Sunderland caretaker boss Mike Dodds has stated that he won’t experiment with the starting lineup for the final five matches of the campaign “for the sake of experimenting”.
Having stayed in the battle for the play-offs for lengthy periods of the current season, the Black Cats are at risk of going out with a whimper, having picked up merely one victory in their previous 10 outings in the Championship, which came away at Cardiff City.
Following a heavy 5-1 defeat at home to Blackburn Rovers and a goalless draw with Bristol City at the Stadium of Light, Dodds’ men dropped into the bottom half of the table and now sit closer to the relegation zone than to Norwich City in sixth place.
When Tony Mowbray was relieved of his duties back in December, Sunderland were just three points behind the final play-off place and even moved into the top six briefly during Michael Beale’s tenure at the club. Now the club’s hopes of reaching the Premier League once again may have to wait for at least another season.
Having taken the reins for the second time this campaign after Beale’s in February, Dodds’ second stint hasn’t quite gone to plan as the Wearside club have mustered merely five points from the last available 24.
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Nevertheless, there have been some positives during Dodds’ interim spell, namely his persistence with youngsters such as Chis Rigg who could become regular first-team players for Sunderland long into the future.
Speaking ahead of tomorrow’s clash with promotion-chasing Leeds United, the 37-year-old spoke about Rigg’s development at the Stadium of Light but acknowledged that experimenting for the sake of it won’t happen ahead of the final weeks of the 2023/24 campaign [quotes via the Sunderland Echo]:
“My background is developing players, and I think I’ve shown what I’m prepared to do with Chris Rigg. I gave Chris his first start against Leicester and played him against Southampton, two teams with Premier League budgets,” he said.
“Without blowing my own trumpet, I’ve shown that I will play young players in the big games. Playing young players is something I will never, ever not do. They will get an opportunity in terms of that – the door is open – but at the same time, you have to get a balance.
“Earning the right to play for this wonderful football club is important, you can’t just be given the right,” Dodds continued.
“I’ve said in previous press conferences, I don’t want the last five games to be an experiment. I want to win the last five games. Results haven’t gone how I want the results to go, but I’m not going to experiment in the last five games just for the sake of experimenting. If they get an opportunity, it will be completely deserved.”
Writer’s View
Having had such an incredible campaign last season, the Sunderland hierarchy will be bitterly disappointed with the club’s progress this season. However, the decision-makers at the club need to look at themselves in the mirror as a result of some of their choices.
Sacking Mowbray seemed to be the biggest turning point of the season for the Black Cats, although appointing Beale certainly comes close behind in second. Now, it’s important for Kyril Louis-Dreyfus to put the right man in charge in the summer and back him as there is some really talented players in this squad like Rigg and Jobe Bellingham who can go very far under the right management.
