v Preston North End (h) - 10/11/23

[DE.]

Just now, Bethnal said:

Weak bench options. Stretched squad. Underinvestment reaping what Venkys have sown.

Weak is being kind, honestly. Our squad depth is practically non-existent as soon as we get any injuries. The bench tonight was emblematic of the severe lack of investment in the team. Literally not a single person you'd have any realistic hope of making a difference. 

[booth]

1 minute ago, duckson said:

Slightly surprised he wasnt taken off at HT, even more surprised he lasted as long as he did.

Probably because we have no depth. Same reason Wharton stayed on beyond an hour.

[G Somerset Rover]

5 minutes ago, DE. said:

Think the commentator said 11 of our 25 goals against have been conceded in the last 15 minutes (I assume 12 out of 26 now, if I'm recalling correctly). I believe one of the stats showed we're the worst in the division for conceding late goals. It's definitely a huge problem. 

Never the other way round is it?! You could probably count on a few fingers the amount of times we’ve scored either a last gasp winner or equaliser in recent seasons. I can name 10+ just off the top of my head for the opposition! 

Edited November 10, 2023 by Gavlar Somerset Rover!

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

6 minutes ago, Bethnal said:

Weak bench options. Stretched squad. Underinvestment reaping what Venkys have sown.

I agree - we had 7 players out tonight who would probably played if fit. The back 5 plus Gally and Hedges. Given if those had been playing we would have had a much stronger bench to call on. I know lots of teams have injuries at the moment but we have more than our share. Is it what we are doing in training ?

Regarding the manager - has he won a derby yet ?

Edited November 10, 2023 by Tyrone Shoelaces

[Upside Down]

1 minute ago, SIMON GARNERS 194 said:

Just waiting now for the 'Blackburn play love!y football' bollox from Lowe.😠

It is lovely when your opponent fucks about with the ball instead of getting it up the pitch or banging in a cross.

No strikers, no defenders but hey, they've paid the bills this month. All hail our mighty chicken overlords.

 

[Bethnal]

2 minutes ago, des said:

I agree when he has the ball hisxwekness is when the other team  have it he just does not cover the ground fast enough and in the premier league for me he will be found out,  if he cannot handle of the ball tasks in the big league  he will have no chance  that the area has to improve on and quickly

Agreed, I happened to watch the highlights of Norwich that were showing before the sky coverage and he loses his man for a dangerous opportunity that is “hungover Sunday league” stuff.

I think his tackling ability is strong and that keeps him deep, but yeah, he has a way to go on his off the ball, as JDT has been saying since last season.

[DE.]

1 minute ago, Upside Down said:

It is lovely when your opponent fucks about with the ball instead of getting it up the pitch or banging in a cross.

No strikers, no defenders but hey, they've paid the bills this month. All hail our mighty chicken overlords.

 

It would be nice to know what we're trying to do with our set pieces, because I can't really work it out. For corners we basically take them as if we had passed it to the corner flag, yet we have players jostling for position in the box for a cross that rarely ever comes. I assume there's a method to the madness and I could make some guesses, but whatever it is doesn't seem to work at all. 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Just now, DE. said:

It would be nice to know what we're trying to do with our set pieces, because I can't really work it out. For corners we basically take them as if we had passed it to the corner flag, yet we have players jostling for position in the box for a cross that rarely ever comes. I assume there's a method to the madness and I could make some guesses, but whatever it is doesn't seem to work at all. 

When did we last score from a set piece ? That’s criminal in modern day football.

[Bethnal]

3 minutes ago, DE. said:

Weak is being kind, honestly. Our squad depth is practically non-existent as soon as we get any injuries. The bench tonight was emblematic of the severe lack of investment in the team. Literally not a single person you'd have any realistic hope of making a difference. 

I honestly believe in Leonard, I think he’s very close to finding a groove in senior football. But yeah, it’s an indictment that only a 19/20-year-old has a glimmer of hope about him.

[Upside Down]

1 minute ago, DE. said:

It would be nice to know what we're trying to do with our set pieces, because I can't really work it out. For corners we basically take them as if we had passed it to the corner flag, yet we have players jostling for position in the box for a cross that rarely ever comes. I assume there's a method to the madness and I could make some guesses, but whatever it is doesn't seem to work at all. 

Whatever they're doing it doesn't work.

Cross the fucking ball.

[JohnD]

1 minute ago, DE. said:

It would be nice to know what we're trying to do with our set pieces, because I can't really work it out. For corners we basically take them as if we had passed it to the corner flag, yet we have players jostling for position in the box for a cross that rarely ever comes. I assume there's a method to the madness and I could make some guesses, but whatever it is doesn't seem to work at all. 

Admittedly they don't work but surely keeping the ball is better than hitting it towards our boys who are surrounded by men?

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

7 minutes ago, DE. said:

Weak is being kind, honestly. Our squad depth is practically non-existent as soon as we get any injuries. The bench tonight was emblematic of the severe lack of investment in the team. Literally not a single person you'd have any realistic hope of making a difference. 

Anybody know why Ennis didn’t get on ? If he can’t run his bollocks off for ten minutes at the end of the game what was the point of signing him .

Edited November 10, 2023 by Tyrone Shoelaces

[jim mk2]

1 minute ago, Upside Down said:

Whatever they're doing it doesn't work.

Cross the fucking ball.

If we had Ched Evans or a player like him I’d agree. But we don’t. Dolan isn’t going to win many headers 

[K-Hod]

27 minutes ago, Andy said:

We battered them and should have been out of sight by HT.

You'd suggested we had much to fear; we absolutely did not.

They won, but even the blindest of blind men could see that we were far superior tonight.

If we lose, we clearly aren’t far superior though.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Just now, jim mk2 said:

If we had Ched Evans or a player like him I’d agree. But we don’t. Dolan isn’t going to win many headers 

We’ve no size in the team. Losing both Carter and Hyam was a big problem.

[jim mk2]

1 minute ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Anybody know why Ennis didn’t get on ?if he can’t run is bollocks off for ten minutes at the end of the game what was the point of signing him .

Good question. Our marquee summer striker signing and it’s November and he’s hardly been seen. What a waste of time

[Bbrovers2288]

Don’t see what folk see in Leonard personally 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Just now, jim mk2 said:

Good question. Our marquee summer striker signing and it’s November and he’s hardly been seen. What a waste of time

If he was on a “ pay as you play” contract we’d be laughing.

[Displaced Rover]

30 minutes ago, Andy said:

We battered them and should have been out of sight by HT.

You'd suggested we had much to fear; we absolutely did not.

They won, but even the blindest of blind men could see that we were far superior tonight.

Battered them?!? Behave. Was a close ish game that you might say we edged in chances. Point probably would have been fair.

[jim mk2]

1 minute ago, Bbrovers2288 said:

Don’t see what folk see in Leonard personally 

Me neither. Wouldn’t get near the team if he were at Preston 

[DE.]

Just now, JohnD said:

Admittedly they don't work but surely keeping the ball is better than hitting it towards our boys who are surrounded by men?

Feels like we'd have more chance of scrambling the ball home if we put it into the box, as what we currently do seems to always result in losing possession which is never good. I am sure the reluctance to put the ball into the box comes from the fact we have nobody who is a threat from a cross, but this alternative isn't working either. If we're going to do short corners then fine, but it doesn't feel like there's a purpose to ours. We keep passing it as if the corner came from open play, but the box is massively congested so there's little chance of getting through.

2 minutes ago, Bethnal said:

I honestly believe in Leonard, I think he’s very close to finding a groove in senior football. But yeah, it’s an indictment that only a 19/20-year-old has a glimmer of hope about him.

I really hope you're right, of course. I've seen glimpses from him to suggest he has something about him, too, but tonight the introduction of him and Markanday felt like it reduced us to ten men. Markanday kept losing the ball and Leonard didn't seem to get into the game at all. 

4 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Anybody know why Ennis didn’t get on ? If he can’t run his bollocks off for ten minutes at the end of the game what was the point of signing him .

Telalovic too. I appreciate he was a desperation signing, but you wonder why we even bothered as he seems completely unfancied. This is a 23 year old lad as well, not an 18 year old with a bit of potential. If he's worse than Markanday then it was a waste of a wage. Can only hope it's a case of him still settling in, but it's concerning. 

[Upside Down]

4 minutes ago, jim mk2 said:

If we had Ched Evans or a player like him I’d agree. But we don’t. Dolan isn’t going to win many headers 

We've got defenders in the box though.

They might as well not bother coming up.

[Mercer]

Incredibly frustrating.

We have the best manager since Big Sam, play some terrific football and we get some very good results despite JDT having to manage with one hand tied behind his back.

Sadly, I think JDT will soon be off and who can blame him.

So dejected tonight.

[bluebruce]

26 minutes ago, B16Rover said:

I'm probably wrong but I'm convinced every time we play this lot they score a late winner 

Looking at the last times we dropped points against them...

Today obviously

April 2023, Dom Hyam OG in 94th minute, draw.

December 22, lost 4-1, all goals earlier than 66th minute.

Feb 21 lost 2-1, all goals first half.

Jan 20 drew 1-1 all goals first 20 mins.

Oct 19 lost 3-2, winner was in 82nd minute.

March 19 lost 1-0, 8th minute.

Nov 18 conceded 85th minute, but were already 3-1 down at 74th.

March 17 drew 2-2, conceded 93rd minute.

December 2016 lost 3-2 in the 80th minute.

April 16 lost 2-1, last goal 43rd minute.

After that you have to go back to 1997 and a League Cup defeat (early goal). So late (80th minute onwards) goals have cost us a result in 5 out of 11 games where we didn't win, and been conceded in one more where it made no difference. Certainly an element of truth to what you say. That's got to be above the average for goals conceded after 80 minutes.

Incidentally, in the Venkys era we've won 4, drawn 3 and lost 8 of our games against them. None of our wins involved late winners, or indeed any goals after 74 minutes (for any side). I don't think we scored later than the 80th minute (April 2023) in any of these games actually, but I can't be arsed to go back through and check.

If we'd held our own after 80 minutes in the games we dropped points, we'd have won another 7 points over the years, which I guess isn't that massive over a 7.5 year span, although just the one back in April was enough to cost us the playoffs.

[Sweaty Gussets]

2 minutes ago, jim mk2 said:

Me neither. Wouldn’t get near the team if he were at Preston 

That's it, hammer the young lad with obvious potential who was on for 20 minutes.

You make PNE out to be Real Madrid🤣

They're just a team of experienced pro's who play percentages. Nowt special.