Sunderland head coach Mike Dodds has heaped praise on Queens Park Rangers and the club’s progress since Marti Cifuentes has taken charge at Loftus Road.
The Black Cats are on a dreadful run of form in the Championship, having suffered six losses in their previous six league outings. Furthermore, the Wearside club are now 11 points behind the playoff places, all but ending their dream of returning to the Premier League after last season’s close call.
Following a 2-1 defeat away at Birmingham City against former head coach Tony Mowbray, who was sacked earlier in the campaign, head coach Michael Beale was relieved of his duties after merely 12 matches in charge.
Dodds was handed the reins until the end of the season at the Stadium of Light, having won two of three matches in charge back in December in his second interim stint in charge, including victories against Leeds United and West Bromwich Albion.
However, results in his third spell in the dugout haven’t gone as well as the club would have hoped. So far, Sunderland have lost four from four in England’s second tier, leaving them closer to the relegation zone than the top six.
The side’s recent form has left them in an unwanted position and a defeat against Queens Park Rangers this weekend could even drag Dodds’ men into an unprecedented relegation battle, having reached the playoffs under Mowbray last season.
https://twitter.com/QPR/status/1768728625090527276
Speaking in his pre-match press conference ahead of this afternoon’s crucial clash at home, the caretaker sent a warning to his players, admitting that QPR are a whole other animal since Cifuentes took over back in October [quotes via Sunderland AFC News]:
“I bumped into some fans down at the beach and they were like ‘it’s QPR, they’re 20th and they’ll be lucky if they stay in the league and they’ve been down there all season’. The new coach has come in has made them and made it really really hard to play against them. They’ve had some really positive results, they went away to Leicester and won 2-1.
“Having watched their games, they were completely different QPR to the QPR we played early in the season. Like I always say, and I don’t want to sound like a broken record, there aren’t any easy games in this league and we’re going to have to be really really good to get a result.
“The players know that. We’ve prepared really really well like we have done in all the games. We have got to concentrate on ourselves, we’ve got to execute what we’re trying to do,” Dodds continued.
“What you do have with teams like a QPR that are scrapping for their lives, you know they’re going to come and give absolutely everything. We’ve got to double down on that bit and make sure that we give more than what they’ve got to give us.”
Writer’s View
Since Cifuentes replaced Gareth Ainsworth, Queens Park Rangers have been averaging 1.35 points per game in the Championship. This current rate would see the Londoners finish on 51 points in the league which could all but seal survival.
The Spanish coach was undoubtedly up against it when he moved to the club as a coach with no experience in English football. However, it wouldn’t be exaggerative to say that the club would have been in a much better place at this stage in the campaign had Cifuentes been in charge right from the beginning, so Sunderland should certainly be weary of their opponents this weekend.
