Mac will be going all out to impress the new boss
WINGER IS ‘CHOMPING AT THE BIT’ TO PLAY - PARKY
PHIL Parkinson expects Aiden McGeady to be ‘chomping at the bit’ to impress if he is brought straight back into the Sunderland team at Shrewsbury this afternoon.
McGeady was forced to watch from the stands on Tuesday evening as the Black Cats thrashed Tranmere Rovers 5-0.
It also has not gone unnoticed he was also absent last month in the home win over MK Dons, when, prior to Tranmere, Sunderland gave one of their most fluid attacking performance of the season for the opening 45 minutes.
However, Parkinson has faith in the Irishman, arguably Sunderland’s most technically -gifted player.
He said: “Aiden will have watched the game the other night, seen the performance and known he is going to have to be at his very best if selected. That is the same for every player.
“He has immense talent, he can produce moments to win you games.
“I have enjoyed working with him so far. He has trained well and is chomping at the bit.”
With injured Lynden Gooch missing the trip to Montgomery Waters Meadow, McGeady has a good chance of coming straight back into the starting line-up.
However, with Parkinson demanding a highintensity, attack-minded performance from his players, there is a chance McGeady might have to alter his game slightly.
Quite often the winger likes to get the ball to feet before beating defenders with his skill.
Parkinson wants his side, like on Tuesday, to be positive and penetrative whenever possible - while he also wants them pressing high.
The Sunderland boss added: “When the games come thick and fast there is always a part of you which thinks, do we freshen the team up?
“Equally, it is good for me to look at different situations as well.
“We have a lot of games coming up, so it is a two-fold situation really.
“We want to pick a team we feel we can play in the manner we did on Tuesday night.
“We want to go to Shrewsbury and play like the home team. It is important we maintain that front-foot mentality we played with.
“To do that, we need a team which is ready to run, to press the ball in the right areas and play with real forward momentum.
“We will pick a team which we think is able to do that.”