Sunderland boss Regis le Bris was not happy with his side’s performance in their 0-0 draw at Preston in the Championship.
A second successive goalless draw extended the visitors’ unbeaten run to seven matches and edged them two points clear at the top of the table.
But their display at Deepdale did not reach Le Bris’ standards.
“We are not happy because this was not the performance that we wanted to execute today but, in the end, it is a point,” the Sunderland manager said.
Patrick Roberts and Romaine Mundle were surprisingly on the bench – with both featuring in the second half – but Le Bris put this down to keeping his options fresh.
“It’s a long league with many games in the week,” he added.
“We have to manage the team and the squad and give opportunities to other players because we’ll need them for sure.
“We need to also manage the others as they can get tired and we need them in the best shape.
“We know that (Roberts is) a big strength that we miss for sure but it was expected that the last 30 minutes were for him and I think we changed the dynamic of the game in that moment.”
Sunderland’s changes meant forward Wilson Isidor started in a wide role.
Le Bris acknowledged his performance could have been better, but believes the move will have benefitted his career.
“He’s a young player and he needs the opportunity to learn,” Le Bris added.
“He can’t imagine the difficulties before playing so it’s good for him.
“He worked for the team. Obviously, it wasn’t the best performance we can expect from him but it’s just normal because he needs time.”
Preston boss Paul Heckingbottom was frustrated with the officiating and his team’s inefficiency in front of goal.
Early on, referee Lewis Smith chose to give Chris Mepham a yellow card as opposed to a red for a cynical foul against Sam Greenwood on the edge of the box.
“We’ve been performing really well but things are going against us at the minute,” Heckingbottom said.
“We had three really good chances in the first half that could have made the game really comfortable and obviously the referee’s decisions could make the game a little bit more comfortable for us.
“Whilst we’re not getting the help from the officials, having five shocking decisions in the last eight games, it does make it harder, but we could have still done enough ourselves in this game and in previous games to get a lot more points.
“We’ve got an identity and we’ve got a clear style and people are having to change and are having to be really disciplined and how we perform in order to try and get the better of us.
“I take that as a compliment but what comes with that is that we’re never going to play a team who’s underprepared.”
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