Sunderland conclude their three-game US tour when they face Championship side WrexhamRobin Roefs will make his first appearance of the pre-season campaign when Sunderland face Wrexham in the final friendly of their US tour on Sunday.The Black Cats face Phil Parkinson’s side in Pennsylvania (5pm KO BST) and will welcome back their goalkeeper following his World Cup commitments with the Netherlands earlier this summer. Having missed Sunderland’s 1-0 defeat to Leeds United, Wilson Isidor will also miss Sunday’s game. Head coach Régis Le Bris confirmed that Isidor had flown back to the UK to deal with a personal issue but should be back in training on Wearside next week.Le Bris is set to follow a very similar formula with his starting XI and subs to the Leeds United game, with a similar starting XI heavily rotated either at half time or the hour mark.“Yeah, Robin will play tomorrow,” Le Bris said.“Wilson has had a personal problem issue, not a major one at this stage but he had to come back to England. He will join the team early next week.“And for the lineup we’ll keep the same principles more or less, trying to manage the game time according to different situations. So we are a bit further along now. So probably tomorrow we’ll have a strong XI to start again from an experience perspective in the Premier League and in the squad, progressively, we’ll manage 45 if needed or 60 if it’s possible. And it’s still possible to check during the half-time, if it’s good to go further or if it’s needed, to stop.”Le Bris says he expects there to be some fatigue in his team’s performance on Sunday having had a heavy workload in training of late, but is pleased with the progress they are making ahead of the start of the Premier League this season later this month.“We have this season the privilege to build on something,” Le Bris said.“Because last season, we created, I think, a strong culture throughout the year. We started with the idea to stay in the league and we were really focused on our defensive shape, with the ability to counter-attack, to create a situation for fast attacks after our regains and we were good on set-pieces as well. “And progressively, we built other layers,” he added.“And I think at the end of the season, we were really balanced with the ability to manage different situations properly. So we have this advantage this season and even with the World Cup players [absent], we felt from the beginning that this culture is stronger. And with their comeback, gradually, they will get more game time. Then we’ll be back in England with four or five new players, Granit, Chemsdine and so on. We build progressively the reconnection“So it’s very positive from the beginning of the season. I think the fitness level is getting better, the energy is stronger now and e might be a bit tired tomorrow because the camp was focused also on the energy. So maybe the tank won’t be full tomorrow but it’s still positive.”Continue Reading
Régis Le Bris issues Sunderland team news update and confirms selection plan
