Régis Le Bris Tactics At Sunderland 2025/2026: How The Black Cats Are Defying Premier League Expectations – Tactical Analysis

Sunderland could not have dreamed of a better start to their Premier League season. 

The Black Cats currently sit fourth in the table after their 2-1 stoppage time win over Chelsea, making it three wins in their last four matches. 

It’s an incredible rise considering in October of 2020, they were sitting seventh in EFL League One with current Wrexham manager Phil Parkinson at the helm. 

At that time, their squad value, as per Transfermarkt, was £10.1m. 

In five years, they have risen 47 places in the English Football pyramid and have a squad valued at £299m. 

Régis Le Bris has done an incredible job over the past two seasons restoring the six-time English champions to their former glory. 

With the six most recent newly promoted teams prior to this season all getting relegated in their first campaign up, why have Sunderland been able to buck the trend so far? 

In this Régis Le Bris tactical analysis article, we will examine why Sunderland’s defensive structure is so effective, their in-possession tactics, and their effectiveness on set-pieces. 

Régis Le Bris Defensive Tactics

The main thing Sunderland have done well this season is defend in a low defensive block, but that is not all they do. 

From goal kicks, Le Bris will push players up to go man to man, but it’s not an all-out press.

They are trying to squeeze the opposition to one side of the pitch to either win the ball or force them to play it long. 

You can see here that against Wolves, they commit four players up to the press, but it only takes a couple of passes to rotate the ball, and Wolves are able to easily progress the ball up the pitch. 

Here, against Nottingham Forest, they commit to a full man-to-man press once the ball goes wide, trying to pin them.