WITH each week and each win, Sunderland are looking more and more like genuine Championship promotion contenders.

It might still be relatively early in the campaign but the Black Cats have already emphatically answered several questions - including one from their boss Regis Le Bris.

As much as Le Bris was encouraged by the very early weeks of the season, the head coach knew that a whole variety of different challenges would present themselves.

And that's what has most pleased the head coach in recent weeks.

Whether it was coming up with the decisive moment at Hull, digging deep in a scrap at Luton or blowing Oxford United away at the weekend - Sunderland have already shown how they can adapt to the different challenges.

As has Le Bris. As much as the Frenchman has an ideal tactical approach in his mind, what has been most impressive is his willingness and ability to be "agile" - not just in preparations for games but during.

At Luton, he told of a first half tactical tweak that he made and felt helped the Black Cats get a grip of the game. In the home win over Middlesbrough earlier this season, Sunderland dropped off and weren't as aggressive in the press, happy to let Boro have the ball and challenging them to pick the defensive lock, which they failed to do.

RECOMMENDED READING:

Le Bris knows his side "are not perfect" and there's still an awful long way to go but he's delighted with how his young squad have taken a number of different tactical messages on board and executed well-prepared plans.

"It's not easy to explain because each game has been a very different experience," said Sunderland's boss.

"So far, the results have been good and the consistency is the key. It's the way we can adjust.

"We have a game plan every time, and sometimes it works well. But football is unpredictable, you can have a different scenario [within the game] and you need to adjust some small details to keep the level and control the game.

"For me, from probably the last five, six, seven games, I feel that we are more agile to adjust these little details according to how the game is evolving to keep our level. This is satisfying for me.

"We are not perfect, but I liked for example when [Oxford] changed their shape at half time and we had two or three minutes to adjust our pressing. We did it. Maybe in the past when there is a change like this we can struggle for longer and you can lose your shape.

"It wasn't the case in the game, [they had] just one situation. I can feel now that we are more versatile according to how the game is going."

Le Bris' next challenge is against a manager who was linked with the Sunderland job in the summer.

Marti Cifuentes did a sterling job to lead QPR to Championship safety last term but it's been a struggle so far this season for the Spaniard, whose side are just a point and a place above the bottom of the table.

But Cifuentes says Rangers will take great heart from their battling point with Burnley at the weekend ahead of Saturday's visit of Sunderland.

He said: "It’s a massive point for us given our situation.

"Perhaps it wasn’t the most amazing display but the lads did really, really well in terms of how much they worked for each other."