After making his first appearance in the EFL Cup for Sunderland in midweek, Leeds United loanee Laurens De Bock made his league debut for the Black Cats on Saturday.
Sunderland manager Jack Ross has expressed his appreciation towards Leeds United loanee Laurens De Bock after he made his League One debut on Saturday.
The Black Cats beat MK Dons 2-1, with De Bock playing 64 minutes – this comes after his full debut earlier on in the week when he helped his team to a 1-0 win at Sheffield United in the EFL Cup.
But considering De Bock effectively had no pre-season, his current manager, Ross admitted it has ‘not been easy’ trying to get his fitness levels up to speed in and amongst their league and cup matches as he appreciated his efforts.
“I said post-match on Wednesday that they [Joel Lynch and De Bock] effectively had no pre-season, so to give them what amounts to a pre-season in and amongst all our games has not been easy,” Ross told the Chronicle.
“You have to throw them in at some point and Wednesday allowed us to do that, and their performances dictated that they stayed in the team on merit, but it was going to be a big ask for them fitness-wise.
“Laurens managed an hour, and it was a testament to Joel’s conditioning that he managed to get through the whole game. They gave us a really good balance within our defensive unit, and across the piece, we defended really well today.”
De Bock found life tough at Elland Road, but he will be hoping that a drop-down to the third-tier will help him prove his worth.
Considering he’s not up to speed from a fitness standpoint, at this moment in time, he has started his career at the Stadium of Light pretty well.
But he will be hoping to kick on, cement his place in the starting XI, and then hopefully push Sunderland to promotion.
They were beaten in the League One play-off finals last season by Charlton, who secured all three points against De Bock’s Leeds on Saturday.
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