I've spent more time with Kris than my wife, says Cats coach
Lee Johnson and Kristjaan Speakman have used Sund e rl a n d 's e n fo rc e d b rea k from League One action to focus on targets for the January window.
The Black Cats were forced to postpone their three festive fixtures after an outbreak of COVID-19 at the club.
Their scheduled return at Accrington Stanley on December 29th is in the balance, dependent on the recovery of the 13 players to test positive.
One of the key issues at the moment is that all three goalkeepers have suffered with the virus.
The pause has allowed the newly installed sporting director and head coach to better assess the current squad, and weigh up what business needs to be done next month.
"So far, so good," Johnson told the club #SAFCUnfiltered podcast.
"I've spent more time with him than my wife at the moment!
"We're speaking five, six times a day. We've been discussing January targets and we've had two or three daily conversations on those as well.
"We have to get an understanding of how each other works, and we have to have absolute clarity on our respective job roles, and there's certainly crossover within that.
"That's when it becomes about the rapport you build and the personal relationship you have to help make
good decisions for the football club."
Johnson has previously hinted that there will be gradual change in January, rather than major overhaul.
The head coach wants to add some key 'attributes' to his squad, with extra pace in the final third top of his list.
However, he has consistently said that his squad is stronger than many suggest.
"I think this period has been a bit of a blessing in terms of being able to assess my ea rl y th oug ht s o n th e squad, to be able to reflect and look at what we need and the help that we need in January," he said.
"To get a better understanding of the younger players, too.
"I think we get a bit of a bad press in terms of the quality of the squad, I think the quality is better than people believe it is."
S p e a k m a n's l o n g - te r m project at the club is to build a recruitment infrastructure that can regularly identify targets to suit the club's playing philosophy, regardless of who is head coach at the time.
However, with that depa rtm e nt o f th e c lub s t i l l threadbare, Speakman has already said that Johnson's role next month will be key.
"The future will look like having a head of recruitment to manage the recruitment process, around capturing the information and football intelligence within the marketplace, and then moving all the way through to a select engage phase where the head coach would come in," he said.
"Now, he will have to - with the football club at the minute - help us to create the profiles of the positions linked to the football philosophy. We don't, at the minute, have those in any great depth how we'd like them.
"The head coach is going to identify the areas which he feels are a weakness and the areas he thinks we can improve in, and that ultimately has to be his judgement call."