Preston North End fell to their first home defeat of the season as Birmingham City came away from Deepdale with a 1-0 win.
It was a frantic game with one man in particular taking all the limelight. Unfortunately that came in the form of referee Lewis Smith who set the tone of the game very early on.
Not another one
It seems as if North End are cursed when it comes to the decisions that go against us. But it can’t just be us, we have to accept officiating at this level is atrocious. There were so many decisions that were baffling in the game so I’ll try and sum up.
Not allowing advantage when Harrison Armstrong had the ball and was set to counter attack, instead pulling it back for a Preston free kick in their own area.
Awarding the free kick which led to the Birmingham goal. Odel Offiah won the ball and it took the referee far too long to award it.
The fact the ball went in off the hand of Phil Neumann who also looked offside.
Not awarding a penalty to Preston after Lewis Dobbin was dragged down by Eiran Cashin who made no attempt to play the ball.
Giving Birmingham a free kick after James Beadle punched Osmajic in the face instead of the ball. And not booking Beadle once despite him take an age on every possible kick and choosing to take it from wherever he wanted.
The officials ruined the game and continue to do so far too often.
Starting XI
The game was still there for the taking for North End I felt. Birmingham were more than happy to sit back after the goal but Paul Heckingbottom’s side could not find a way to break them down.
Every man and his dog could see the starting eleven lacked any creativity and was extremely limited. Harrison Armstrong, Ben Whiteman and Ali McCann have all started the season well but playing them as a midfield three is crazy.
When Ali McCann is your most advanced midfielder you know something isn’t right. It looked like he was trying to play as a number 10 at times but he could not have any impact on this game.
Whilst Odel Offiah had a solid game in place of Thierry Small, once the former Charlton Athletic man came on Preston started causing The Blues some problems.
I’m all for rotation, and completely understand that with three games in a week, but dropping four of your most influential players in the final third was never going to work. I don’t know what Heckingbottom was expecting from the starting eleven but we weren’t getting close to scoring.
One of Alfie Devine or Lewis Dobbin has to be starting each match. If they’re not fit or they’re rested then give Mads Frokjaer a go. McCann, Armstrong and Whiteman at home is not the answer if they haven’t got a creative player in with them or at least Milutin Osmajic to help them.
Smith and Jebbison didn’t click
They linked up very nicely for the goal at West Bromwich Albion but on Tuesday we needed more from them. We played a lot of long balls and crosses into the box but Michael Smith was not dominant enough. The headers he did win very rarely found another white shirt and his hold up play was very poor. In truth the crosses were poor on the whole as well and easy to defend.
Jebbison seems to find it hard to stay on his feet but he did very well to nip in before Beadle from a long pass but could not convert even with the keeper out of the way.
Those two should never be our plan A, there are better options and combinations in the squad.
3 points needed on Friday
Sheffield United haven’t started the season well but there’s no doubting the ability they have in their team. Friday will be a tough game and given that Heckingbottom has ‘rested’ so many key players for the Birmingham game we have to get a result against The Blades.
If it ends up being three losses on the bounce then the wheels will start to come off a very good start.
Defensively we still look very solid, but going forward we have looked a little toothless in the last couple of games. Again going back to the likes of Devine and Dobbin you rely on their quality to come up with something out of nowhere. Without them, we’re just hoping to get lucky with a cross into the box, and when they are usually lofted floated balls, you know what the answer is going to be.