Regis Le Bris admitted it was “not a surprise” to see Dan Ballard’s starring display during Sunderland’s 3-0 win against West Ham.
The 25-year-old was at the heart of the Black Cats’ impressive return to the Premier League, keeping a clean sheet and scoring a goal in their first top-flight appearance since May 2017.
“I’m not surprised by his performance because he showed last season during the play-offs that it was possible for him to reach that level,” Le Bris said.
“So for me it’s not a surprise. The main challenge for him is to repeat the same performance week after week, so it’s the consistency and always one of the main problems.
“We have many talented players, I think we can find a good connection between them, but the main challenge will be the ability to repeat.
“It’s not the same story, we’ll have other problems to solve. For Ballard, I think it will be the case, but it will be the case for everyone in the squad.”
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This pretty much sums up why Dan Neil is no longer a starter. We need players that can turn up week in week out and still get at least a 7 out of 10 performance