This article is part of Football League World’s ‘Regular Punter’ series, where we gather original opinions from select, passionate fans of the clubs concerned on matters surrounding their team and share them with a wider audience…

Football League World's Sunderland fan pundit Charlie Hodgson has suggested that being knocked out of three cup competitions in the last month will be good for the Black Cats in the long run. 

Since new boss Phil Parkinson took charge of the club in in October, the North East side have been knocked out of the Carabao Cup, EFL Trophy and FA Cup.

Sunderland have lost five of their first nine games under the English coach but remain within touching distance of the top six in League One.

Parkinson's side are ninth in the table, two points back from and with a game in hand over Rotherham United in sixth.

Hodgson suggested that as promotion is the main priority, getting knocked out of the cup competitions is good news for the Black Cats season but also raised concerns about the quality of football recently.

He explained: "I think these cup exits will be a good thing in the long run as we’ve already had games rescheduled.

"We witnessed last season that rescheduled games can ruin a season towards the end–especially when your squad lacks quality in depth, which at the moment I believe ours does.

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"Being out of these competitions is definitely a good thing in the long run, however, the fact that it has happened so quickly and we’ve played so poorly is worrying."

Sunderland welcome two League One opponents to the Stadium of Light in the next week, as they face Coventry City on Saturday and then Burton Albion on Wednesday.