This is what Phil Parkinson wants to see from his Sunderland side as they return to League One action

The Black Cats face a Rochdale side who have won their last two league games, beating Shrewsbury Town 2-1 on Saturday.

Brian Barry-Murphy’s side have long cultivated a reputation as having one of the strongest playing identities in the league, favouring a patient passing game and regularly handing opportunities to academy products.

Parkinson has seen signs of a slightly more pragmatic approach this season, but says the key to victory will be implementing the kind of pressing game that saw his side seal an emphatic win against the same opponents at the Stadium of Light earlier in 2020.

Then, Sunderland surged into a 3-0 lead in the opening half hour of the contest, with Lynden Gooch scoring two and Eoghan O’Connell scoring an own goal.

“They've had a couple of good results in their last two away games,” Parkinson said.

“They will have a similar style to when we played them last year and we were excellent against them. So we know what we've got to do, but it's important we implement what we need to do better and more consistently across the 90 minutes than we did at the weekend.

“I think they have a bit more of a mixture to their game this year, but we know what we've got to do.

“The key for us is to get back to imposing ourselves on the opposition across the course of the game. I said in the lead up to the Portsmouth game that we've done well this season in terms of clean sheets, but a lot of that has been because we have been the team in the ascendancy through games.

“We've pressed the ball high and put teams under pressure, which has limited the amount of attacks they've been able to have against us.

“We need to get back to that at Rochdale.”

Parkinson admits the 3-1 defeat to Portsmouth on Saturday, Sunderland’s first of the season, was a setback for his side.

Overall, though, he says their points return of 14 from seven league games thus far is ‘decent’, and the trip to Rochdale offers an opportunity to quickly climb back up the table.

“It always hits you when you lose for the first team in a season, but it is important that it doesn't knock us too much, that we learn from it and we respond,” he said.

“I think overall, the run we had, Oxford and Charlton away, Peterborough and Portsmouth at home, to come through that period with 14 points is decent.

“But we know we're at our best when we get right on top of teams and press them all over the pitch.

“That's what we've got to do."

Parkinson will be forced into at least one change for the game, with Luke O’Nien suspended after seeing red at the weekend.

Tom Flanagan looks set to take his place on the left of the back three, with Dion Sanderson or Jack Diamond likely to then take a place on the bench.

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