Thoughts on todays game

[Northern Canary 0]

First off, both teams looked quite solid, not too easy to break down but not very threatening either. The quality of football was not great, a lot of head tennis throughout the match and players lumping it up the pitch to Dublin or Brown who seemed to knock it on for someone who was often not there. The team still looks like it needs time to gel and find a formation that accomodates all of the players to their strengths.

The team was a lot more of a solid unit than i have seen them in a while, only trouble is that we seemed to lack the confidence in going forward. Players did not make enough runs as i would have liked and more annoyingly, crosses kept coming in from way too deep. Drury in particular, kept launching the ball towards their box as soon as he reached the half way line. The problem there was that the strikers then had their backs to goal so could only knock the ball on which usually came to nothing. We needed wingers or full backs to get into advanced positions and cross the ball across the box onto a head or boot that could take a good effort on goal. Credit to Preston for being solid in defence, making it hard for us to get into these advanced positions or for russell and co to make more attacking runs into the danger area.

Shackell and Doherty were quite impressive, not anywhere near as shambolic as i had expected. They both had strong and no-nonsense styles of play. On defending set pieces (and there were enough of them), we did very well with Preston rarely taking a crack at goal as the team seemed to defend well as a unit and get the ball away. Sometimes perhaps you could say we sat a bit too deep but we did not get caught out on many occasions.

Heres the player ratings:

Marshall - 7 - Looks solid and has a good presence in his area. Sometimes didnt seem to have enough options when taking the goal kicks, but that is not his fault.

Otsemobor - 7 - Fast player so rarely gets outpaced. He too seemed quite solid in defence and got back quickly when preston were on the break. Attacked quite well on the right side but lacked enough support to go into more advanced positions.

Shackell - 8 - Solid. Didnt seem troubled or under pressure, cleared the ball to safety. Did all that is needed.

Doherty - 7 - Pretty much the same as shackell. Strong enough, didnt fumble around.

Drury - 5 - Not too bad but could have done a bit better both in defence and on the attack. Still doesnt go forward as much as he could and kept crossing the ball from way too deep as i explained earlier.

Lappin - 5 - Not bad again but did not do too much. I think he would be more comfortable on the wing than in a 3 man midfield.

Brellier - 8 - Looked quite a quality player. Made some good strong tackles, breaking up the play. Often cleans up play, in which i mean he will take the ball down and pass it while others are just heading it all over the place. Could well be a key man in the midfield.

Russell - 7 - Again, strong in the tackle. Always getting involved like Brellier. Passes it well, gets stuck in, getting the ball and supporting players and looks quite threatening at times when he goes forward.

Chadwick - 5 - Didnt do very much i dont think. I dont think the system that he was used in worked great for him against preston who didnt give him much space but he did take the ball forward at times.

Dublin - 7 - A quality veteren and it shows. He still shows a lot of quality with the ball but needed a different partner up front perhaps.

Brown - 7 - Chris did well seeing the rest of the team relied on him quite a bit on making an attack. The ball was usually lumped up to him to knock it on, which he usually succeeded in doing but there was nobody there to take advantage. Sometimes went wide and made a few good strong runs. Both brown and dublin did well but just not best matched together i dont think

Subs:

Croft - 4 - He didnt have much time but he didnt really do anything of note.

Strihavka - 5 - Didnt get to show what he could do because the team went very defensive after he came on so he had little support but looks quite a good player.

Fotheringham - 5 - Not a bad player, but i didnt see him do much in an attacking sense which i think we needed when he came on.

The team looked solid, but not really promotion material yet. However we did miss a few players so a draw is a good enough result and we can see where it goes from here. As i said in another thread; Riordan would have been welcome too i think as the team lacked a bit of pace today, especially when making attacks.

[ManchesterCanary 0]

Spot on NC...I agree with just about everything you wrote there. Particularly agree with the lack of confidence going forward. Preston looked nervous at the back at times and I think we could have got a goal if we had been more adventurous. Particularly annoyed at Brellier getting into good overlap position, only to check back instead of whipping the ball in when their defence was on the back foot. But a solid start...and a great turnout by the supporters considering the distance. 

[burn down the ipswich 0]

bit harsh on the ratings there mate, to be fair i thought they all did pretty well and drury was certainly better than a 5 and doc was easily as good as shackell.

[Rudolph Hucker 0]

Nice piece, Northern.

Thanks.

[Darlo dumplin’ 0]

Agree with pretty much all of this, the chief positive being that we defended 15 corners mostly solidly and without the anxiety of last season when defending set pieces. Stihavka probably missed our best chance of the game, and the fact that we never forced 1 single corner in the entire game tells its own tale too. Early days, but despite assertions to the contrary, without Hucks we didn''t create much and without Earnie we didn''t look like coverting much by way of the odd chance either - but then Cureton wasn''t on the pitch .  Maybe felt Chadwick was worth a shade more than a five! 

[FilletTheFishWife . 0]

the fact that their keeper had nothing difficult to save , we had no corners and they seemed to average 1 per 3 minutes paints a bleak picture but it was difficult indiviudal performances. the truth is both teams defended well but neither had any potency as a goal threat. we missed huckerby a lot and a decent player to feed off Brown''s touches.

marshall 6   didn''t command his area in the 2nd half as he should have done

otsemboor 7 a promising debut

shackell 6 defended well but distribution poor (note for training ground!)

Doherty ditto

Druty ditto

Lappin 5 Much of Prestons attacks came down our left flank and drury looked just as exposed as does with Darren in front of him

Brellier 7 Lived up to expectation

Russell 7 Ran his socks off but needs to support the strikers more

Chadwick 6 Faded in the 2nd

Brown 7 Some excellent touches and worked hard but he never looks like scoring

Dublin 6 Average.

 

[One Flew Over... 33]

Can anyone who was at the game explain how we conceeded so many corners? Were they mostly down one side? Did we play with a 3 man midfield, and so allow their wingers too much space?

[colneycanary 0]

They had quite a few corners because when they won a corner, we defended very well and put it out for another corner. This happened a few times. Even right at the end of the match they had 4 or 5 corners one after another. Despite conceding so many corners i never felt we would concede a goal and we didn''t. Our defence was very solid.

[One Flew Over... 33]

Glad to see it wasn''t complete domination from Preston then.

Seems like both managers were happy with the result, and also the Preston fans, see the Lancashire Evening News 

I like the comment from a Preston fan who said "we need a target man in the team as their center half Doherty seemed to win almost every ball and some games we are going to need a big man to win these kind of balls" - glad to see the Doc is appreciated by some [:)]

After the sale of Nugent what have Preston done with their 6 million? Their chairman is Derek Shaw. From Wikipedia:

"Shaw has in the past been criticised by certain sections of the Deepdale crowd for a perceived lack of ambition, but has strived to redress the balance in recent years and currently enjoys widespread popularity with North End fans due to his good Business sense, and his ability to not be to focused on the millions of pounds to be won through promotion, and instead running the club steadily."

I guess the owner of Ribble Valley Shelving Limited doesn''t have millions to spend on the team either.