My view on that

[Jcolebristol]

Got a 30 min walk to the hotel so figured I’d start writing.

well done Preston, they disrupted us well and made it hard for us. Looked really well balanced. Deserved the 3 points purely for capitalising well you on 2 poor defensive mistakes.

diedhou - wow you are passionate! Never seen him so fired up! 

Mags showed his weak side again. Caught out of place numerous times. Still lots to learn - good thing we’re ip the right end of the league! 

They nullified diedhou and Flint in their box - frustrating as hell but I think we need to rethink our set play tactics because refs never seem to want to give the big guys penalties despite being hassled.

kent has had too many chances now, use eliasson more please.

overall, I think everyone had an ok game except mags & Kent. We tried too much long ball but when we did pass on the floor, we created some good chances.

if luck was on our side, there was 3 chances that could’ve gone in.

[cityexile]

Sounded much more dangerous than at Cardiff, and got edged out by a side in form.

Other teams seem to consistently have players on the bench that can make a difference. We reallly do not seem to, at all. Our back line is not solid enough and gives to many soft goals away. 

Do not think we are far away, even given our recent form. You can never however keep giving away the type of goals we seem to regularly and get very far.

[Marina's Rolls Royce]

Thanks @Jcolebristol - its really good to hear a quick and honest review from someone who made the effort to be there tonight and can post without losing their spleen.

[steveybadger]

Good report, but  don't walk into a lamp post while you're typing!

[Northern Red]

Not our night. Draw wouldn't have been entirely undeserved but we didn't do enough. 

[JoeAman08]

You want to know why Preston always beat us? They have a far superior midfield and they play 3. Smith and Pack really good but they are specialists in my eyes. Pack good a staying deep and dictating tempo. Smith good at breaking up play. Look at Pearson on the other hand he can do both and arguably better. Johnson comes off the bench and can inject pace, power and work rate. I am a huge fan of Alan Browne. Gallagher as seasoned as they come. 

We have better defenders and forwards but if teams have quick hard working midfielders we struggle because we do not have that. Still some holes in this team and think this run exposes them. Especially when we go down a goal. We have to rely on magic from Bobby or Pato. This is why we struggle to break down teams because we just don’t have that central midfielder to get us a goal or key assist. This is why I like Brownhill in there but even he lacks that tenacity. 

[pnefcok]

14 hours ago, JoeAman08 said:

You want to know why Preston always beat us? They have a far superior midfield and they play 3. Smith and Pack really good but they are specialists in my eyes. Pack good a staying deep and dictating tempo. Smith good at breaking up play. Look at Pearson on the other hand he can do both and arguably better. Johnson comes off the bench and can inject pace, power and work rate. I am a huge fan of Alan Browne. Gallagher as seasoned as they come. 

We have better defenders and forwards but if teams have quick hard working midfielders we struggle because we do not have that. Still some holes in this team and think this run exposes them. Especially when we go down a goal. We have to rely on magic from Bobby or Pato. This is why we struggle to break down teams because we just don’t have that central midfielder to get us a goal or key assist. This is why I like Brownhill in there but even he lacks that tenacity. 

With everyone fit our midfield is very good, which is why Brownhill was so far down the pecking order. The same midfielders that are playing for us now were the ones who he couldn't push ahead of into the team.

Only problem has been that we don't have a proper replacement for Pearson when he is banned (which is very regularly) because John Welsh is 34 now, very injury prone and just not Championship standard anymore.

We tried to sign Ryan Ledson from Oxford in January to address this but they refused to sell, although sounds like we'll definitely be back for him come the summer and he wants to come.

Gallagher's not always fit either nowadays but still has some class. Harrop should develop into a good no.10 too.

Johnson's pass was sublime for the second goal yesterday, would like to see him starting more personally after a spell in and out of the team with a few different problems.

[JoeAman08]

14 minutes ago, pnefcok said:

With everyone fit our midfield is very good, which is why Brownhill was so far down the pecking order. The same midfielders that are playing for us now were the ones who he couldn't push ahead of into the team.

Only problem has been that we don't have a proper replacement for Pearson when he is banned (which is very regularly) because John Welsh is 34 now, very injury prone and just not Championship standard anymore.

We tried to sign Ryan Ledson from Oxford in January to address this but they refused to sell, although sounds like we'll definitely be back for him come the summer and he wants to come.

Gallagher's not always fit either nowadays but still has some class. Harrop should develop into a good no.10 too.

Johnson's pass was sublime for the second goal yesterday, would like to see him starting more personally after a spell in and out of the team with a few different problems.

Ledson is another example of how we over complicate things. Many normal fans will have heard the name and know his background(Everton academy left to play). So they know he has had that training and is playing well for Oxford. That and affordable but we would rather pay 2m for the French equivilent. 

Your midfield is up with the best in the league imo. A wonder you have kept them all tbh. A squad full of grafters with a strong midfield. It is no surprise you do well each year. You’d be promoted with 5+m behind you like we usually have. 

[pnefcok]

28 minutes ago, JoeAman08 said:

Ledson is another example of how we over complicate things. Many normal fans will have heard the name and know his background(Everton academy left to play). So they know he has had that training and is playing well for Oxford. That and affordable but we would rather pay 2m for the French equivilent. 

Your midfield is up with the best in the league imo. A wonder you have kept them all tbh. A squad full of grafters with a strong midfield. It is no surprise you do well each year. You’d be promoted with 5+m behind you like we usually have. 

I guess you did buy Walsh in fairness, who has a similar background to Ledson but with less first team experience and a slightly different style of play.

We've got the Hugill money for the summer, but seriously doubt it will be spent on any significant fees (not how we work) or a spree on several players like when Spurs sold Bale, because we probably only need 3-4 in come the summer.

I think/hope it will help push a few deals over the line though for first choice players in certain positions. As I said we'll likely be back for Ledson, after slightly more reliable cover players at RB/CB and probably another forward.

Neil seems to be one of those managers who does better with less money. Wasted a lot in the Prem at Norwich.

[JoeAman08]

58 minutes ago, pnefcok said:

I guess you did buy Walsh in fairness, who has a similar background to Ledson but with less first team experience and a slightly different style of play.

We've got the Hugill money for the summer, but seriously doubt it will be spent on any significant fees (not how we work) or a spree on several players like when Spurs sold Bale, because we probably only need 3-4 in come the summer.

I think/hope it will help push a few deals over the line though for first choice players in certain positions. As I said we'll likely be back for Ledson, after slightly more reliable cover players at RB/CB and probably another forward.

Neil seems to be one of those managers who does better with less money. Wasted a lot in the Prem at Norwich.

Fair point about Walsh and in fairness we done this with Paterson, Brownhill and O’Dowda too though at higher fees than Preston would probably spend. Even with Walsh we have a similar player at Cheltenham who is close to the same age and by all accounts having a fantastic season in L2(where Walsh has had his best stint). Plus Walsh is stuck on our bench most games. I imagine Ledson would get more minutes with you lot over his first half a season than Walsh will with us. I think we buy well but then pack them on the bench. At full strength we will have 7-10m on the bench which sounds good but they get used sparingly. 

Actually brings me to a question for you. It seems to me that we have a core 12-13 players that will get most of the minutes. Do Preston utilise their squad more than that? Guess meaning does AN rotate or bring on different subs because we usually have the same starting XI and subs most games. 

[Northern Red]

Neil is a very good manager at this level, would have been high on my list of candidates if we had got rid of LJ at some point last season. 

[JoeAman08]

22 minutes ago, lancashirerobin said:

We definitely do not have better defenders than Preston. Bryan better offensively but Cunningham probably defensively, again Flint better than Huntington offensively but close defensively. Fisher is far ahead of Wright at full back and probably Pisano too, that Davies was excellent and would likely make our starting 11. We definitely do have better forwards though. 

Last year I would have agreed with that assessment. Bryan has come a long way defensively and for fullbacks attacking and defending are important so I think Joe shades that battle. Baker a top CB. Flint also come a long way but admittedly I don’t know much about Huntington. Fisher undoubtedly better than Wright at FB but Pisano is a classy RB. Winds me up a bit we weren’t in for Fisher though as he was available after relegation with Rotherham and quite a bargain. 

[pnefcok]

3 hours ago, JoeAman08 said:

Fair point about Walsh and in fairness we done this with Paterson, Brownhill and O’Dowda too though at higher fees than Preston would probably spend. Even with Walsh we have a similar player at Cheltenham who is close to the same age and by all accounts having a fantastic season in L2(where Walsh has had his best stint). Plus Walsh is stuck on our bench most games. I imagine Ledson would get more minutes with you lot over his first half a season than Walsh will with us. I think we buy well but then pack them on the bench. At full strength we will have 7-10m on the bench which sounds good but they get used sparingly. 

Actually brings me to a question for you. It seems to me that we have a core 12-13 players that will get most of the minutes. Do Preston utilise their squad more than that? Guess meaning does AN rotate or bring on different subs because we usually have the same starting XI and subs most games. 

Think his first choice defence is clear and he likes to keep that the same if possible, but pretty sure he would have liked to have rotated more this season in midfield and attack but injuries and a lack of (quality) depth at times have prevented it.

Some players like Browne and Barkhuizen have played a huge amount of minutes for a pressing, energetic team, but he either doesn't rate the back-ups (Daryl Horgan for example out wide) or we have just failed to sign competition (in Browne's case with Ledson).

We've got more options going forward now though with Bodin and Moult signed and Maguire fit again. Like I said we will probably sign 4-5 in the summer and it should put us in a very strong position with the squad.

[One BCFC]

20 hours ago, JoeAman08 said:

You want to know why Preston always beat us? They have a far superior midfield and they play 3. Smith and Pack really good but they are specialists in my eyes. Pack good a staying deep and dictating tempo. Smith good at breaking up play. Look at Pearson on the other hand he can do both and arguably better. Johnson comes off the bench and can inject pace, power and work rate. I am a huge fan of Alan Browne. Gallagher as seasoned as they come.

I totally agree with that, their side is underrated especially their midfield, would love Pearson and Johnson at City

[Murraysrightplum]

Even though we never beat them, I really like Preston and their fans. I’ve watched a lot of games at Deepdale and their fans are always knowledgeable and respectful. The PNE fans who come on here are the same.

Sorry for the love in after they’ve just beaten us!