SUNDERLAND shut-out Erling Haaland twice – now they must stop Igor Thiago to make it six unbeaten.
The high-flying Black Cats head to seventh-placed Brentford, who are ahead of them on goal difference, with the third-best defensive record in the top-flight.
His defensive gladiators, who could be bolstered by Dan Ballard’s return to the starting XI after his cameo off the bench at Tottenham following an ankle injury, have already stood tall against the Prem’s best.
And they have been hard at work hatching another plan to stop the Bees’ 14-goal red-hot Brazilian after his hat-trick at Everton.
Le Bris said: “In this league we have many, many good strikers. So for our players it’s important to watch their preferences, how they work to receive balls in the box especially.
“Thiago is one of these players, [Kevin] Schade is really good as well. We’ve worked on the opposition analysis and I know that Nordi [Mukiele], Ballard, Trai [Hume] and our defenders will work on this specific topic.”
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While Ballard and Hume have blossomed on the big stage after being pivotal to last season’s promotion, summer signings Omar Alderete and Mukiele have provided the extra steel that has made Sunderland so difficult to beat.
Le Bris said: “We are doing well so far and Omar is really good as well. For our game model we found the right players and they are really pleased to defend this box, protect the goal and the mentality is great.”
Versatile Mukiele has been a bargain at just £9.5m from Paris Saint-Germain. And Le Bris has been delighted with the impact of the one-capped 28-year-old France international.
He said: “He’s getting better as well. It was obvious that he was a really good player, but now it’s a question of consistency, especially in this league. He plays in different roles, which is really important.
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“He shows his quality in duels, in the air and on the ground, and with the ball he’s getting better, more consistent with the ability to play through. He’s in a really good place.”
While Sunderland, with 30 points in the bank already, have earned plenty of plaudits so far this term, Le Bris concedes they need to start turning draws into wins if they are to keep up with the top dogs.
Only Arsenal have lost less Prem games – but they top the league when it comes to draws.
Sunday’s 1-1 draw at Tottenham was their fourth-in-a-row and ninth from their opening 20 games. And that is something Sunderland’s head coach admits is frustrating.
He said: “It’s a strong platform to evolve and to improve. We would like to win more games but this league is so demanding that sometimes one point is good, it’s really good.
“And from this consistency, this character, this ability to manage different scenarios, we have the ability to improve different areas. It’s still a learning process. We don’t have many training sessions to do that, so the games are the training sessions and you want to get better.”
Though after managing the loss of six stars to AFCON, Le Bris has been pleased to come through a testing festive period with just one defeat in eight.
He added: “It’s a good run. We showed great consistency, this good level of play across different scenarios. Probably we want to turn this consistency into more wins because I know that this ambition within the squad is really there, but so far it was good.”
Sunderland are set for talks with a host of stars over a potential January exit next week.
Promotion heroes Anthony Patterson and Dan Neil have both been linked with loan moves after struggling for Premier League match action.
Defender Luke O’Nien has now joined the goalkeeper and midfielder in becoming a target for a host of Championship sides.
And their Black Cats boss revealed that he plans to have a chat with all of his frustrated players once Saturday’s FA Cup trip to Everton is over.
Le Bris said: “After Everton, we will have a period where we can have different conversations with the players. So far, it was probably not the best period to have those chats.
“For the players with less game time, they want to play. This is the normal life of a footballer. We will see what is possible.”
Sunderland, who signed 15 new players last summer, are looking to strengthen in attack and failed with a late £35m club-record move to hijack Crystal Palace’s swoop for Brennan Johnson last week.
And while he says there is “nothing at the minute” in terms of incomings, he did say: “If we can improve and reinforce the squad, we’ll try.”
