Match Day Thread Sunderland AFC v Sheffield United – Championship Play-off Final - Saturday 24th May 2025 - KO 15:00

Bit early but sod it

HA'WAAAAAYYYYY

 

What Regis Le Bris asked players in first meeting



https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/s...-bris-asked-players-first-sunderland-meeting/

WHEN Regis Le Bris addressed his Sunderland players for the very first time after taking charge last summer, he asked them a question: "What is the aim this season?"

The answer was emphatic - to win promotion.

At that stage, Le Bris is honest enough to admit he didn't know whether that was possible. After all, he'd just taken charge of a side that had slumped to a 16th place finish in the Championship. But it didn't take the Frenchman long to realise he had the quality at his disposal to give any side in the second tier a game. The challenge, he knew, was consistency....

"We've got through difficult moments. We've suffered together and we've shown we have the ambition and desire. After 48 games, we deserve to be here." Le Bris added: "We are exactly where we wanted to be. In our first meeting in this room, I asked them what is the purpose of the season and they told me they wanted to get promoted. Here we are. We'll have this opportunity."

When asked whether he thought at that stage promotion was possible, Le Bris said: "I'd just received the information. It was tough at that moment to know. You can create this ambition throughout the season. Their faith was really strong. Because they were 16th last season the step could have been a bit high. But when I watched the games from last season it was really obvious this team could play really good football but lacked consistency. For me it was possible to improve consistency through methodology and work in the season."

Sunderland burst out of the blocks and set the pace in the Championship early in the season. So was there a moment when Le Bris realised his side were indeed capable of competing at the top?

"It's tough to say that because the season is so long," he said. "You can be in the top four, five or six for two thirds of the season and then be ejected. I felt often this team was talented and able to be competitive against the strongest teams in the league but that doesn't mean you can be consistent. You can only judge that at the end of the season. To be competitive in one game, against Burnley in the first game for example when we were really good. Middlesbrough and Leeds as well. It was clear this team can be competitive but can we be consistent? You only know that at the end of the season."

And something else he now knows is that his side might be young but they're mentally equipped to deal with the toughest Championship challenges.

He said: "We can talk about talent and tactics but one of the strongest qualities of this group is mindset. The way they are connected and how they can manage different emotions. We deserve this fixture. It's not always a question of age, it's a question of connection. You can be 17 and ready or 30 and have a problem to manage the emotions."

And with that in mind, Le Bris thinks his players will take tomorrow's game and all that surrounds it in their stride.

"We finished last week on Tuesday so we had three days of part training and two days off, then a full week to prepare for the last fixture of the season. They were well balanced this week and we are repeating what we did all season. We'll focus on our game and identity and deliver. It will be another tough game."

 

exactly this,

no one gave us a chance, all had us down as being in the bottom 6 not the top

all said RLB wouldnt last and would be sacked by Xmas,

we have excelled this season, at times played the best football we have all seen in many years,

we are on the cusp of something amazing incredible, and that starts tomorrow, at 15:01!
ha'way you red and white wizards

 

please log in to view this image

 

Just bumped into Il Presidentè, from your bowling club, on the Stansted express

 

Me and @kirkyboy currently on route hopefully they got them open at the services I'm sure I'll be able to use my sunderland top as a prayer mat

 

I’m on a double decker bus coming up Seven Sisters …

… quite an achievement at my age

 

29 hours and 4 mins

 

All seven sisters on the same bus? Must be bingo night

 

Can anyone let me know the appropriate action for a very loud sloppy eater on the train. Cheers

 

Punch?

 

first song I've heard this morning on the radio-
Ready to go

its a sign I tell thee

 

Okay seeing you all on your way down has made it feel real now, butterflies have started, no nerves just really looking forward to it, feels like it’s our time

 

tell them to Foxtrot Oscar you absolute Charlie, Uniform, November Tango.

 

wow what a read, can’t believe how much the led has been through and how close him and RLB is

 

I have taken both actions. Now stuck in the middle of the country

 

Pick your phone up, pretend to phone someone and, just loud enough for him to hear, say
“FFS, can you hear this f*cker on the train, I thought someone had put some water down for his dog.”

 

This is my favourite response. Blokes hammering through a tube of Pringles like he’s never ate before. Lips going 90 mile an hour

 

I’m on the bus to Oxford Circus to pop into the Argyll …

… it’s a 73

 

May have to side with him now depending on the flavour