The Black Cats ended their losing streak against QPR but interim head coach Dodds was frustrated by the goalless draw
Anguished Mike Dodds labelled Sunderland’s 0-0 home draw with Queens Park Rangers “laboured and slow” and admitted, “it was a point but ultimately it was a really poor performance.”
The Black Cats interim head coach was just not impressed with his team going forward but pointed to having 10 senior players missing which would impact any squad in the Championship.
“I just felt we looked really kind of laboured and slow in our build and also when we did get the ball higher up the pitch we didn’t move the ball quick enough,” he said.
“When a team puts so many men behind the ball, common sense would say you’ve got to move the ball quicker. We didn’t do that and from a coach’s perspective I am really disappointed with that.”
Winning a point was an improvement on six straight defeats – four under his charge – but Dodds reflected: “We didn’t create enough chances in the whole 90 minutes. We can try and spin the positive, that’s it’s a point, and since I’ve taken over in the four games previously we’ve not come out with anything so we can spin that. But I thought the performance was really disappointing, I can’t hide away from that.
“I think you can see in the team, they are trying, but I think we are kind of just huffing and puffing at the moment.
“We need some bodies back and I think that’s clear for everyone to see. Hopefully by the bank holiday weekend we will have some of our more senior players back among the group which will be a huge positive.”
He added: “We can see that the group needs one or two bodies back, we can see that. I’ve got to keep working with them in terms of improving that performance. Previous performances, in spells, I’ve been happy with, but I’m not going to sit here and say I was overly happy with much of that this afternoon.”
Sunderland travel to Cardiff on Good Friday and then on Easter Monday, April 1, it’s a home game against Blackburn Rovers.
“The Easter weekend always brings its challenges,” said Dodds. “That’s the same for everyone in the league. So hopefully we will have bodies back and start to utilise the squad. At the moment we’ve got 10 senior players not available either through injury or suspension. I think if you take 10 players out of any squad in the Championship it’s always going to be slightly difficult.”
Going back to Sunderland’s display against Rangers and how that can be improved he continued: “I thought this was a fairly naive performance. Far too slow for what we want to achieve as a football club in terms of our in-possession stuff. We’ve got a couple of weeks to rectify that. We’ve got a couple of weeks for bodies to come back to give us a bit more of a spark. I think the team needs a little bit more help in particular in the top area of the pitch.”
