Regis Le Bris hails Granit Xhaka influence as midfielder earns Sunderland point | OneFootball

Sunderland boss Regis Le Bris hailed Granit Xhaka’s importance to his side after the midfielder’s equaliser earned a 1-1 draw against Everton.

Summer signing Xhaka has been integral to the Black Cats’ strong start to the season and he put in another impressive display against the Toffees.

Everton enjoyed a dominant start and went ahead through Iliman Ndiaye’s stunning finish 15 minutes in, but the hosts grew into the game and levelled 43 seconds after the break when Xhaka’s effort ricocheted off James Tarkowski’s foot and into the net.

The goal was Xhaka’s first for the club and Le Bris emphasised his crucial role for Sunderland this season.

“He’s really important because we have many young players and many new players in this league,” the Sunderland head coach said.

“They don’t know the condition and one player like Granit, with his previous experiences, is really important for us. He has this quality to score.

“I’m happy to have this kind of player. He wants to play football, he wants to be competitive, he’s always connected with the game and he sets the standards.”

Asked if he thought Xhaka could be one of the best midfielders in the Premier League at the moment, Le Bris replied: “I don’t know, because we have in this league many really good players.

“We love Granit, so probably we won’t be a good judge in this situation.

“He’s really important. I think he enjoys playing with us as well, because the lads are well-connected with him, with the way of playing, they want to fight until the end.”

Everton boss David Moyes felt his side were “poor” after the opening 30 minutes.

On his return to the Stadium of Light for the first time since overseeing Sunderland’s relegation from the top flight in 2017, Moyes saw his side fail to build on their early advantage.

The Toffees wasted a brilliant chance to double their lead in the 28th minute when Jack Grealish sent a deep cross into Thierno Barry at the back post.

The forward blasted the ball over the bar from inside the six-yard box and Moyes admitted Sunderland gained some “strength” from that miss.

“I think after 30 minutes I’d have been disappointed if I was only going home with a point, I think after 90 I was quite pleased with a point,” Moyes said.

“We played well. I think the miss we had from Barry took the wind out of our sails to make us 2-0 and after that, they started to get a little bit of strength from us missing the chance.

“We’d played well enough in the first 20 or 30 minutes, but we didn’t play well at all second half. We were poor.”

Everton had enjoyed earlier chances when James Garner’s strike flashed wide seconds into the game and Grealish hit a post.

Moyes added: “We were worried about the strength they’d finished the first half.

“We had a miss, Jimmy hits the post, I think Grealish hits the post. We had done enough to get ourselves a couple of goals in front.

“We’ve been told it’s a hard place to come and hard place to win. We came close tonight, but not quite enough.”