Sunderland back Regis Le Bris despite falling bottom of Premier League

Sunderland remain committed to manager Regis Le Bris despite sitting bottom of the Premier League after nine matches, BBC Sport reported on Monday. The club have won only once in the league this season and suffered a 3-1 defeat away to newly promoted Coventry City on Saturday, but the report says they believe the Frenchman can reverse their fortunes.

Watch the highlights:

The board is understood to favour stability and shared responsibility rather than a managerial change. That position comes before a week featuring a home Europa League match against Dinamo Zagreb on Thursday and a league visit from Chelsea on Sunday, ahead of the international break. Sunderland's only league victory this season came against Fulham on 30 August; their other eight matches have produced two draws and six defeats.

Le Bris, 50, arrived from Lorient in 2024 and secured promotion from the Championship in his first season, ending Sunderland's eight-year absence from the Premier League. He then led them to seventh place and Europa League qualification in their first campaign back. It was the club's first qualification for European competition in 53 years, giving the current leadership a recent record of substantial progress under the same manager.

Their European results have remained positive even as their league form has deteriorated. Sunderland have taken two wins and a draw from three Europa League matches, conceding only twice. They also beat Brentford 3-2 in the Carabao Cup last week to reach a quarter-final against Crystal Palace. However, BBC Sport's separate account of the Coventry defeat noted that Sunderland had collected just one point from the three league games immediately following European fixtures.

Defensive mistakes have been a particular problem. Sunderland have conceded 17 goals in nine league matches, compared with seven at the same stage last season, and have made seven errors leading to goals. Their attack has scored seven times, with only Nottingham Forest scoring fewer. After the Coventry loss, Le Bris acknowledged that unforced mistakes were allowing opponents to punish his team, while captain Granit Xhaka criticised their failure to reproduce work done in training.

The league schedule offers little respite. After Chelsea, Sunderland face Aston Villa, Tottenham, Liverpool and Newcastle before travelling to AC Milan in the Europa League on 10 December. A league meeting with Nottingham Forest follows three days later.