Here's every word from Mike Dodds' pre-match press conference ahead of Sunderland vs Bristol City.
Mike has it been spinning round your head, have you thought about it 1,000 times and work out what went wrong?
I think your initial reaction after the game, you want the game the next day to correct the performance. We had a really good discussion as a group on Wednesday. I'm still really angry with the group if I'm being completely honest and I'm expecting, everyone is expecting a much better performance on Saturday.
How did the group take it?
I'll be honest with you, the kind of discussion I had with them I didn't give them much of an opportunity to have an opinion. As I said, I was angry, disappointed, embarrassed. I didn't see it coming and for whatever reason it did come. So yeah, they've been left under no illusions the expectations for the last six games. They've been left under no illusions that performance won't be tolerated.
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Luke O'Nien spoke after the game and said you would get the brunt of the criticism, but the players do have to hold their hands up?
I've taken the team earlier in the season and for this period, it's the first time that I feel like I've been let down. Ultimately, I also feel that I know I'm the head coach of the football club and the performances and the results will land at my door. I've left them under no illusions, the preparations for the game was no different to how we've prepared previously. I think everyone is completely on board with that but for whatever reason, on Monday, the performance was completely below par. They've been left under no illusions how disappointed I am with them.
There was some surprise you didn't pick the same team as Cardiff on the Friday?
Yeah. I've been asked that a few times. This is not a justification but at Cardiff we had the third highest running stats that we had all season. They put a huge amount of effort into that. I just felt freshening up the sides and the wings, was something that was potentially going to be needed in the game. Like I've said previously, if I'd won on Saturday the decision would've been viewed as a good decision. Obviously the performance was a terrible performance. One that I'm embarrassed about so those changed are going to be highlighted even more. We made two changes, both were on the side of the pitch, just freshening up those areas to give us more opportunities within the game, that didn't happen. Hindsight can be a wonderful thing. Obviously there'll be some changes for Saturday.
You have Clarke back, how are you looking in terms of injuries?
Yeah so, Corry had a little bit of a reaction in training, nothing major. So he's back to part training. He'll be back with the group fully next week. He won't be in the squad for this weekend. Obviously we want to try and get Corry back as quickly as we can. Aji played 90 minutes on Wednesday, which was really important for him psychologically more than anything. That'll be his first 90 minutes in a very long time so he'll be in contention for the weekend as well.
You described coming back into this spell at Bristol City with unfinished business, it's definitely unfinished business there.
Definitely. Listen, there's two things from my point of view. Correcting what happened on Monday, which was first and foremost the most important things. Like I said when we played down there, I thought we had a 20 minute spell, which cost us the game. I thought second half we were excellent but ultimately we lost the game. You lose games at this level. If you aren't fully committed to giving 100 per cent, we found that our on Monday and the last time we played Bristol so that's something that we need to correct for tomorrow.
Is it inspiration for the last six games to spur you on, a performance like that [against Blackburn]?
I love the fact you're trying to put a positive spin on it. I would prefer if we didn't play like that. I would prefer that I'm not falling out with the players to the magnitude that I did when we reviewed the game. I would prefer all those things. But unfortunately, sometimes, players need recorrecting and they need redirecting. As I said, I was embarrassed by Monday. Embarrassed for the football club because the performance was completely unacceptable.
What do you expect from Bristol City?
I know of the coach because we have similar background due to our upbringing, he’s a good coach and he’s got them really well organised. I know they didn’t have a great time prior to the last three or four games but they’ve picked up a couple of really good results. They’re well organised out of possession and they’re a threat on transition, so we know it’s going to be a tough game. I sound like a broken record but there’s no easy games in this league.
How do you get the positivity back in the room?
We had two days executing a game plan and making sure they’re perfectly clear on it. We’ve had two days of both group and individual discussion to make sure they’re completely clear on it. We had a conversation this morning to make sure there’s complete clarity in terms of the expectation and the expectation around correcting what happened [against Blackburn]. Ultimately, they’ve got to turn up tomorrow and put a performance on because I didn’t see that coming, the football club didn’t see it coming, especially after Friday. I’ve taken the team for a number of games now and I’ve never ever pointed the finger at the group, ever. But on this occasion I am pointing the finger at them, so they’ve got to show a better reaction.
Jack Clarke is back, are you expecting him to have a positive impact?
I’m expecting the whole group to have a positive impact. There’s six games and the whole group are playing for Sunderland, not just Jack. The reality is there wasn’t any individual performances I can highlight from the last game. They’re all under the watchful eye, not just Jack. They’ve got six games where they’ve all go to be a lot more positive than what they showed in the last game.
It’s been a difficult season, what do you say to the people who believe the club is in a rut?
If you compare it to last season, I can understand that. But I do still feel when we reflect there are some positives – Chris Rigg has made his debut season and I think everyone should be excited by Chris Rigg, as an example. It’s another season for some of our young players in terms of the physical robustness of the league. So there are definitely some positives to take when the dust settles but there are also things, ultimately, we need to reflect on that we know we could have done better. The football club will do that and my focus is the next six games because the reality is if we win the next six games the whole place feels a little bit better than it does at the moment. So my focus is the next six games and making sure whoever I select perform a lot better than what they did on Monday.
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How much is there to play for in these last six games?
They’ve got everything to play for, this is Sunderland football club. We’re not experimenting with young players, we’re not going to give young players opportunities if it’s not deserved and on the flipside of that, players won’t play if it’s not deserved. I’ve had that conversation with the players this week; if they feel in the next six games we’re just going to coast into the summer then they’re somewhat mistaken. We’re aiming to get maximum points and represent this football club the way it should be. We know we’ve let people down on Monday and our focus is correcting what’s happened.
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