Boss Regis Le Bris feels Sunderland can only get better after the Frenchman started his reign with a 2-0 win at Cardiff.
Luke O’Nien headed Sunderland in front after 18 minutes before Jack Clarke struck in the 89th minute to ensure the Le Bris era started in style.
The visitors had just 35 per cent of the ball at Cardiff City Stadium, although victory ended Sunderland’s 10-game winless run in opening-day matches played in the top two tiers of English football.
Le Bris believes his new club can drastically improve on their successful showing in the Welsh capital.
“It wasn’t easy to start away, especially here at Cardiff, the game was tough,” he said.
“We started well, I think, and when we scored the goal, the game changed because Cardiff took more risks.
“Sometimes we had some good sequences but for the whole game, it wasn’t dominant.
“The satisfaction is the team spirit because even when we were not dominant, we kept the consistency and organisation.
“I’m happy because we won and this is our main goal.
“Sometimes the balance of the game is not the one expected so we need to deal with it.
“I’m sure we will improve many things in our training sessions. We need to improve very quickly but with this team spirit I think we can grow quickly.”
Dennis Cirkin headed Patrick Roberts’ free-kick into the path of O’Nien, who was left unmarked to nod into the net from close range early on.
Erol Bulut’s men created chances to get something from the contest, with Dimitrios Goutas going the closest to beating Anthony Patterson while Ethan Horvath did well to deny Eliezer Mayenda at the other end.
But Clarke sealed victory late on after cutting on to his right foot, beating Perry Ng in the process, before curling beyond Horvath to send the travelling supporters into raptures.
It proved to be a frustrating afternoon for the Bluebirds, whose style shift was evident as they looked to control possession far more than in Bulut’s first season at the club.
The Cardiff boss acknowledged his new signings – including Wilfried Kanga, Anwar El Ghazi and Alex Robertson – need time to reach full match fitness as the Bluebirds bid to fully adapt to their new methods of play.
“Last season, we tried to build and now we are trying to add quality and speed,” said Bulut.
“Today against Sunderland, you saw we had a higher ball percentage than the opponent, this is what we’ll try to do this season but we also have to score goals.
“This will come. I see the positives. We created (chances), we didn’t score but in the coming weeks the goals will come.
“I am disappointed about the result but not from what we showed in the 90 minutes. We could get at least one point. We controlled the game.”
Cardiff remain in the hunt for additional firepower in the final stages of the summer transfer window.
Bulut says the Bluebirds could still add a further three players to their ranks before the deadline.
“We are looking, negotiating with a few positions where we have a need (to strengthen),” added Bulut. “I hope we can finalise two or three.”
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