Charlton boss Phil Parkinson today expressed his surprise at the manner of Bryan Gunn’s City exit as he aims to protect the Addicks’ unbeaten start to the season at Carrow Road tomorrow.
He, like most, expected the Canaries to start better than they have. But he still expects them to be a major League One challenger – especially after the quality of personnel signed in the summer.
“It is always strange looking in from the outside,” said the former Colchester chief. “You let a manager bring in 10 players and then he gets sacked after one league game. Albeit the first was 7-1 but still they’ve backed him to spend a few quid.
“They haven’t all been free transfers because Grant Holt had quite a hefty transfer fee, so I think everybody was surprised that he only got two games.
“But they’ve got a lot of quality in the squad, a lot of strength in depth and they’ll be up there.”
Parkinson’s men will certainly be well prepared come 3pm tomorrow and the Addicks boss has done plenty of homework on the Norfolk club. He knows it’s going to be a humdinger of a League One clash.
“It is similar to Southampton last week – it is quite difficult to predict how they are going to play in terms of their system. They’ve gone 4-4-2 at home and 4-5-1 away from home.
“But we’ve obviously identified who we think their key players are and there has been a big changeover in both the management and playing squad.”
In injury news, the south London club should be able to name the same line-up for the eighth consecutive time in the league with Lloyd Sam returning to training today after getting a knock against the Saints.
Leon McKenzie is not expected to be available though after picking up a hamstring strain in training.
Tom Haylett
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