David Moyes offers verdict on Alex Neil and Preston’s form

Ex-Preston boss David Moyes has Preston recent run of form, and believes Alex Neil has done a ‘great job’ at Deepdale.

North End went into the international break having beaten Birmingham City 1-0, thanks to a last-gasp Seani Maguire goal. That made it 12 games unbeaten for Neil’s side, continuing a dramatic late push for the top six.

The win put North End seventh in the table, level on points with sixth-placed Aston Villa. Preston are now only out of the play-off places on goal difference in a remarkable turnaround.

After the draw with Villa on October 1st, North End sat bottom of the table with six points from 11 games. Since then, Neil’s side have taken a staggering 51 points in 27 games – remarkably close to two points a game.

That even factored in a dreadful injury crisis in November and December, summing up the remarkable job Neil has done at Deepdale this season.

After narrowly missing out on the play-offs last season, Neil will now hope to pull off the most incredible turnaround. North End have no expectations, compared to the likes of Villa and Derby County – yet few Championship teams would want to play North End right now.

With big games against Sheffield United, Leeds United and West Bromwich Albion coming up, it’s still a big ask. The most important thing though is that Preston are in the mix, and David Moyes is hugely impressed.

The North End legend has told BBC Radio Five Live (1:51:00) that he thinks Preston’s run has been ‘incredible’, praising the work done by Neil this season. Moyes also hailed the club’s January business, giving us the boost needed to push on.

Moyes noted that North End don’t have many big names, but a well-drilled team playing well together, and marvelled at the stunning turnaround under Neil this season.

“Preston have done incredible,” said Moyes. “I think they’re unbeaten since the turn of the year. Alex has done a great job with the players, and I’ve got to say that I think the players they brought in in January have helped them. They were having a bit of a struggle, they weren’t in a good position, they hadn’t played particularly well in the first half of the season, but they brought in two or three new players, I think they got one or two players back from injury, and they’ve done brilliant, they’re in there.”

“But I think in a strange way, they don’t have a team which is full of maybe… it would be wrong to call them superstars, but I think they’ve got a team full of good players, and I think they’ve got a team, they’ve got a good team. Alex has done a great job with them, and I think they’ve done remarkable to get in the position they are from where they were,” he added.