{"id":1420569,"date":"2025-12-22T18:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-22T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/?post_type=features&p=1420569"},"modified":"2025-12-22T21:37:27","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T21:37:27","slug":"analysis-sunderland-regis-le-bris-to-change-habits-festive-season-2025","status":"publish","type":"features","link":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/features\/analysis-sunderland-regis-le-bris-to-change-habits-festive-season-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Sunderland analysis: Regis Le Bris to change habits during festive season and AFCON?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Sunderland will be the most affected Premier League team by Africa Cup of Nations call-ups, which could force Regis Le Bris to change his ways.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Black Cats brought in 13 new faces during the summer transfer window to reinforce their squad in hopes of maintaining Premier League status following promotion from the Championship. 14 considering Marc Guiu, whose loan spell lasted less than a month before Chelsea recalling him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of those signings, an incredible seven are African players. Six of them will go to the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations and leave Regis Le Bris with fewer options to choose from over the next four weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n

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    The exception is Simon Adingra, who didn’t appear on the Ivory Coast squad – alongside Villarreal star and former Arsenal man Nicolas Pepe. Both missed out due to alleged ‘sporting and non-sporting factors’.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    How will Sunderland deal with mass absences during AFCON?<\/h2><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    Regis Le Bris has used 23 different players in the Premier League so far this season. However, two of them are no longer in the club: Patrick Roberts and Jenson Seelt, who are currently representing Birmingham and Wolfsburg on loan, respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    So this leaves the French manager with a 21-man squad to work with. It will be interesting to see whether the board decide to sign new players in the start of the upcoming January transfer window to help him storm the weather over the next month or so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    But the thing is that Sunderland are among the four teams with the fewest substitutions made per game in the current campaign. And they are one of only five with an average of under 4.0 per match (Nottingham Forest are the other one).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    So factoring in the six players who have left for international duty during AFCON and the tight calendar due to the festive season, it’s likely that Regis Le Bris will have to show more flexibility in terms of squad rotation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n