Every word from Mike Dodds ahead of Sunderland's clash with Swansea City this weekend.

Mike, is it like waking up every morning in a Netflix documentary?

No, not at all. My role at the football club for the last sort of 18 months since Alex came in, hasn't really changed. I appreciate from the outside coming in it looks like loads of change. Internally, the processes in which we work and operate have stayed the same. Same as the last time, I'm relaxed. Obviously I didn't expect to be sat here as early as I am. I'm super relaxed. Working with the group, we've got a good group, some good players so I'm looking forward to it.

Last three games make you more relaxed?

Not really, no. Because it's a massive football club with the expectation. I was quietly confident last time round but in terms of the results - the results are the results. We can do all the preparation that I'm quietly confident around, but as soon as that whistle goes. The players have got to execute their bits. Thankfully, last time round, two of the three games went really well. I'm still frustrated around the last game to be honest with you. Two of the games went really well, whether this time is 13 games or beyond, the preparation will still be the same. I'm relaxed but at the same time it's not lost on me the size of the club and the expectation. We'll see how results go.

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In some senses is it unfinished business after Bristol?

Definitely. I've had a lot of compliments after the last spell, which is lovely, but I just can't get that last game out of my head. As much as the West Brom and Leeds games were positive performances, rightly or wrongly I'm the type of person that will look back at the thins I didn't do well. Rather than the things I did do well. I don't think there was anything overly wrong with the Bristol game, but when you lose, what you do is, you micro-analyse, could I have done this better?  Could I have done that better? I want to put that one right.

Not an ideal week for you with injury news, any updates on Jack Clarke and Leo Hjelde?

The Jack Clarke one is an interesting one and I'm not a big social media person, I'm only getting things second and third hand. The information on social media is a lot worse than it is. Jack rolled his ankle against Birmingham. Played 90 minutes and was super relaxed, the physio department were relaxed around Jack. The plan was for him to have a couple of days off and train Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. That hasn't happened so I think the game will probably be too early for him. Then we'll reassess where we are on Monday. I think that whole out for a month has been sensationalised. Leo is fine, I don't know where that has come from. The rest of the group are as you would expect.

Callum Styles is he in contention?

Yeah. Callum has trained fully for the last two weeks so he'll be in the squad for tomorrow.

Roberts, still a few weeks away?

Pat is not out on the grass yet. He's still a few weeks away. Corry trained with us this morning. He's been doing little bits with the Under-21s, although when I say trained with us, I don't want people to get carried away with that. He was very much bit part in training but it's welcome news to see someone of Corry's calibre in the dressing room, out on the training pitch. Corry trained with us, Aji and Dacky were out as well, they part-trained. They did a little bit with the sport science department and a little bit with us. There are some brighter news in terms of people returning. 

Seelt, I guess you won't give much away but is he the obvious replacement for Dan Ballard?

Jenson in the Leeds performance in particular, I thought was excellent on the night. I made a call to change the way we set up which meant Jenson came out of the team [at Bristol]. Jenson knows the reason behind that and he was more than comfortable. I think Jenson more than deserves an opportunity to have a few games and a bit of a run in the team to show where he's at. He's trained really well. He knows my thoughts on him and hopefully in the next couple of games he can show everyone how good he is.

Interesting without Clarke now, because the team is reliant on him for goals. The first chance to see the team without the star man?

Definitely. Without giving too much away, an opportunity for me to change one or two things. I think last time I showed - I mean this respectfully - that I'll do what's best for the group. When you have someone like Jack that has been taken out of the group, you have to come up with solutions for that. The next few games, in particular the one on Saturday, will be interesting in terms of team selections.

How do you look at these 13 games now, the two defeats have dropped you seven points off the pace?

100 per cent. There’s still a huge amount of football to be played. The league has shown that anyone can lose back-to-back games so even the teams in front of us – they’re still within touching distance. We’ve got to do what we’ve got to do. It’s not lost on me the magnitude of the football club or in terms of the expectations. We’ve got to live up to that, whether we’re good enough or not good enough – that’s the aspiration. My mindset is that I’m going to go and try and win all 13 games and what might happen with that; I might lose a game because I’ve been overly bold and I’ll get criticised for that and then some games we might do really well and I’ll get praised for that. But when you sit in this seat, I accept that’s what comes with the territory. Every time we prepare for a game it’s never to go an shut up shop or get a point. Every focus is on winning the game.

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Thoughts on Swansea?

The performances aren’t as poor as what the position in the table would suggest – it’s going to be a really, really tough game. The coach is a really good coach, he did really well at Notts. County and you can see in terms of the way he sets his teams up that they’re really well coached. They have a certain style of play and a certain brand of football with a really bright coach but I’m looking forward to the game, they’ll be saying the same about us; they know we’ve got good players so it’ll be a really good game. 

How much of a miss will Jack Clarke be?

Jack Clarke is one of the best wingers in the league. If you take Jack Clarke out of any of the teams in the league and he’s a miss. On the flipside I’m also a little bit excited around tweaking and changing one or two things. I’m excited around what things can we move around within the group? The proof will, ultimately, be in the pudding, won’t it? I’m sure at five o’clock on Saturday I’m going to be asked two different types of questions.