Preston NE 1-1 Aston Villa Post Match Thread

[four fornicholl]

Reading that some of our lot were booing at the end.

I'd like to think that isn't true!

A few tuts, a few sighs, and a bit of grumbling would have done.It was fairly shit mind.

[ChicagoLion]

The top 2?

[andyh]

I don’t know if it coincides with Jack being out, but we do seem to have lost our swagger. We do not look like we are going to steamroller teams any more.
To me, we look laboured and tired, and at the back we just look totally disjointed and unorganised, every attack looks like we could concede.
From being vulnerable at centre half, we now look extremely dodgy through both full back positions.
For every good thing Nyland does (and he does many) he also drops too many clangers.

We need freshening up. We need the new goalie to come in and instil some confidence in those in front of him.
Fortunately, we are at the time of the season where we can freshen things up and we are still in touching distance of the playoffs.

It’s going to be a nervy few months.

[Steve67]

Match highlights

Some miss by BB at the end.

McGinn was abysmal for their goal. Ball watching for a simple give and go pass. He is a liability without the ball too.

I disagree strongly,I think that he normally is an excellent tackler.If we don't win,we tend to criticise too many of our players.Much was made of Preston's injury problems but we were missing again defenders and midfielders and we have come another point closer to the top 2.

To the top 2 maybe, but we are now 5 points off the play off's when we were only 3 behind this morning.  Another poor goal to give away and we seemed to really struggle with the long ball too.  We need, urgently, a centre back and a central midfielder.

[four fornicholl]

I might be wrong, but I think we've just lost the record for games played in the top flight to Everton, bastard if true. Can PWS confirm?

[ChicagoLion]

Match highlights

Some miss by BB at the end.

McGinn was abysmal for their goal. Ball watching for a simple give and go pass. He is a liability without the ball too.

I disagree strongly,I think that he normally is an excellent tackler.If we don't win,we tend to criticise too many of our players.Much was made of Preston's injury problems but we were missing again defenders and midfielders and we have come another point closer to the top 2.

To the top 2 maybe, but we are now 5 points off the play off's when we were only 3 behind this morning.  Another poor goal to give away and we seemed to really struggle with the long ball too.  We need, urgently, a centre back and a central midfielder.

What about full backs?

[gpbarr]

The negativity on here is awful.

We didn't play at all well today but arguably our best (most creative) player is out injured, we have lost a solid CB, we did not lose, we picked up a point on the top two (who both lost), we have a new quality keeper in the wings, and the transfer window opens next week when finally Dean will get the help he clearly needs. We all knew the squad was not good enough thanks to SB - but if you had offered me 22 points and a new management team, 13 games ago after the original Preston debacle at VP (along with great wins at Derby, Boro, and at home to Small Heath), I would have snapped your hand off.  We are 5 points off 6th and 9 off of 3rd and todays results at Leeds, Norwich, Baggies and Millwall just show that everything is still up for grabs.

Compared to 3 months ago, or 6 months ago, we are on the up and in a far better place and one poor result doesn't change that.

In Deano we need to trust. Lets get behind this lot - we can (and will) do it.

VTID   

[Rudy65]

What a miss.  Should have gone with his left

That is one of my pet hates, players not daring to use their weaker foot and thus getting into a wrong body shape to control their connection with the ball.  From that distance it was a criminal miss. Bolasie was similarly guilty last week v Leeds.

BB spends more time on his hair than his left foot

Seriously it’s criminal he can’t score from there because he can’t use his ‘wrong’ foot

[Clark W Griswold]

The negativity on here is awful.

We didn't play at all well today but arguably our best (most creative) player is out injured, we have lost a solid CB, we did not lose, we picked up a point on the top two (who both lost), we have a new quality keeper in the wings, and the transfer window opens next week when finally Dean will get the help he clearly needs. We all knew the squad was not good enough thanks to SB - but if you had offered me 22 points and a new management team, 13 games ago after the original Preston debacle at VP (along with great wins at Derby, Boro, and at home to Small Heath), I would have snapped your hand off.  We are 5 points off 6th and 9 off of 3rd and todays results at Leeds, Norwich, Baggies and Millwall just show that everything is still up for grabs.

Compared to 3 months ago, or 6 months ago, we are on the up and in a far better place and one poor result doesn't change that.

In Deano we need to trust. Lets get behind this lot - we can (and will) do it.

VTID

Yep.

[PaulWinch again]

The negativity on here is awful.

We didn't play at all well today but arguably our best (most creative) player is out injured, we have lost a solid CB, we did not lose, we picked up a point on the top two (who both lost), we have a new quality keeper in the wings, and the transfer window opens next week when finally Dean will get the help he clearly needs. We all knew the squad was not good enough thanks to SB - but if you had offered me 22 points and a new management team, 13 games ago after the original Preston debacle at VP (along with great wins at Derby, Boro, and at home to Small Heath), I would have snapped your hand off.  We are 5 points off 6th and 9 off of 3rd and todays results at Leeds, Norwich, Baggies and Millwall just show that everything is still up for grabs.

Compared to 3 months ago, or 6 months ago, we are on the up and in a far better place and one poor result doesn't change that.

In Deano we need to trust. Lets get behind this lot - we can (and will) do it.

VTID   

I don’t think anybody isn’t supportive of Dean, but it doesn’t mean you can’t be critical. Fully acknowledge the injury issue and legacy of poor squad building have hindered him, but it doesn’t alter the fact he’s also made some mistakes in the last few games.

[Steve67]

Match highlights

Some miss by BB at the end.

McGinn was abysmal for their goal. Ball watching for a simple give and go pass. He is a liability without the ball too.

I disagree strongly,I think that he normally is an excellent tackler.If we don't win,we tend to criticise too many of our players.Much was made of Preston's injury problems but we were missing again defenders and midfielders and we have come another point closer to the top 2.

To the top 2 maybe, but we are now 5 points off the play off's when we were only 3 behind this morning.  Another poor goal to give away and we seemed to really struggle with the long ball too.  We need, urgently, a centre back and a central midfielder.

What about full backs?

Obviously, but unlikely to all get done in one window.  We can make do with our current full backs, crap though they are if we want promotion.  We have sorted the keeper but now need to strengthen the spine of the side. 

[andyh]

DS Post-match interview https://twitter.com/AVFCOfficial/status/1079072569846886400

A very fair assessment from Deano.

[The Edge]

The negativity on here is awful.

We didn't play at all well today but arguably our best (most creative) player is out injured, we have lost a solid CB, we did not lose, we picked up a point on the top two (who both lost), we have a new quality keeper in the wings, and the transfer window opens next week when finally Dean will get the help he clearly needs. We all knew the squad was not good enough thanks to SB - but if you had offered me 22 points and a new management team, 13 games ago after the original Preston debacle at VP (along with great wins at Derby, Boro, and at home to Small Heath), I would have snapped your hand off.  We are 5 points off 6th and 9 off of 3rd and todays results at Leeds, Norwich, Baggies and Millwall just show that everything is still up for grabs.

Compared to 3 months ago, or 6 months ago, we are on the up and in a far better place and one poor result doesn't change that.

In Deano we need to trust. Lets get behind this lot - we can (and will) do it.

VTID

This ^^^^
UTV

[PeterWithesShin]

I might be wrong, but I think we've just lost the record for games played in the top flight to Everton, bastard if true. Can PWS confirm?

Pretty sure they've held the record for a long time. I think they've only spent 4 seasons out of the top flight in the history of league football.

[Mister E]

Just got back.
The critical difference in the recent games - and today really typified it - and early DS games is that we are not moving the ball quickly enough - Hourihane, Hutton and Bolasie were criminally slow today to shift the ball. Some of it is lack of movement around them; some of it is because they don't get their head up and see the early pass; some of it is they seem to like having 4-5 touches before considering a pass. There were several occasions today where the early ball to Abraham or McGinn would have created danger for the PNE defence.
We were poor and - as with Brucieball - easy to defend against.
Disappointing.
I'm hoping that we will bring in some new players in January to play a quicker, slicker and more incisive game.