'Bouncebackability' could be Sunderland's newly-discovered secret weapon

Yesterday at 01:00 AM

Sunderland's youthful charges have often been swept along by the tide - under Régis Le Bris, however, a quietly impressive resilience is building.

Gritty. Dogged. Resilient.

These are three decidedly un-sexy adjectives. They conjure images of scowling, bruising defenders smashing into a 50-50 challenge, perhaps, or a breathless midfielder sprinting forty yards in order to track a runner. Hardly highlight reel stuff, yet arguably some of the most important actions on a football pitch, depending on who you ask.

Either way, it's hardly ground breaking to suggest that these are attributes which Sunderland have lacked in recent times.

I'd argue that Alex Neil's side were the last to properly channel these over a prolonged period, having to fight tooth and nail every week just to have a sniff of promotion from League One.

Tony Mowbray's Sunderland, by contrast, were much more effervescent.

Propelled by youthful exuberance, creativity, and no shortage of quality, they could run riot when given the chance, riding the wave all the way into the Championship playoffs in 2022/2023. A run of four wins in the final six games clinched it, with that remarkable dispatching of Preston on the final day a real highlight.

However.

I lost count of the number of times I'd either utter or hear the phrase 'If we score first...'.

That team was a vibes team, and if the vibes were good and we got on top early, we'd usually be out of sight sharpish, but if not...

Now, being able to build up a head of steam and capitalise on momentum to bring goals and, ultimately points is hardly a handicap to a promotion-hunting team. Crucially, though, it's not enough on its own. Nowhere near enough.

Attack wins you games. Defence wins you titles.

Who am I to argue with Sir Alex Ferguson?

He knows a thing or two about winning football matches, I've heard. And titles.

It's this maxim that Régis Le Bris seems to have taken to heart and begun instilling in his charges, and it's showing real signs of bedding in, even with his reign still in its infancy.

Le Bris' tactics and the way he sets up his team most weeks speaks clearly to this mindset. We've all watched the games and read the tactical breakdowns, so I'll not waste much time on that here.

It's plain to see, though, that Le Bris values defensive solidity, structure, and regimented pressing in his sides. Again, these are hardly swashbuckling, extravagant ideas, are they? But they work. We're top of the league!

However, more important than the style of football, for me, is the mentality Le Bris seems to have almost fully embedded in this team in just five short months.

Of course, there are ways to show your dedication to the cause on the ball.

The willingness to take a man on, to try something special, to bust a gut for a goalscoring chance, but there are also ways to prove that you have the requisite character, that never-say-die belief, the pure unbroken focus on the prize at stake, that go way beyond what you do with the ball at your feet.

You see it in the little things.

The way Le Bris constantly demands improvement, even after we dismantled Sheffield Wednesday. The way Dan Neil fronted up after giving away a horrendous penalty at Vicarage Road. The way Wilson Isidor looks ready to break his neck for a chance in the starting eleven.

These are the intangibles that could potentially turn a talented group of youngsters into a Premier League outfit.

If you think back to Mowbray's Sunderland or, specifically Michael Beale's Sunderland, do you think they'd have even fought back to 2-2 against Plymouth, having shipped an own goal and a penalty? Do you think they'd have snatched that freak, last-gasp point against Leeds?

I know my answer, and the Leeds game especially was a massive statement, for me.

Yes, we didn't win, but the way we responded to letting our lead slip, especially in the second half, was real gutsy stuff.

There was adaptability from Le Bris, who managing to get us organised and playing football in Leeds' half, rather than ours, following the interval. There was also a clear belief among the players that not only were they good enough to be able to take the game back to Leeds, but that they simply were going to score. By hook or by crook. Or by Illan Meslier, I suppose.

Finally, the hangover of losing games can be hard to shift, as we saw last season, yet Le Bris' side has followed up each of their three defeats with an immediate victory.

Just as winning can be a habit in football, so can the opposite, and the ability to shake off any setback by winning the next game is the stuff of champions.

That penchant for rebounding, that 'bouncebackability', is the biggest improvement we've made, not just under Le Bris, but (barring Alex Neil) since long before our relegation from the Premier League last time out.

Sunderland have been many things in my time supporting them, most of them negative, but 'resilient' and 'mentally strong' certainly haven't been among them, not since Roy Keane's famous injury-time winner enjoyers, anyway!