TO Bradford and, for several Sunderland players, a crucial evening ahead of the coming Championship season.

Perhaps, for some, a final opportunity to catch the eye and change the mind of Regis Le Bris ahead of the big kick-off at Cardiff City a week on Saturday.

Le Bris has promised changes at Valley Parade.

“It will be a different team so, for the whole group, we share the idea that we want to develop,” said the head coach.

"It’s another part of the group with the same ideas, another problem with another team, so we will see and I hope we will be able to make another step forward.

“The team wants to learn and that is clear during the week and the training sessions, but we need more experiences so that with the feedback we can build new ideas and to build the ability to adjust the little details, because that really makes the difference. We are now at that stage.”

We are also at the stage where Le Bris is finalising his squad plans for the coming campaign. The Frenchman confirmed at the weekend that Jay Matete, Luis Hemir and Jewison Bennette were free to go out on loan, a first public glimpse of the ruthless side of Sunderland's head coach.

And on the back of the weekend win at Blackpool and looking ahead to the Cardiff trip, Le Bris said "It's time to reduce the group and prepare the starting XI."

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Have a go at naming Sunderland's starting line-up for the opening weekend fixture now and you'd be confident of getting eight right. Anthony Patterson will start in goal, Trai Hume at right-back, Luke O'Nien at centre-half and Dennis Cirkin looks likely to get the nod on the left. Dan Ballard would have been a sure starter had he not suffered his knee injury at South Shields, so who partners O'Nien?

Aji Alese would have been favourite but was replaced at half-time at Blackpool with a niggle. The 23-year-old might well be fine by the time the Cardiff trip comes around. If not, Leo Hjelde? But he missed the Blackpool game with a minor problem as well. The Norwegian will be desperate to be fit for tonight's game in the hope he can stake a claim. Joe Anderson was an unused substitute at Blackpool and will feature tonight.

Two of the three midfield spots look nailed down by Dan Neil and Jobe Bellingham, with Chris Rigg, immense in pre-season, and Alan Browne, who has impressed since his arrival, jostling for the other spot. Pierre Ekwah would also be competing, ordinarily, but it's been a frustrating and injury-disrupted summer for the midfielder. Adil Aouchiche is a likely starter at Bradford and will no doubt be on a mission to catch the eye, as will Elliot Embleton.

Having returned to the bench at Blackpool, Abdoullah Ba will likely get his first match minutes of the summer at Valley Parade, with Romaine Mundle also set to come into the team. They do, however, have a rather significant problem when it comes to their quest to become starting regulars: Jack Clarke and Patrick Roberts. Still, it's a long and draining season and even if they're not starting the season in the XI, Ba and Mundle need to show Le Bris they can still be effective and important figures.

And a year after his arrival, Nazariy Rusyn still has it all to prove. After a difficult first season, the Ukrainian appears to have slipped behind Eliezer Mayenda in Le Bris' current pecking order. That's before a new striker arrives. For Rusyn, perhaps more than any other player, Tuesday night's game at Valley Parade is huge.

Le Bris will almost certainly revert back to something like his strongest side for the final friendly of the summer against Marseille at the weekend.

For the likes of Rusyn, Ba, Mundle, Embleton, Aouchiche and others, tonight's game is crucial.