Preston North End (a) – Fri 18th Dec 19:45 – What Can We Expect?

[cidered abroad]

58 minutes ago, Robbored said:

They definitely are a bogey team then! 

Just like Birmingham City, Millwall and plenty others.

[GrahamC]

1 hour ago, Davefevs said:

I’d suggest he was exaggerating.

In the past 8 matches, they’ve named 9 subs every game, and at worst they named 4 kids twice, so still 16 fit players minimum.  Most games they’ve only named 1 or 2 of the kids:

Baxter (20)

Coulson (17)

O’Reilly (19)

Holland-Wilkinson (18)

 

Just about to post something similar, I just looked at their subs bench in midweek;

Paul Huntingdon, Scott Sinclair, Jayden Stockley, Conor Ripley (gk), Jordan Storey, Tom Bayliss, Joe Rafferty, Josh Harrop, all 8 of these players have masses of league experience.

One of their bench against Barnsley (O’Reilly, never heard of him) was a kid, it is highly likely that 6 of ours will be tomorrow, there is absolutely no comparison at all.

[Red7]

2 hours ago, Curr Avon said:

My cousin is a Preston fan and told me that they were down to just 13 fit players two weeks ago. Bauer is out for the season and Pearson won't return until the new year. We agreed that both sides are playing crap and the win could go either way.

If there is a plus side, Preston's home form is worse than ours, with just 2 wins from 9.

Hope springs eternal.

Had a similar conversation with a PNE mate of mine. He said we just needed to turn up in the car park at Deepdale to take the three points.
Although, to be fair, he hadn't seen our last two games.

[ontariored]

I get to see this game on DAZN and in Ontario, Canada. Being a born and bred and resident of Bristol for half my life. What can I expect?

[Lrrr]

6 hours ago, phantom said:

With all the medical science used nowadays, I would imagine there is no physical issue with a player playing that many games.

What I think the issue is more to do with mental fatigue, anyone working consistent long hours will vouch for this 

In isolation 4 in 9 isn't a problem but in the midst of the current schedule plus our lack of rotation means 4 in 9 can be tough.

[Red7]

2 minutes ago, ontariored said:

I get to see this game on DAZI and in Ontario, Canada. Being a born and bred and resident of Bristol for half my life. What can I expect?

The unexpected. Or the expected.

[The Constant Rabbit]

1 hour ago, ontariored said:

I get to see this game on DAZN and in Ontario, Canada. Being a born and bred and resident of Bristol for half my life. What can I expect?

Do you like watching paint dry?

If so - boy, are you in for a treat if this seasons 'entertainment' is continued.

[Mr Popodopolous]

3 hours ago, Davefevs said:

I’d suggest he was exaggerating.

In the past 8 matches, they’ve named 9 subs every game, and at worst they named 4 kids twice, so still 16 fit players minimum.  Most games they’ve only named 1 or 2 of the kids:

Baxter (20)

Coulson (17)

O’Reilly (19)

Holland-Wilkinson (18)

 

I'd be surprised if Preston's injuries are as bad as all that, as you say and then Graham mentioned in a subsequent post, very experienced bench indeed.

I reckon ours are worse than theirs, definitely.

[Davefevs]

2 hours ago, TheCulturalBomb said:

Sorry.

Peston Bell End???

[Davefevs]

Preston North End (a) – Fri 18^th Dec 19:45 – What Can We Expect?

Its two months shy of ten years since City last beat Preston North End.  February 2011 it was when City won 4-0 at Deepdale with goals from Andy Keogh, David Clarkson (2) and Brett Pitman.  City coach Kalifa Cisse was in the starting line-up that day, that’s how long ago it was.  A fourteen-game winless run against the Lilywhites and on some occasions performance levels that matched Saturday’s defeat at Rotherham have previously resulted in calls for the manager’s head!  Perhaps three successive draws have broken the back of the sequence – we shall see!

Preston find themselves in 16th place following the midweek round of fixtures.  Their home form gives City hope of breaking the hoodoo as Preston have just two wins and a draw from nine games at Deepdale.  Just seven goals scored too, of which three came in one game, last Wednesday’s 3-0 win over Middlesbrough.  However, with City on the back of successive defeats and lacklustre performances Preston will be favourites for this one.

Who’s the boss?

PNE are managed by Scotsman Alex Neil, the 39-year-old former Airdrie, Barnsley, Mansfield and Hamilton player.  In 10 years at the Accies he played almost 250 times.  During his playing days he started to get involved in coaching, and then became player-manager in 2013. 

Pic 1 - Neil in his playing days - a team in their manager's mould?

In his first full season he achieved promotion to the Scottish Premiership where they made a promising start to life in the top tier.  That caught the attention of Norwich (2015) where he made a flying start, winning 17 out of 25, taking the Canaries up via the play-offs.  Unfortunately, the run of success ended as Norwich came straight back down and later in the season after he lost his job.  He wasn’t out of work long when Preston came calling in the summer of 2017.

Summer Recruitment:

Preston fans and manager are showing signs of frustration at the tight ship run by owner Trevor Hemmings.  But with Covid impacting the market, Neil didn’t have a player to sell this summer to fund his incomings.  In previous seasons he sold the likes of Callum Robinson (£7m), Greg Cunningham (£3.6m) and Jordan Hugill (£9m) to balance the books. 

Incomings:

Emil Riis – Randers FC (£1.35m) 

Yep, that’s it!

Outgoings: 

Tom Clarke – Salford (Free)

Kevin O’Connor – Cork (Free)

Josh Ginnelly – Hearts (Loan) 

Plus a few younger players leaving on a free transfer or going out on loan. 

How do they play?

System / Formation: 

Neil favours a 4231 formation but has flexibility in his front six ahead of the back four.  Several players can play in multiple positions / roles. 

Pic 2 - PNE's 4231 away at Luton [Wyscout]

With five subs available now, Neil can mix it up. 

Pic 3 - Neil's subs versus Luton

With PNE 2-0 down at half-time, Neil replaces centre-back Huntingdon (23) with Jordan Storey (14) and Ryan Ledson (18) with Daniel Johnson (11).  Just before the hour with the outcome still looking bad Neil makes another double substitution, centre-forward Emil Riis (19) comes on for Jayden Stockley (20) and Sean Maguire (24) replaces winger Tom Barkhuisen (29).  Just a few minutes later an injury to Brad Potts (44) sees Tom Bayliss (7) come on, but a tweak to roles as Johnson pushes into the attacking midfield slot and Bayliss back in alongside Alan Browne (8). 

To keep Holden on his toes Neil switched to 352 on Tuesday as Barnsley came from behind to win 2-1.  However, City fans may look on ominously when they see PNE’s three-man midfield!

Pic 4 - Neil brings back Gallagher and Johnson with City next up [Wyscout]

The game saw Paul Gallagher, Daniel Johnson and Alan Browne start together.  All that was missing was Ben Pearson! 

Below I start to explore some themes behind Preston’s approach. 

Pressing: 

Preston are one of the better teams in the Championship at disrupting the opposition’s possession.  Only Rotherham (as we saw Saturday), Bournemouth and Huddersfield allow less passes (Preston 9.58) before they either win the ball, foul, intercept or tackle.  City (12.90) are 18^th, and this reflects a change in tactics since injuries to Weimann and Bakinson (now fit again) where Holden’s team now sit in and play more transitional football.

Not only do they disrupt the opposition in the press, but they also break the flow with niggly fouls and “injury timeouts” which allow them to take the sting out of any momentum that might be building against them.  It is a very cynical approach from Neil, but it is effective.  It is one of the pitfalls of losing the first goal and having to chase the game. 

Set-Pieces: 

From corners we see a variety of approaches, but emphasis on the near post.  The first example is an inswinger from the left wing from Paul Gallagher.

Pic 5 - Right foot inswinger versus Barnsley

Gallagher is usually on the money with his set-piece delivery and on this occasion he doesn’t disappoint.  A bunch of Preston players start around the penalty spot with different runs towards the near post area.  But keep an eye on Maguire (24) stood by the keeper.

Pic 6 - Flick on by the Barnsley defender does the job!

Its Barnsley’s Matty James (32) who inadvertently gets the flick-on, and Maguire stoops to head in at the far post despite Walton’s attempts to keep the ball out. 

In the second example, away at Luton, it’s a right wing, right foot away swinger. 

Pic 7 - an away swinger versus Luton

Preston midfielder Alan Browne (8) makes an undetected run from the back of the pack, around the Preston players stationed in the 6-yard box and gets onto the pacy delivery, but unfortunately volleys over the bar.

Nothing “rocket science” about the routine, but effective all the same.  In a tight game it can be the differentiator.

An often-undervalued set-piece is the throw-in.  City have improved their ball retention from throw-ins this season, but there is still significant room for improvement.  It’s been frustrating over the past few seasons seeing City give up possession from a situation that can be worked on and be very effective. 

Pic 8 - Perfect set-up and movement versus Boro

In last week’s 3-0 win over Middlesbrough, a simple throw-in routine almost pays dividends.  Darnell Fisher with the throw to Jayden Stockley who flicks on to Tom Barkhuisen who’s already on the move as Fisher delivers.  Barkhuisen rides a weak tackle and sees his shot saved. 

Direct play: 

Following on from the throw-in example, we find another flick-on situation in general play.

Pic 9 - Stockley causing more problems in the air versus Boro

A percentage ball is lifted forward from the back towards Stockley.  Where Preston become effective is that they get runners either side of Stockley looking for the flick, but also from midfield too for the nod down or half-cleared header.  Even if the Boro midfielder gets to the loose ball first he’s facing his own goal and will be under pressure to clear.  It is a feature of their play that they commit runners in situations like this and City will need to be combative as well as switched on.  They put opposition defences under intense pressure looking for cracks that they can exploit. 

We’ve seen in the past that Neil’s Preston sides do not think about whether the pass forward is coming or not, they make proactive and aggressive runs down the sides of the centre-backs in expectation.  The forward players are prepared on the half-turn ready to gain that yard on their marker.  It enables the game to become stretched and gives Preston that bit more space to play. It also means that City’s distances between defence and midfield increase or if the midfield drop, the gaps between our midfield and attack get bigger making linking up more difficult.  City will really need to work hard to keep their units together, even if that allows Preston’s defence to push up.  In that scenario City might have room in behind and down the sides of the centre-backs to exploit.

Room down the sides:

Following on from the above, if City can turn Preston’s attacks into our own attacks then Preston can be got at. 

Pic 10 - Retreating defence versus Barnsley

Against Barnsley we see the Tykes break up an attack and pile forward.  This time its Preston with big gaps front-to-back and with their defence retreating and shape broken, Mowatt (27) can slide in Callum Styles.  On this occasion Styles gives it straight back to Mowatt who curls a 25 yarder past run and into the net.

Pic 11 - on the back foot again!

Another pass not finding its target and Barnsley break again, Preston’s midfield beyond the ball, Woodrow breaks into the final third.  With Victor Adeboyejo clear in the channel Woodrow sucks in Fisher (2) before playing the killer pass and the Barnsley striker goes on to score.

Possible Line-up / Options: 

GK: Declan Rudd (29): former Norwich academy player who had a loan spell at Deepdale in 2013/14 and then at Charlton before signing for Preston in July 2017, just before Neil arrived from Norwich.  Closing in on 200 appearances for Preston across the two spells.  On the bench is Connor Ripley (27): son of Middlesbrough winger Stuart, he was linked with City a few seasons back and has had loans at Oxford, Ostersund, Motherwell, Oldham, Burton, Bury and Accrington before signing for Preston in 2019. 

RB: Darnell Fisher (26): fiery full back who started at Celtic and arrived at Preston via Rotherham in 2017.  Picked up 12 yellow and 1 red card last season and has 3 yellows in 9 already this season.  Neil can call upon versatile Joe Rafferty (27): a Liverpool academy youngster who joined Preston from Rochdale.  Can player either side. 

CB: Paul Huntingdon (33): experienced centre-back who started at Newcastle but now in his 9^th season at PNE. Signed on a free transfer from Yeovil in 2012 and has made almost 300 appearances for the Lilywhites.  Quite possible that Neil may select Jordan Storey (23): started at Newcastle too, but made his mark in less than 20 games at Exeter, prompting Neil to splash £750k on him. 

CB: Ben Davies (25): academy graduate who had loans at York, Tranmere, Southport, Newport and Fleetwood before establishing himself under Neil.  Left-sided, he’s had a hamstring injury restricting game time, but now back in the fold.  Neil has been unable to call upon Patrick Bauer (28): the former Stuttgart and Charlton defender, who has been struggling with injury and is out for a while.  Bauer scored against City in last season’s 3-3 draw. 

LB: Andrew Hughes (28): former Newport man who had a loan at Mangotsfield United (just up the road from me!) before signing for Peterborough on a free in 2016.  Two years later he signed for Preston for an undisclosed fee.  Out of favour appears to be Josh Earl (22): who until Tuesday had played just twice this season. 

CM: Alan Browne (25): versatile midfielder who came from Cork in January 2014.  Now an Ireland international with 11 caps, hes been key in more withdrawn role in the absence of Ben Pearson (25): the former Manchester United and Barnsley man is unlikely to be on many City fans’ Christmas Card list due to his over-the-top tackling and play acting.  Currently out injured. 

CM: Ryan Ledson (23): former Everton academy player who signed from Oxford in July 2018.  Has really become a regular this season until Tuesday.  His place was taken by Paul Gallagher (36): experienced midfielder who is now in his 6^th season at Deepdale.  Formerly with Blackburn and Leicester, the Scot takes a mean set-piece. 

AM: Daniel Johnson (28): former Villa youngster who has loan spells at Yeovil, Chesterfield and Oldham before arriving in Preston in January 2015.  Preston’s penalty taker and has 3 goals and 4 assists in 10 games against City. DANGERMAN 

Pic 12 - Johnson against City last season

RM/W: Tom Barkhuizen (27): former Blackpool wide man who signed on a free in 2017.  4 goals in his last 7 games he will be threat down Preston’s right.  Without Jay Dasilva we might not see Neil turn to Brad Potts (26): the tall attacking midfielder who also played at Blackpool.  Hard-working, Potts provides some physicality in the wide areas. 

LM/W: Scott Sinclair (31): ex-Rovers youngsters who moved to Chelsea academy at a young age.  Lots of loans before a move to Swansea and then Manchester City before a stint at Celtic.  Signed for Preston in last season’s winter window. 

CF: Emil Riis (22): Danish u21 international who had a spell at Derby before returning home to Randers FC in 2018. Signed for PNE for £1.35m in October, and although still finding his feet will provide a physical challenge if he gets selected over Jayden Stockley (27): the former Exeter target-man who mainly appeared from the bench this season.  If Neil decides to go with a less physical striker then he may opt for Sean Maguire (26): the former West Ham and Cork man who scored in midweek.  Lively striker who has suffered from hamstring issues in the past.

Other players:

MF: Tom Bayliss (21): ex-Coventry man

MF: Josh Harrop (25): ex-Manchester United

W: Billy Bodin (28): ex-Rovers and son of Paul Bodin

CF: David Nugent (25): ex-England striker

Prediction: 

Despite neither side being in form on the back of consecutive defeats, neither side draw many, I therefore can’t see the points being shared.  Unfortunately, with our record against Preston, I see City returning empty handed.  Our injury problems show no sign of relenting and with this week’s news about Dasilva and Brunt, ‘bare bones’ is an understatement.

PNE 3:1 Bristol City

 

[daored]

@Davefevsgood write up as usual. Preston will clearly look to exploit us at set pieces and our defending of them in recent weeks is a real concern. Fear we’ll be bullied and Neil will have seen last two results and especially Rowetts comments post Tuesday night and will follow their approach. One thing for certain this is not going to be a good game to watch from a quality perspective!! A Christmas treat it certainly won’t be, maybe the match day thread could be called black eye Friday !

[mozo]

Brutal prediction Dave. I'll go 1-1 in a hoof-fest. I'm an optimist after all...

[Robbored]

3 minutes ago, mozo said:

Brutal prediction Dave. I'll go 1-1 in a hoof-fest. I'm an optimist after all...

I’m the opposite on this one - based entirely on our recent dismal record against PNE.

Im prepared to avoid otib this time tomorrow evening.........I’m expecting a loss....

[Davefevs]

1 minute ago, Robbored said:

I’m the opposite on this one - based entirely on our recent dismal record against PNE.

Im prepared to avoid otib this time tomorrow evening.........I’m expecting a loss....

Do what I do and just close down OTIB at 19:44.  I post a little h-t summary and close down again.

I do sometimes read every page back afterwards, especially the ones just after the team is announced.  Then we hear from Holden, Downing and Simpson and a bit of tranquility descends as people understand why player x has been left out, etc.

At 19.45 it’s a game of who can pin the tail on the scapegoat.

[old_eastender]

9 minutes ago, JonDolman said:

                 Bentley

Mariappa Vyner Kalas  Rowe

            Bakinson Nagy  

O'Dowda. Massengo Semenyo 

                    Wells 

 

 

 

Swap the positions of Massengo and Bakinson and I'd take that line-up...

[Davefevs]

7 minutes ago, JonDolman said:

                 Bentley

Mariappa Vyner Kalas  Rowe

            Bakinson Nagy  

O'Dowda. Massengo Semenyo 

                    Wells 

 

 

 

Wouldn’t be against those eleven starting tomorrow.  As you know I couldn’t give too much of a toss about the formation () beyond the keeper and back 4 - but there’s enough in that front 6 to get a performance and create some stuff..

[Robbored]

18 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Do what I do and just close down OTIB at 19:44.  I post a little h-t summary and close down again.

I do sometimes read every page back afterwards, especially the ones just after the team is announced.  Then we hear from Holden, Downing and Simpson and a bit of tranquility descends as people understand why player x has been left out, etc.

At 19.45 it’s a game of who can pin the tail on the scapegoat.

It’s a shame tier 2 doesn’t start until Saturday otherwise I’d have bought a bowl of chips and sank a few pints  in my local pub - then I wouldn’t have been able to log in to otib.......

I’ll watch the game on Sky but change channel when we go 2-0 down......

[Lew-T]

9 minutes ago, JonDolman said:

                 Bentley

Mariappa Vyner Kalas  Rowe

            Bakinson Nagy  

O'Dowda. Massengo Semenyo 

                    Wells 

 

 

 

Kalas didn’t look to good on Tuesday so I’m guessing he’s a doubt. If that’s the case I don’t think Holden will go 4 at the back...

[mozo]

23 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Do what I do and just close down OTIB at 19:44.  I post a little h-t summary and close down again.

I do sometimes read every page back afterwards, especially the ones just after the team is announced.  Then we hear from Holden, Downing and Simpson and a bit of tranquility descends as people understand why player x has been left out, etc.

At 19.45 it’s a game of who can pin the tail on the scapegoat.

Have you ever read a matchday thread from the start after the final whistle? It's actually quite amusing reading the comments, knowing how wrong most of the posts are!

[Davefevs]

10 minutes ago, mozo said:

Have you ever read a matchday thread from the start after the final whistle? It's actually quite amusing reading the comments, knowing how wrong most of the posts are!

Yes I have, regularly.  Usual suspects too.

@Robbored here you go.

[Davefevs]

14 minutes ago, Lew-T said:

Kalas didn’t look to good on Tuesday so I’m guessing he’s a doubt. If that’s the case I don’t think Holden will go 4 at the back...

No reason why Mariappa couldn’t replace Kalas and play in a four.  

[Robbored]

13 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Yes I have, regularly.  Usual suspects too.

@Robbored here you go.

I’d forgotten David Clarkson.............

[Chairman Mao]

can we get David Clarkson in, was the 2 goal man last time we beat this side...

[reddoh]

bugger you've just ruined tomorrow might watch   Caernarfon Town v Newtown AFC 

[lager loud]

39 minutes ago, mozo said:

Have you ever read a matchday thread from the start after the final whistle? It's actually quite amusing reading the comments, knowing how wrong most of the posts are!

I’ve often done this when I’ve been abroad on holiday, without knowing the score. Not as interesting as watching the game, obviously, but there is a bit of excitement involved in not knowing what’s coming next. “FFS”? FFS what?? Goal? Bad miss? Sending off? Nicky Hunt coming on as a sub??

[Davefevs]

Just now, lager loud said:

I’ve often done this when I’ve been abroad on holiday, without knowing the score. Not as interesting as watching the game, obviously, but there is a bit of excitement involved in not knowing what’s coming next. “FFS”? FFS what?? Goal? Bad miss? Sending off? Nicky Hunt coming on as a sub??

Haha there’s an idea.

Flyers are playing Leicester on Sky (mix) tomorrow at 7:30.

I could watch the basketball, record the football, then just read the MDT afterwards.

 

[ExiledAjax]

40 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Yes I have, regularly.  Usual suspects too.

@Robbored here you go.

The fact they've had to go back to 2011

[pnefcok]

It's very hard to say, even from a PNE fan's perspective, which North End will turn up tomorrow night.

Generally our home form has been woeful and our away form has been excellent. That's because we generally thrive in transition and on the counter, but when teams sit in we struggle. We only really have one properly effective creative player now at this level, Daniel Johnson, and he isn't performing (will touch on that later).

However we battered Boro at home last time out but have been outplayed away at Luton and Barnsley in the last 2 away games so it's anyone's guess how we will play.

We're capable of getting some goals and we've battered Bournemouth and Brentford away so when on song we're a very good side, but it's just not happening enough and we actually now have the worst defensive record in the league.

The club has become a bit of a shambles over the last 12 months. Our 5 best players, Davies/Pearson/Browne/Johnson/Fisher, are all out of contract in the summer. We have yet to get anything sorted and it appears we made very late offers to them. Normally that set of players would fetch £20m plus in the market, but it looks like we could lose the lot for nothing. In the meantime, some of our very mediocre players had their deals extended, even if the manager doesn't rate them or play them! This has infuriated the manager who is not coping very well with how restrictive our transfer policy is and how badly the club have managed this contract debacle. He has essentially been calling out the owner in most of his interviews in recent weeks, and it's clear he doesn't rate most of the squad outside of the starting XI, but we have only signed 2 players in the last 2 transfer windows, the least in the country, and as such we have not been able to turnover the squad and seriously freshen it up or improve it.

Essentially the club has been trying to stand still and that is why we now find ourselves going from play off contenders to a lower mid table average side. When you try to stand still in football, especially at a ruthless level like the Championship, you will always end up going backwards.

Scott Sinclair has come good this season and whilst he can be quiet in games has real quality and is a great finisher. The new striker from Denmark Riis is raw but has good pace and a good strike on him. Potts and Ledson in midfield have also improved a lot. They are the positives really.

We also have a lot of key injuries like Bauer Pearson Ledson Potts at the moment which is further pissing off the manager and worsening his mood. Nobody really knows what direction the club is going in and all the uncertainty is causing big problems. January is going to be massive for us in terms of whether we can do anything in the market or not. In the meantime we just have to hope we pick up a reasonable amount of points that keeps us in mid-table.

[Malvern Red]

1 hour ago, pnefcok said:

It's very hard to say, even from a PNE fan's perspective, which North End will turn up tomorrow night.

Generally our home form has been woeful and our away form has been excellent. That's because we generally thrive in transition and on the counter, but when teams sit in we struggle. We only really have one properly effective creative player now at this level, Daniel Johnson, and he isn't performing (will touch on that later).

However we battered Boro at home last time out but have been outplayed away at Luton and Barnsley in the last 2 away games so it's anyone's guess how we will play.

We're capable of getting some goals and we've battered Bournemouth and Brentford away so when on song we're a very good side, but it's just not happening enough and we actually now have the worst defensive record in the league.

The club has become a bit of a shambles over the last 12 months. Our 5 best players, Davies/Pearson/Browne/Johnson/Fisher, are all out of contract in the summer. We have yet to get anything sorted and it appears we made very late offers to them. Normally that set of players would fetch £20m plus in the market, but it looks like we could lose the lot for nothing. In the meantime, some of our very mediocre players had their deals extended, even if the manager doesn't rate them or play them! This has infuriated the manager who is not coping very well with how restrictive our transfer policy is and how badly the club have managed this contract debacle. He has essentially been calling out the owner in most of his interviews in recent weeks, and it's clear he doesn't rate most of the squad outside of the starting XI, but we have only signed 2 players in the last 2 transfer windows, the least in the country, and as such we have not been able to turnover the squad and seriously freshen it up or improve it.

Essentially the club has been trying to stand still and that is why we now find ourselves going from play off contenders to a lower mid table average side. When you try to stand still in football, especially at a ruthless level like the Championship, you will always end up going backwards.

Scott Sinclair has come good this season and whilst he can be quiet in games has real quality and is a great finisher. The new striker from Denmark Riis is raw but has good pace and a good strike on him. Potts and Ledson in midfield have also improved a lot. They are the positives really.

We also have a lot of key injuries like Bauer Pearson Ledson Potts at the moment which is further pissing off the manager and worsening his mood. Nobody really knows what direction the club is going in and all the uncertainty is causing big problems. January is going to be massive for us in terms of whether we can do anything in the market or not. In the meantime we just have to hope we pick up a reasonable amount of points that keeps us in mid-table.

You’ve offered us this faint glimmer of hope 14 times now and we’re no longer buying it.

[Mr Popodopolous]

I get the impression you have at times- only at times- played a bit more football this season @pnefcok has that got some merit? Looking at some of the stats, goals, results you've had at times.

Sounds like we need to- without stealing Dave's thunder- counter tomorrow perhaps, more emphasis on letting you have the ball somewhat and quick, dynamic breaks- have the feeling you might be vulnerable if we play in transition a bit, maybe quick counterpressing.

@Davefevs Looking at that side, it doesn't sound that injury hit- some yes, some key ones yes- set against us? Possibly not!