Régis Le Bris, Sunderland’s head coach, discusses reshaping the club’s identity, squad chemistry, and leadership for Premier League progress, highlighting the impact of new signings and Granit Xhaka’s role.
Sunderland head coach Régis Le Bris has praised the “really smart” leadership of Granit Xhaka and confessed his greatest fear for the club’s future, according to a report from the Sunderland Echo.
Le Bris, who has spent just 18 months at the club, discussed the cultural shift he has overseen and the impact of the 14 summer signings in an interview with Men in Blazers.
Le Bris’s coaching philosophy centers on creating a development environment, with core pillars being: “We want to play together. We want to defend together. We want to be connected and to always be hard to beat.”
He offered a rare insight into new addition Xhaka’s leadership, recalling an observation at the team’s restaurant: “For example, one just a short insight, he started in the restaurant here to sit with the French players from the beginning.
So I asked him, why are you always with these players? And he told me that they will be really important for the squad this season, so I need to connect with them to understand them and probably in his mind to manage them as well.”
Le Bris described Xhaka as a manager on the pitch who can “feel the momentum of the game and he can react in real time.”
Despite the team’s promising start to the Premier League season, Le Bris confessed his primary worry:
“Yeah, probably my main issue might be this problem. If we don’t achieve this maximum, I’ll have regrets at the end. So I only fear this one.” He concluded that the goal is simply to “be the best version of Sunderland.”