Every word from Mike Dodds' press conference ahead of QPR

Has there been anymore bad news [in terms of injuries]?

I’ve been at the football club just over two years and I’ve never experienced the injury list and things that have come up. But, as I keep saying to everyone, it is what it is. I’m not going to cry about it, I’m going to get on with it. I know what I’ve got to work with and I’ll continue to work as hard as I can with what I’ve got.

Where are we with Dan Ballard?

It’s not as bad as first feared. Dan has been wrapped up in cotton wool all week. It’s a really difficult one; what we’re going to do with Dan is we’re going to leave it until the very last minute just based purely on our circumstances at the moment with the number of injuries and how severely light we are.

So with Dan, we’re going to leave it until the very last minute in terms of whether he’s fit or not fit and do we take the risk? There’s a few moving parts to that one at the moment which is difficult.

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What was the injury?

It was a hamstring. He felt a tweak to his hamstring and to be fair to Dan, he did try and carry on. He didn’t throw the towel in. But when he ran back on he said he could still feel it. When he came back in, my initial gut-feeling was that I feared the worst, but it’s settled down this week.

But I’ve sat here previously with Jack [Clarke] and said he’ll be back after the weekend and then I get the news that it’s going to be significantly longer, so I’ve been overly cautious with it. But he seems fairly positive, the physios are fairly positive. We’ve had to wrap him up in cotton wool and ultimately with Dan, if we had a fully-fit cohort you probably wouldn’t take the risk but the situation we’re in at the moment we’re going to give him every opportunity to be fit.

And then you get the news about Jenson?

I feel like I don’t know what I’ve done to deserve this, but Jenson played 90-minutes and was fine, with no worries or concerns. He woke up the next morning and his knee had completely swollen up. The physio rang me on Sunday and explained what had happened. Jenson went to see a specialist on Tuesday and they’re still not sure on the timeframe but his season is finished.

They’re going to make a decision in the next 14-days in terms of how they’re going to go about his treatment because there’s so much swelling around his knee but I don’t really know what to say to people because it just seems to be one thing after another at the moment. We’re hoping it’s positive news in terms of the next 14-days, that he’ll be back for pre-season. The worst case scenario is that it will be a considerable amount of time out.

Sunderland's Jenson Seelt has been ruled out for the rest of the campaign. (Image: Ian Horrocks)

Are there any other issues?

We’ve got one more; Naz. Naz picked up a knock during the game, so Naz hasn’t trained this week. So he’s, unfortunately, another one who won’t be available for tomorrow. In terms of timeframe we’re just waiting on people who are a lot more qualified than I am. He could be back within the next week or he could be slightly longer, he’s going to see a specialist around that.

It’s a bit of a strange one because he took a contact right at the end of the game, he trained on Tuesday and said it didn’t feel quite right and has been for a scan and we’re just waiting on the results of that but he won’t be available this weekend.

It seems pretty much clear how you’ll set-up defensively with who is available?

Yeah, I don’ think I can hide the back four, if I’m honest, unless I’m going to do something ridiculous and put an attacking player at the back – which I don’t think I’m going to do. I understand where the club is at and I understand the severity of pus needing to win games of football but, like I’ve said previously, I think since I’ve taken the team I can see the wood through the trees a little bit with the cards that I’ve got at the moment. The doesn’t help the fact with results or the loyal supporters we’ve got, I appreciate that. But we just are where we are at the moment. That’s not helping anyone and that’s definitely not helping me, believe me. But there’s nothing I can do about it.

I’m just going to get on with it and keep working with the players and make sure they’re really, really clear on the game plan and we just have to come through this period, and we will come through this period and we’ll be stronger for it.

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Are the ownership understanding of your situation?

I hope so. What will happen in 12-months’ time is people won’t appreciate the context to the last four games, they’ll just see Mike Dodds lost four game and I’m really comfortable with that because I understand that’s how the industry works. I think anyone that’s logical can see there’s been some circumstances that have been really difficult to manage.

We’ve played two teams in Leicester and Southampton, and this is not an excuse and I’m not trying to spin any positives, and we’ve had the youngest team in EFL history and the third youngest team in EFL history which is a positive, but at the same time I don’t think that’s something that we all want, it’s kind of been forced upon us in terms of players that are available.

As a head coach, you don’t want to play a Premier League budget, a Premier League infrastructure – both who would argue they’re the best in the league with what they do – and then you’re picking such a young team. I will always back young players but to have, across the board, so many young players is not ideal.

We’ve got some incredibly good footballers at this football club, we’ve got some huge assets at the football club. At the moment we’re going through a spell and the only way to get out of it is by all of us sticking together, internally in particular. I’m quietly confident when players start to trickle back into the group to give the current crop a little bit of support, things will start to turn and things will start to look a lot rosier.

Queens Park Rangers’ form is one of the better in the division of late, so things don’t get any easier?

I’m glad you’ve referenced that because the new coach has come in and they’ve been really hard to play against – they’ve had some really positive results, they went away to Leicester and won 2-1. Having watched their games, they’re a completely different QPR to the team we played earlier in the season. But like I always say, there isn’t any easy games in this league and we’re going to have to be good to get a result. The players know that.

I think we’ve prepared really well, like we have done in all of the games, and we’ve got to concentrate on ourselves and try and execute what we’re trying to do. What you do have with teams like a QPR who are scrapping for their lives is you know they’re going to come and give absolutely everything, so we’ve got to double down on that bit and make sure we give more than what they give us.

Sunderland interim head coach Mike Dodds (Image: Ian Horrocks)

From being in a position where you're looking at the play-offs, how important now is it to not get sucked into a relegation battle?

You don't need me to say that's really important. I'll be honest, none of us are looking in that direction because the results haven't gone well. In particular the last four games, but I think we've shown enough. We played against a Leicester side who are top of the league and we were better than them for 45 mines. We've shown enough in spells that we've got more than enough to be looking up and not down. I think if those, in particular the four games that I'd taken, if those games we'd been completely railroaded or run all over, then I'd be concerned. There's also context and I'm not trying to sit here and spin positives because the reality is that I've lost four games.

The context is, we've had some circumstances around player unavailability, whether that be suspension or injuries, mixed into the fact three of the four teams you're playing are top six teams, there is some context to the situation. From my perspective and I understand how important the next few games are, so I'm not being flippant with that. That isn't a focus of ours I'll be honest with you because it's to get back to winning ways and start climbing the table again.

I don't know if you players are more or less affected after a run of defeats but how is their morale?

One thing with footballers, is if they've got complete clarity and they see progression, I think you can keep them going in the right direction and that's what we have at the moment with the group. What we do whenever we review a game, we always review against what was our objective in the game. That provides them with another clarity. We then review what went wrong. So what do we need to be better with? We then review all the physical data in terms of what do we feel a Sunderland player should look like.

We provide a huge amount of clarity to them in terms of this is the expectation of you as an individual and this is the expectation of the group. There has been a level of progress away from, which is obviously the most important stat, which is the result at the full-time whistle. They're not skipping down the corridors. They understand that we haven't won for a period of time so they're not skipping down the corridors but they also understand what we're trying to do. I think they understand a level of clarity in the process that we're trying to work to. At the moment, we've just come up against some opposition and we haven't had our fully fit armoury to go up against them.

I would feel a lot more uncomfortable sat here, if I had a fully fit team or fully fit squad to pick from and the results were the way they were. That's not and excuse. It's definitely not an excuse but I would feel a lot more uncomfortable if that was the case. The group generally are okay. They understand the severity of where we're at. They understand that we have to start winning games and quickly. But they also have real clarity on what we're trying to do and I think that's really important for footballers.

Is the break coming at a good time to get players back?

To a degree it's come at a good time. I think the break will be important and we'll get two or three bodies back close to the team. So Corry is training with the team, Aji is back training with the team, Bradley Dack is training with the team so they'll be three huge positives going in to the Easter weekend. Pat and Jack, it's probably going to be a week or two early for them. We'll see how their body reacts. That might be a weekend too early but you've got five players there from a coaches perspective and my perspective, that are a big boost to the group. A win at the weekend going into the international break will be something that I'm really looking forward to.

Bradley Dack (l) and Corry Evans (r) are both close to returning for Sunderland. (Image: PA)

What can you do to turn things round?

There's always something I can do and I'm coaching the team. One thing I haven't done during this whole period is try to make excuses. I've tried to accept the circumstances that we have. Like I said, you lose some key players through suspension and injuries. You're also playing, three of the top six teams, which even if I had a fully fit team, they were going to be difficult games. We've just got to keep sticking to what we believe is right. We've got to keep sticking to our planning, processes and clarity in terms of what we're trying to get out of the group. On top of that, we're not a million miles away from getting people out of the physio room and onto the pitch which will be a huge boost. I'm quietly confident, as I've said the last few weeks, once we get that one [win], I think that in terms of the work that we're doing with them, it'll snowball quite quickly in the other direction. I think that one win is going to be really important for us and that's not lost on me at all. That one win is going to be really important.

How frustrating has it been coming back into managing the team and not having all the resources available?

Yeah, like I said, I'm not moaning about it. It's something that I want to do at one point and I'm sure every experienced head coach or manager has gone through it at some point in their career. I would like to have gone through it with maybe a year or under my belt to fall back on previous experiences. I don't have that. Unfortunately, I don't have previous experiences that I can fall back on. I'm a confident coach. I have full confidence in the way I work and I think the group have full confidence in the way I work.

We have a really good environment in terms of training and preparation for games. We have an honest group. It's been frustrating but I also appreciate that's life. Sometimes in life, things don't go your way and you've got to get on with it. That's where I'm at with it. I'm not beating myself up with it. I'm not happy, don't get me wrong. I go home after a defeat and I feel like I've let the fanbase down, let the players down, let the support staff down and that's not a nice feeling. As I've said previously, I can see the circumstance for what it is at the moment. I would be in a very different mindset if I had a fully fit team and the results were the way they were. I think I would have to really point fingers at myself then. At the moment, there is a proportion of blame for me because I've the head coach, but I also feel like I'm squeezing the most out of what we've got at the moment.

Are there any reasons for positivity around the group at the moment?

I'm really conscious around answering this because when you try and spin positivity, in a negative moment, it's probably not the best time to spin positivity because people won't understand the context. We've played against a Leicester side, with what was, at the time, the second youngest team in EFL history and went toe-to-toe with them. I think the fans should be really proud of how young that group is. Dan Neil is 22, Jobe is 18, Chris Rigg 16, Hemir is 20, Leo Hjelde 20, Trai Hume 21. We went toe-to-toe with a multi-million pound football team. I still feel that we should've got a point from the game.

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And then, three or four days later you then field the youngest team in EFL history. Where in particular, for spells in the second half I felt they gave a really good account of themselves. So, there's definitely positives. If you would have said four or five years ago, that you would have a young vibrant team with loads of upside from a financial perspective, with loads of assets and playing in the Championship, that would have looked like a real positive a few years ago.

The bit that I'm really positive around spinning too many positives are, we did come sixth last year and we're sitting in mid-table. We haven't won in six. The expectation of the football club is the expectation and you're never going to change that, we shouldn't try to change that because this football club belongs in the Premier League. The aspiration is to get there as soon as possible. I think there are lots of positives but at the moment it doesn't feel like that. I'm not going to sit here and start spinning them because in reality, the biggest positive is we win a game of football. Regardless of talk around Chris Rigg and whoever else. We've got to win a game of football and that's a bigger positive than all the other things.

What have you made of Timothee Pembele's development since arriving?

Timmy had a huge pedigree at youth level and has had a couple of significant injuries in previous years. The club invested in him in the summer and in one of his early sessions with us, he had a quite serious hamstring injury which obviously knocked him back for a period of time.
I think it's just taken him, sometimes young players moving to a new country, I think it takes them a while to settle and I think you've seen that with a few players.

I think with Timmy that has probably been the case, I think it's taken a little longer to settle and I think that happens with youngsters - especially when they've moving to a new country. He's got huge pedigree, huge potential, he hasn't been able to force his way into the team but if I'm being brutally honest I just think that's because we've got one of the best right backs in this league in Trai Hume. If we're speaking frankly, that's the main reason why. In this period, you would expect to see more minutes for Timmy.