Régis Le Bris' Wear-Tees springboard
Yesterday at 01:00 AM
After Sunderland's first stutter of the Le Bris era, why not target a mouth-watering clash with the Boro to get back on track - and then some?
Too often, it seems, all we hear in the build up to the derby-that-isn't-a-derby is how poor our record is against Middlesbrough. "Sunderland can't get up for it like we can", the Teessiders will (maybe rightly) claim, while pointing to our recent clashes - which indeed largely favour Saturday's visitors. We've beaten them just once in the league since 2008. Ouch.
Indeed the very nature of the fixture sparks contention, with endless comparisons to our relationship with our darling black-and-white neighbours a constant reminder of the 'real' derby most of us long for, usually proving more a distraction for us than any sort of motivation.
Régis Le Bris won't be thinking of any of that, I promise you. And nor should he.
For Le Bris, this is almost the perfect fixture to come so soon after a devastating late blow cost us all the points at Plymouth. The wily Frenchman has already demonstrated his ability to rise above the noise - he hardly entered a sane football club in June, after last season - and has shown a remarkably cool head, even in the wake of the 4-0 demolition job he masterminded against Sheffield Wednesday. If there is anybody I trust to ignore the buzz and focus on the football, it's him.
In doing so, he must surely realise the opportunity we have in front of us. To bounce back with an immediate win would be important in itself, but the potential to lay down a real marker against a genuine playoff contender is absolutely huge, in my book. The badge they'll be wearing on their shirts would be the icing on the cake.
We've all waxed lyrical about 'Le Bris-ball' in the early knockings of the season, but there will understandably be some concerns when we stumble and drop points - and as Sunderland fans, I think we're often quick to doubt ourselves, in fear of hoping too much only to get hurt again (and again, and again...). However, what better way to kill the doubts before they take root than by stepping it up a gear, getting into Boro faces, and stamping our authority on proceedings from the first whistle?
Le Bris won't get sucked in to the history of the fixture or any of the surrounding furore as we tend to, which is all the better. He will stay calm, stick to his principles, and set up a team he thinks is capable of winning three points on Saturday. To lose focus and slip into the nerves that can come with a game like this, on the back of a chastening result, would be to play directly into Michael Carrick and Middlesbrough's hands.
That is why Le Bris should be excited by this game, and why he should have no issues motivating his charges. Forget who we're playing - win the game and all of a sudden, we're starting to open up a bit of a gap to seventh place, we've beaten Burnley and Middlesbrough, confidence is sky-high and there's no excuse not to buy in to what Le Bris is building here.
Rather than bear the scars of the past, it's about time we grasped the nettle and embraced the pressure of the not-derby. Regardless of what's gone before, that was then. This is now. After all, our manager is not Michael Beale, Tony Mowbray, or David Moyes - he is Régis Le Bris.
