Sunderland progressing despite loss maintains Régis Le Bris

The latest North East sport headlines, from Daniel Wales.

Transcript

00:00Sunderland were beaten 1-0 at the Stadium of Light on Saturday afternoon in a pre-season

00:04friendly match against Real Betis of Spain, but despite the loss, head coach Regis Labrice

00:11has made clear that his side are still progressing well as they prepare for their return to the

00:16Premier League.

00:17I think we added new building blocks today with Robin, Renildo and Granit, so first time

00:28in the squad and I think the first half was OK, interesting about our intentions, the way

00:36we controlled the ball, created chances and we defended with aggressiveness, so the first

00:44half was OK and during the second half probably the rhythm was a bit slower, so we need time

00:52but I think we will be ready.

00:54Ninety minutes as well into the legs of a lot of players for the first time this pre-season,

00:58an important step and milestone as we continue those building blocks for the new season.

01:03Yeah absolutely, we need time and experience together so this game was really important

01:09for that and against a good team, Real Betis are a good team.

01:15And Middlesbrough head coach Rob Edwards was pleased with his side's 2-2 draw against Deportivo

01:20La Coruña in what was their final friendly before the season starts.

01:24Tough game, good final game for us, they're a good team, lots of rotations and difficult

01:33to sort of play against, I think it was a really good test for us, I was pleased overall, there's

01:40bits that of course we've got to be better on and we've got to continue to improve that,

01:46but we've been in for five weeks, that's always going to be the case right now.

01:50But overall, please, the first goal was great, came from a high regain and aggressive press

01:55and we were ruthless, get TC a finish, one-touch finish with an open goal which is great,

02:01so that's good for us.

02:03I thought the response, we can be better in their goal, the first one, we lost the ball

02:09over near the touchline near us, but then the bent one in the top corner, we can still

02:13get closer and block it.

02:14Okay.

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