MITROVIC’S BIG TEST

test of one’s mental state, especially as a forward who is used to scoring.

“While he has all the capabilities of scoring goals here, at the same time, things can dent that.

“He needs to have some clear nonnegotiables in his game and a clear identity in terms of what he brings to a football match every single week.

“Expectation on him and on what he puts on himself can’t be just goals. He needs to bring a work ethic every day in training, he needs to bring a work ethic on the pitch every single day.

“People say you earn your luck and that’s exactly what happens. Of course, he is at this moment had a couple of quieter games.

“But there will be a lot more times this season where he’ll have two or three quiet games.

“You need to keep sticking to what gets you out of these moments – and what gets you out of them is hard work. That’s exactly what he’ll do.”

Parker has ordered his men to learn from the mistakes that keep costing them — and fast — if they are going to finally find a first Premier League win of the season at the seventh attempt. And he has told them to focus on finishing top… of the bottom four.

He added: “This year our league is our mini-league and at this moment, we are two points off being top of our mini-league.

“Fourth from bottom m this year for us is going ng to be a huge success and that’s our aim.

“At this present moment, we need to be comfortable being in and around this position because that’s where we are.”