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 offered his verdict on the first few weeks of Phil Parkinson's tenure. 

Parkinson was appointed as Black Cats boss in October, with Jack Ross having been sacked earlier in the month.

The 51-year-old has had an up and down start to life at the Stadium of Light, losing three out of his first four games but generating some impressive performances from his team.

The Black Cats were narrowly defeated by second-place Wycombe Wanderers in his first game in charge but bounced back with a 5-0 win over Tranmere Rovers last week.

On Saturday, they slipped to a 2-1 loss to Shrewsbury Town in a game in which they created more than enough chances to win.

They went toe-to-toe against high-scoring Oxford United in the Carabao Cup Round of 16 on Tuesday night and were unfortunate to suffer a loss on penalties.

The Black Cats remain outside the top six but Hodgson was relatively optimistic when he broke down Parkinson's start.

He said: "What has really surprised me is that Parkinson has come in and attacked teams, which is a change from how we played under Ross, yet when he was appointed all the talk was about how he played a defensive style.

"You can see elements of his defensive philosophy in how we play as we are a lot better defensively but he is trying to use our attacking talents such as Lynden Gooch, Duncan Watmore, and Will Grigg, who have seen improvements in performances since his arrival.

"The only real disappointment so far is the lack of instant results. We've picked up two losses in the league but we could have easily got something from both of these games if we had been more clinical, which I hope will come over time.

"I have no real concerns as of yet, he’s come and implemented how he wants us to play and given us a real system, which is something I really think we lacked under Ross."

Sunderland face struggling Southend United on Saturday, a game that they really should be winning given the way both sides have started the season.