Preston fell to defeat again on Saturday afternoon, losing 1-0 away at Derby County as fans were left with questions about striker Emil Riis.
North End were pretty dismal at Pride Park, turning in another lethargic performance despite more than two weeks without a game.
Liam Lindsay’s red card didn’t help matters, but even when Max Bird was sent off for the Rams, Preston didn’t exactly seize the initiative.
Ravel Morrison ended up burying the winner for Derby, meaning it’s now two defeats in a row for Preston and just one win in the last seven games.
For the first time, it feels like Ryan Lowe is coming under some pressure from Preston fans, who want to see performances on the pitch – not just the fist pumps at full time.
One subject leaving fans scratching their heads is the situation surrounding striker Emil Riis.
The Dane is Preston’s top goalscorer this season having bagged 17 goals across all competitions.
Riis is an enigma, capable of the sublime and the ridiculous. Right now, Lowe’s usage of the 23-year-old seems bizarre to say the very least.
After Lindsay’s red card, Riis was the man sacrificed for Sepp van den Berg. When North End were diabolical against Luton Town, Riis was the man hooked at half time.
How many teams out there are substituting their top goalscorer with such regularity? At the moment, it feels like Riis is either being substituted early or being left on the bench.
For everything Ched Evans brings – bite, aggression, link-up play, being a downright nuisance – the goals aren’t exactly flowing for him.
Evans has yet to even score a single goal under Lowe, hasn’t scored since November and has now gone 18 games without a goal.
Maybe Lowe feels he can trust Evans’ all-round game a little more than Riis right now, but substituting Riis seemed like a curious choice given their respective goal records.
That’s three games without a goal for Preston now, and Riis scored North End’s last goal – the winner in the 2-1 victory over Bournemouth at the start of March.
We understand Riis can be a little frustrating at times; the ball can bounce off him, shots can fly into row Z, but Riis can be a goal threat at any time.
Long before Lowe even became Preston boss he talked up Riis, highlighting how there are few strikers quite like him.
Actually seeing Lowe work with Riis hasn’t exactly gone how many would have expected, and it looks like North End’s £1.2million signing from Randers still has some work to do in order to play a starring role under Lowe.