Regis Le Bris no longer has his entire Sunderland camp to select from, with six figures from his energetic Black Cats squad now out of action at the African Cup of Nations.

While this will surely frustrate the Frenchman, it also presents an opportunity to those on the fringes to stake a claim for a starting space, as a much-changed Sunderland starting XI took to the field against Brighton and Hove Albion on Saturday.

Unfortunately, the visitors’ performance at the Amex was largely flat, with the game ending in a drab 0-0 draw.

Consequently, various Sunderland away shirts trudged off at the end unsatisfied with their efforts, even if they held onto fifth spot in the Premier League with a share of the points.

Notable Sunderland underperformers vs Brighton

The natural place to start here is with the personnel who were handed chances to impress by Le Bris, in the wake of the Black Cats’ starting lineup being decimated by AFCON.

In all fairness, Trai Hume would come back into the main XI – with Reinildo on international duty with Mozambique – and look lively from minute one, with the Northern Irishman putting in a battling shift from the left-back spot throughout, as seen in him winning a memorable seven tackles and ten duels, per Sofascore.

The same can’t be said for Simon Adingra, on the flip side, with the Ivorian looking rusty on what was his first league start for the Wearside warriors since October. Indeed, from his hour on the pitch, the forgotten number 24 failed to really strike fear into his former employers at the back, with zero accurate crosses and zero successful dribbles next to his name.

Moreover, Brian Brobbey – who has now led the line for Le Bris and Co. two league matches on the spin – faded in and out of the dull contest far too much, with only one on-target effort registered, before Wilson Isidor came on and looked equally timid on the South Coast.

Thankfully, to counteract the weak performance up top, Sunderland look well-drilled at the back once more, as the aforementioned Roefs collected another clean sheet.

Still, that won’t completely lessen the worry on Le Bris’ shoulders regarding this shaky performance from another one of his attackers, who even mustered up fewer touches than the standout Dutch goalkeeper come the full-time whistle.

Le Bris must now drop this Sunderland star

On another day, Sunderland could well have come away from the stalemate on the South Coast three points better off, with Bart Verbruggen making a crucial six saves in total for the hosts.

Chris Rigg would fire two shots of his own at the 23-year-old’s well-protected goal, with the homegrown Stadium of Light prodigy eager to impress, having been thrown into the main lineup in place of an absent Bertrand Traore.

The table above doesn’t make for the most compelling argument, however, regarding the 18-year-old gaining more starts as Le Bris comes to terms with the amount of selection dilemmas he has to address, with the ropey number 11 only managing to make nine accurate passes all afternoon long, from his minimal 28 touches of the ball.

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As also stated above, that’s less than Roefs amassed, who came away from the even affair with a weightier 48 touches, having also had to stay alert with four saves accumulated.

Looking back at the lack of action, it really was a game where both defences shone, away from both attacks just severely struggling, with Rigg also coming away from the 0-0 draw with zero attempted crosses or zero attempted dribbles, meaning the Black Cats very rarely troubled Fabian Hurzeler’s men on the right flank.

The teenager was a breakout sensation last campaign under Le Bris, with analyst Ben Mattinson even dubbing him “one of the best talents in the Championship” when collecting four goals and one assist during his team’s dramatic promotion story. But it’s clear that he isn’t quite cut out for the bright lights of the Premier League as a starter, just yet.

He will be handed more opportunities to impress, though, with Traore out in Morocco for the latest instalment of AFCON, as the Frenchman now scrambles for more options he can rely on down the right wing, rather just solely relying on the youngster to come good.

Sunderland flop is fast becoming their biggest waste of money since Ndong

Regis Le Bris will have a lot of Sunderland selection issues to come to terms with during the African Cup of Nations.

By
Kelan Sarson