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The Wanderers boss is ready to shake-up the side beaten by Sheffield United last weekend in an effort to preserve a top-six position going into the international break.
Parkinson came in for criticism from his own supporters for rotating his squad against the Blades – but the manager offers no apologies for trying to keep his team fresh.
“We made five changes, and moved things around for many reasons, mainly because it’s Championship football and that’s what managers do - but equally we’ve been trying to get players up to speed.
“Some people have done really well, some people didn’t do as well at the weekend, so we’ve got to pick the team with the right side to start at Preston but with a bench where we feel players can come on and affect the game.”
Preston have suffered three defeats away from home in the Championship thus far but have won both of their games at Deepdale, against QPR and Morecambe (in the Carabao Cup).
Parkinson is also wary of the fast start which accounted for Leeds United at Elland Road in midweek.
He said: “We had the opportunity to watch them on Tuesday, they made a few changes but we’ve had a good week on the training ground and we’ve got to go there remembering the game last year when they were the better team in the first half and we got stronger and stronger as the game wore on and we probably should have won it in the end. But we’ve got to remember it’ll be a fast and furious pace at the start of this game and we’ve got to make sure we’re ready for that.
“Of course, against Sheffield United we didn’t start as well; as we needed to and people can say ‘okay, they had had a full week to train, they were fresher than us’ but really if we’re honest about fatigue it should have only really showed towards the end of the game, not in the first 10 minutes and that why we were so disappointed.”
Wanderers start the day third, and can close the gap on leaders Leeds United and Middlesbrough to a point with victory over Alex Neil’s team.
“Without a doubt it’s been a great start,” said Parkinson. “When you look at what we’re competing with in terms of other teams’ spending power and after five game we’re third in the table, it’s an effort that’s different class.
“And we now have the aim of getting into the break still in that top six and it’ll take one almighty effort but we’ll be ready for it.”
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Parkinson came in for criticism from his own supporters for rotating his squad against the Blades – but the manager offers no apologies for trying to keep his team fresh.
“We made five changes, and moved things around for many reasons, mainly because it’s Championship football and that’s what managers do - but equally we’ve been trying to get players up to speed.
“Some people have done really well, some people didn’t do as well at the weekend, so we’ve got to pick the team with the right side to start at Preston but with a bench where we feel players can come on and affect the game.”
Preston have suffered three defeats away from home in the Championship thus far but have won both of their games at Deepdale, against QPR and Morecambe (in the Carabao Cup).
Parkinson is also wary of the fast start which accounted for Leeds United at Elland Road in midweek.
He said: “We had the opportunity to watch them on Tuesday, they made a few changes but we’ve had a good week on the training ground and we’ve got to go there remembering the game last year when they were the better team in the first half and we got stronger and stronger as the game wore on and we probably should have won it in the end. But we’ve got to remember it’ll be a fast and furious pace at the start of this game and we’ve got to make sure we’re ready for that.
“Of course, against Sheffield United we didn’t start as well; as we needed to and people can say ‘okay, they had had a full week to train, they were fresher than us’ but really if we’re honest about fatigue it should have only really showed towards the end of the game, not in the first 10 minutes and that why we were so disappointed.”
Wanderers start the day third, and can close the gap on leaders Leeds United and Middlesbrough to a point with victory over Alex Neil’s team.
“Without a doubt it’s been a great start,” said Parkinson. “When you look at what we’re competing with in terms of other teams’ spending power and after five game we’re third in the table, it’s an effort that’s different class.
“And we now have the aim of getting into the break still in that top six and it’ll take one almighty effort but we’ll be ready for it.”
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