Sunderland: Regis Le Bris facing toughest SoL challenge yet | OneFootball

The Black Cats are now winless in six games, and have started to fall away from the leading pack.

Sunderland are currently experiencing their worst run of the season and after losing 1-0 to promotion rivals Sheffield United on Friday evening, they are now winless in six.

It's been a very difficult few weeks for the Black Cats, who have gone from the league leaders to five points off the top in the space of a month.

Regis Le Bris had enjoyed an incredible start to life in England, with his young side flying up the table into a relatively commanding position early on, but now he has a fight on his hands to stay with the leading pack.

The Frenchman is now facing his most difficult time as Sunderland manager, and with the busy festive period coming up, he needs to work out a way to get his team firing again and get them back to the high standards that they had set themselves.

Le Bris must find a way to win again

It's been an extremely frustrating month for supporters, who may not have expected to have been involved in the promotion race before the season kicked off at all. However, they have slowly started to slip into the clutches of those fighting for a play-off spot.

While they have only lost one of their last six, they have drawn games against teams that the Black Cats must be beating if they want to truly establish themselves as contenders for promotion.

Sunderland have dropped points to Coventry City, Preston North End, and QPR during this barren spell, three teams that occupy the bottom nine - with the latter currently 23rd in the table.

The Championship has always been a division where points are not guaranteed, no matter how far apart teams are in terms of league position, but that does not mean that the Black Cats are immune from criticism for not winning those matches.

The defeat to Sheffield United was a crescendo to November, and with a new month starting, Le Bris must get his side to start winning games once again. The visit of Stoke City does hand them this opportunity, and although the Potters are not a side that will stand aside and watch as Sunderland play their own game, they are beatable.

Sunderland have not played particularly poorly during this run

Despite their results not being perhaps what would have been expected of them, it must be said that the Black Cats have not been blown away by their opponents, and they have been denied wins through individual moments.

For example, the incredibly tight affair against the Blades on Friday saw Patrick Roberts have his penalty saved by Michael Cooper in the first half. If that had gone in, then the game would have changed completely.

They were also well in control against West Bromwich Albion last weekend, and despite having 18 shots in the match, they failed to find the back of the net.

Confidence in front of goal is the issue at the minute for Sunderland, and this run will not continue. Le Bris must find a way to get Wilson Isidor scoring once again, and the more senior members of the squad have to step up and take accountability when things are not going their way.

A win on Saturday would bring plenty of confidence back into this young side, and with games coming thick and fast, they will need it.