Mike Dodds believes it was a 'selfless' performance from young striker Luis Hemir upon his return to Sunderland's starting line-up in the defeat to Norwich City.
Hemir was the latest player given the nod to lead Sunderland's attack in what has been an unsettled season for the Black Cats in the final third with nobody able to grasp the nettle in front of goal despite four new recruits arriving at the Stadium of Light last summer.
Interim head coach Dodds gave Portuguese striker Hemir just his second start since completing a move from Benfica's B team in the defeat at Carrow Road and admitted there was plenty to like about the 20-year-old's performance despite such limited involvement on the ball. Hemir's only other start came in the opening day loss to Ipswich Town, with the young forward limited to a series of cameos from the bench in the time since.
But after showing some signs of encouragement as a substitute in recent weeks, and with Sunderland facing the prospect of three difficult fixtures in the Championship over the course of seven days, Dodds handed Hemir another opportunity to impress against Norwich.
Such has been Sunderland's struggles at centre-forward throughout the season, however, Hemir was starved of enough service to make any kind of impact before being withdrawn just after the hour mark as Sunderland fell to a fourth consecutive defeat, leaving them nine points from the top six, as well as nine points from the bottom three.
Dodds, however, was keen not to lay the blame at Hemir's door having now gone 17 appearances without a goal since moving to Wearside.
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"It’s not just Hemir," said Dodds. "I think a lot of the No.9s would say something similar [in terms needing better service]. We’ve got to be better with the ball in the top area of the pitch and we’ve got to be better with the ball in the deeper areas of the pitch, it’s not just on Hemir. We’ve got to ask more of them when we do build.
"I liked a lot of Hemir’s performance. His physical attributes have improved for him to play more football but we’ve still got a lot of work in that area, hence the reason why we decided to make the change when we made the change because we could see him flagging a little bit.
"That’s an area Hemir is fully aware of, but I liked a lot of his performance. I thought it was a really selfless performance."
Dodds added: "I felt we got into the final third really well and I felt the players executed what we asked of them really well but we have better quality in the final third than what we showed today.
"I’m not going to sit here and spin positives because, ultimately, we lost the game and that’s the bit I know is the most important bit. But the pleasing bit for me was that we got into the right areas and the next level to that is putting the ball into the back of the net and that’s something that hasn’t been easy all season, if we’re being completely honest, and that’s something that I’m going to be continuing to work really hard to address moving forward."
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