WATSON PLAN EXPLAINED

Regis Le Bris insists that Tommy Watson is still in his plans for the remainder of the season, despite bringing on Eliezer Mayenda to play on the left wing when Romaine Mundle came off against WBA and also introducing Milan Aleksic late in the game instead of the outgoing Watson.

MUNDLE HAMSTRING

“It’s a re-injury to his hamstring. We don’t know the time frame yet. We need more information from the specialists.”

RECURRING INJURIES

“It is not unusual, it’s football because of the speed of the game and the repetition of sprints and evolution of the game and the players as well. For example for our wingers many of them are like sprinters so they are more vulnerable for this type of injury. And at the same time we want to improve our way of working and I think here we have many people researching and so we are fully connected with this service.”

TOMMY STILL CONNECTED

“Absolutely, Tommy is in my thoughts. We have choices to make as a coach and staff. He is connected with the team and motivated to be promoted at the end of the season. He is a Sunderland player until the end of the season and I’m confident about using him as a left or right winger, or in another position until the end of the season.”

DON'T RUSH LE FEE

“First of all we have to protect Enzo. The question mark for him is to gradually improve his shape and his connection to the team. Without being in a rush. That’s the first idea. The second idea is we will see as we still have six games left in this league so there are many experiences, many opportunities to have different options. The core of the group is still small but we are in a very good place. We can manage a little bit more, the rotation and giving experience to other players, it’s possible.”

ONTO NORWICH

“They are a good team. Strong in possession with many threats to score, to run in behind, to dribble, to play over the top, to play around. They are really impressive in possession, to build up and create imbalance and attack, in their counter-attack as well, they have many many threats, They have many options in this team. We will have to manage a tough game I think."

MOMENTUM BEFORE PLAY-OFFS

“We still have to build this momentum. Whatever our game, whatever our opponent, the line-up, the squad, we want the team to be consistent. At West Brom we showed very strong consistency out of possession especially. This will be our objective, to keep learning, pushing and improving different elements in our game. We showed against West Brom we have a team with a desire to win, the mindset is the main point. If we can manage the load and minutes of the core of the squad it will be better but we will see.”