Sunderland will undergo a makeover following Regis Le Bris’ arrival.
Le Bris was appointed as Sunderland’s new manager over the weekend, leaving Lorient after they were relegated to Ligue 2.
The Frenchman will look to bring in some fresh faces to the squad, while he will also move things around and bring in his own system.
Mike Dodds adopted a 3-5-2 formation towards the end of the season, and while it seemed to work at first, it certainly wasn’t anything to shout about.
Le Bris is likely to take on the same formation, after enjoying great success with it in his first year at Lorient.
There will likely be certain players already at the Stadium of Light who will fit perfectly into his system, while others will struggle.
Three players who will thrive under Le Bris
Luke O’Nien
O’Nien has been used in both a back four and a back three, but looked like one of the more solid members of the defence in the final months of the campaign.
The defender looks a lot more comfortable with more back-up alongside him, while his passing ability will likely to be important under Le Bris.
The 48-year-old’s tactics need defenders who can pass the ball out from the back into the midfield.
O’Nien made more passes than any other Sunderland player last term.
The 29-year-old could well have found himself on the bench next season if the Black Cats had adopted a four-man defence, but looks likely to earn himself another chance under Le Bris.
Dan Neil
Le Bris demands his midfielders to collect the ball from the defence and trigger the attack, feeding in the ball and playing progressive passes through the channels.
Neil is brilliant at that and is the only Sunderland player you can really trust to pick up the ball and dictate the play, before creating chances for the forwards.
He often makes those passes forward that are screaming out for someone to get on the end of, but the lack of movement elsewhere prevents that.
Nazariy Rusyn
The ‘clunky’ striker really struggled for Sunderland after arriving last summer, while his season was ended early due to injury.
Dodds preferred to play Jobe as more of a target man, however Le Bris prefers a striker who has pace, plenty of movement and can run in behind.
Rusyn has already proven that he can spot the space to run into, while he will outpace a lot of defenders.
If the Ukrainian can actually receive the ball to feet – which rarely happened last season – then he could fit the mould that Le Bris is looking to build.