REGIS Le Bris sat down with Eliezer Mayenda on Monday morning and told the teenager just how impressed he was by the way he adapted to his new Sunderland role at Millwall.
With Sunderland’s squad depleted for Saturday’s trip to the capital, Le Bris was forced to shuffle his pack and started Mayenda at right-wing.
The head coach admitted the switch was something of a step into the unknown, for although Mayenda has played in that position in the past, it’s not something Le Bris had previously considered.
But the Frenchman was enormously impressed, and although there’s plenty of room for improvement, he saw huge potential in Mayenda in that wide area.
“Eliezer played as a right winger and I spoke with him this morning about it,” said Le Bris.
“I said that I had no expectations about him before the game because we didn’t know how he would do, and he did very well.”
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Mayenda will almost certainly drop out of the side for West Brom’s visit to the Stadium of Light, with Patrick Roberts available again after the first choice right-winger served his one-match ban at Millwall.
But Le Bris learnt plenty from Saturday’s trip to the Den, where he was forced to think outside the box.
He said: “It is good for me. Sometimes when you have fewer players, it can force you to be creative. In that situation the players can find out new layers about the game and it was really the case here.
“When I spoke to Eliezer this morning I said that I did not expect too much because I knew this was new. He played very well as a real winger. There are many things to improve, distances out of possession, the triggers [for pressing] and so on but the way he played against Millwall, a good team and especially away, it was impressive.
“These were tough conditions but it created an opportunity to find something new. It can be like this with young players, you think you are struggling a lot but you can discover something new and it’s really enjoyable for me.”
Another player who impressed Le Bris in a new role was Aaron Connolly, who played in a deeper attacking role at Millwall and fired Sunderland in front with his first goal for the club. That both are comfortable in slightly different positions is a crucial discovery for Le Bris, who knows he’ll need depth and options as the season progresses.
Le Bris said: “Aaron showed he can play as a 10. We played a very good game in the first half and this is good for the depth of the squad.
“We know we need 16 or 17 players able to play and make an impact as a substitute. We would have liked to have won more games [recently] but I think for our process, we are heading in the right direction.”
Dennis Cirkin is again expected to miss Tuesday’s West Brom game, with Aji Alese set to continue at left-back. But Jobe Bellingham and Trai Hume join Roberts in being available to return. Leo Hjelde and Nazariy Rusyn have also shaken off the niggles that forced them to miss Millwall.
