Preston North End’s display in the 2-1 home defeat against Bristol City has been criticised by BBC Radio Lancashire’s Steve Eyre.
PNE went with a bold setup against the Robins, starting with three centre forwards to try and turn around the recent dismal home form.
Bristol City were 2-0 up by half time though as slack defending allowed Mark Sykes and Sam Bell to score.
Ched Evans did give PNE hope after the break but North End couldn’t find a leveller and slumped to another Deepdale defeat.
That’s five home league defeats in a row for North End and the natives are growing a little restless.
Lowe told BBC Radio Lancashire that he felt the performance warranted at least a point and possibly even three – a verdict he admitted sounded ‘crazy’.
Many North End fans were left a little baffled by those comments and it seems Eyre was confused too.
Eyre was most recently assistant manager at Doncaster Rovers before Gary McSheffrey’s exit in October.
Formerly Rochdale boss and a coach at Manchester City, Eyre is often a guest summariser for BBC Radio Lancashire.
Eyre was brutally honest with his verdict of PNE’s performance, telling BBC Radio Lancashire that he felt there were no real positives to take from the display..
Eyre suggested that PNE lacked confidence and guts, making it far too easy for Bristol City to cut through at ease.
The former Burnley youth man added that he spotted a lack of energy even in the pre-match warm-up and didn’t like it.
Liam Delap’s role was questioned too after Lowe went with three strikers, with Eyre believing that approach made PNE easy to mark in the final third.
Eyre also stated what many PNE fans have been feeling; that North End lack a bit of magic, pace and creativity and are ultimately a mid-table team right now.
“I’ve been a few times this year, they have my support and respect of course, and I have always tried to find the positives – quite easy I have to say, even in not the best results or performances, I’ve always found some genuine positives but I struggle to find one today other than 15-minute period after half-time where they pushed the game from a 2-0 scoreline to get what turned out to be a consolation goal… and that’s actually it,” said Eyre.
“It was dishevelled, it was open. I thought it lacked something that I’ve never seen in a North End team this season – I thought it lacked confidence, I thought it lacked some guts at times and I thought they were too easy to play against today, they deserved to lose.”
“I saw it in the warm up, I didn’t like it but that definitely might just be me,” said Eyre when the subject of a lack of energy was raised. “To then go 2-0 down in the first half, not great at all. Let’s not forget, on a 2-0 Bristol City have stopped chasing around at this point, they’ve invited North End to attack so you have to attack really.”
“They got a deserved goal, it has to be said, a deserved goal, but you are waiting for some type of follow-up from that point, some type of bounce, some type of increase – it actually went the other way.”
“The supporters did their bit but it was very, very easy to get from one half of the pitch to the other for Bristol City. I thought it was honourable and admirable for Ryan Lowe to play three centre forwards but quite clearly, Liam Delap, who’s a young centre forward, is playing on the right wing basically. He’s not got a trick, he’s not got a cross, I’m not sure he’s got a turn of pace with the ball.”
“They were basically playing three flat against the defence of Bristol City, I know they’re all good players but it’s very easy to mark.”
“They’ve not got a maverick, they’ve not got a fox in the box, they’ve not got a turn of pace, they didn’t have any control in the game because Whiteman wasn’t playing, and I think you need about five players to get up to 20 goals. I actually think they’ve done well to get to his point, and we’re probably seeing really, deep down, at the home games, genuinely, sadly, what North End actually are, which is a mid-table team and any ambitions of above didn’t look anything like this today,” he added.