Preston North End fans are still enjoying the 2-1 win over Leeds United on Boxing Day, but attention must quickly turn to the next few games.
The Lilywhites face Sheffield Wednesday at Deepdale on Friday night, and they must look for another win over the relegation battlers. Not many will have been expecting a win over a very talented Leeds side, but Ryan Lowe’s side wanted it more on the day and the fans urged them across the line.
However if a disappointing performance follows against The Owls, the Boxing Day victory will suddenly become a distant memory. It has often been the case for Ryan Lowe’s team aside from the incredible run at the start of the season, that positive displays are quickly followed by poor ones.
It’s fair to say after the horrendous 5-1 defeat to Watford and the loss to Swansea City many fans would have been happy to see the back of Ryan Lowe. The vote of confidence came from Peter Ridsdale and Craig Hemmings, and it looked like Lowe was given some extra time to turn things around, despite accepting results ‘had not been acceptable’.
Even after that some supporters felt a likely defeat to Leeds would push him further to the exit door, but after a much needed morale boosting victory, where does Lowe stand now? What does he have to do to get the fans back on side and progress with this team?
Stick with a 4-1-4-1/ 4-3-3 formation that suits this squad better
Lowe altered the shape of the team for the visit of Leeds on Tuesday. We’re so used to seeing three centre-backs incorporated into a 3-5-2 or 3-4-2-1 formation with a heavy reliance on our wing-backs to create any chances.
However Lowe mixed things up on Boxing Day. It was more of a flat back four with Liam Lindsay and Jack Whatmough in the centre, and Andrew Hughes and Brad Potts in the full-back positions. It allowed two other players to play wide further up the field in Liam Millar and Duane Holmes. This gave us the chance to double up on the wings and not be so vulnerable to counter attacks.
Millar and Holmes widened the play whilst Milutin Osmajic led the line on his own. Ali McCann sat in front of the defence for more protection and that allowed Alan Browne and Ben Whiteman to play higher up.
We looked solid defensively and more threatening going forward. The only worry is that the striker becomes isolated, but with players like Millar there will always be chances.
Play Millar every game and get him signed up
After his man of the match display against Leeds United surely Millar is now the first name on the teamsheet? Yet in the game before against Swansea City he had to settle for a place on the bench. There is no doubting Millar is a special player, the one who can create something out of nowhere, exactly as he did on Tuesday.
His captain has been praising him and with the Leeds win live on television, many others will have realised how key Millar is for this team. The Canadian is on loan from Basel and it has to be on the club’s agenda to get the winger signed on a permanent deal.
It’s been hard watching the impact Tom Cannon, Alvaro Fernandez, Sepp van den Berg, Daniel Iversen and Cameron Archer had at the club before moving on. Let’s hope we don’t add Millar to that list.
Of his 18 games for the club so far Millar has only started 12 of them. With two goals and three assists in his last four games, the former Liverpool player is a man in form and Ryan Lowe needs him to get himself out of trouble.
Stay calm and measured in interviews
The manager has put us all through a rollercoaster of emotions since his arrival from Plymouth Argyle two years ago. He came promising us an attacking brand and that Deepdale would be full watching his team. He spoke about his ambitions of taking this club into the top flight and there’s no doubting the fans were excited.
Unfortunately the brand has never delivered and when results are going badly Lowe is quickly reminded of his promises. He’s become quite predictable at points especially when we’re on the end of heavy defeats. ‘It wasn’t for the lack of trying’, ‘It’s only a blip’. It doesn’t wash with Preston fans, we see past that, and the thrashings have happened far too often.
Earlier in the season when we were at the top of the league he was calm and collected and wasn’t getting ahead of himself. But when the going got tough, and questions were asked of him, he didn’t respond well, questioning a fans qualifications when asking about the identity of the club. That was the final straw for many.
Lowe still has some way to go to repair that relationship with the fans. He refrained from doing his fist pump after the Leeds win, and rightly so. The best thing Lowe can do is follow up that Leeds victory with another win over a Yorkshire side. Step by step each win can push this club forward. But he cannot afford any more embarrassing results or heavy defeats that we have seen far too regularly, and he certainly can’t be criticising the fans again.