Régis Le Bris explains Sunderland plan for international break and what he'll be focusing on

Régis Le Bris is relishing the opportunity to fine tune his tactical ideas over the international break.

First and foremost the long interval before Sunderland travel to Hull City will allow his players to recover from a challenging schedule, and give the club the opportunity to get some key players back closer to full fitness. But it will also give Le Bris the chance to work with his players and build on an encouraging start to the season in which they have taken nineteen points from the first nine games.

With a bigger sample to analyse than at the time of the last international break, Le Bris believes identifying the weak points in Sunderland's game and the areas where they need to improve will be a much easier process than earlier in the season and he had already had some idea what those would be after the 2-2 draw with Leeds United.

"We need to make an assessment of the last round of games we've had and I think it is also important now that the players rest and recover," Le Bris said.

"We will analyse deeper our game and I think it is easier now because it is less unstable, we can find easier now the two or three things we need to develop. The foundation and the talent of the players and the team is now stable so the areas we can improve will I think be easier to understand.

"Now, we need to improve. Especially, for example, in our 4-4-2 shape and we mark man for man. We still want to apply a high press but if we are not able to win the second ball then it gives us a lot of problems. It's these kind of situations that we can develop during the international break."

Le Bris is hopeful that Aaron Connolly will be ready to debut after the international break, while Dan Ballard and Eliezer Mayenda should also be ready for selection for the trip to Hull City on October 20th. Le Bris has confirmed that Connolly will make his first appearances in a red-and-white shirt in two U21s fixtures over the international break.