Sunderland boss 'refusing to spin age narrative' as he insists results are all that matter

Interim head coach Mike Dodds will not allow age to become an excuse for poor Sunderland results.

Mike Dodds says he will not accept age as an excuse for Sunderland’s recent run of defeats.

The Black Cats lost to Norwich on Saturday – their fourth Championship defeat in a row – leaving them nine points adrift of the play-off positions.

Sunderland have the youngest squad in the Championship and it has lost vital experience of late due to injuries to Jack Clarke and Patrick Roberts and Dan Ballard’s suspension.

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Dodds, though, insists age will not be allowed to be used as a cop-out, because at a club Sunderland’s size only results matter.

“I don't like the whole age thing,” Dodds said when asked if his young side can take valuable lessons from the recent run.

“We’ve got two thousand fans that have travelled the country. They don’t care about age, they care about the performance.

“We can spin that narrative if we want to spin that narrative, but ultimately we’ve got to win games of football.

“I’m not naïve to that so I’m not going to get drawn into the age thing. We’ve got to improve results, we’ve got to find more consistency in our performances and that’s something that I’m solely focused on moving forward.”

Sunderland face league leaders Leicester City next at home, meaning they face a tough test to arrest their worrying slide, followed by a trip to Southampton next week.

It’s a testing schedule against two of the top sides in the division, and Dodds says everyone knows how important they will be.

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“Recovery is going to be really important,” he said. “The preparation for the next two games is going to be important.

“It's not lost on us in terms of how important the games are that are coming up. It's the Championship - the games come thick and fast and we can’t feel sorry for ourselves.

“I'm not feeling sorry for myself and the players can’t feel sorry for themselves, and we’ve got to be ready to go again on Tuesday.”

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