Parky’s Presser: Here’s EVERYTHING the Sunderland gaffer said today ahead of the Shrewsbury trip

On Tuesday Night...

It was a terrific win for us, and very quickly in football your mind turns to the next game.

It’s about reproducing that performance level now. First of all make sure the lads have got the energy and the legs to do it, then get the team selection right, but can we produce that standard of play? If we do we’ll stand a good chance of winning the game.

On Lynden Gooch’s fitness...

It’s not too serious but he will definitely be out for the weekend, which is a shame because I thought Goochy did well. He got his goal, and scored obviously again which was disallowed - we’ve watched back several times and no one can work out what the linesman has seen there! But, good performance for him, I’m very pleased.

Unfortunately he’s twisted his ankle and he will have a spell out, but it won’t be too long.

On the benefit of having McGeady fit...

Yes - what a fantastic option to have with Aiden coming back. He’s a key player, [is] very creative, and he definitely comes back into the thinking for the weekend.

Photo by Ian Horrocks/Sunderland AFC via Getty Images

On the fitness of Duncan Watmore...

Obviously he’s stiff and tired after the game, but he put a lot of effort into it and played exceptionally well. The lads who played on Tuesday have had a lighter session this morning and we’ll look again at Duncan, as we will with a few of the others tomorrow.

On What a fit Watmore can offer the team...

I had watched the Grimsby game before I came in and I thought ‘phoo, I like what you can offer’. I remember Duncan from a few years back as well, and in my first training session on the Thursday he really caught my eye.

He’s certainly come in and performed well... he’s rebuilding his career almost, but he feels in a good place and that’s great for us and for him. He’s such a dangerous player. You look at what he can offer and how difficult he is to mark for the opposition - we want to keep him right and get as many games out of him as possible.

On getting that elusive clean sheet...

Well, defenders and goalkeepers pride themselves on clean sheets, being part of a team who can get clean sheets, but the whole team has got to work to achieve that. With and without the ball everybody has work equally as hard. If you look at the game back, which obviously we have as a staff, the workrate at the top of the pitch to press the ball was equally important as the blocks in and around our box.

We’ve got to keep stressing that to the team that everybody’s got to take part in both sides of the game - when we did that on Tuesday we looked a decent side.

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On whether the rest of the team enjoy clean sheets as much as the ‘keeper and defence do...

Probably not as much... but I think for everybody every time someone spoke to the lads media-wise the clean sheet thing kept getting mentioned, so I think for everyone it’s good to get that off our backs really and build on that because I think we have a team capable of keeping the ball out of our net.

It’s hard work and you’ve got to make sure you’re prepared to do that, it’s not for 45 minutes - it’s right to the end. That’s what pleased me more than anything the other night, the concentration levels and you had to defend a couple of set plays towards the end, and the commitment was right to get that clean sheet.

On his first ‘experience’ of the Stadium of Light...

I absolutely loved it.

Under the lights it was just a terrific atmosphere, and I really savoured every minute of it from when I walked in the door on Tuesday evening to the minute I walked out. It was an excellent evening for us, and it just shows when the crowd see a performance like that how they will respond and get behind the team.

It made it such a great place for our players to play.

On Shrewsbury...

They’ll be pleased with what they’ve done.

They drew the other night [playing] three-five-two and I expect them to play that way. They’re a very hard working team, I have to say that in the games I’ve watched... we’ve got to be ready to match that, which I expect us to. It’s [about] working out how we can get the better of their system and ‘can we exploit them in areas?’. ‘Can we play as positively as we did the other night?’

That is the key.

Photo by James Williamson - AMA/Getty Images

On Playing away from home, and whether it’s tough...

It is but we’ll have a big away following at the weekend.

We’ve got to go play like the home team - I really do feel that. We’ve got to use the supporters who spend their hard-earned cash to come and watch us play and make such a great atmosphere, like they did at Wycombe.

We’ve got to play with that front-foot mentality that we showed the other night, and if we do we’ll have a good chance at the weekend.

On being in the job for a week...

Yeah, I’m getting to know everybody and that’s been good and I can’t believe it’s only been a week, it feels longer, but I’ve really enjoyed it and have had a lot of help from the people at the club already. The players have been good so far and we’ve got a lot of work to do, we really have, but bit by bit we’re trying to make this team a very competitive one.

Any further injuries?

Nothing from the other night - all the other lads were out on the training pitch.