Mike Dodds has shared the message he gave Adil Aouchiche at full-time after Sunderland’s defeat to Leicester City last night.
Sunderland endured their fifth consecutive defeat yesterday as they were beaten 1-0 by Leicester City.
The Black Cats were unable to handle the Foxes in the opening 15 minutes and looked as if they could be handed a walloping on home soil, but a hugely improved second half performance saw them narrowly miss out on a point.
Mike Dodds’ side were extremely poor in the first half once again, but it looked to be the introduction of Adil Aouchiche and Romaine Mundle on the hour mark that really gave them a boost.
The Frenchman looked very impressive after featuring for only seven minutes in the ten games prior to last night, while Dodds has now offered him some advice if he wants to stay in the team.
“I thought Adil was excellent when he came on,” Dodds told Sunderland Echo.
“We’ve got Adil in a good spot in terms of his concentration, and I said to him after the game, ‘You’ve got to stay on this path now – you can’t come away from the direction you’re going’. I was really happy with Adil and the impact that he made coming off the bench.”
Should Adil Aouchiche start vs Southampton?
We haven’t really seen much of Adil Aouchiche since he missed a sitter against Ipswich Town in January, however he has certainly given Mike Dodds something to think about now.
We have been lacking creativity for a while now, but we instantly looked so much more comfortable going forward with Aouchiche on the pitch.
The 21-year-old was only on the pitch for 30 minutes but managed a whopping four shots, as well as making 33 touches, three key passes, two crosses and one tackle.
Aouchiche looked like someone who had something to prove, and it would be a huge shame if Mike Dodds doesn’t use all that riled up energy in the starting line-up against Southampton this weekend.
The midfielder could really be what we have been lacking, and if he can play like that from the start, then we can surely give Southampton a run for their money.
The only problem with Aouchiche is he often looks much better coming off the bench, then struggles to impress from the start. Perhaps that will encourage Dodds to give him a run of lengthy cameo appearances – though is there really any point when we are already 10 points from the playoffs?