Regis Le Bris’ assurances to Chris Rigg over form with Sunderland

CHRIS RIGG has admitted he is not happy with his current form – but Regis Le Bris has assured the teenager he was always going to experience something of a stutter during his first full season in the senior ranks.

While Rigg broke into Sunderland’s first team last season, this has been his breakthrough campaign, with 28 starts and three more substitute appearances in the Championship alone so far this term.

The 17-year-old has been a mainstay of Le Bris’ preferred starting line-up, but found himself dropped to the bench in last Friday’s 2-1 win at Sheffield Wednesday.

That was only the second time since the opening day of the season when Rigg was absent from the starting line-up despite being fit, with his demotion coming in the wake of a conversation in which he and his head coach had discussed his slight dip in form.

Le Bris was impressed with Rigg’s honesty, but insists it was always fanciful to expect him to continue hitting the same high standards throughout the whole of the season given his age and lack of senior experience

“This is really Chris Rigg’s first season,” said the Sunderland boss. “It is a new experience for him. It is not unusual for a player like that to struggle a little bit at this stage of the season, after 35 games.

“We spoke together last week. He said he wasn’t happy about his game level, but I said, ‘It is normal – you just have to adjust to this new experience’.

“As a club and as a staff, we have to create the right condition for him to be able to recover, then I am sure he will find his best level again.”

While Rigg dropped down to the bench at Hillsborough, Dan Neil and Jobe Bellingham remained in the starting line-up despite having had an equally heavy workload so far this season.