Preston North End and Derby County played out a dour 1-1 draw at a damp and dismal Deepdale on Saturday. It was an encounter lacking in any quality and both teams look set to be in a relegation battle based on that display.
Stop switching sides before kick-off
It kills the atmosphere and has zero benefit. It’s no surprise the second half is so flat when we are kicking towards the away fans.
Does Heckingbottom know what to do with this squad?
The team selection yesterday was baffling. After a horrendous display against Portsmouth and two weeks on the training ground during the international break, you would have thought it was a chance to mix things up. Maybe even try and integrate Josh Bowler and Jeppe Okkles into the side, as radical as that sounds. Why bother signing Bowler if he refuses to use him?
Instead Heckingbottom kept the same shape and only changed Duane Holmes for Ryan Ledson. I think Ledson deserved a chance but it meant it was a very defensive looking team for a home game that we needed to be winning against an equally poor side.
A back five and three defensive midfielders, where did Heckingbottom honestly think the chances were going to come from?
The wing-back formation has been so frustrating for fans to watch for three years now, and it has never looked like it was the solution.
Potts ineffective this season
Ryan Lowe arguably saved Brad Potts’ Preston career. He was struggling to find his way in the team as a central midfielder, and became a square peg in a round hole at right-wing back. We never properly recruited for that position so Potts kept his place and was actually one of the first names on the team sheet most of the time.
He always gives committed performances and has been a key player for us but this season he hasn’t managed to impose himself on many games. He played 14 out of 16 games in the league this season, but whenever Kaine Kesler-Hayden has played on the right he is much more effective.
We are shoehorning him into the left side where he has to cut back onto his right foot all the time. Something hasn’t clicked for Potts under the new management team, and we should be trying to get the best out of Kesler-Hayden.
Best players in the squad are on loan once again
You have to say that we have brought in some fantastic players on loan in recent years. Daniel Iversen, Sepp van der Berg, Alvaro Fernandez, Cameron Archer, Tom Cannon and Liam Miller to name just a few. The fans all grew to love those short-term signings, but they were all exactly that, as we weren’t able to tempt any of them back on a permanent basis.
This season we look to have found another two great loan signings in Kesler-Hayden and Sam Greenwood. The latter picked up his sixth goal of the season, and the fourth in his last six league games. A wonderfully taken header from a good cross via Andrew Hughes.
Those players clearly look forward to each game and aren’t scared to try and express themselves. Unlike the rest of the squad who seem to be traumatised by past performances and will only play it safe.
Kesler-Hayden and Greenwood bring fresh ideas to the team, and are outperforming the rest of the teammates immensely at the moment. They will be disappointed with the levels of the team this season, and if they carry on like they are there will be no chance again of us keeping hold of them next year.
Yet again the recruitment for the loan signings has been great, but the players here on long-term contracts do not improve and become stagnant.
3 wins in 21 affecting the team mentally
Do the team believe they can win anymore? Time and time again when we concede goals, heads go down, and the game only goes one way. We very rarely fight back after conceding. In fact it’s the exact opposite, we throw away leads. The players seem to lack belief in seeing out games. But that isn’t surprising when they have only managed to win three out of the last 21, including the appalling five game run at the end of last season.
The team are scared to play and are bereft of any ideas. That was summed up on Saturday in the second half on numerous occasions. Mainly the fact that Jack Whatmough became our main outlet to start attacks.
It takes Whatmough close to a minute to get out of his own area. He is then so uncomfortable on the ball even when he has yards of space in front of him. I’m not against playing it our from the back but only when it is to players capable of playing at this level. Whatmough isn’t.
The other option seemed to be hitting it out to Jordan Storey wide on the right. Storey actually had a solid game on Saturday but what are we expecting him to do there? He really only has the option of passing it back, or trying to find Potts on the right. Storey’s main attributes do not involve passing.
Freddie Woodman’s distribution has been questioned on numerous occasions, and whilst on the whole it wasn’t bad on Saturday one decision led to deserved anger from the Town End. With Sam Greenwood running away in plenty of space on the right, Woodman instead chose to play it to the left and straight into the Sir Tom Finney Stand.
The players are scared to be brave with the ball. It results in boring, unadventurous football that quite frankly the fans have seen enough of.
Whiteman jeered off
Speaking of boring football, the captain Ben Whiteman will not have been happy to be jeered off when he was substituted late in the second half. Heckingbottom has claimed he picked up a knock, but after being hooked off at half time against Portsmouth, the former Doncaster Rovers player was lucky to be in the side at all.
It’s been a rough ride for him since taking the armband from Alan Browne, and when the going gets tough, fans and players should look to the captain, but he doesn’t seem to be doing anything on and off the pitch.
Does Heckingbottom have the bottle to drop Whiteman? Or does he at least see it’s worth trying something different? I’m not sure he does which is worrying.
Whiteman is very passive on the pitch and that reflects throughout the team. A large group of those players know they aren’t good enough to play any higher than this. They are happy to pick up a decent Championship wage, and turn up every week and see what happens.
There’s no ambition in the squad or from the ownership of the club. It’s becoming very tough for fans to turn up week in, week out to watch turgid football from a club who have become stagnant with no clear plans for the future.
The display on Saturday would suggest we are in a relegation battle this season, and I don’t think there are many in that squad who have the fight or backbone for that sort of challenge which is very worrying.