REGIS LE BRIS has challenged Adil Aouchiche and Abdoullah Ba to make the most of any opportunities that come their way when he has to remodel his Sunderland side this weekend.

Sunderland are without a host of senior players for tomorrow’s trip to the Den to face Millwall, with Trai Hume, Patrick Roberts and Jobe Bellingham all suspended and both Alan Browne and Romaine Mundle facing injury absences of around two months.

Le Bris has a number of different options as he looks to plug the multiple gaps within the side, with the likeliest scenario in defence involving Luke O’Nien moving across to right-back as Dan Ballard partners Chris Mepham at centre-half.

There is a fair amount of uncertainty over the make-up of Sunderland’s front three, but Tommy Watson is expected to line up on the left-hand side, with Aaron Connolly and Wilson Isidor potentially filling the other two berths.

Chris Rigg is set to drop slightly deeper to play alongside Dan Neil at the heart of midfield, but there is still at least one gap that will almost certainly have to be filled by a player that has not really featured so far this season.

Aouchiche and Ba both fall into that category, with the former having made just one Championship substitute appearance so far this term and the latter’s only senior outing this term having come in the Carabao Cup.

Both players were withdrawn from Under-21 duty earlier this week, though, and are set to part of the squad for tomorrow’s game with Millwall. Unless Le Bris opts to do something completely out of the blue, there is a good chance that one, or both, could find themselves in the starting XI at the Den.

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Given that both players were made available for a transfer in the summer, that would be an unexpected turn of events. However, having continued to work with them as part of his first-team training group, Le Bris is confident they are more than capable of stepping into the breach. In fact, the Sunderland boss is hoping their upturn in fortunes could lead to a more permanent increase in their status and level of involvement within the Black Cats squad.

“They are involved and they know the rules of competition,” said Le Bris. “They had a previous story here at the club before me, sometimes a better place than at this moment. But they are still involved, connected with the team, they train properly.

“They have qualities. Sometimes, you just have to wait for the opportunity and then you can change the whole dynamic. Football can be like that, it is possible.

“If the players are still involved, which they are, it is still possible to reconnect and join the main dynamic of the team. You see at many clubs and in many seasons where this happens - it is possible for them.”

Given the scale of the changes he will have to make tomorrow afternoon, it would be understandable if Le Bris adopted a conservative approach against a Millwall side who headed into the international break on a seven-game unbeaten run.

The Black Cats boss has been working on a few tactical tweaks during the international break, having overseen a thorough appraisal of his side’s performances in the opening three months of the campaign. However, he is adamant there will be no wholesale change of outlook for tomorrow’s game just because some key players are missing.

“Will be more risk-averse or more defensive? No, not really,” said Le Bris. “We used this international break to make a review of our game model. We had a presentation this morning, and will have another one this afternoon.

“We still have to master some of the foundations, but for the players, it is still about maintaining the identity of the team and the club.

“We want to play fast and use fast attacking whenever possible. We want to score. Out of possession, we want to defend together with a compact block, and then when it is possible to push more and be more aggressive, let’s do it. But we want to protect our goal, and we have had nine or ten clean sheets so far.

“The identity has to stay the same, although with different players and a different opponent, things will always be a bit different. We will see how it goes at the weekend.”