Mike Dodds has shared what his Sunderland team told him after they beat West Brom yesterday.
Pierre Ekwah’s first-half goal proved to be the difference on Sunderland’s trip to The Hawthorns yesterday afternoon.
Brandom Thomas-Asante’s red card proved too much for West Brom, as they received a sucker punch shortly after when Ekwah fired home from a corner on half-time.
Sunderland limited the Baggies to only three shots on target in 90 minutes and looked fairly comfortable in the second half, before claiming all three points.
It was the Black Cats’ fifth clean sheet in seven games and they have now taken seven points from their last three games on the road, despite winning only one of their 14 outings before that.
Sunderland’s season has been over for a while now and the win over West Brom has no real impact on their league position, however Mike Dodds has explained that the team are feeling ‘really good’ after a positive run.
What Sunderland told Mike Dodds at full-time
The Black Cats coach has shared what his players told him at full-time, telling the Sunderland Echo: “The group just had a chance to speak in there and they feel they’re in a really good place, that’s five clean sheets in six games.
“With any team, if you’re not conceding goals then it gives you a really strong foundation. To be honest I want us to be more free flowing with the ball but sometimes you have to tighten up in certain areas and that can take away from that.
“So if I’m being ultra-critical then I have to find that balance, but they are a really good team with a really good coach. The red card is obviously a big turning point in the game but I thought it was a professional, thorough performance. We spoke as a group about our attacking play and we felt there were things we could have exploited, and I don’t think we did that consistently enough.
“That being said, it’s hard to be too critical because they’ve put three or four really solid performances together where they look like a strong, solid outfit. It’s easy to gorget that we’re coming here with the youngest team in the league, and we looked really mature. I want to be demanding, but to win 1-0 here regardless of the red card is a really good result.”
What does this mean for next season?
Sunderland had looked so lost and out of their depth in recent months, but they really seem to be finding their feet again now.
While it is really too little too late, it is really promising to see the players enjoying their football again and it gives fans real hope that we can kickstart next season on a much more positive note.
You could see from the celebrations at full-time that the team are really behind each other and really appreciate the support they are getting, so perhaps all is not lost at the Stadium of Light.
If the team can keep it up in the final three games then perhaps this summer won’t be as dismal as expected.