Preston North End’s terrible away run goes on. A 3-1 defeat to Portsmouth at Fratton Park means it is now 12 games since The Lilywhites tasted victory away from home.
Portsmouth started the day bottom of the table, and Preston fans must have been thinking this was a really good chance to see three points on the road for the first time since a 1-0 win over Plymouth Argyle in March.
Instead Preston produced one of the worst first 45 minutes of football for some time.
A shocking first half
This had to be a game that Paul Heckingbottom would have thought could have brought him his first away win in the league as Preston manager. Pompey hadn’t won at home all season, and had scored just three goals at Fratton Park this campaign.
Hecky made two changes with one forced as Jack Whatmough came in for the injured Liam Lindsay, and Duane Holmes replaced Mads Frokjaer.
The team was all over the place though. They didn’t manage a single shot in the first half with Portsmouth had 14 and also 9 corners.
We weren’t winning any of the battles. Portsmouth looked more fired up for it, whilst we were just going through the motions. There was no pattern to our play and it was always going to be a matter of time as to when we would go a goal down. The manager admitted we were bullied and outrun. Just three days after an admirable performance against Sunderland, it’s a huge cause for concern.
New goalkeeper needed
The first goal came from a former North Ender; with Josh Murphy striking a shot from 30 yards that flew past all in white and Freddie Woodman.
Woodman was then to make another calamitous error for the second goal. He flapped as a corner came in leaving Connor Ogilvie time to slot home just before half time. Woodman is making a costly mistake every other game now. He’s poor with his hands, and he’s bad with his feet. They are not good ingredients for a goalkeeper.
Daniel Iversen is third or fourth choice at Leicester City at the moment. We all know how good he is and how much of an improvement on Woodman he can be. Talks need to begin for a move in January. We can’t wait till the end of the season to replace Woodman.
Substitutions and formation
It wasn’t a surprise to see Heckingbottom make three changes at half-time. I don’t think any player could have complained if they were taken off, but the three substitutions were predictable. Heckingbottom only ever seems to rotate the midfield.
No matter if we are chasing a game or holding onto a lead, you’ll often see Ryan Ledson and Stefan Thordarson come on. Then whichever one of Mads Frokjaer, Duane Holmes and Sam Greenwood are on the bench will also be brought on.
There’s not much flexibility from Heckingbottom. Although we switched to a 4-3-3 formation, Frokjaer was on the wings, which didn’t make sense. We very rarely play with wingers and then when we do Jeppe Okkels and Josh Bowler are still not used. Those two did eventually come on but not till the latter stages of the game. I’m not sure why he bothers naming Layton Stewart on the bench either, he’s clearly never going to get a chance.
The wing-back formation simply does not lead to enough chances being created and it doesn’t make us any stronger in defence either. This was the fifth time already this season that we have conceded three goals away from home. They have come against teams you would expect to be in the bottom half of the table as well. Heckingbottom has to find another system with these players.
We can blame Ryan Lowe for the situation he has left us in all we like, but Heckingbottom needs to do the job he was brought in for now.
Whiteman’s time is up
There have been plenty of calls for Ben Whiteman to be dropped this season. He doesn’t have any positive impact on a game and he doesn’t look to be the leader this team need. Heads drop when we go a goal down, and as we have seen even when we are two or three goals up the mentality of this squad isn’t strong enough to see the game out.
Whiteman is a very safe player, making the easy passes. He doesn’t get forward enough, having only touched the ball three times in the opposition box all season.
He doesn’t seem to be equipped to do the defensive side at this level either. He’s already picked up seven yellow cards this season, and a lot of these are for late clumsy challenges when they player has already beaten him.
He was sacrificed against Bristol City in an attempt for us to be more attacking and on Saturday the captain was hooked off at half time.
Within five minutes his replacement Ryan Ledson made a wonderful pass with the outside of his boot allowing Emil Riis to grab a goal back. Ledson seems to show more fight, and more desire to play for this club. Whiteman has had enough chances, and I think even Heckingbottom will have realised that by now. Surely?
An aging squad with no resale value
There are plenty of similarities between this squad and the last one to be relegated from the Championship in 2010/11. That was a poorly assembled squad thanks to some bad signings from Alan Irvine and Darren Ferguson before Phil Brown tried to steady the ship.
There are players here who are just too settled, and have probably realised that this level, and the size of the club is the best that they will achieve. Are there actually many players in our squad who think they are able to play in the Premier League or even higher up in the Championship.
They are happy to just pick up their wages and they know that Preston are going to hand out contract extensions rather than trying to find better options.
There are a lot of players out of contract this summer. But would it be the worst thing to let the vast majority go, and start with a clean slate? Some have been here for up to seven years. so it could be sad to see them go, but really they wouldn’t be missed.
Jordan Storey and Andrew Hughes belong in League One. I’ve already had my say on Woodman. Riis hasn’t taken his chance with during Milutin Osmajic’s ban, and I don’t see him being desperate to stay.
Liam Lindsay is probably the most deserving of an extension. Duane Holmes has just turned 30 and is a decent option off the bench. Robbie Brady will be 33 by the end of the season, and there is no value in extending his deal. Ryan Ledson’s future could go either way and Kian Best doesn’t look to be Heckingbottom’s cup of tea so I expect him to leave.
We are unlikely to see wholesale changes in January, so Heckingbottom may have to wait until next summer until his stamps his authority on the squad. It may be too late though, with a relegation battle looking a real possibility this season. It wouldn’t be the worst thing to see some of our players leave on the cheap in January instead of going on a free in the summer.
If the worst does happen then suddenly the small handful of valuable players like Frokjaer and Osmajic could well find themselves poached by other clubs, and we don’t even have players from the youth system pushing through.