Sunderland concluded their pre-season campaign with a 2-1 win over Stade Rennais at the Stadium of Light
Thomas Meunier has emerged as a major injury doubt for Sunderland’s clash with Ipswich Town on the opening day of the Premier League season.
Meunier made an excellent debut at RC Lens last week but was absent due to back pain as Sunderland concluded their pre-season campaign with a 2-1 win over Stade Rennais at the Stadium of Light. The right back will be assessed this week but Régis Le Bris also confirmed that Omar Alderete and Nordi Mukiele are on track to play some part at Portman Road, having admitted last week that it might be too soon for either to start the game.
“We don’t know yet for Thomas, it’s a back pain,” Le Bris said.
“So, we’ll see. Omar is in a good place, he should train next week with the group so that’s good news. And for Nordi, we are not too far as well. So, we expect them to be more or less available for Ipswich.”
Le Bris would not be drawn on reports that the club are now close to an agreement for Toulouse left back Dayann Methalie: “I can’t comment on something in the air so, we’ll see.
“I know Kyril and Flo are working hard behind the scenes. No worries about that. After that, the output is always connected with the market and we don’t know, I hope so.”
RLB reveals half-time message to Sunderland players
Le Bris said a significant increase in intensity in the second half was key to Sunderland’s win over Stade Rennais, as they battled back from Esteban Lepaul’s penalty to win through Brian Brobbey and Trai Hume. In truth, it could have been more as the hosts dominated the latter stages.
“Happy with the second half, because I think the first half was not aggressive enough,” he said.
“I think it was clear during the half-time with the players. Rennes have a good team with good players and it was too easy to play. Was it for their goal kick restart or their low build-up, even in the mid-block? We didn’t impose our intentions and we switched on in the second half. I think it was much better.
“The reality of the competition is about intensity,” he added.
“When you don’t lift this intensity at the right level, you can’t play. So it’s a good reminder, an important reminder, before Ipswich. We expect more than that because Ipswich is a newly promoted side, playing at home in the first game is going to be demanding. From an intensity perspective, we’ll have to play the second half rather than the first one.”