Preston suffered defeat at the hands of rivals Blackburn at Deepdale on Saturday.
The stadium was packed, with over 20,000 fans at Deepdale to experience what ended up being a win for the away side.
After taking a look at the result and performance, here are three things we learned about the home side from the game!
1) Hoof ball is NOT working!
Admit it – if you’ve been at Deepdale these past few weeks, then you’ll have become used to seeing a few things. One of those things is the defence passing the ball around and then passing it back to Jordan Pickford, who subsequently hoofs the ball forward in the hope that Joe Garner will make some kind of contact with it and win them the ball.
Even from free kicks in PNE’s half, Pickford takes them all and tries to get the ball to Joey in the air. It doesn’t work. Well, occasionally it does, but if you take a look at the last six results, the Lilywhites may not have been losing by using this tactic but they haven’t been winning either.
Yes, Joey can win headers and he is pretty good in the air but last year in League 1, he thrived when the ball was mainly played to him on the floor. Yes, it was a lower league and a lower standard of football but they didn’t play hoof-ball nearly this much last season and look at some of the performances and how well they played. Rather than hoof the ball up to him, PNE should just take their time on the ball and try and keep it on the floor and keep possession that way, rather than gaining possession and then hoofing and hoping for the best.
Setting up to ‘not lose’ at home is again not the right way to approach games. Simon Grayson should be confident about beating teams at Deepdale and telling his side to go out and win, not to go out and not lose.
2) The jury is out for who should partner Garner up-front.
Joe Garner FINALLY got his first goal against Blackburn and you could see how much it meant to him. He’ll be hoping that now he has bagged his first goal, there will be more to come but the question is who should help him in attack?
Eoin Doyle is the only other striker to have scored a goal so far for the Lilywhites this year, so many would point to him. However, he had a rather disappointing display against Blackburn and wasn’t much of a threat. On the other hand, when Stevie May came on, he instantly made an impact and helped Joey bag his goal.
However, when May has been given full games in the past he too has been rather disappointing. Would he be better off as an impact sub as he was here?
There is also Will Keane but he continues to have a torrid time at Deepdale. Beckford remains out injured for the foreseeable future and Jordan Hugill looked like the answer but when he was given his chance from the start of games, he failed to deliver.
So really, who should partner Garner up-front? It’s a tough one, that’s for sure. In my opinion, I believe Doyle and Garner should be tried again in attack for the club’s next game against Fulham. If it doesn’t work, then it’s time to switch things up and perhaps try May with Garner instead.
As for now though, we’ll just have to wait and see as to which partnership will work the best.
3) Jordan Pickford isn’t flawless
Pickford scored what was an EXTREMELY unfortunate own goal to give Blackburn the lead on Saturday and it just goes to show that even the on-loan Sunderland keeper – despite his so far phenomenal displays for PNE – isn’t without his flaws.
I’m not blaming him for the own goal at all – it was very unlucky, with the ball bouncing off his head and into the back of the net and there was nothing he could really do about it. But, it just shows that any keeper can make a mistake and that Preston shouldn’t rely on Pickford in defence to keep them out of trouble. He has kept them in games in the past but he can’t always be relied on – the defence and midfield has to work hard to go and win the ball back when the opposition has it too.
Do you agree with the three points? Did I miss anything out? What did you think of the result and performance? Who should partner Joe Garner? Let us know on our social media, in the comments below and leave your vote in the poll below!
https://www.wedgies.com/question/5655e092771fe812000015ad
