Stuttering Preston

Last updated : 05 July 2020 By @pnemad

Some would say that Preston are misfiring and others would say that you need to shoot to misfire. Preston played out a fairly tame goalless draw away at a poor Huddersfield team. The game followed a pattern since lockdown.

The statistics are clear and North End strikers rarely score. The goals scored section was always going to be lower than other clubs with Preston only using one frontman but in recent times there has been a lack of creativity from the team as a whole.

Preston have played two clubs at the lower end of the league and two challenging for the top six. They picked up a draw away at Luton and Huddersfield. In both these games Preston had the majority of the ball but created very little.

North End were the better side but lacked any killer instinct in the away games. The games followed a pettern. Lots of possession wuth nice build up untilt he final third. There is then a lack of decisiveness and creativity. It's almost as if the confined space creates a panic and the reaction is to go backwards or sideways.

Against Cardiff and Derby there were similar problems. North End were poor against Cardiff and deservedly lost. When they faced Derby they conceded from a set piece and whilst there were arguments over the validity of the award it is a fair refelction that Derby were never threatened at the other end.

When Preston come up against better sides they are prone to concede but the main issue is they never look like scoring. Neil is now starting in panic mode mixing and matching. Different strikers and widemen have all been tried recently with no success.

Preston started the season off well. It is true that they often fall away towards the end of the season albeit they generally have little to play for unlikely this year.

Playing one up front does have limitations. Wide men and midfielders need to chip in with goals. This is clearly not happening enough. Neil has bought an abundance of midfielders and wide players but you would be hard pressed to say whether any would be snapped up by a side in the top flight.

There are a combination of reasons as to why Preston are currently stuttering and will inevitably end up in mid-table. There are some big decisions to be made at the clubin the near future over which direction they wish to go in.

Repeating the same thing over and over again with the same results is insanity. The question is how do Preston progress from the past five years of mid-table mediocrity with a limited budget?