Sunderland manager, Regis Le Bris believes that his team “embraced the challenge” in their 5-3 defeat at Manchester City.
Brian Brobbey scored twice to cancel out goals from City’s Enzo Fernandez and Rayan Cherki before Antoine Semenyo’s brace put City in control either side of half time, but Brobbey reduced Sunderland’s deficit with a 59th-minute goal until Erling Haaland sealed City’s win with a 81st-minute finish.
“I was proud to see us go toe-to-toe with one of the best sides in Europe,” commented Le Bris to safc.com post-match as he praised his players for not being daunted by the difficult trip to City given their poor Premier League record there.
“We embraced the challenge and created so many chances. The reality of the Premier League is that you can be punished for half mistakes, and that’s the lesson for the day.
“But the belief in the team and the quality we have is high.”
Le Bris added that his players are “frustrated” with the defeat given the belief that they had in that they could of gone and caused a shock, but iterated that they never gave up until the final whistle with valuable positives to take into the international break.
“We created good chances at 4-3 and we showed that belief right until the end.”
Brobbey in particular drew praise for his first Premier League hat-trick and “really positive” performance as Le Bris felt that the forward is finally delivering on his potential.
“It was really clear he was going to score goals. It was just a question of time.
“His overall performance and three goals were really good today.”
Despite Sunderland having claimed just four points from five league matches and sat 14th in the Premier League table, Le Bris argued that his team has faced difficult opposition in those five matches and that the performances have been progressive.
“Overall, I’m really proud of the squad and the identity we showed,” reflected the Frenchman who feels that his team can improve in the coming months.
“”We’re pleased with the way we’re playing. We’ve played some really strong teams and we believe we will keep improving over time.”
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