Sunderland

Mike Dodds has spoken to Nick Barnes ahead of Sunderland's Championship clash with Leicester.

• There have been internal talks about giving one striker a run of games

• He's still getting to know versatile Callum Styles' and doesn't know his best position yet

• 'Glaringly obvious' how important Dan Ballard is to the team and the defender was given a break and has come back bouncy and bubbly - 'like signing a new player.'

• Despite recent form says there is no good time to play this Leicester team with their depth in quality.

• Players' intensity, vibrancy and focus in training doesn't reflect four game losing streak but they aren't underestimating the position.

• Have to utilise the squad in next two games but looking for balance between freshening things up and having consistency.

Listen to the full interview here.

We asked for your thoughts on Sunderland's 1-0 loss to Norwich City. Here are some of your comments:

Ken: Very sad to see the optimism fast draining from Sunderland. An exciting team is now a struggling predictable outfit because of the failure of the club to add experience as well as youth to the squad. A lack of an experienced striker is costing us dearly. Arguably other questionable decisions by the board haven’t helped. The only way is down for now.

Edward: Once again a Jekyll and Hyde performance. First half decent, second half poor as we cannot compete for a full 90 minutes. I have no idea when the next goal is coming as we lack creativity and we all know about our strikers as far as stats go we are now the poorest in the league.

Jonny: Dodds will always have the support of the fans but he needs to change the current format. The final third in every game is becoming a joke. Left to right, right to left. As for Jobe, that isn't lack of fitness, it's pure laziness he's showing. Things need to change and fast before we see ourselves struggling at the foot of the table.

Jim: I had put us down to lose 3-0 so happy overall. We didn't lose the first half and only lost the second by one goal!

Dan: Top management are ideological about their approach. Young squad with “young” management. As a result a lack of depth, and when key players are missing (Ballard / Clarke) the shortcomings are exposed. I dare say if Mowbray (and Pritch) were still around we may have got a different result today.

Malcolm: Sunderland have very little goal threat now that Clarke is injured. Their technique of a very slow build up leads to the defenders settling themselves to cope with a single, often not tall, striker. When a bigger striker was used there were no balls launched into the box. Some of our players look callow, unsurprising considering their youth.

Lee: Whats the point commenting on performance, it's the same every week, no experience, no leaders, no strikers. This ownership is now as bad as the last ones , they have sucked the life and feel good factor from players and fans alike. Addicted to progress they said… The fans have had enough, I for one won't renew my season ticket, thousands won't.

Colin: Again, the result wasn't unexpected and our next couple of games will show just how far away we are from competing at the top of the league. What is more worrying is how many of our current squad will be here next season.

Image source, Getty Images

Pierre Ekwah has spoken to BBC Radio Newcastle's Sunderland commentator Nick Barnes after the Black Cats' defeat to Norwich.

The French midfielder says the loss is "difficult to take" especially because of the late goal because they played well prior to the Canaries scoring.

You can listen to the full interview here.

Image source, Getty Images

Mike Dodds has given a self-professed "brutally honest" assessment of Sunderland's 1-0 loss to Norwich.

The interim Black Cats boss has spoken to BBC Radio Newcastle commentator Nick Barnes reflecting on conceding a late goal after making attack-minded substitutions and given insight into what he didn't like from his side.

You can listen to the full interview here.

US international Josh Sargent scored his 11th goal of the season as Norwich City overcame Sunderland to stay firmly in contention for a Championship play-off place.

Sargent beat Anthony Patterson with a shot on the turn in the 81st minute as the Sunderland defence failed to deal with a loose, bouncing ball in the box.

It had looked like the Canaries would be frustrated by their north-east opponents in an often tepid encounter despite Gabriel Sara testing Patterson and Jack Stacey hitting the bar with a cross in the second half.

Managerless Sunderland had won on their three previous league visits to Carrow Road but could not find an equaliser as their own chances of a top-six finish receded.

What did you think of the performance and the result? Have your say here.

• Norwich have lost their last three home league games against Sunderland – they had been unbeaten in their previous 10 at Carrow Road against the Black Cats (W7 D3).

• Sunderland are looking to complete their first league double over Norwich City since the 1984-85 top-flight campaign.

• Norwich City have won seven of their last nine home league games, including the last four in a row. The Canaries last won five in a row at Carrow Road in April 2019.

• Sunderland have lost seven of their last 12 away league matches (W1 D4), including each of the last two. They haven’t lost more in a row since December 2019 (four).

• Norwich have scored a direct free kick in each of their last two league games against Cardiff (Gabriel Sara) and Blackburn (Marcelino Núñez) – the last side to do so in three successive Championship games was Sheffield United in April 2008.

Nick Barnes has completed his latest set of iconic commentary notes ahead of Sunderland's Championship clash with Norwich City.

You can listen to commentary from the game with Nick Barnes and Black Cats legend Gary Bennett via BBC Radio Newcastle (Saturday 15:00 GMT) on DAB and Freeview.

Image source, Getty Images

Mike Dodds has spoken to Nick Barnes ahead of Sunderland's trip to Norwich.

The Black Cats' interim head coach has spoken about how irreplaceable Jack Clarke is, revealed Corry Evans is back in full training and more.

Listen to the full interview here.

We asked for your thoughts on Sunderland's 2-1 defeat at home to Swansea.

Here are some of your comments:

Tony: Very poor first half for Sunderland who obviously missed Ballard. However a strong performance by Swansea whose two wingers were unplayable for the first half. Despite a lot of Swansea timewasting second half, Sunderland played a lot better. I can’t help thinking that if Hemir and Rigg had come on ten minutes earlier they could have rescued a point.

Richard: This is now a mess. No proper manager will want to touch this with a barge poll. The director of football has to own this. His players are largely not good enough. The best players will leave and we will be left with kids who probably aren't good enough. If the season started now we'd be relegated. The model does not work. We need a MANAGER.

Michael: Why wait until we were 2-0 down before changing a system that clearly wasn't working. Five minutes in we were all over place. Players didn't know what they were supposed to do and looked lost.

Colin: Same old, same old. Nothing will change unless the owner ditches his policy of signing young talent and get more experienced players in and appoint a manager who has been there and done it all before, but knowing Dreyfus and Speakman that is not gonna happen anytime soon.

Tom: What's the old saying, an old head is better than young legs? Joe Allen or Alex Pritchard come to mind.

Edward: That was without doubt the worst performance I have witnessed in a long time. We criticised the last manager for his performances and tactics then made excuse we did not have Clarke, but the reality is at the end of the day the players who started that game and the managers tactics were totally unacceptable.

Richard: Shambolic. Could have been 5-0 at half time. Replacements for injured are poor. Opposing teams have sussed our continually playing out from the back. Get a grip!

Si: Suicidal first 30 minute tactics left us chasing for the rest of the game. Dodds got it completely wrong by going 3 at the back and putting Hume up the field. Once we reverted to four at the back we looked much better. Patterson came close in injury time also. We really missed Dan (Ballard), Jack and Pat.

Swansea City took charge of the match at the Stadium of Light to beat Sunderland 2-1.

Brazilian winger Ronald scored twice in the first half to give Swansea an early lead.

Luke O'Nien gave the hosts a fighting chance by scoring in the 77th minute but Sunderland couldn't find an equaliser.

The defeat means the Black Cats are without a win in their last three league matches.

What did you think of the match? Have your say here.

Image source, Getty Images

Mike Dodds has spoken to BBC Radio Newcastle's Sunderland commentator Nick Barnes on the eve of his first game back in charge of the Black Cats.

"I'm relaxed. Obviously I didn't expect to be sat here as early as I am but I'm super relaxed, I love working with the group. We've some good players so I'm looking forward to it.

"We can do all the preparation that I'm quietly confident around but as soon as the whistle goes, the players have got to execute their bits. Thankfully last time round, two of three the games went really well, I'm still frustrated about the last game if I'm completely honest with you."

Dodds led the club on an interim basis for three games in December last year following the sacking of Tony Mowbray.

He won two of the matches but lost 1-0 away to Bristol City thanks to a penalty in the 20th minute of the game.

"I've had a lot of compliments after the last spell which is lovely but I can't get that last game out of my head. And as much as the West Brom and Leeds games were positive performances, rightly or wrongly I'm the type of person who'll look back at the things I didn't do well rather than the things I did do well."

"Whether this time round is 13 games or beyond, the preparation will still be the same. I'm relaxed but at the same time it's not lost on me the size of the football club or the expectations."

There were rumours during the week that Jack Clarke and Leo Hjelde had both suffered injuries and would be unavailable for this weekend's game against Swansea.

"Jack rolled his ankle against Birmingham. He played 90 minutes and felt very relaxed. The plan was for him to have a couple of days off and train on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday but that hasn't happened.

"I think that game will be a game too early for him and then we'll reassess where we are on Monday.

"Leo is fine, I don't know where that's come from. The rest of the group are where you'd expect."

Because of injuries and Dan Ballard's two-match ban, Dodds will be forced to make changes to the squad.

"Without giving too much away, it's an opportunity to tweak and change a few things. I will make changes that are best for the group. When you have someone like jack who's been taken out of the team you have to try and come up with solutions to that.

January signing Callum Styles could make his debut for the club on Saturday:

"Callum's trained for the last two weeks and he'll be in the squad for tomorrow."

Sunderland have slipped to tenth in the Championship after back-to-back defeats but Dodds is still confident going forwards:

"There's a huge amount of football still to be played. The league has shown that anyone in the league can lose back-to-back games. We've got to do what we've got to do."

You can listen to the full interview with Mike Dodds here.

In the first episode of the podcast since Michael Beale's departure, BBC Radio Newcastle's Sunderland commentator is joined by Phil Smith from the Sunderland Echo to dissect yet another managerial change for the Black Cats.

You can listen to the latest episode of the Total Sport Sunderland AFC podcast here.

Image source, Getty Images

Sunderland Interim Head Coach Mike Dodds has said he is "delighted" to welcome Anthony Hayes as the club's new First-Team Coach.

Hayes previously spent seven years in various roles at League One club Charlton Athletic, including in a Caretaker Manager capacity for three games in 2022.

Speaking about the appointment, Dodds said: “I’ve known Anthony for some time and we are delighted to welcome him to our coaching team.

"This is a position we wanted to add and following the changes made earlier this week, our requirements shifted a little as did the timeframe. Anthony immediately made himself available and like Graeme Murty, he will bring added value to our coaching and match preparations."

Graeme Murty joined Sunderland in 2022 as Head of Professional Development Phase, but will now support the First-Team throughout their training schedule and match programme.

Dodds added: "[Anthony's] also been an Interim Head Coach before, which will not only support me but also our players as we adapt and move forward together in the coming weeks and months.”

We asked for your reaction to Michael Beale's sacking as Sunderland Head Coach. Here's what you had to say:

Dan: The Beale appointment was always a mistake, unfortunately he doesn't have any decent track record behind him. He's a proven youth coach but clubs like Sunderland and Rangers are just too big a job for a novice coach.

Joe: Glad to see the owners recognising they made a mistake and dealing with it before it got too bad.

Ian: I don’t feel it’s Beale's fault but he didn’t do him self any favours equally, must have been tough not to feel wanted from the start. Fault is that of the board and Speakman for disrupting a perfectly fine season. If anything, Speakman should come out and address this shambles of a decision overall. What is it they are hoping to achieve?

John: At last some sensible decision making after a series of bad ones.

Steve: A complete waste of 8 weeks, never the right appointment in the first place. Whilst the football under TM had its issues, fans seemed largely on side and life was fun under TM. Beale single handedly sapped the fun out of following the club and there was no area of improvement under him.

Colin: A poor appointment by the club and no real surprise that he’s gone. After the Trai Hume incident at Birmingham there was no way back. His excuse didn’t sit right with me. He definitely wasn’t an upgrade from Mowbray .I hope the club has learnt a lesson from this debacle.

Do you agree? Have your say here.

Former Sunderland striker Marco Gabbiadini has had his say on Sunderland's latest managerial sacking.

Speaking on BBC Radio Newcastle's Total Sport, Marco said:

I think we're wading through quicksand as a team. There was a lot of things going on when Michael Beale [joined the club]. He walked into a tornado with everything going on with the derby game.

Sunderland had been drawn to face rivals Newcastle in the Third Round of the FA Cup prior to Beale being appointed as Head Coach. The game would go on to be Beale's fifth match in charge.

"That game was a huge event for him to have to deal with.

"There was also a lot going on with the transfer window and where the squad was at that moment and he had to come in and deal with that.

"I think it's fairly clear to say there was a bit of a kickback from the playing group. There clearly was a great relationship with [Tony] Mowbray and that was broken up by the powers that be and we can still question if that was the right thing to do."

Tony Mowbray was sacked as Sunderland Head Coach in December last year and led the club to the Championship play-offs in 2023.

"Realistically we had a coach who was getting the best out of these players last season.

"I do think there was a drop in performance even when Mowbray was here and I'm not sure if that's was down to the coach, the lack of experience, a lack of goals, lack of firepower, or lack of player rotation. Will a different coach be able to do anything about it?"

Michael Beale had struggled to please fans during his 63-day spell at Sunderland, despite the club sitting just four points off the play-off places when he was sacked.

Marco said: "He was fighting a losing battle unfortunately and it's difficult to do that when results aren't going your way."

You can listen to the full show here.

Now that Sunderland have sacked Head Coach Michael Beale, we want to hear your views on his time at the club.

Beale was appointed as Head Coach a week before Christmas last year and lost his first match in charge on December 23.

Over the course of his 63-day spell on Wearside, Beale took charge of twelve matches and suffered defeat in half of them.

He led Sunderland in the first Wear-Tyne derby in nearly eight years and was the first Sunderland boss to lose the tie since Steve Bruce in 2011.

Beale's final match in charge proved to be Saturday's 2-1 defeat away at Tony Mowbray's Birmingham City.

How do you rate Beale's tenure in charge? Have your say here.