“We know..” – Regis Le Bris highlights his tactical masterclass and THREE things Sunderland MUST DO to BEAT Leeds United at Elland Road

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Regis Le Bris has a clear plan to stop Leeds United in their tracks as Sunderland prepare for a challenging trip to face the Championship leaders on Monday night.

However, translating that plan into action and executing it flawlessly is a different challenge altogether as Sunderland head to Elland Road to wrap up the weekend’s fixtures.

Sunderland, currently fourth and still very much in the race for automatic promotion, could fall ten points behind the league leaders if Leeds secure a fourth consecutive win and potentially a seventh straight Championship clean sheet in front of their home crowd.

The Black Cats must strike a delicate balance between playing to their strengths and preventing Leeds from finding their rhythm.

Manor Solomon, Dan James, and Joel Piroe were ‘unplayable’ in Leeds’ 4-0 victory over Watford on Tuesday, with all three players scoring. Additionally, no team in the league has scored more goals in the opening half-hour of games this season.

For context, James’ quickfire double at Vicarage Road took Leeds’ tally to 31 goals in the first 30 minutes of matches.

Regis Le Bris explains what Sunderland must do to stop a rampant Leeds United:

“We just have to focus on our game,” Le Bris said in his pre-match press conference.

“We know they are a threat, we know they can be dangerous. So, if we are naive, we can be punished. But, at the same time, if we don’t play our best football it doesn’t mean anything.”

Sunderland’s strong record against the Championship’s top teams offers some encouragement. The Black Cats have taken four points off Burnley, beaten Sheffield United, and completed a double over northeast rivals Middlesbrough.

They also secured a hard-fought draw against Leeds at home in October, albeit thanks to a late error by Illan Meslier in stoppage time.

“We have played well away against the best teams so far, and I think we have good qualities to play against this kind of opponent,” added the softly-spoken Frenchman, acknowledging that the game could hinge on Sunderland’s ability to contain Leeds’ fast starts.

“It’s a question of pragmatism because we can’t afford to let them play, but if we don’t damage their defence we’ll have many regrets at the end.

“[Leeds are] a well-rounded team with many good players. They are doing very well. They are able to create many chances early in the game and they can kill the game very early. It’s something we have to be aware of.”

Le Bris thinks lessons can be learned from Stadium of Light clash:

Leeds have scored 13 goals in their last three league matches, including a 7-0 thrashing of Cardiff City, their biggest home win in over 50 years.

Against Cardiff, Leeds were 2-0 up within 13 minutes. They repeated the feat against Coventry, leading 2-0 after 26 minutes. And when Manor Solomon scored Leeds’ third goal against Watford, only 35 minutes had passed.

Even in their previous meeting with Sunderland, Joel Piroe found the net within the first half-hour.

Le Bris is determined to avoid a repeat of that, as well as the quick transitions that allowed Junior Firpo to put Leeds 2-1 ahead at the Stadium of Light.

“It will be an exciting challenge, but it’s still [just] three points to play for,” Le Bris said. “For us, it’s a really good challenge to test our limits. I think we can [still] improve our level against the best opponents. It will be a very interesting challenge, for sure.

“We started well against Leeds at home. After that, we struggled to press and we had a long period. We changed our structure to manage the problem, and I think we were good [after that].

“But then, because they have many vertical threats and they are very impressive when they have space to exploit, they were able to counter-attack and score the second goal.”

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