Why is it going so wrong for Le Bris at Sunderland?

Will qualifying for the Europa League end up costing Sunderland their place in the Premier League at the end of the season? Regis Le Bris – post-match interview – Coventry City v Sunderland Dinamo Zagreb under the lights at the Stadium of Light on Bonfire Night. These should be exciting times for Sunderland and their fans, who before this season had been starved of European football for more than half a century. Instead there is a concern the club's Europa League campaign, which includes a trip to AC Milan in December, has become a hindrance after the team's poor domestic start to the season. Last season's surprise Premier League package are rooted to the bottom of the table, with just one win and six defeats from nine games.

Will a game against the champions of Croatia on Thursday (20:00 GMT) serve as a welcome distraction before Sunday's visit of Chelsea? When Sunderland won at Stamford Bridge last season in their ninth game back after promotion, the Black Cats sat second in the table after an electrifying start. After nine games this season, it is a very different story. Questions are being asked about the long-term future of manager Regis le Bris – the man who masterminded Sunderland's return to Europe for the first time in 53 years. So after last