abject performance comes in the wake of the Zagreb defeat.