Sunderland interim head coach Mike Dodds has addressed the media ahead of Saturday's trip to Vicarage Road to face Watford.

Sunderland have won two games since Dodds took interim charge in February following last week's defeat to Millwall at the Stadium of Light in a display Dodds labelled as 'boring' from his team.

Ahead of their final away game of the season at Watford, Dodds spoke on that as well as sharing his verdict on Tom Cleverley after he was appointed head coach at Vicarage Road and reasons for Sunderland supporters to be cheerful heading into the end of the season:

  • Expanding on Sunderland's 'boring' defeat to Millwall
  • Will there be changes?
  • Watford verdict and Tom Cleverley's appointment
  • Reasons to be cheerful for Sunderland supporters

 

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What’s been the analysis of the Millwall game because it clearly wasn’t a great game and you used the word ‘boring’

Yeah and that’s what the analysis was when I sat down with the lads. The very first thing I said to them was that I was bored watching you play, which hasn’t been labelled at the group for a long time I wouldn’t have thought. We spoke about what Millwall were all about and I felt we gave them far too many opportunities to be Millwall. That was my biggest frustration and points I took from the game.

They’ve picked up some really positive results against teams above them playing the way that they play and they did the exact same thing to us that they did to some of the other teams and that was my anger and frustration because we spoke about that all week in terms of not letting them bank up and survive on counter-attacks and set pieces. We knew they would wait for that one opportunity, which they had done in previous games. And that’s exactly what they did, they painted their own picture and we allowed them to do that.

We’ve debriefed it and had some honest conversations about it and we’ve got to move forward to this Saturday.

 

Is there an element of being a young team that they don’t necessarily want to take risks?

I don’t think it’s an age thing, it’s a mentality thing. You can be a 30-plus-year-old and still have that psychological block when you need a player to take a risk and pass forward quicker and risk turning the ball over – that’s regardless of age.

Chris [Rigg] is a really good example in terms of mentality and it’s more of a mentality thing for me and that’s one of the things we spoke about and taking more risks in possession. We spoke so much around their threat on transition that it almost became a negative for us in the game because we were so risk averse in terms of making that one pass where maybe they thought ‘this could get cut out’ and that’s what they survive on. That being said, that’s just being a good player and I think the best players at the highest level make the right decisions nine time out of 10 and that’s what this group need to realise and that’s part of our responsibility to continue to coach them and work with them because if they don’t come over that hurdle they won’t get to where they want to get to and, ultimately, they won’t get us to where we want to get to.

I always keep going back to me and my seat, I’ve got to keep working with them. They are nowhere near the finished article, individually or collectively, and there’s still clearly, based on the period when I’ve taken the team, a lot of work to be done to get to where we want to be.

 

Are you tempted to change things in the last couple of games?

They’re all the things that you discuss with the staff all week and you’re watching the opposition and you’re looking at the way they train and they’re questions we always have. Like I’ve always said in this position; you make one decision that comes off and you’re brilliant, you make another decision and it doesn’t quite work and you’re the opposite.

They’re all the dilemmas someone who sits in my position has and you’re always trying to make the best decision but it doesn’t always work out that way. In terms of the weekend, as I’ve always said, we’re not going to be experimenting. We’ll be putting a team out to try and win a game of football.

 

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Tom Cleverley has been appointed full-time by Watford, that’s incredibly young to be coaching a Championship team?

Yeah, but clearly he deserves it. I’ve watched a lot of their games and they’re very well organised, they’ve definitely changed their style and they’ve gone very much in a different direction than the previous head coach. He clearly has an identity of how he wants his team to play. He’s a legend there as well which obviously helps internally, and externally, in terms of that appointment. But, ultimately, he wouldn’t get that job if he hadn’t had some positive performances and some positive results.

I’ve always said it’s something, at some point, I want to do, but it’s not something that I will be overly chasing – I know there’s a lot of things I need to improve and be better at, but one thing I will say is; I’m always delighted when a young coach gets an opportunity and I really hope he’s a massive success after Saturday.

 

Three of their last four have been 0-0 draws, Sunderland haven’t been a free-scoring team, so it’s suggesting it’s going to be a war of attrition?

I think all games in the Championship are a war of attrition. The difference between the top and the bottom are what I call the ‘x-factor players’ the top teams have and that’s what sets them apart from the rest of the league.

As always, it’s going to be a really tough game. Tom has completely changed their approach, which will be very different to the Watford team we played earlier in the season. Like all teams, they’ll have some real strengths to the way they play and they’ll have some weaknesses and it’s our responsibility to make sure we nullify their strengths but also execute the areas where we feel they’re weak.

 

Personnel-wise, is everyone okay?

Everyone is fine. We’ve got a training session tomorrow so hopefully everyone will come through tomorrow and the squad will be what the squad is.

 

What are the reasons for Sunderland fans to be cheerful at the moment?

We’ve got the youngest team in the EFL, which would suggest we’ve got a lot of players with a huge amount of upside.

I do think we’ve got a real core of a very, very good team that we feel need probably a little bit of support. You support that core and you’re not a million miles away from being a very strong Championship side. I don’t like calling players assets but you look at all those players, they’re all under good, long-term contracts so the club has a huge amount of power if there was any anxiety around some players leaving. If anyone did want to come and take our successful players it’s going to have to be a premium. In terms of that, I think there are a lot of positives.

At the moment, middle of the table is nowhere near where we want to be. There’s been some things this season which haven’t gone as well as we want them to but we will all be reflecting in two weeks time to ensure next season we have a much more positive season and I’m 99 per cent sure that next season will be a really positive season for everyone associated to the football club.