Sunderland's caretaker boss reacts to Burton draw, Phil Parkinson's departure and what comes next

Sunderland are searching for a replacement after Phil Parkinson’s departure on Sunday, with Taylor overseeing a 1-1 draw with Burton Albion on Tuesday night.

The 34-year-old is in his first coaching job, and says he is currently taking the interim role on a day-to-day basis.

“There's no timescale yet,” Taylor said.

“All I've been asked is to prepare the team as best I can for this game, and then to address each game as it comes.

“It's a good challenge, I'm enjoying it.

“We'll see what Wednesday brings and whether I'm still around for the game at the weekend.

“It's a massive experience for me and one that I'm relishing, a big opportunity at a big club.

“I'm just preparing the players the best I can for the next step, whoever that manager that might be.

“We as staff, if this the end bit for us, I want to leave it in the best position possible,” he added.

“We've got a good squad, we should be further up the league, even if it is tight.

“The target is to get promoted and we're working hard so that if we do leave the club, it's in as good a position as possible.”

It was a frustrating night for the Black Cats, who controlled possession in the first half but did little to test Kieran O’Hara in the Burton goal.

The hosts were rocked when a Remi Matthews error in the second half allowed the visitors to take a second half lead, with Sunderland struggling for inspiration in the final third.

Taylor switched to a 4-4-2 for the latter stages, with Max Power rescuing a point with a fine header.

Sunderland’s caretaker boss conceded that they had lacked fluidity for large parts of the contest

“Burton came and did a job, they came and got everyone behind the ball,” Taylor said.

“Ideally we'd have liked to have been a lot more fluid, had a lot more movement, created more chances.

“Sometimes, though, it's not as easy as that when teams shut up shop, especially given the preparation time that we had.

“It has been a challenging 48 hours, but I think the lads stuck at it, they kept going and showed good character to get something out of the game.

“We made some good changes to try and get ourselves back into the game, we've had to make some due to injury as well which wasn't ideal.

“We've got be fluid in our process, football is a game where you have to react quickly.”

Taylor said Parkinson’s sacking had come as a ‘shock’ on Sunday afternoon, but said that he and the staff had to rise to the challenge in the week ahead.

“There was a bit of shock," he said.

"We weren't expecting it, it came out of the blue for us

“But I said to the lads yesterday that the game moves fast and you haven't got time to feel sorry for yourself.

“You have the initial shock and disappointment, but you have to rise to the challenge and stand up to it.

“That's what we've tried to do.”

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