Pierre Ekwah has praised Sunderland interim coach Mike Dodds after back-to-back defeats.
It has been two weeks since Michael Beale was sacked and Mike Dodds was promoted to replace him until the end of the season.
The 37-year-old had been the one positive of the current campaign, having beaten Leeds United and West Brom in his spell as caretaker manager back in December.
However, he has had a much harder start this time round, having lost to both Swansea City and Norwich, making it four defeats on the bounce.
Sunderland now sit nine points below the playoff places, with extremely tough games against Leicester City and Southampton coming up this week.
While things haven’t gone quite as planned under Dodds so far, Pierre Ekwah has praised the coach and has claimed ‘you are starting to see’ the effect he is having on the team.
Speaking to Sunderland Echo, the Frenchman said: “It’s been good. I’ve been working with him for like a year and a half now and he’s always been good. He is putting his ideas in place now and you are starting to see it.
“Unfortunately we didn’t win and it’s difficult but you can see what he’s trying to do and we believe in him as a team, and he believes in us which is good. We’ve definitely got a strong base to do something.”
Have Sunderland improved under Mike Dodds?
I really like Mike Dodds and he seemed like a bit of a miracle worker when he beat Leeds United and West Brom, but I don’t think we can really sugar coat it this time round.
It could just be me, but I haven’t seen any improvements at all since Michael Beale left. Dodds has so far just made questionable decisions, such as playing Callum Styles on the wing and playing five at the back the week before.
It will be interesting to see how the Black Cats perform against Leicester, as his success came against the big teams last time, but it is going to be a huge concern going forward if we lose another couple of matches this week.
I don’t think the club really planned for Dodds’ interim stint going terribly, but we also don’t want to panic and bring someone else in for the rest of the season.
What is hard to understand is, if these players all love Dodds so much, why are they still playing like they simply can’t be bothered? Are they all looking to leave in the summer?
Something is wrong, and of course you can’t blame the current coach, but it is concerning that even he can’t liven their spirits.