Mike Dodds has issued his verdict on whether Sunderland can still reach the playoffs.
Sunderland endured their fourth successive defeat at the weekend as they were beaten by Norwich City.
The Black Cats put on another underwhelming performance on the road, taking their away tally to only one win in their last 13 games.
It was another shocking bit of defending that allowed Josh Sargent to power the ball into the back of the net and claim all three points for the promotion challengers.
Another loss has left Sunderland in tenth place, though they are now nine points from the top six, while they are just as close to the relegation zone.
Despite that, Mike Dodds has remained upbeat about the club’s chances of finishing inside the playoff places.
When asked if Sunderland are still in the race for promotion, Dodds said (per Sunderland Nation): “Definitely.
“I can’t remember exactly where we were this time last year but I can’t imagine it’s a million miles apart.
“What we did last year was go on an unbelievable run to take it to the last game. The mindset of the players is that they want to win every single game and it has to be that way at a club of this size.
“The play-offs are still very much in my mind, I appreciate at the moment we’re in a bit of a spot – I can’t shy away from that and I know we’ve got two difficult games coming up, but I take a lot of faith from watching the players work.
“I don’t see a group that has given up on that.”
Do Sunderland have a chance at reaching the playoffs?
I like Mike Dodds, and it is still a relief to have him in the dugout over Michael Beale. However, why isn’t he just saying it how it is? Why is he letting these players off so lightly?
They were extremely poor yesterday and deserved nothing more than defeat. Hemir was lazy, Trai Hume was far off the pace and Romaine Mundle seemed to have forgotten how to take a man on.
Kyril Louis-Dreyfus and Kristjaan Speakman have a lot of work to do to make up for the mess they have made, but there is no dressing up the fact that our players simply aren’t good enough and they don’t look capable of picking up a single win from the remaining eleven games of the campaign.
Mike Dodds doesn’t need to admit that we are doomed, but he also doesn’t need to pretend that everything is fine either.