'I was bored watching Sunderland' as Mike Dodds hits out following Millwall defeat

Angry interim head coach Mike Dodds summed up his thoughts on Sunderland’s 1-0 home defeat to Millwall insisting, “I was bored watching us if I’m honest.”

It was a damning verdict from a man who has led the team to just two wins in 11 attempts. Duncan Watmore’s 72nd-minute goal separated the sides and Dodds didn’t hold back in his assessment.

“I’m angry, frustrated, annoyed and I feel like as a group it’s one step forward and two steps back,” he said. “I thought in recent weeks our performances have been really professional, we’ve looked like a really solid outfit.

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“But here we spoke about all the things Millwall would offer the game which would be set-pieces, which will be waiting for that one moment in the counter attack, being really stodgy, fouls, all those types of things and Neil [Harris] has come in a done a really good job with them.

“But we conceded a goal through that one transition, that one moment we had to manage, and we let them get too many bodies behind the ball too quickly, which is what they wanted. To deny us space and get bodies behind the ball.

“I am angry because we didn’t create enough chances. I was bored watching us if I was going to be honest. I told the group I didn’t enjoy watching the team. “We are going to need a reaction in the next seven days because I can’t stand at the side of the pitch and watch that again and I’m sure we’ve got some really loyal supporters who feel exactly the same.”

Asked whether it was good development for some of the younger players he looked taken aback by the question and added: “To be honest I don’t really want to talk about development when we’ve just lost 1-0 at home to Millwall.

“I understand why that might be a discussion point but the reality is if these players, particularly some of the younger ones, want to develop at this club or wherever else, what they can’t do is hit the level of consistency which we are seeing far too frequently towards the end of the season.

“That’s something we need to address as coaching staff. Make sure the players are really clear on which performances have been positive and which performances have been unacceptable. Like I say I was bored watching us. I thought we were really laboured.”

Millwall were the fourth team to stop Sunderland scoring in the last six games at the Stadium of Light. Dodds hasn’t tasted victory in any of those home matches in charge and the last time the Black Cats’ supporters saw a home win was under Michael Beale against Plymouth Argyle on February 10.

“We allowed Millwall to do what Millwall do which really angers me as we had spoken all week about not letting them get set, making sure we dealt with all transitions, making sure we dealt with set-pieces,” said Dodds.

“The set-pieces we dealt with but we didn’t deal with transitions because they scored from one, and they were waiting for that one moment. That’s the way they set-up.

“We allowed them too frequently to get bodies behind the ball and just absorb our pressure. So two of the three things we didn’t achieve so it’s disappointing.”

Corry Evans returned to action as an 81st minute substitute for Callum Styles which was a plus after more than a year out injured and Dodds added: “I didn’t want to be throwing Corry on the pitch and I thought it was needs must. We wanted to get bodies higher up the pitch.

“And it was more of a change that the game required. That being said he has been training for a number of weeks and when he came on he did what we asked of him.

“I’m delighted for him. It’s been a long 13 months and he is a big character in the dressing room in terms of leadership and we are going to need him in the last two games.

“The group needs to find a performance next weekend. I’m really angry with the level of consistency we are seeing with the group. We have to give the fans some positivity to go away into the summer. At the moment it doesn’t really feel like that.”