Not good enough? Arrogant? Those were the suggestions offered from within the Sunderland camp by defender Nordi Mukiele after the loss to Bournemouth at the weekend. It wasn’t quite Lisandro Martinez or Bruno Fernandes speaking out against Manchester United territory, but it suggested all is not well at the Stadium of Light.

Sunderland’s slip to the bottom of the Premier League table has seen the heat rise on Regis Le Bris. He may have been one of the managers of the season in the 2025-26 Premier League, but this is the nature of the beast of modern-day top-flight management.

Their European adventure is serving as both a welcome distraction and a reminder of why Le Bris might be under pressure to begin with. Indeed, their overachievement last season means they might be progressing faster than their manager can take them.

Or at least, that’s what it looked like heading into the season (as, ahem, this writer alluded to in our pre-season predictions). Their progress has since ground to a halt.

So when Sunderland took the lead after less than 100 seconds against Lech Poznan, via a first goal for the club by 21-year-old striker Timur Tutierov, it teased a chance to break free from their recent malaise.

The first goal was early enough for Sunderland to build from, especially in the knowledge that their opponents had conceded four goals in each of their first two Europa League games this season.

The fact it was converted by a relatively new striker – although most the hard work was done by winger Nilson Angulo with his darting interception of a weak pass by the goalkeeper – only added to the feeling that Sunderland have the ingredients to work with that can ensure their recent form will only be seen as a blip.

But Sunderland struggled to build from their early lead. They’d made hard work of it against Torreense last week, requiring a stoppage-time winner against the Portuguese second-tier side by Noah Sadiki, and would make hard work of it again.

They were at times too open, too easily cut through and caught in behind. If Lech Poznan had better finishers, it might not have taken until the 70th minute for parity to be restored.

And only a few minutes after that equaliser, scored by Leo Bengtsson from an angle at the edge of the box after a knock-down from a corner, Robin Roefs was forced to make a vital double save to prevent Sunderland falling behind. The second save in particular was outstanding.

They had their own chances as well – considerably more, in fact, such as a flier from Chris Rigg that went just over the bar after some good hold-up play by Tutierov – but the balance of play could best be summed up as end to end for large portions of the game. And that’s not how things should have gone for Sunderland.

It’s not as if they didn’t play on the front foot. They absolutely did, straight from kick off when they booted the ball forwards, and shook themselves back up after Roefs’ double save. But other than Tutierov’s composed header, the finishing was off. Something is missing.

A handful of important players, of course, are missing. Brian Brobbey is a big loss, and Le Bris would prefer to have Dan Ballard and Thomas Meunier available. But in the bigger picture, perhaps their summer transfer activity is catching up with them.

Last year, after their promotion back to the Premier League, Sunderland pretty much built a whole new team. It’s almost what you have to do to stand a chance of staying up these days. Some teams can take it too far, but Sunderland got their recruitment right.

This year, they only managed to sign two players before their first game of the season – and one of those was literally the day before.

Sunderland really needed to boost their squad even more to get ready for their unexpected European adventure. It hasn’t exactly helped Le Bris.

It would be harsh to go in too hard on Sunderland as they enjoy their first European campaign since 1973-74 – and remain unbeaten in it, let’s not forget. But last season showed how big their potential is. Drawing with Lech Poznan – themselves something of a Jekyll and Hyde team between their domestic and European form, but in the opposite way to Sunderland over the first two rounds of the league phase – does not reflect that potential.

And that’s why Le Bris remains one to watch in the sack race.