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Sunderland’s players are unlikely to forget Monday 28 April any time soon. Régis Le Bris’s squad were in Portugal, settling into a pre-playoff training camp when the lights went out as one of Europe’s biggest power cuts plunged the Iberian peninsula into chaos.
Although Le Bris made light of the inconvenience and emphasised that the Algarve sunshine had been “re-energising” no one is quite sure whether he has managed to fix his team’s own worrying electrical faults.
There was certainly no sign of a back-up generator kicking into action and restoring the attacking power as Sunderland returned from the Atlantic coast to lose 1-0 to QPR at the Stadium of Light last Saturday. It was their fifth straight defeat.
Although they have been in a form of limbo since sealing a playoff place in early April, a significant improvement will be required if Sunderland are to overcome a Coventry side reborn under Frank Lampard’s transformative management during Friday night’s semi-final first leg in the Midlands.
When Lampard succeeded Mark Robins as manager in November they were 17th; now Wembley and, potentially, the Premier League beckon.
Two years ago a Coventry team featuring Sweden’s Viktor Gyökeres in attack fell at the final hurdle, losing the playoff final to Luton on penalties. Now Le Bris’s Sunderland players must contend with one of the game’s rising stars in Jack Rudoni.
The 23-year-old attacking midfielder, a £3.8m summer signing from Huddersfield, grew up as a Chelsea fan idolising Lampard from the Stamford Bridge stands. Now he is blossoming under the former England midfielder’s tuition. “Frank’s an amazing coach and a great guy,” said Rudoni, who has scored six goals and created five in his past 13 games. “You can see his influence in some of the stuff I’ve produced.”
Lampard, like Rudoni, cut an impressive, engaging, figure as, speaking over Zoom from a building site of a training base temporarily unable to accommodate more than a handful of journalists, he patiently offered reporters detailed, insightful answers to questions on Thursday.
Much, he suggested, may hinge on Coventry’s ability to subdue Sunderland’s precociously talented young midfielders Jobe Bellingham and Chris Rigg while also stifling the gifted Roma loanee Enzo Le Fée.
Experience has taught Lampard to trust his tactical instincts. He had, tellingly, never seen Ben Wilson play a live match until he dropped Brad Collins and recalled the 32-year-old goalkeeper for last Saturday’s playoff-securing home win against Middlesbrough. Wilson had spent the previous seven months sidelined by a knee injury.
“It was a big call,” said Coventry’s manager. “When you make a change for the last game of the season all eyes go on the goalkeeper. But I knew Ben was ready. His performance was outstanding.”
Now Wilson, born in Stanley, County Durham, and a Sunderland academy graduate, hopes to shatter the dreams of the club he grew up adoring. His response to the emotional pressure of Tuesday’s second leg at the 49,000-capacity Stadium of Light could be pivotal.
A 10-minute drive away at the Academy of Light, Sunderland’s expansive, immaculately well-manicured training campus, Le Bris affected outward unconcern about his players’ recent lack of goals and points.
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“We were in the top four all season but, after automatic promotion became unrealistic, we had nothing specific to chase,” said the Frenchman. “In that situation I think it’s tough for any team in the world. Paris Saint-Germain went unbeaten as they won Ligue 1 but, when they started to prepare for the Champions League semi-final, they lost two league games.”
It was a piece of typically logical analysis from Sunderland’s 49-year-old head coach, whose career trajectory contrasts dramatically with Lampard’s. After a playing career as a defender with, notably, Rennes, Le Bris gained a doctorate in sports physiology and biomechanics and a diploma in sports psychology before serving as an acclaimed youth coach at Lorient. It was not until 2022 that he became Lorient’s head coach – and began learning English.
These days he is as fluent as Le Fée’s passing but could have done without the dangerous winger Romaine Mundle missing the first leg with a hamstring injury as Sunderland aim to atone for a 3-0 Championship defeat at the CBS Arena in March.
As if the stakes were not high enough there remains a real edge between these teams’ supporters, dating from the final match of the 1976-77 season. Back then one of Bristol City, Coventry and Sunderland faced relegation from the top division. Sunderland lost at Everton, leaving their survival hopes dependent on there being an outright winner in Coventry’s game at home to Bristol City.
That game ended 2-2, with Sunderland furious that Jimmy Hill, then Coventry’s managing director, had delayed the kick off by 15 minutes, citing traffic congestion. With the result from Goodison Park broadcast, loudly, over the tannoy, Coventry and Bristol City went through the motions in the closing stages as mutual safety was secured.
The memory remains so molten that, when Sunderland visited Coventry in 2018, a police presence was required to protect Hill’s statue from vandalism by visiting fans.
“We want to change the story,” said Le Bris. “We want to be Premier League but, first, we need to write a new chapter against Coventry.”
