WAS this the night Mike Dodds emerged as a genuine candidate to be the next Sunderland head coach?
Beating West Brom on Saturday was an impressive start but to have the confidence to follow that up with a huge tactical gamble that worked a treat against the Championship’s in-form team surely thrusts the 37-year-old into the heart of the conversation as Sunderland’s hierarchy decides who succeeds Tony Mowbray.
On the day Sunderland’s bosses reportedly made a strong move for Will Still, Dodds took his own bold step by changing his team and his tactics, surprisingly moving to a back three, a first this season for the Black Cats.
But the gamble paid off in style. Sunderland superbly contained a star-studded Leeds attack and secured all three points when Jobe Bellingham – not up-front on this occasion but in midfield – was on hand to steer home a late header and with it bring to an end Leeds’ impressive seven-match unbeaten run. After taking zero points from Cheltenham and Doncaster in his last stint as interim boss, Dodds has now taken a maximum return from West Brom and Leeds. It’s been a dream few days for the caretaker.
So what happens next? Well it would be no surprise at all if Dodds was still in charge at Bristol City on Saturday. The one thing his success has undoubtedly given Sunderland’s bosses – as well as food for thought – is time to consider their next step. He’s shown the side are in safe hands while Kyril Louis-Dreyfus and Kristjaan Speakman decide who and what comes next.
The West Brom win was impressive but the visit of Leeds United was an all together different test. After an uncertain start, Daniel Farke’s side have found their feet and headed for Wearside having won nine of their last 11 outings.
How do you find and exploit weaknesses in a side that has the third best attacking record in the division and the second best defence? That was the challenge facing Dodds, and although the interim head coach promised changes, there won’t have been many Stadium of Light regulars who correctly predicted the starting XI. In came Jenson Seelt, who was outstanding, Abdoullah Ba and Alex Pritchard, with Pierre Ekwah dropping out as well as Patrick Roberts, surprisingly, and Adil Aouchiche.
Perhaps Dodds set out to catch Leeds by surprise. Farke surely won’t have expected the hosts switching to a back three, with Bellingham dropping into midfield alongside Dan Neil and Pritchard leading the line, with three strikers on the bench.
Leeds, on the other hand, set up as Dodds will have expected but no matter how much planning you do, containing the likes of Dan James, Crysensio Summerville and Joel Piroe isn’t easy. Summerville went close after just four minutes with a free-kick that was tipped around the post by Patterson at full stretch.
Leeds were lively in the early stages but that Summerville effort was their only attempt on target in the opening 25 minutes. Leeds had scored eight goals in their last three outings but Sunderland did a decent job of containing the visitors early on. Dodds warned Leeds that they wouldn’t have their “belly tickled” on Wearside and Trai Hume backed that talk up with two crunching early challenges on Djed Spence and Dan James.
Sunderland were containing, competing and then set about starting to create. They struggled to get bodies forward early on but started to assert themselves. Pritchard flashed a shot just wide before the forward’s free-kick – after Clarke was fouled by Archie Gray on the left – was blocked on the line by Struijk before Leeds scrambled clear. From the resulting corner came a save of the season contender from Islan Meslier, launching himself to the right and managing to somehow keep out a Seelt header that looked destined for the top corner.
Another opportunity came and went when Bellingham headed wide from Pritchard’s corner. Farke will have been concerned about the one-sided battle on the far side. Clarke had the beating of Gray every time he got the ball and the Leeds youngster was on a yellow after being booked for his foul on the winger on the half hour mark.
It was credit to Sunderland that Leeds tried to things down after the break. The introduction of Pritchard changed the game against West Brom and Dodds will have been hoping for a similar spark when he turned to his bench and called on Roberts on the hour mark. Neil momentarily worried the visitors after stealing the ball inside the Leeds half before setting off on a driving run into the box, only to be denied by Meslier, who dashed from his box and smothered the loose ball.
The Leeds attackers were repeatedly frustrated by Sunderland’s brilliant backline. Ballard, at the heart of the three, was immense, and helped to shield the ball into the hands of Patterson when Summerville briefly came to life.
Leeds started to turn the screw and their best chance of the second half came just after the 70 minute mark when Summerville burst through the middle on the counter but fired a low shot straight into the hands of Patterson.
But just as Leeds were starting to look dangerous, Sunderland broke the deadlock. A cross from the right was only cleared as far as Pritchard, who notched another assist after two on Saturday with a header into the path of Bellingham, who nodded home.
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