Dodds has to abandon his 2/10 Sunderland flop following the horror against Blackburn.

After defeating Cardiff City 2-0 on the road, Sunderland seemed to be back on track for the Championship, but they suffered the worst possible fate at the hands of Blackburn Rovers.

In a devastating 5-1 thrashing, the Riversiders ran wild at the Stadium of Light, leaving Mike Dodds’ team broken and bloodied after such an overwhelming loss.

The cheers of encouragement that followed the victory away in the capital of Wales have now mostly been drowned out by the deafening chorus of angry Sunderland supporters.

Understandably, they were all incensed by Patrick Roberts’ absence from John Eustace’s clinical visitation, given that the former Celtic player was judged well enough to play again yesterday.

Numbers from Patrick Roberts’ performance against Blackburn

Roberts had a terrible afternoon against Blackburn, so Dodds must have been thinking he should have kept Roberts out of his lineups after missing his team’s last seven Championship games before adding him back into the starting lineup yesterday.

The lackluster Sunderland number ten would play just 55 minutes in all before being substituted out, allowing 16-year-old Chris Rigg to shine and score the game’s lone consolation goal for the Black Cats.

The terrible 27-year-old winger, on the other hand, would be unable to score even a single goal against Blackburn.

Additionally, in the one-sided game, the normally cunning 5 foot 6 attacker would not be able to finish a single successful dribble or even win one of the four duel attempts he made.

In an attempt to atone for the depressing character of this terrible loss, Dodds will therefore find it simple to bench Roberts from Sunderland’s next starting lineup when they play Bristol City.

Following his terrible performance against the Riversiders, in which the Barnsley loanee was often exposed in the left-back position, Callum Styles will also be anxious about his future in Dodds’ starting elevens.

Callum Styles’s statistical performance against Blackburn

The temporary Sunderland manager will also be kicking himself for starting Styles at full-back instead of former Leeds United player Leo Hjelde, as the Hungary international will be out of his element all afternoon against the motivated Blackburn attackers.

Styles was dribbled past twice in the 5-1 loss as a result of Sunderland’s lack of ability to contain players like Ryan Hedges and Sammie Szmodics, who were advancing through at will for the opposition.

In addition, the January addition would fail to adequately relieve the ongoing pressure on the Sunderland goal with two mishandled long balls up the pitch as Blackburn continued to inflict further damage on the lackluster Wearside hosts.

After the game, journalist Andy Tomlinson of the Roker Report gave Styles a brutal 2/10 match rating, calling his defensive effort “all over the place.” The 24-year-old will also almost certainly be the target of Dodds making a lot of changes against the Robins.

With the Sunderland game against Bristol City coming up next, Dodds will be hoping his team has moved past some of their worst performances. A victory would be the ideal way to turn around those who had doubts.

But the locals at the Stadium of Light can grow even more irritated and restless if they suffer another loss soon after this humiliating 5-1 loss.

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