Roy Keane response To The Team news ahead of Southampton As Amad tipped to leave Man United
nderland find themselves in a very rough spot at the moment, with uncertainty around the manager and some poor performances on the pitch.
Mike Dodds hasn’t been able to work the same magic that he did last time as Sunderland’s interim manager when he won two games before Michael Beale was appointed. The club are on a five-game losing streak; only Rotherham United have worse form than that.
Sunderland’s play-off hopes have slowly drifted away in 2024, and things won’t be any easier this weekend as they take on Southampton.
The former Sunderland manager, who got them promoted back to the Premier League in his first season with the club, has been linked to the job by local journalist Nick Barnes. He said, on BBC Radio Newcastle’s Total Sport programme, that the former Manchester United captain has been mentioned as a potential option, but he doubts whether he’d be offered the position.
“Keane is making a lot of noises that he would be happy to return, but I don’t think it will be under this ownership model,” said Barnes. “If the ownership was right, I could see him coming, but I don’t think he would come with this current ownership.”
One of the Irishman’s former teammates, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, was also thrown in the mix by Barnes.
Keane recently posted a picture of the two of them, on Instagram, with a rather tongue-in-cheek caption of ‘DM us if you’re looking to hire a manager.’
Sunderland team news ahead of Southampton game
The Mackems will travel down to the South Coast to face the Saints, whose midweek match against Preston North End was called off due to a large fire that broke out next to the stadium. On this, Dodds said: “It feels like there are a lot of small things going against me and us at the moment. We just have to focus on controlling the controllables.”
On the team news front, no players are expected to return from injury for the match this weekend. The interim boss said that Bradley Dack and Corry Evans have been back training with the group, but they won’t be fully back for a few weeks at least. Neither Jack Clarke nor Patrick Roberts are back on the grass yet after their respective ankle and hamstring injuries.
Club captain Luke O’Nien is set to travel with the team to Southampton despite being banned for the next two games after picking up his 10th yellow card of the season in the club’s midweek game against Leicester City. Dodds said that having someone like him around would be important for the team.
