Mike Dodds has claimed what Sunderland did in the second half against Leicester City was ‘sensational’.
Sunderland made it five defeats on the bounce last night as they were narrowly beaten by league leaders Leicester.
The Foxes look set for a domination on Wearside after they conceded within 15 minutes, while Anthony Patterson was forced to make a number of saves to keep the scoreline at 1-0.
Mike Dodds‘ pretty much picked up where they left off against Norwich for the entirety of the first half, but looked significantly better once Romaine Mundle and Adil Aouchiche were brought on on the hour mark.
The Black Cats racked up 17 shots in total and had even possession against arguably the best team in the Championship.
However, they were once again unable to put the ball in the back of the net and were beaten on home soil, leaving them ten points adrift from the playoffs.
Despite defeat, Mike Dodds was very impressed with what his team did in the second half.
Speaking in his post-match press conference (as per Sunderland Echo), Dodds said: “I’m really conscious around how I answer the question because that’s five defeats on the bounce now and we have to buck that trend as quickly as possible.
“But I do feel in particular that second half in particular is a snapshot of the blueprint of how we all want to play.
“The frustrating bit is the first fifteen minutes and listen, I have to give Leicester credit because I thought they moved the ball so quickly. I actually liked how we pressed at times but they just moved it so well. Once the game settled down I felt we started to get a level of control, and in the second half I thought we were sensational.
“I don’t want to be the guy throwing stats at people because I know it can be irritating and that they can be manipulated, but one of the guys there has just said their XG in the second half was 0.01 – I don’t think there’d be many games where the opposition gets so nullified, never mind the best team in the league.
“There’s loads of positives, the group are in a good spot but were also really aware that we have to buck this trend. I do feel that one win is just going into two, three four. I’m very aware and conscious that we have lost three games since I took charge but I also feel we’ve got better and better, so I’m going to take those positives.
“I think we were better than when we played them earlier in the season, I just couldn’t see them scoring or getting out in the second half. I thought we looked more of a threat even though we have got to do more. You’ve got two scholars on the pitch who should be playing youth-team football, an average age of 21.6, so to go toe-to-toe with a Premier League side in waiting should be a huge encouragement for everyone.”
Were Sunderland ‘sensational’?
We looked miles better than we have in recent weeks in that second half, and players such as Chris Rigg and Adil Aouchiche were brilliant. However, to say we were ‘sensational’ shows how far our standards have dropped.
If we had performed like that last season, we wouldn’t have thought twice about it – it would have been expected, and in fact, we would have just been frustrated we couldn’t score.
But because we have been so dreadful for months now, that half an hour of football is considered ‘sensational’. What makes it concerning is that it was our interim head coach that made that claim too, which is far from promising for the rest of the season.