Sunderland interim boss Mike Dodds held no punches following his side’s 5-1 defeat vs Blackburn Rovers on Easter Monday.
For Sunderland, it continues to be one step forward, multiple steps back.
On Good Friday, the Black Cats ended a run of seven games without a win after beating Cardiff City 2-0 away from home.
But on the Monday, Dodds would watch his side capitulate at the Stadium of Light, conceding five goals against strugglers Blackburn Rovers.
The defeat was for sure Sunderland’s worst performance of the season.
Several individuals received criticism, with Pierre Ekwah blasted for his work-rate once again.
And Dodds gave some scathing remarks after the game, too; here are three things the Sunderland boss said after the defeat vs Blackburn Rovers…
Mike Dodds ‘can’t give any player credit’ after Sunderland 1-5 Blackburn Rovers
There were individual errors throughout the game vs Blackburn.
But overall, it was a shoddy team effort and Dodds made that clear after the game, telling Sunderland Echo journalist Phil Smith:
“It was a cr*p performance and I can’t give any player credit.”
As per Sofascore, Dan Neil and goal-scorer Chris Rigg were the highest-rated players on the day, both receiving 7.4 ratings.
Mike Dodds fumes at ‘completely unacceptable’ Blackburn performance
Again, Sunderland looked to have turned a corner when they won at Cardiff on Friday.
For the first time in a long time, the players were playing with apparent freedom and confidence, and that win gave the fans hope of a strong finale.
But for whatever reason, heads dropped on Monday, along with effort levels and quality levels.
Dodds was understandably fuming with the scoreline; he’s now overseen seven games since Sunderland sacked Michael Beale, winning one, drawing one, and losing five.
Dodds said after the game:
“That is completely unacceptable and I don’t take that lightly.”
Dodds added:
“One week you think you’ve cracked it and then you get a complete humbling. I’m angry and it’s unacceptable.”
Mike Dodds and Sunderland players set for ‘honest conversations’ after Blackburn
Whilst the Sunderland players did themselves no favours against Blackburn, the buck ultimately stops with Dodds.
After the game, he ensured reporters and fans that he would take responsibility for the performance, warning players of some tough conversations ahead.
Dodds said:
“As the head coach I have to take responsibility. When we come back into training there will be some hard honest conversations.”
Dodds added:
“If they want to play for this football club they will have to put in a better performance. If they don’t, they won’t play.”
Mike Dodds needs huge reaction in Sunderland vs Bristol City
Up next for the Black Cats is a home game vs Bristol City.
And it’ll be very intriguing to see how the players react to this, and also to see whether or not Dodds makes some big changes to the XI.
There’s certainly reason to make a handful of changes to the personnel and maybe even to the shape of the team, given how easily they were beaten on Monday.
But Dodds has made changes to the side most weeks and often times it’s to no avail.
The Sunderland interim boss may be keen to get an immediate reaction from largely the same set of players, so that he and the staff can get a clear view of who’s putting in the graft.