‘There’s a new chapter to write’: Le Bris upbeat as Sunderland eye Coventry reunion

Twenty seconds of stoppage time remained when Enzo Le Fée picked up the ball and kissed it before taking a corner. As intended, the Frenchman’s perfect, right-footed delivery dropped into the corridor of uncertainty that leaves goalkeepers torn between leaving their line or standing firm.

It also dipped at the right moment for Dan Ballard to power a header in off the crossbar. Extra time in the 2025 Championship playoff semi-final second leg was almost over and Sunderland had secured a 1-1 draw that consigned Coventry to a 3-2 aggregate defeat.

As an outpouring of the loudest, most raucous emotion imaginable left the Stadium of Light feeling as if it was literally shaking, Régis Le Bris momentarily looked bewildered. By the time joyous comprehension began spreading across the Sunderland manager’s face, Frank Lampard was already a study in misery. Sunderland were on their way to Wembley, leaving Coventry in the Championship for another year.

Related: Ballard’s 122nd-minute goal shatters Coventry and puts Sunderland in playoff final

Le Bris always believed that, at heart, football managers must be storytellers, and, suddenly, he had created the most compelling narrative of his career.

His players bought into his vision to such an extent that, having beaten Sheffield United in the playoff final, they finished seventh in the Premier League last season, qualifying for the Europa League.

Everything went so well it appeared almost a fantasy but now this magic carpet ride looks in peril of ending. Much hinges on whether Sunderland can secure only their second league win of the season at Lampard’s 19th-placed, finally promoted, Coventry on Saturday.

“There’s always a new story and a new chapter to write,” said Le Bris. “This game will be an exciting one with our intention to be us, show up with our identity, our pillars, our foundations and, after that, the game will be the game. Coventry have won twice in the Premier League so they are competitive. The Premier League is a new chapter for them but they are still efficient.”

Perhaps overstretched by the demands of European football, Sunderland have proved alarmingly inefficient at times this season. So much so that Nordi Mukiele, the former Paris Saint-Germain defender, recently accused his teammates of turning “arrogant”.

Clear the air dressing-room talks ensued and Le Bris seemed much happier after last Sunday’s 0-0 home draw with Leeds. “We saw Sunderland on the pitch today,” said the 50-year-old. “We showed we want to embrace the challenge. We were ourselves.”

A manager arguably let down by this summer’s recruitment refuses to fret about a demanding itinerary that, given Wednesday night’s 3-2 Carabao Cup win against Brentford, has just become even more congested.

“You won’t hear me complaining about this new journey, the busy schedule,” said Le Bris. “This is exactly where we want to be, with the opportunity to play regularly in Europe, to be competing in the Premier League and the domestic cups too.

“It’s demanding, but it creates the conditions to get better, to evolve and to be more proactive.”

If his attempts to introduce a more attacking style this season have produced mixed results, Sunderland’s manager has been hampered by the club’s failure to sign a long-coveted right winger, and a Premier League-ready striker capable of competing with Wilson Isidor as Brian Brobbey’s understudy. Recent injuries to Brobbey and Isidor have exposed a glaring lack of cover in this department.

While Florent Ghisolfi, Sunderland’s director of football, presided over some brilliantly radical recruitment immediately after promotion, backroom churn at the Stadium of Light has seen two previously key transfer market experts leave in the past year.

The formerly influential sporting director, Kristjaan Speakman, departed amicably once it became apparent there was too much overlap with Ghisolfi’s role. Stuart Harvey, the head of player recruitment, also left by “mutual consent.”

Now the technical director at Stoke, Harvey was very highly regarded, with his intelligent use of data said to have played a significant part as he and Speakman helped lift Sunderland from League One to the top tier.

Ghisolfi, recruited from Roma, has an exceptional European contacts book and remains much admired. Yet in the case of Kevin Danso, a Tottenham loanee defender who will sign permanently next summer, his decision to prioritise height and power this summer has possibly proved questionable. Although an excellent character off the pitch, Danso has made some worrying individual errors as Sunderland have struggled in the absence of the hamstrung Ballard.

Paradoxically, the team’s one relatively diminutive summer signing - the £30m former Lyon winger Malick Fofana - has struggled to make an impact on the left. That said, a much-improved Carabao Cup performance against Brentford hinted of better things to come from the 21-year-old Belgium international.

The richly talented Le Fée remains integral to Le Bris’s plans, but constructing the right framework to bring out the best in a playmaker reportedly close to a senior France call-up has proved tricky at times.

It does not help that Granit Xhaka has not quite been his usual imperious self this season. Maybe at 34, age is catching up with the defensive midfielder, and perhaps Switzerland’s World Cup journey took his toll on the international captain? Certainly Xhaka’s recent suspension from the Switzerland squad after his admission of purchasing a fake Covid vaccination certificate has been an unwelcome distraction.

Le Bris, now working with a new set-piece coach, could do with having Xhaka back to his best at Coventry, and is also hoping Mukiele recovers from a minor throat injury to start.

There is a certain irony that, in August, Lampard described the Wearsiders as a post-promotion role model. “Sunderland’s story is important and something we’ve analysed,” he said. “To see how they played last season gives us inspiration.

“But now it is up to us to write that story for ourselves.”