Mike Dodds drops Sunderland selection hint and outlines slight change to stance for final fixtures

Mike Dodds says that Aji Alese is close to making a return to the starting XI but insists that he won’t push the Sunderland defender after his long injury lay-off.

Alese has made four substitute appearances since his return from injury late last month, and Dodds says he is close to the point where he could realistically play 90 minutes for the Black Cats. The interim head coach has nevertheless said that it might well be at Watford next weekend that he returns to the XI, at which point he also expects Patrick Roberts and Corry Evans to be in contention for starts.

“Potentially, I think we have to take our time with all of them,” Dodds said.

“Patrick Roberts is another one, Corry Evans has been training with the group for three or four weeks. It would be easy to throw them in. Aji week on week has looked stronger and there probably has been a temptation to play him - for whatever reason I decided against it. Whether it's this weekend or the following weekend I'm pretty sure we'll see Aji in a team.”

While Dodds says his focus is to oversee three wins before the end of the Championship campaign, he has added that some of his decisions in the coming weeks will be made with an eye to next season. The marks a slight shift from the last few weeks, where Dodds has underlined the importance of picking the best team possible in a bid to improve his team’s faltering form.

Dodds says that any opportunities given to players will be carefully thought out regardless. “I don't want to sit on the fence with that question but it's a bit of both,” he said.

“This is a massive football club and what I'm not going to do is use these games to experiment, but at the same time we have to build to get us back to where we want to be.

“They're not going to be throwaway games but there is one eye on the next 12 to 18 months. It is a balance. As the head coach I want to win every game so that's the priority. From there it's whether we need to change the shape or give Player X an opportunity. Any decision is not a five minute decision, it's hours and hours of watching the opposition, watching our games and things we've done well and haven't done well. Those decisions are made over a long period of time.”

Dodds has had some success integrating Timothee Pembele into the side over the last week, using the switch to a back five against Leeds United and West Brom as the right moment to bring him into the fold. The interim head coach is weighing up a switch to a back four for Millwall’s visit as he looks to get his side on the front foot on home turf.