Parky: We’ve questioned match decision
Phil Parkinson admits that Sunderland have ‘questioned’ elements of the last-minute re-arrangement of their clash with Tranmere Rovers - but feels his squad are prepared to tackle a busy week of fixtures.
The Black Cats were initially set to travel to Prenton Park on tonight, but the game was pushed back by 24 hours after Micky Mellon’s side progressed in the FA Cup.
That means the turnaround between the visit to Merseyside and the clash at Portsmouth on Saturday, February 1 has been significantly shortened, causing the Wearsiders to tweak their plans. And with supporters and the club given less than a weeks’ notice of the changes, Parkinson admits the situation is ‘not ideal’ - but believes his squad are well-equipped for the challenges ahead.
Indeed, the Sunderland boss also hinted that some of his fringe players could get an opportunity to shine in the coming week.
“It’s not ideal, and there’s things we’ve questioned about the decision,” admitted Parkinson.
“But it is what it is, we’re not going to change it and we have to deal with it.
“I feel we’ve got the squad prepared and ready to do that.”
“It’s a busy week, but we knew the situation if they got through,” he continued.
“If you look over the Christmas period, we went into games with two or three days between them - so we’ve got to do it again.
“We’ve got players who’ve not figured much recently, and they’re having a practice game ready for if we need them to start this week.”