'We have to...': Mike Dodds has clear message for Sunderland players as crucial week begins

Mike Dodds says his Sunderland side have to embrace the challenge of facing some of the Championship's very best opposition without Jack Clarke and insists he will continue to set his side up to be aggressive.

The Black Cats are beginning a crucial week in their hopes to end the campaign in the play-offs, with the trip to Norwich City followed by Leicester City's visit and another challenging trip to Southampton. Clarke, who has 15 goals this season, will be a huge miss but Dodds says it's an opportunity for his group to show their desire to eventually get to the Premier League.

"They’re all really good teams and all have a really different way of playing, which is going to be a challenge for us because it’s such a short turnaround with games in terms of our preparation, but I’m confident we can get the information we need into the players," he said.

"They’ve all got good coaches and they’re similar in terms of they want to try and have the ball, but they have the ball in different ways. Look, our long-term aim is obviously to get back to the Premier League and to get there is not going to be easy, so we have to face these challenges head on because, with all due respect, if we run away from these types of challenges then we don’t deserve to be in the Premier League. These are the challenges we’ve got to face head on.

"I think there’s got to be a strapline in all the games as to what Sunderland are," he added.

"I don’t think we can be passive in any of the games. I got asked about the Leeds game where the question implied that we sat off them and if you watch that game back, we denied them space but when the ball went into certain areas of the pitch we were really aggressive and we were a little bit more on the front foot. So it might be a case that we might have to concede some territory, but in terms of a Sunderland team, we can’t be passive and we won’t be passive how we approach the game "Regardless of Jack Clarke or not, we still have a running thread of how we want Sunderland to look and that’s something that’s going to be my responsibility for the next 12 games to find a solution to that. To be honest, I’m looking forward to the challenge of that, it’s going to be a real challenge for me and I think it would be a real challenge for the most experienced coach who could sit here. When you take someone of his quality out of your armoury, you can have the most experienced coach in the world sat here and it would be a challenge, but that’s something I’m looking forward to over the next period and it’s something where I won’t leave any stone unturned to find a solution to make sure that we go into every single game with a mindset that we’re going to win the game."

Sunderland start the game five points behind Norwich in the table.