Phil Parkinson reveals his tactical message to Sunderland squad ahead of Gillingham 'battle'

Sunderland travel to Priestfield for the second time in a matter of weeks after the Black Cats were last month dumped out of the FA Cup 1-0 thanks to a goal in extra-time.

Parkinson's side failed to land a single attempt on target that night in 120 minutes of football.

With Sunderland 11th in League One, Parkinson is under increasing pressure from the fanbase having won just two of the opening 11 league and cup games since replacing Jack Ross in the dugout, with seven defeats to his name already.

Parkinson insists he has a good idea of how Steve Evans' Gillingham side will line-up and the challenges they will face.

Ahead of the 3pm Saturday clash, Parkinson said: "We know exactly how they're going to play.

"First half against them at home we played well, moved the ball quickly.

"In the second half they stifled us and we couldn't really find a way out of that until later in the game.

"We went down there with a very depleted side, we were strong, stood up and competed, but we didn't play both sides of the game right.

"We can't just get involved in a war and a battle, we've got to have the calmness and composure to play, like we did in the first half of the game.

"We went down there missing a lot of players but we need to get both sides of the game right."