Regis Le Bris explains Eliezer Mayenda decision that sparked Sunderland's victory
REGIS LE BRIS was always confident his faith in Eliezer Mayenda would prove justified, and was delighted to see the teenager silencing his critics in this evening’s win over Sheffield United.
Mayenda came in for a fair amount of criticism when he spurned excellent chances in both the Boxing Day draw with Blackburn Rovers and Sunday’s defeat at Stoke City.
However, rather than dropping the 19-year-old, Le Bris issued a strong pre-match vote of confidence in Mayenda prior to tonight’s game with the Blades, and handed him a modified attacking role in a new-look formation that saw him playing up front alongside Wilson Isidor.
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Mayenda responded superbly, scoring Sunderland’s opener before setting up Isidor for the goal that ultimately secured the 2-1 victory that lifted the Black Cats to within two points of the automatic-promotion positions.
“I spoke about it in the last press conference, young players deserve support,” said Le Bris. “They can make mistakes and they have to learn from experiences. “When they are not in their best moment, we have to believe in the talent and that they will succeed.
“I think we showed the whole team, the fans, the staff, the club - that Eli could play like this. He played a good game, I think.
“I didn't say much (to Mayenda) after the Stoke game. We slept for two days to recover, there wasn't time! At the end of the Stoke game, I just said, 'It's done, it's finished. Now it is the next game’.
“We deserved to win that game because we had many chances, but we didn't. So, we just had to stop, not overthink. Football is like this, and we did well tonight.”
Having finished on the wrong side of a tight scoreline when they were beaten at Bramall Lane in late November, Sunderland extracted revenge by beating the Blades in an action-packed game that could also have gone either way.
“It was a tough game," said Le Bris. “Sheffield played very good football and with the players we had in the squad, we played with a different style. We had to control the way they play, especially through our lines.
“When it was possible to recover the ball, we knew that we had two quick players to run in behind and to threaten the space in behind their defence. We did very well in this part of the game.
“At 2-1, they pushed a lot for a goal, and the spirit of our team was very good, we were connected with the fans and we felt their energy. And we avoided a late equaliser.
“We could have scored again, but this was a balanced game, I think. We know that just one decision, one sequence can make a difference.”
