Regis Le Bris hailed Habib Diarra’s impact after the midfielder inspired Sunderland to a 3-0 win over Burnley.
The 22-year-old made his first start for the Black Cats since returning from lifting the Africa Cup of Nations with Senegal and helped send the Wearsiders ahead nine minutes in when his strike deflected off Axel Tuanzebe for what was ruled an own goal.
Diarra scored just before the break with his first goal for the club and in the 72nd minute, Chemsdine Talbi’s stunning top-corner finish from outside the box sealed three points.
Diarra’s starring display comes after his start on Wearside was cut short following his arrival in the summer, making only four Premier League appearances before sustaining a groin injury.
The midfielder then featured once more against Brighton in December before going on Africa Cup of Nations duty and returned with an appearance from the bench against West Ham last week.
Speaking about Diarra, Le Bris said: “We spoke together this week about a new start. We supported him through his injury, then for the AFCON and we were absolutely convinced that when he comes back with us, he will have the qualities as a player.
“But he’s really competitive, he wants to win, he wants to press, he wants to score and he gives us this energy, which is really important in the league.
“He was one of our first signings, so he set the tone when we decided to go with him and he agreed, obviously.
“He came late in the squad, but now I hope he will continue these kind of performances.”
Victory moves Sunderland into eighth in the table and extends their unbeaten record at the Stadium of Light this season to 12 league games, with Le Bris urging his side to “keep going”.
He said: “I didn’t set a limit before the season, we are still a new promoted side doing well at home, that’s fair, but we have to work hard.
“I think the connection here with our crowd and the responsibility we feel to give the best of our game and the best of our energy as well is really important.
“So keep going, we have tough challenges ahead.”
Burnley boss Scott Parker criticised his side’s lack of goalscoring threat as their winless run in the Premier League moved to 15 games.
The Clarets failed to register a shot on target and they remain second from bottom in the table.
“I just felt the game tonight, there’s nothing in the game at 0-0 and you’re coming to a tough place, there’s nothing in the game,” Parker said.
“The real first attack, a deflected goal, after that nothing really in the game. They score again, gave ourselves a mountain to climb, and get a control in the game but didn’t look like we remotely wanted to score a goal tonight.
“Had some nice bits playing around them, keeping the ball, looked really pretty, but the cold hard facts are you need to score goals or at least you need to have an intent about you to score goals.
“I thought overall just that general intent about us tonight was way short.”
