Granit Xhaka makes strong statement on Regis Le Bris' future and what needs to change

GRANIT XHAKA insists Sunderland’s players have to take responsibility for the dreadful run of form that sees them rooted to the foot of the Premier League table – and admits there is no chance of turning things around unless they cut out the costly errors that have contributed to the club’s last two away defeats.

Saturday’s 3-1 defeat at Coventry City leaves the Black Cats two points adrift of safety, having won just one of their opening nine league matches, and led to increased questions over the future of head coach Regis Le Bris, who conceded after the game that his side are currently involved in a relegation battle.

While Sunderland have enjoyed considerable success in the cup competitions this season, claiming seven points from their opening three Europa League matches and reaching the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup, their league form is a source of major concern, but Xhaka claims it would be wrong to point the finger at anyone other than the players.

“The coach is not the problem,” said the Sunderland skipper. “The staff is not the problem. We have a very good feeling within the group and we know what we want to do. We are prepared very well from the staff side of things.

“But it is up to us. And if you are not doing the things that you are training all week for, then you will have problems. And as I keep on saying, the mistakes are killing us at the moment. If you can’t stop them, then you can’t win.”

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For the first time in more than half-a-century, Sunderland are having to juggle the demands of the domestic programme with a European schedule that guarantees a minimum of eight extra matches in the Europa League, with the likelihood of even more if the Black Cats progress to the knockout stages.

Sunderland are back in European action this Thursday when Dinamo Zagreb visit the Stadium of Light, but Xhaka rejects the suggestion that being in Europe is the best explanation for the club’s flatlining league form.

“We cannot use Europe as an excuse,” said the Swiss midfielder. “Absolutely not. If that is the reason, then go out of Europe and admit you cannot do it. If that is the problem, for us as players, or even as some players, then be honest and say, ‘Okay, I can’t play every three days, I can’t handle this’. But that is just an excuse. You have to be able to handle it. It is not the problem.”

Instead, Xhaka points to the number of costly individual errors in the last two away games at Bournemouth and Coventry as the biggest factor behind Sunderland’s inability to haul themselves off the foot of the table.

Having imploded at the Vitality Stadium, the Black Cats’ defence creaked repeatedly again as Coventry scored three goals in the opening 52 minutes at the CBS Arena. Tatsuhiro Sakamoto opened the scoring when Trai Hume’s attempted clearance struck Luke O’Nien, while Omar Alderete deflected two goals past Robin Roefs before he was sent off in stoppage time after picking up two yellow cards in the space of five minutes.

“Of course, things are not right, we are bottom of the league,” said Xhaka. “We didn’t win [at Coventry]. We wanted to win and we knew how important the game was. If you see all the game, then it is not like Coventry created lots and lots of chances. But we are making our life very, very difficult at the moment.

“We are doing that to ourselves, and we need to stop this. The moment we stop this, as you saw against Leeds, against Brentford, against Lech Poznan in the Europa League, we have the quality. We have the team to turn this around, but the mistakes have to stop.

“I don’t know [why there are so many mistakes]. Is it a mental thing? Is it that you go onto the pitch thinking about not making mistakes and then exactly the opposite happens? It is not like the opponents are killing us and creating lots and lots of chances. It is just the mistakes we are making. When you are conceding two or three goals every game, you have no chance of winning in the Premier League, or any football game to be honest.

“It is not about a lack of effort, absolutely not. We are working really well during the week, we are working as hard as we can in the games as well. It is just what I have been talking about, how many mistakes we are making and then we concede.”