REGIS Le Bris admits Sunderland have a penalty “problem” after a fourth consecutive miss from the spot and intends to sit down with his players this week to determine a plan moving forward.
After Patrick Roberts missed at Sheffield United and Wilson Isidor missed two at Burnley, Luke O’Nien stepped up against Millwall on Saturday, but his late spot-kick was saved.
Thankfully for the Black Cats, it didn’t prove costly, with Trai Hume’s first-half goal enough to secure all three points for Le Bris’ side.
Le Bris revealed afterwards that it was decided before the game that O’Nien was the allocated penalty taker, but admits he’s unsure who will now take the next spot-kick should Sunderland win another before the end of the season.
He said, “I don’t know; what can I answer?
“Yes, it’s a problem because, from an XG perspective, this is the best situation, the best chance we could have, and at the minute we struggled a lot, and it’s an important topic for us, for the future, and for now because with a second goal, the end of the game should have been easier, and it wasn’t the case.
“Luke was really good during the training sessions; I think he scored before for Sunderland. So it’s more a question of, I don’t think a defender or an offensive player is more skilled for that specific exercise; we’ll work on it, sure.”
Having won the penalty, Romaine Mundle looked disappointed not to be taking it.
Le Bris said: “It was decided before the game (that O’Nien would take it) but yes, he (Mundle) was a bit emotional but it’s not a problem; we’ll talk about it a bit later.”
Asked who will take the next penalty, he said, “I don’t know; we’ll have a conversation with the players.”
Sunderland got back to winning ways after the heavy defeat at Coventry before the break.
Le Bris said, “It was an important win; it was important to react after the break.
“It was not really impressive but we showed the right team spirit. The opponent was strong out of possession, and it was tough, but we showed good phases of play, energy, and body language. The way we pressed and defended together in the end, I think we deserved this win.
“This was an important win after the break and the chance to show the right team spirit. This is a new chapter now and we cannot waste time. We need to build momentum and be prepared for every minute we play.
“The games we play now will be very tight and we need to build on this.”
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