Preston North End were comfortably beaten 4-0 by Middlesbrough in a game that will go down as one of the worst performances under Ryan Lowe for some time.
You felt as if there may be a hangover after the gut wrenching defeat to Cardiff City on Saturday, and that was certainly the case with Middlesbrough wrapping up the win in the first half.
3 or more conceded 16 times under Lowe
Ryan Lowe has been Preston manager for just under two years. In that time The Lilywhites have conceded three or more goals in a league game 16 times and already four times this season. It seems quite often that when one goes in the floodgates can open.
Is there a problem with the mentality in the side? Other results this season would suggest not. We’ve beaten Swansea City, Birmingham City, and Coventry City all after going a goal down at Deepdale this campaign. But we are still on the end of far too many thrashings under Lowe.
Sometimes it feels as if we’re in a different league to our opposition, and they don’t even need to get out of first gear. Yet whenever we win, it’s by one goal and we’re holding on for dear life. We’ve only ever scored three times on six occasions under Ryan Lowe.
Second successive 4-0 win for Middlesbrough
Michael Carrick’s side enjoyed a 4-0 win over Preston back in March and on Tuesday it was clear we would be up against it very early on. The body language of the players was poor, with Ben Whiteman and Will Keane particularly looking disinterested in the first 45 minutes. The team needs to be stronger.
All three goals in the first half could have been avoided. Kian Best lost Isiah Jones for the first, Freddie Woodman didn’t command his area for the second, and Whiteman couldn’t be bothered for the third.
The fourth goal was a howler from Woodman too, who seemed to completely misjudge a tame shot from Alex Bangura, the left-back once linked with us in the summer.
Our attack had nothing to feed off, and the passing only became more desperate after each and every goal. You would hope in the second half we would try and chase the game, but the player’s don’t have enough quality to do so. The goalkeeper wasn’t tested once, and it was men against boys. Anyone watching that game must be wondering how on earth we have been in the top six for the majority of the season.
Whiteman will be lucky to get a new contract with games like that
Ben Whiteman’s Preston contract currently runs out in the summer, and Peter Ridsdale has suggested they have been discussing new terms for a while. It is likely Whiteman would want more money, and as one of the vice captains at the club he would probably want to be one of the higher earners.
If he continues to play like he did on Tuesday he’d be lucky to get a contract at all. It was an embarrassing performance. He was strolling around when Morgan Rodgers ran round him to create the second goal. His set pieces were atrocious as well, and it was hugely surprising he was kept on in the second half. The rest of the midfield weren’t much better either.
Mads Frokjaer still clearly has a lot to learn at this level of football, and was chasing shadows all game, whilst Ryan Ledson was far too much of a passenger in the middle of the park. Boro found it too easy just to play through the middle, and our midfield did nothing to stop it.
The defence look very weak when they are run directly at too, which Boro quickly found out.
Keane nowhere to be seen
After four goals in the first five games, it was looking like the signing of Will Keane from Wigan Athletic was already proving to be a shrewd bit of business. Unfortunately for the striker he picked up an injury when with Republic of Ireland and since returning he hasn’t shown any form whatsoever.
You could barely notice him in the first half and he hasn’t done much in the last few games either. I’m not sure what the point of him was on Tuesday. He wasn’t supporting Milutin Osmajic and he wasn’t linking up play behing either.
Osmajic seems to clearly be our most important striker now, but if the night only got worse when he went off at half time after getting a knock just before the break.
Is there any attacking plan?
The team seems clueless when it comes to attacking. You watch a team like Middlesbrough and they have creating players constantly running in behind the defence, finding space, passing and moving.
We find it incredibly hard to penetrate an opposition defence. We often just lump it upfield, or slowly try and progress it down the wings. It’s too easy to defend against.
Where we do benefit is the driving runs of Duane Holmes and Alan Browne, but they didn’t make it onto the pitch at The Riverside Stadium.
Browne and Holmes rested?
With three games in the space of a week, Lowe was always going to rotate his squad. Browne and Holmes are key players though, and are both in form. With neither featuring on Tuesday, it felt as though Lowe was just saving them for a more winnable game against strugglers Queens Park Rangers on Friday.
A shame if so, because then that would make it seem as if he’d almost accepted we were likely to lose this game. Either way, it’s just two wins in 11 games now. Horrendous form after such a promising start to the season. Very interesting to see Calvin Ramsay and Ben Woodburn come on ahead of Browne and Holmes, and Lowe will need to explain that one.
The substitutions of Frokajer and Ledson for Jack Whatmough and Layton Stewart were even more baffling.
A win on Friday is imperative.