Sunderland won their penultimate pre-season friendly 2-0 at RC Lens
Régis Le Bris says he remains hopeful that Omar Alderete and Nordi Mukiele will be fit to start the new Premier League campaign in a fortnight but admits that they might not be ready to start against Ipswich Town.
Mukiele picked up a knock in the final game of Sunderland’s US tour, while Alderete is recovering from a knee issue that hampered him at the end of last season and Paraguay’s World Cup campaign. Both were absent as Sunderland beat RC Lens 2-0 at Stade Bollaert-Delelis, with Thomas Meunier and Luke O’Nien impressing in their absence.
On Mukiele, Le Bris said: “No, it’s not too serious, it’s a shame because I think his precision was really good, good standards, and he gave in goals on his right side, so just minor, but we need to take care of him. With Omar, it was an injury during the last game, just before the last game – so it’s just about stiffness, It’s not major, but it’s important to build his condition, so probably both of them should be on the bench for Ipswich, I think.”
The Sunderland head coach confirmed that Romaine Mundle was absent on Saturday due to a minor knock, though the injury that Simon Adingra suffered in the club’s win over Wrexham is more serious.
“Romaine is injured as well, he’s got a kick on his ankle so that one is minor,” Le Bris said.
“Simon might be a bit longer, so we are still monitoring his ankle and we need to wait.”
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Régis Le Bris delivers verdict on Sunderland win over RC Lens
Le Bris is pleased with the progress of his side as they stepped up their preparations for the new season with a win over a side who finished second in Ligue 1 last season and claimed the Coupe de France.
“We had good control in this game, we wanted to press high, manage their build-up and be able to dominate this phase, I think it worked well,” he said
“They were mobile, so it was a good practise for the next stage of the season, we were dominant to regain possession high, which is good, our build-up under their pressure was efficient as well, so happy about that, happy with the level of the squad and the players connecting progressively with the squad, the World Cup players for example, they got minutes today, and we feel that the core of the squad, who started earlier, is already good, so they can join and find the good rhythm.
we were away, a good stadium, with a good atmosphere, so it wasn’t a league game, but they pushed and it was important for us, and we found a solution to beat their press with our subs as well. I think it’s key in this season to build not only 11 players, but 16, 17, 18, ready to play and to achieve.”