BRISTOL, ENGLAND - DECEMBER 16: Interim Sunderland head coach Mike Dodds applauds the travelling support on the final whistle during the Sky Bet Championship match between Bristol City and Sunderland at Ashton Gate on December 16, 2023 in Bristol, England. (Photo by Ian Horrocks/Sunderland AFC via Getty Images)
According to Mike Dodds, Sunderland’s performance against Leicester City in the second half was “sensational.”
Last night, Sunderland suffered their fifth straight loss as they were narrowly defeated by league leaders Leicester.
After conceding inside 15 minutes, the Foxes were destined for dominance on Wearside, as Anthony Patterson had to make many stops to maintain the 1-0 score.
During the first half of their match against Norwich, Mike Dodds essentially continued where they left off. However, after Romaine Mundle and Adil Aouchiche were introduced at the hour mark, they looked considerably better.
The Black Cats, who were playing against perhaps the finest club in the Championship, managed to even possess the ball and pile up 17 shots overall.
They lost at home, though, and now sit ten points outside of the playoff picture after failing to score in the back of the net once more.
Mike Dodds was really pleased with his team’s performance in the second half, despite the loss.
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“I’m really conscious about 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,” Dodds stated during his post-match press conference, according to the Sunderland Echo.
“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.
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