Leeds United edged Preston North End in a heated game on Sunday, as a Joel Piroe penalty in injury time gave them a 2-1 defeat.
It was revenge for Daniel Farke’s side less than a month after Preston had won the fixture at Deepdale with their own late winner through Liam Millar.
A lively start
Millar was key to Preston taking the lead in this one. When within two minutes Leeds failed to deal with a free-kick and Millar’s cross was diverted into the goal by Will Keane.
Unfortunately Preston let Leeds back into the game just a few minute later, when the smallest player on the pitch’ Dan James had enough space to guide a header past Dai Cornell who was in for Freddie Woodman; one of three players who missed out through illness.
It was a frantic first half with challenges flying in from both sides, and cards being dished out to three players. Preston had started in a positive manner though, not something we have become accustomed to seeing when playing the likes of Leeds, especially away from home.
Quite often we would play one striker up front, and a very deep midfield, but the second half against Bristol City last week had clearly played on Ryan Lowe’s mind.
Riis, Keane and Frokjaer an exciting trio
These three got the three points last week from the subs bench, and it was great to see all of them coming into the starting lineup for the game at Elland Road. Emil Riis and Keane seem to have a good connection, and Frokjaer will always make us look more dangerous in the final third.
The fact we were enjoying a lot of possession in the final third was refreshing to see, and of course this allows Liam Millar to be involved in more deadly areas as well.
Millar and Keane combined for the first goal, and it takes Keane’s tally to nine for the season with three goals in his last three starts, plus two off the bench against Bristol City last week. He has the best goal to minutes ratio in the whole league, (1 goals every 132 minutes), he has to start when fit.
Leeds were perhaps caught by surprise at our fast start, and Preston have to continue playing this way. It was Riis’ first start for over a year and he will only get better with more minutes under his belt. No more passing it around the back for ages before a lofted ball forward. Get the ball to the players who can make things happen as quickly as possible.
A mixed performance from Cornell
After nearly a year-and-a-half without any league appearances for Preston, Dai Cornell has now started two in the space of a month. Unfortunately for him they have both ended in late goals resulting in defeats. His start against Swansea City came after a spell of poor form from Woodman, but on Sunday, the former Newcastle United goalkeeper missed out completely with illness.
It meant 18-year-old James Pradic having to be recalled from his loan at Bamber Bridge, and he took a place on the bench as back up.
Cornell perhaps could have done better for the first goal, with James’ header going through his legs, but it was from close range. Cornell’s kicking wasn’t great at times, but we are used to that with Woodman as well.
On the whole he was good with crosses into the box, but he did make a mess of one which dropped right in front of Patrick Bamford, but Cornell managed to claim it again. He was also quick to snuff out a through ball to James’ who was clean through on goal in the second half. You’d imagine Woodman will return to the team next week though for the game at Millwall.
Triple substitution doesn’t have desired effect
There isn’t much Ryan Lowe can do these days without some sectors rightly or wrongly criticising him. Many decisions as Preston manager have been questionable, and with five wins in the last 21 games, it’s understandable why the fans are quick to point the finger at Lowe.
For large parts of the game against Leeds, the Preston players showed they can match a team with a far higher budget than ourselves. Match winner Joel Piroe cost around £12 million, whilst £35 million was spent on Georginio Rutter last year, and they were captained by Ethan Ampadu who cost them £7 million.
In games like this you aren’t going to play them off the park, so you have to be clever. That does lead to some time wasting, and some tactical fouling. Some were already on a yellow card as we headed into the final quarter of the game including Ali McCann so it made sense for Ryan Ledson to come on.
However taking off our attacking trio of Keane, Riis and Millar was a surprise. They may have been tiring but they gave us an outlet up the pitch. Switching them for Robbie Brady, Alan Browne and Layton Stewart was confusing.
It was obvious that we were now fully sitting back and inviting pressure. For that to succeed the defence has to be perfect, but ours never is. Lowe should know this by now.
It was a handball, Lowe shouldn’t have any complaints
Lowe came out after the game insisting it wasn’t a penalty, but perhaps that was to try and divert the blame away from the team, or to mask the fact a goal seemed inevitable in the final 20 minutes following his very defensive subs.
Ryan Ledson’s arm was some way away from his body. He misread the spin of the ball, and he knew straight away what he had done. He wasn’t helped by Brady completely slicing the ball when he could have cleared it far away.
It was a penalty, and it’s a cruel way to lose the game, but when the pressure is that relentless it very rarely ends well for Preston.
Goals conceded after the 90th minute have now cost us seven points this season, with a draw against Southampton, and defeats for Cardiff, Swansea and now Leeds.
The best form of defence is attack. Sounds like an old cliche, but it’s true. If we could manage to keep hold of the ball in their own half and have some options to play it too, then that would be far better than just waiting for it to come back into our area.
Lowe has to learn.