Regis Le Bris Explains Where Sunderland 'Have To Improve' After Poor Brighton Defeat

Sunderland boss Regis Le Bris has explained that the Black Cats "have to improve" in the final third following their 2-0 defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday afternoon.

Sunderland fell to a lacklustre defeat to Brighton, with goals from Maxim De Cuyper and substitute Jaouen Hadjam making the difference at the Stadium of Light, despite Brighton going down to ten men on their 57-minute mark due to Pascal Struijk's dismissal.

From a stastical point of view, the Black Cats dominated the ball with 62 percent possession within the defeat, which was heavily skewed by their second-half ball dominance which went unutilised.

Brighton extended their winning run to three Premier League games at the behest of the Black Cats, who suffered their third consectuive league loss following the pre-international break defeats to Arsenal and Manchester City.

This leaves Sunderland sat 16th in the Premier League table, and Le Bris is well aware that his side must improve, and rapidly, following the substandard Seagulls performance.

Sunderland's most notable attacking moment during the defeat came with the scores at deadlock, with Wilson Isidor hitting the outside of Bart Verbruggen's post after a swift and intricate moive involving Granit Xhaka and Enzo Le Fee.

Other than that, the Black Cats lacked creative spark and attacking dynamism throughout the clash, and were also poor defensively both in possession and structurally in the absence of injured Dan Ballard.

Following Struijk's dismissal, Sunderland continued to probe for an equaliser, but their lack of ideas in the final third was glaring against the low block of Brighton's backline, which led to Hadjam punishing the Black Cats in transition with an emphatic finish past Robin Roefs.

When reflecting on the defeat post-match, Le Bris admitted that Sunderland "lacked quality in the final third", and this is a facet of the Black Cats' start to the season that must be remedied rapidly by the Frenchman.

After the Brighton loss, Le Bris told SAFC.com: “It was a disappointing result. There were several games within the game - the first half was balanced. It was really tight.

“There was a lot of counter-pressing, and we created a few chances but we lacked quality in the final third.

“At the beginning of the second half we weren’t organised from a long throw and they seized their opportunity.

“Once the red card came, Brighton wanted to survive. They were compact, they regained possession and they exploited big spaces in counter-attack areas.

The Sunderland boss concluded: “We must stick to our plan, our principles, trust our teammates, our processes, and we must fight.”

Eyebrows were raised by the Stadium of Light faithful ahead of kick-off when Le Bris' Sunderland starting XI to face Brighton was named, seeing the Black Cats boss line-up his side with five defenders on the field.

Thomas Meunier started on the right side of midfield, but the Belgian veteran was forced off through after just over half an hour played in yet another injury worry within the Sunderland squad, with Trai Hume starting at right-back.

Le Bris made a positive substitution to replace the injured Meunier with left-winger Malick Fofana, but the ex-Lyon star's introduction made little improvement to the Black Cats' toothless attack, which remained subpar throughout the afternoon.

Sunderland fans chanted for Chemsdine Talbi's introduction, with Le Bris opting to introduce inexperienced duo Jocelin Ta Bi and Juan Angulo instead, leaving Talbi's future at the Stadium of Light uncertain following his summer Saudi Pro League transfer saga.

With trips to Portuguese second tier side SCU Torreense in the Europa League and Bournemouth in the Premier League up next week for Sunderland, Le Bris must find answers to the Sunderland attacking conundrum. And quickly.

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