“Bizarre”- Sunderland legend calls Regis Le Bris’ actions against Coventry City “absolutely bizarre.
Sunderland legend Marco Gabbiadini has slammed Regis Le Bris’ decision to deploy Alan Browne as a winger during the team’s defeat to Coventry City, calling it “absolutely bizarre.”
Sunderland suffered their heaviest loss of the season, with Haji Wright netting a hat-trick. The Black Cats showed little threat, with only a brief surge in the second half.
Le Bris acknowledged that the defeat to Leeds United and its impact on Sunderland’s automatic promotion hopes has had a psychological effect on the squad, while fatigue is becoming a growing issue with 38 games into the season.
However, it was the decision to bring Browne on as a wide player that drew sharp criticism from Gabbiadini. The central midfielder replaced Patrick Roberts with 12 minutes to go at the CBS Arena.
“It was an awful performance, and they got exactly what they deserved, but I was quite shocked by the substitutions,” Gabbiadini told BBC Radio Newcastle.
“It was a game about getting to the ball first, and I have no idea why Alan Browne didn’t come on earlier. When he did come on, though, playing as a winger was absolutely bizarre.”
He continued: “We’ve gotten through games like this before, but to beat teams like this, you need to play really well and show quality football, which we were nowhere near.”
After the loss, Le Bris reflected on the performance, saying, “I think only against Preston have we been outplayed like this, but we didn’t concede much then. Today wasn’t our best performance. To be fair, Coventry were good—they played sharp, intense football.
We couldn’t keep up defensively, even though our shape was OK. Our intensity in duels and second balls wasn’t where it needed to be, and we were sloppy with the ball under pressure. It was just a bad game.”
Le Bris also added, “It’s tough to pinpoint just one reason for the team’s behavior, so I’ll need to analyze it further.
After the Leeds game, our momentum was broken, and our thoughts about automatic promotion were likely affected. We played well but didn’t get any points.
After the Hull game, we responded well with two wins and a draw, but today, we looked exhausted and lacked the energy to compete.”
