Régis Le Bris has praised Patrick Roberts for his role in Sunderland’s superb start to the pre-season campaign.
Roberts had a difficult season last time out, badly hampered by two hamstring injuries which saw him miss a significant chunk of games and left him searching for rhythm thereafter. This season he already has four goal contributions, and has been an integral part of the XI that have fired the Black Cats to the top of the early second-tier table.
Le Bris says Roberts’ conditioning has been a key factor in his resurgence, and says he has learned from the challenges he faced last season. The trio of Roberts, Trai Hume and Chris Rigg have been key to how Le Bris has gotten his side in such good early season form.
“I really like Patrick, an experienced player and he is very fit,” Le Bris said.
“I think that last season was not so good for him but he learned. He’s 27, so you can learn from all your experiences. At the moment, he is very good for the team because he has learned from all of these previous experiences and his quality as a winger is very interesting. That triangle on the right side has been very interesting because they are very linked, very clever. They can combine and can create many things for us in and out of possession. It’s a good experience for the triangle on the other side. I’m very happy with Patrick.”
Roberts will have a crucial role to play when Sunderland return to action at Hull City next Sunday.
