Thetownend.com

The Opponent: Preston North End

So the Chelsea Power Show (you see what I did there) has rolled on to pastures new, and for me its not a bad thing as we need to start gaining some momentum and push up through the league.  Tuesday was a fantastic night for all concerned with STFC, a full house, great atmosphere, even the Bovril tasted more bone-like than ever before, but now is the time to show what we are made of. We may have an average team age of 22.5 (thanks to Adver Sam for that one), but we have the ability and firepower to ruin most of the teams in this league, and today is a day we need to show it. Preston may well have a big stadium, but let’s face it, they were punching well above their weight for years in The Championship, and now they are really not much better than an average League 1 team. PNE fans are quick to point out that they have a glorious history, the history that dates back to before the shooting of Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand. To be fair they did win the FA Cup in 1938 followed by the Football War Cup 3 years later, but where they find themselves in the league tables nowadays is indicative of where they deserve to be. With Simon Grayson as manager and Peter Risdale as Chairman they do have a bit of a Leeds feel to them too, and their longest serving manager over the last 25 years is none other than the fella who replaced Ferguson at United (even if the fans did want Jose), David Moyes, who points-wise, is still the most successful manager they have had for many a year. So it seems they are consistently inconsistent, if nothing else.  I heard through footballing circles that PNE Thor is now the Governments new face of British Dentistry, and his appearance just confirmed that the village of Preston is still missing one of its many Northern whippet breeding wife beating benefit cheating idiots.

It is a bit of a journey, I did it last year and I have to say the surrounding area rates closely up there with Port Vale for one of the grottiest parts of the country I have been too. Not necessarily rough, just quite simply a northern shithole. Even the local newspaper confirms what I think of the place. One story was a father who went to the Lancashire Evening Post to show off his 12 year old daughters infected pierced ear, I look at him and just see everything that is wrong with the selfish compensation culture that seems all too common in this country.  As mentioned elsewhere, giving Grade II listed status to a bus station is somewhat puzzling, especially when it looks just as bad as the piss stinking effort we have.  I’m sure Preston has its nice points, its probably full of Ordinary Boys (sorry), and when leaving Preston last season I spotted a lovely place on the journey home, The A6, which helps you get away from the ghastly place.

The Last Time We Met At – Deepdale – The less said the better really. The first signs that the Di Canio rollercoaster was starting to derail a little? Possibly. All I remember on the way home was looking at Twitter wanting to know if Foderingham would ever play for us again and wondering which family member he would dedicate a 4-1 drubbing too.

They have served us both – Andy Lonergan, Jay McEvely, David Lucas, Simon Gibson, Jake Jervis, Fola Onibuje and Lee Holmes

Where the opposition gather –

http://www.pne-online.net/forum/showthread.php?82932-Swindon

They are a well informed bunch  - “Mason and Harley are both out injured too and they are both quality players at this level. I think Mason has scored a few for them this season too. I don't understand how they can get away with loaning six players from Spurs? i mean Watford are the worse culprits but surely the system needs addressing”.

PNE Last 6 – DDWWWW

The Odds - PNE 6/5  Draw 12/5 Swindon 11/5

The Son Says – His disappointment at losing to the former Champions of Europe was rather short lived. 3-0 Town.

The Prediction – We have some demons to exorcise at Deepdale starting today. We only have 2 players left from the starting team that lined up against them 11 months ago plus Darren Ward on the bench. We are literally a different team, with a different style of play and we will pass our way around them for 90 minutes. 2-1 Town with goals from a returning to form Luongo and Ajose. 10’998 with 510 from Swindon.

And Finally - The Preston by-pass, opened 5 December 1958, became the first stretch of motorway in the UK and is now part of the M6 with a short section now forming part of the M55. It was built to ease traffic congestion in Preston caused bTy tourists travelling to the popular destinations of Blackpool and The Lake District. The first traffic cones were used during its construction, replacing red lantern paraffin burners.

COYR COYR COYR

This one has draw written all over it
They have been miserly at the back which is unusual for a grayson team - for a former defender his defence at Leeds was woeful

The club deffo ruled out Harley but I have seen nothing concrete re Mason and the Power Ranger
If both of those play may give us the edge esp in attack
I take it Bryne will be back in contention, he has been missed going forward last 3 games IMHO

Wait, we've registered our DoF as a player now?

Fuckin laptop keyboard  :cry:

To be fair I should have made the leap. Definitely time for bed.

Come down for us following the last 2 games, I'd take a draw now but going for a 2-0 loss.

I have absolutely no idea about this one. Let's say 3-0 win, I have no idea which way though. We're either going to outpass and outclass them or they're going to smash us to bits.

I'd say 350 town fans? It's far and a bloody awful trip.

Seems like Grayson's done his homework.

http://www.pnefc.net/news/article/grayson-respectful-of-robins260913-1077994.aspx

Expect them to sit back and look to hit us on the counter. Probably exactly the sort of team we'll struggle against, miserly at the back and direct in attack, but you never know in football. First goal will be important.

Hard to call until we see what team we put out but a draw would be a decent result against an inform PNE so 2-2 Nguessan and El Gabbas

No idea how this will go today. Would be happy with a draw.

They are going well so a draw would be a good result, however I'd like a win just to shut that fat hairy troll up. A lot depends on Ranger though.

Away from home against a side with an excellent home record, would be chuffed with a point.

Could have done with an easier game this particular week. Best expectations is a draw and after Preston`s recent good run - which needs to end sometime - and why not today....? 1-1

0-2 coyr

Good feeling about this actually. If they have as positive a mindset as I have after the Chelsea game where I considered 0-3 or less a moral victory then they should get something from this one. I predict 1-2 victory for the Robins.

Got a feeling that this season we are going to be a brilliant home team and mediocre away (results wise).

We can't keep on just being 'unlucky' away from home.

Need to put some meat on the bones.

As I've got us in an accumulator got to go for a win today 1-2

2-0 defeat.

Going for an opposite Wolves. We play worse than at any point this season but walk away with a 2-1 win.

Just arriving at Crewe on my train to Preston. 'Shit Northern Swindon, you're just a shit Northern Swindon.'

I would take a draw now....

We are drawing now.

They're a decent team - no real flair or creativity about their game but they're a solid defensive unit and they pass it around neatly enough. If we play well we're good enough to break them down.

I've got a good feeling about this.  2-1 Swindon COYR

Take it into the corners...

Swindon Town FC ‏@Official_STFC 1m
Town side to face Preston: Foderingham, Thompson N, Hall, Ward (c), McEveley, Kasim, Luongo, Thompson L, Byrne, N'Guessan, Pritchard #STFC

Swindon Town FC ‏@Official_STFC 1m
Subs: Belford, Ajose, Branco, Barthram, Elgabas, Cox, Storey

So Cox features on the bench and L Thompson/Byrne start instead of Ranger/Ajose

This feels like pre-Stevenage last season. I hope it's the same score!

Got £5 @ 10/1 in the local bookies

Cox on the bench? Not Lee Cox??

The very same

Fair play, looked decent when we caught a brief glimpse of him. Another tenacious midfielder.

vic morgan ‏@swindonred 2m
Really nice touch in the away end pic.twitter.com/LFNCjYJPwG

(http://i866.photobucket.com/albums/ab225/mark_woolhouse/travelling_zps74e7191b.jpg)

A draw would be good.

Gary Roberts got sent off for Chesterfield.

Against a team already averaging 2 points/game...I agree.  That will be 1/5 of the season gone after today's game.  Table will start to mean something before long.

Someone tweet Sausages to him ;)

Bollocks..........

General question, has Player been improved at all? Live outside of Swindon now so may subscribe but not if it's as bad as it used to be.

Fuck.

This could be a heavy defeat. Hopefully we'll finish with 11 men.

This is gonna be a long afternoon.

The Bristol/Chelsea hangover.  This was always on the cards, wasn't it.

Oh dear. Glad I didnt make the trip up, think this could go like that year!

Why has our away form gone tits up?

Uphill struggle from now on
We seem to be having a rough time in defence and not gonna make matters with JMc already booked

Now N Thompson down in the box in agony

 :suicide:

In large part, a reflection of the teams we have travelled to.

Oh fuck sticks and man flaps

It doesn't help that we've conceded early in 4 out of 5 away games.

Aside from Shrews all the teams away have been in the top 5 when played

Walsall down to 10 against Orient so not much danger of their run ending

 Fixtures ain't been kind have they, and Orient just get luckier and luckier . . . .

True, apart from Shrewsbury the other four games have been against top teams

Was just going to say the same.  We make it hard for ourselves.

Wasn't really expecting anything today to be honest.  However, we do need to start picking up points away from home.

We're only 1-0 down

We've gone into their half. Things are looking up!

Have our expectations risen?

Need to man up and get something, plus Shitty one down so not all bad!

 :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:shitty one down

This sounds like the worst start we have made in quite a while. 

Cant decide whether this means we will get dicked or if we are gunna snatch a win somehow  :hmmm:

I'm happy with mid table this season.

I'd forgotten all about Liam Ridehalgh. Sent off for Tranmere.

Only just signed for them this week iirc

Mine have.  I was honestly expecting us to be fighting a relegation battle.  Based on what I've seen so far, I'd like to think that won't be a possibility.

They sound vicious.

Austin scores for QPR.

Byrne for Ajose, which might work out for us. Thompson in trouble though - at this rate we'll struggle to put a side out against Tranmere.

We have already lost Byrne and seems Thompson not 100% after a couple hefty challenges

Two injuries, no yellow cards. Interrrresting.

Barthram on for Thompson.

What's happened to Byrne?  I'm not listening to the radio, as I'm convinced we do better when I don't listen...

Fucking Preston.

Both Byrne and Thompson on the end of a tasty challenge so both crocked

 :(

Oh dear.  Our injury list seems to be growing by the game.

The best part of the first half is it's only 1-0!

Well, we're half way there!

Bollocks again - own goal 2-0

Game over - own goal JMc ffs

Starring role on Soccer AM next week then...

Taxi for Jmac

McEveley's turning into a liability.

 :doh:

Another early goal from the start of the half.

That's that then.

Ward needs to knock Kevin Davies out...  somebody needs to, he's been getting away with it for far too long.

Agreed - the weakest link in our team at the mo

9296 (386)

McEveley doing his best to prove my point. Cheers Jay.

Sounds as bad as Shrewsbury was. I feel for those who have made the trip.

Our away form will cost us, probably have to settle for the play offs rather than automatic.

"defending is over-the-eyes stuff". Oh dear

Was very nearly (387)
Thank fuck I didnt

It's a small squad. Without Ranger and Mason we're a bit shit because our shape goes pear like.

May as well bring off N'Guessan and give El Gabbas a try.

That's well down on what Preston were getting a few seasons ago - and, not surprisingly, a fairly sparse following from our lot given the week we've had.

Becoming a bit of a bogey ground for us.  I was thinking for a while that maybe some of the early season commentary about our squad was OTT and that, in reality, we're a standard mid-table side this season.  And in truth, I'd be happy with a mid-table finish I think, so long as Cooper had a clear plan to take it up a notch and have a decent challenge in his second season.

BUT, we'll have got our away games vs Wolves, Peterborough, Preston and Franchise out of the way before the end of September (even if the 4 games will have produced a return of 'nil points')...and I think that counts for something.  Even if we lose today, I still think we can realistically aim for a top 6 place as things stand.

We sound awful defensively.  Perhaps we need to consider bringing Archibald-Henville back and seeing how he does.

The concern for me is the ever growing injury list and the lack of choices to bring in.  I believe McEveley is playing with an injury and possibly if we had cover, would have been rested.  The size of the squad was always going to be a problem when we started to pick up a few injuries.

I hadn't even thought about that.  Interesting.  And maybe worth a shout.  If Lee Cox can make the squad...

Portsmouth getting turned over 4-1 at York. How the mighty have fallen.

To be honest our whole back 4 has been a bit of a liability this season

My boys seem to have an odd fixation with Portsmouth.  I hope it's not a Hampshire thing.  My stock response is a dismissive 'they're rubbish, ignore them', and Pompey keep giving me more ammunition.  Long may it continue.

If it makes anyone feel any better, both Manchester clubs are losing so there will be plenty of glum faces in Swindon's offices on Monday

Carlisle were conceding for fun until he went there.  Of course, the wages might be an issue, as we're obviously not paying them all atm?

Man Utd 1-1

Edit: Ah damn the slow BBC, 2-1 West Brom  :)

Nope, WBA scored again, 2-1 WBA and 3-2 Villa

Plus there's three big teams currently down in the relegation places. Things could be worse.

Yup, Notts County, Sheffield United and Coventry are massive clubs.

City are losing to Colchester. Could be worse.

Who else? That's the three I meant  :D

We're doomed

There goes my £5

Off topic, but something I have been wondering for a while: would it be possible to compile a list of towns/cities where the local side was the best supported team?  (The measure, for the sake of argument, would be that attendance at 5 or more games a season would make you a fan.)  How many such towns/cities are there, and would Swindon make the list?  My feeling is that it would - but would be interested to hear the views of others.

N'Guessan injured but no subs left.

Yeovil one up at Bolton, think there will be a managerial vacancy there soon!

I imagine the difference between the number of Manchester United 'fans' in Swindon and the difference between the number of those who go to 5 or more games a year might be rather vast.

To clarify: Swindon would (in my view) make the list because there are more Swindon fans in Swindon than Man Utd fans or Chelsea fans.  However, Stevenage probably would not because there are (I think) more Spurs fans in Stevenage than Stevenage fans.

Do we have any more spaces to bring a loan player in? Think we may need one as injuries are stacking up

Yeeeeessssssssss  2-1

Obviously not that injured then!

The N'Jured one scores!

Pulled one back.  Came from nothing.

Come on lads

[Curmudgeon]
Consolation goal, if ever there was one.
[/Curmudgeon]

Reg isn't curmudgeonly...

Probably but "there's now panic in Preston rear-guard"  :)

Don't be silly, of course we won't  :sherlock:

Get a decent ball in and you never know.  Hardly sounds like the crowd are urging Preston on!

Well nearly from Kasim.

Oh stop with the fucking mumbling...

Corner to Swindon...

This deserves at least a  ;D

Shame we didn't step it up a gear a little bit earlier.

FT 2-1

Ah well. Was always going to be a tough one after the week we have had.

nice rally

Doooooooooooooooomed

It will click sooner or later away from home.

Doesn't sound like we played our best, but side getting a little disrupted with injuries...tough place to go PNE as we found last year and I think they'll be right up there at the end of the season! Hopefully injured players start coming back...does seem like we've played a lot of the top teams early on this season?

Not having Ranger upfront changed the game plan I think - N'Guessan doesnt hold the ball up but attacks the defence himself.
And then losing the 2 players early threw us right off

Decent fightback at the end but injuries are mounting and may well be time to call back Troy
Not sure how serious Byrne/Thompson or N'Guessans will be but obv Reis out for a while,Ranger a month same for Harley I think and no word on Masons

Sounds like Gabbas had a decent game when came on as did Barthram so least have some decent back up players

Oh well thats that shit month out the way and we still in the top half of the table and our next opposition are in the bottom 4

TAH didn't play for Carlisle today.  Cooper didn't want to discuss the possibility of him coming back.

Cooper clearly not happy with the performance, McEveley and Foderingham particularly due to the 'comedy' goal.  

Byrne and N'Guessan with dead legs.  Byrne 'mashed' in a challenge, not sure what that means.  Ranger might be back within a week.

I do wonder how much of our defensive frailty this season is due to Wes no longer being the 'rock' that he used to be.  He seems to have morphed from best keeper in the division to upper mid table in terms of form.  Still useful, but his cutting edge has been blunted.

Digby's coaching, been a problem since MacDizzle came in.

Both Digbys arrival and Wes's downward slide do seem to coincide

[/quote]Sam Morshead ‏@SamMorshead_SA 6m
Mark Cooper tells me Ryan Mason will be fit for next Saturday's clash with Tranmere[/quote]

Some good news at any rate

It does seem to tie in with the change of goalkeeping coach.  As good as a keeper Digby was, maybe he's not a very good coach?

His inconsistency will make it less likely for a team to come in for him in January though.

Just got back... where do I start?!

We looked lethargic and apathetic from the off. We didn't chase second balls, we didn't win 50/50s, we didn't make space, and we constantly went backwards. I'm perfectly happy with the style we play, but we did it badly today. Far too many balls back to Wes in the first few minutes alone. That wouldn't have been so bad had we maintained our shape, but every time PNE got the ball there were gaping holes, either out wide or through the middle, and the first goal came as a result of somebody going missing (can't remember who).

The first half continued in much the same vain, slow passing, no real pressure on them, until the final five minutes when we made one or two incisive passes and completely opened them up. Had we played well, they were there for the taking. On today's showing, they are clearly not a particularly good side. At half time the players should have been encouraged to find more space, to press PNE back further towards their own goal, and to generally up the tempo. We certainly did look a little livelier after the break, but with little result.

Their midfield continued to nullify the threat of Kasim and Luongo by starving them of service. N'Guessan did his best to hold the ball up but rarely found anybody in support, and every time the ball went to the full backs they seemed to be isolated. Fair play to Barthram for growing into the game. McEveley, sadly, went the other way. In the first half he'd been done a couple of times, been booked for a cynical foul, and lost the ball in dangerous areas. I said if he carried on he'd lose us the game, and it seems that's what happened. A ball into the box, takes a couple of ricochets, but thankfully finds its way out to Jay who can clear. But no, he plays a lobbed pass back to the keeper, in a crowded penalty area, when the keepers not even there. The game was rapidly turning into a repeat of last season's corresponding fixture, water bottles and raging Italians aside.

Thankfully, things did pick up a little in the last 15-20 minutes. Kasim started getting on the ball and showed the touches and turns that we're used to, and he began to bring others into the game. Barthram was making good runs down the right, N'Guessan was peeling off to the wing nicely, and Ajose was making smart runs in behind the centre-backs. A perfectly weighted through ball from kasim picked out one such run, and their keeper did well to touch Ajose's shot round the post.

Thompson had gone off, having been clattered by Davies in the first half - a challenge much worse than Byrne's at MK, but which went completely unpunished. Byrne also went off having been upended in the middle of the park (maybe a foul, couldn't tell), and N'Guessan was struggling, starting to limp as the game drew to a close. However, Town were pressing, finally showing some fight, and it was a lovely curling finish rom the one-legged N'Guessan that gave us a bit of hope.

Minutes later, I thought we'd drawn level. PNE were being pushed back, we were passing the ball across the edge of their box and finding gaps. El Gabbas worked his way past challenges trying to create something, Barthram was getting balls into the box, and Kasim and Luongo were pulling strings around the D. Eventually, a chance fell to Kasim(?) as he hit a shot first time, right towards the top corner, and Rudd did very well to tip it over the bar.

Overall, a disappointing performance in which we showed no fight or desire for well over an hour. I'd give Preston 6/10 for their performance today. They're not as good as their fans seemed to think they are post-match. They played long balls up to Davies, who really could have been booked on 2 or 3 occasions, event sent off on one. They pulled shirts, blocked runs and pushed defenders at every opportunity. A footballing side they are not. Not that I'm bitter...

The positives?
1. Wes - why is he getting stick today? He hardly put a foot wrong. Thought he was superb against Chelsea too. Can't see any reason to blame him for the own goal, and he dealt with a series of woeful backpasses very well indeed.
2. Barthram - thrown in at the deep end today but looked fairly solid
3. Glimpses of class - when we played the right way we were in control. Sadly this amounted to about 10-15 minutes of the game, but it shows that we shouldn't be afraid to play our stuff against big, strong teams.

I don't care how shit we were and how fucking mad you are....you are the Manager and giving one word replies to a radio reporter (a lifeline to a lot of fans) at a post match interview is fucking childish.

I didn't go and while waiting in Salisbury Vodafone for an hour I had texts come through. So...I cannot really comment on the showing...I will read back through...read Reeves so far.

PNE will be strong and Davis is a real asset for them.

A draw would of been nice....

Onwards...

Gave up listening to the manager after the game when PdC was there

Bit more than one word replies:

That quote is a very accurate assessment of the game.

another early goal - Wolves, City, Preston - bit of a theme developing. Be nice not to have to chase the game

Yep. Exactly how I saw it.

I don't suppose anyone would like to post a list of who is currently injured? I've lost track

As your post showed. Shame that we didn't perform as we have done. I've seen enough Town sides for whom that would have been their best performance of the season. By playing as we have though, that was a let down.

Navarro
Harley
Ranger
Reis
Smith
Mason - back next week?
Thompson - injured to day
Byrne - injured today

Any news on Troy? No

Will you dip into the transfer market ref all the injuries? No

So...you are happy with the squad? Yes

Do you think Sonic and Flash are cunts? Yes

Positives.... being near enough that I got home for baby's bath and bedtime.

There was great concern when we assembled this team they would be bullied by larger more streetwise teams and that's what I thought happened today. Preston were niggly/clever, there was a lot of physical challenges and feet left in challenges and through that and the nullification of Kasim and Luongo they bossed the midfield.

I don't see how you can blame Wes for the goals or suggest he is a liability, the only fault that I can see with Digby's training is that it is not turning him into a ball playing sweeper - which in many ways goes to the heart of the problems

I have no problem us playing the way we do, but we are going to struggle for the simple fact that we don't have a ball playing defender and thus if a team is on top of the midfield it breaks down. I lost count today of the number of times it went back an forth across the back four without going anywhere, eventually it went back to Wes who had to lump it. You could see Wes getting more frustrated by the minute in the first half as he tried to find someone to lay the ball off to, and this only got worse as Preston started to close him down when he had the ball.

Wes becomes the out ball when the defenders are under pressure and this means he is under pressure as he gets ever more ridiculous back passes to deal with, often on his wrong foot!

I could not figure out whether N'Guessan was good or not for around 80 minutes until the lad I with had a revelation, he's our own version of Heskey - built like a brick out house but seems to get bullied off the ball and falls over!

The Egyptian when he came on looked keen and made a real effort, he was very direct and I think if he had been on earlier we may have got something more.

Davies is a clever player, left a foot in on Thompson and makes sure he leaps with a leading arm when he jumps, how he avoided at least a booking I don't know although it did reach the stage that I did wonder if short of one of their players pulling a knife on one of our players we were never going to get a decision. When he stopped play and gave Kasim a long lecture for a tackle which whilst very late did not actually involve Kasim connecting with the ball or player it just summed it up.

By only getting to away games in the north west, not sure last time I actually saw us win.

So what about bringing Troy back? Could we even think about going to a back three? Thompson and Byrne as wingbacks, dropping J. Mac whose been a bit of a liability, a midfield three of Kasim, Loungo and Mason, then two up front?

It could  be a proper return to the Hoddle era.

Interesting observation

Hall does have the ability to play the ball, Ward does to a certain extent.
JMc probably the least proficient among the back line.

Who already at the club is the answer ?
Only saw Troy play in midfield and he didnt look good there and not seen Alex Smith play.
Cant recall Cox either as so long ago, Barthram can play in the back line and apparently had a decent game when came on today

Preston played with a back 5 today with 2 wing backs and looks like town struggled early on with that formation

McEveley is not an attacking defender and just looks a bit like fish out of water if he has to try and pick a pass.

But.....

A) he doesn't get close to the attacker and gives them room to run at him.

B) he doesn't appear able to run backward so if he sees that the ball is going to be played behind him he turns his back very early to try and get in position and therefore often doesn't actually know where the ball is going to land.

The reason we struggled at the start was that we played hugely within ourselves, and looked several yards off the pace. I'm convinced that we would have beaten them had we showed what we can do, whether they played 4-4-2, 5-3-2 or a Mike Bassett Christmas pudding.

3-5-1-1

May end up facing that yet this season  :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

Can't Barthram play at Left or Right Back? If so, maybe he's in a position to start on the Left v Tranmere...Providing Thompson is fit, that is.

Do we know a time frame on when Smith could be back? That would be handy, looked good when he played, sounded decent v QPR. Mason back next week is a boost. El Gabas sounding promising too..

Did Cooper say that Ranger COULD be back next week or is that just speculation?

BUT, we'll have got our away games vs Wolves, Peterborough, Preston and Franchise out of the way before the end of September (even if the 4 games will have produced a return of 'nil points')...and I think that counts for something.  Even if we lose today, I still think we can realistically aim for a top 6 place as things stand.
[/quote]

We got a point against the Franchise....but like you say, luckily we've got a lot of the 'big' away games out of the way nice and early. I think against those teams at home we'll be bossing it, personally.

Well, he answered all the questions and there is no need for more information

Extended highlights of the game ( well more than the FL show had anyway )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Vl1gPbmEXI&feature=youtu.be&a

JMc culpable for both Prestons goals ?

That own goal will haunt JMac for a while.  Feel sorry for him.  Horrific.

And Preston's ground really is too big for them.  Impressive structure, no doubt about it, but clearly not built with League 1 in mind.

What the hell was he trying to do anyway? It's not as though Foderingham could pick it up

Wouldn't blame JMac for the first, the big gaping hole in our defence is.

The second one, oh dear.

Was just wondering that myself. What a strange thing for him to do.

Stupidest own goal, ever!!

Not for the hole, but the attempted clearance/challenge on Hume! Looks like a few poor decisions yesterday.

Really? Being caught out of position and trying to kick the guy in the chest instead of jumping to contest the header with the bloke he should have been marking? You don't see the blame on Jmac for that?

I suppose I can be smug about the fact he's a waste of space because I've been saying it for ages, but it doesn't help. He has average games sometimes and lulls us into a false sense of security, but he never has a good one. Both of those goals are comedic and should never have happened.

Fucking scouser.

Let's hope Smith get's well soon! He looked decent...anyone know how long he's out or what's wrong with him?

What a pair of fucking shit goals to concede! Why didn't jmac header it instead of letting Hume get there first! Pathetic!

Sorry to say but Kasim was responsible for the first goal. The highlights don't show it. Tbf his reaction showed he knew this too.

Kasim is human after all then!!..... ???

Even as someone who hasn't been often yet this season, it's clear to see that something needs to change at the back.  The second goal, in particular, showed that the communication/understanding between the keeper and his defenders is not there.

If we carry on conceding at the current rate, we are on course to concede 66 goals this season.  Last season, we conceded 39.  Even when you consider that we have had a tough opening two months, that is a frightening statistic that needs to be remedied.

LIES, BURN THE HERETIC!  :furious:

Good point

I think JMac's ridiculous backpass was a symptom of what you say - Wes would have had to half volley a clearance or take a touch of a bouncing ball on his own goal line at best. 

JMac's responsibility but not sure what Wes was doing sprinting off his line either

Don't know if we've got too precious to coach defenders in  the merits of "Row z" and "Get yer head in"

Interesting stat on the 66 goals by Ardiles too - fairly clear where the problem is now that Williams is no longer our lone target man.

Maybe he was responsible earlier in the move
It was JMc on the 3yd line trying to kick a ball that wanted heading

He made no attempt to go up and challenge for the ball  ::)

Just watched the highlights. Looked a possible penalty for us on our last attack. A point would have been welcome, if undeserved.

A player who get's a lot of stick is Grant Hall, I think he's alright but clearly lacks experience...

I'm wondering how good Branco is....also same goes for Belford...I wonder if either will get the nod against Plymouth...we've never been a team who have used their back up goalkeepers...Jesionkowsi, Scott, Bedwell etc..

Anyone else notice that after we scored our goal their keeper took down whoever our number 33 is? Looks like he punched him in the crotch! That's a fucking red card if ever I've see one...

It's the traditional scapegoat player though isn't it. JMc should have challenged better but it should have never got that far! We get carved apart on the right but apparently the only person to blame is the left back.

No he isnt the only player to blame but ffs put in a challenge on the 3yd line

McEvely did bad for both goals, I don't think he was aware of Hume, hence thinking he could kick it. I thought Wes could probably have got to the backpass though, makes a right hash of trying to clear it off the line!

Our defence is the weakest part, I don't think Wes has been as commanding, and I still can't see a solid understanding between Ward and Hall.

Nice goal by Dany. Hope Thompson isn't out long, he's great.

The problem with the defence yesterday was that as Kasim and Luongo were being marked out the game they had no outlet so we ended up giving it back to Preston.

Was that the case? I was not there yesterday, so only had the highlights to go on. Sounds like we need a 'Plan B' when teams combat our passing routes out from the back. I suppose not having Ranger as a 'route one' out ball meant it came straight back too?

Another thing is, a lot of people who were at the game were making points about how dirty Preston were..it's one thing being physical, but totally different to being dirty with it..

2 injuries in the first half due to harsh tackles, neither of which resulted in a caution...consistency is so lacking in refereeing in general, even more so in the Football League...

Oh, that's not an excuse for losing the game, I wasn't there, but the general consensus is that we were fucking shit.

On MOTD last night they showed a challenge from Nolan ( Wet spam ) on Rosenior where Nolan got a yellow
Slow mo shows he went in 2 footed and had left the floor completely which is a straight red

And there was a tackle on Giroud which went unpunished that was worse than Byrnes red v franchise

Inconsistency

That was exactly what I meant.  he definitely could and should have done better. But The defence had parted like the red sea and most culpable.

In any case we don't have much alternative at left back. Byrne is a worse defender and... Er,  that's it

Absolutely, I know there's such a thing as 'human error' but fuck me, some humans are prone to some massive fucking errors!

I feel that swearing in mid-sentence really show my dislike or love of something...

I'm still convinced that McEverley is a decent player. He's played too many games at a higher level for his current form to be representative of what he can do.

The bloke seems to be absolutely lacking in confidence at the moment, which is leading to poor decision making and a vicious circle is created.

Sounds like A Williams
And Roberts

 :hmmm:

Bit of a theme appearing

.......and Alan O'Brien...oh wait, nah..he was just shite! ???

Do we have a specific defensive coach at the moment?

Considering each decision is made by a different ref from a different angle at different speeds- I'm not sure why people expect such consistency.

It's human judgement at the end of the day.

Preston fans come over as a bunch of dickheads on FF.

When the same ref in the same game is inconsistent it is a bit crap.

Digby is not an experienced coach, he is basically an ex player brought in, before he was brought in here at the beggining I think he worked part time on his own business not as a goal keeping coach.

I would say surely Wes needs someone who has experience as a GK coach, I think that Picareta (?) the GK under PDC had experence as a coach and Wes did see to be improving, but since KMac & Cooper who dosen't look as assured. 

But this maybe also due to asking Wes to play perhaps slightly different role in coming a lot earlier and always being available for the ball almost playing as a sweeper at times.

The other side to this is that every coach has to start somewhere.   

As I said before I really don't get why this debate is going on about Wes and by extension Digby...

Based on Saturdays performance  (and the back end of last season) the short comings in Wes's game are that he doesn't have the skill to dribble round an on-coming attacker having been given yet another suicide back pass on his wrong foot, its nothing to do with goal keeping and all to do with being behind a defence who did not have the normal out ball to midfield so when pressed went sideways and backwards.

I get that bit... my criticism of him at the back end of last season was based on the raft of penalties he conceded by rushing out and taking down centre forwards (how he never got a red, I'll never know). Those scenarios alone made me question his concentration/decision making.

Personally I think its down to better quality of teams/players we are playing and reduced quailty/organisation of our back four.

He was superb V Chelski

And you know this, do you? I was under the impression he'd done a fair bit of goalkeeper coaching, albeit on a private basis rather than attached to a club, before getting involved in the kit business. But I don't know that's the case, so I'd hesitate to criticise him on the basis of some half-remembered "I think I read somewhere that....". If you do know for a fact that he's not done it before, then fair enough. If you don't, might be an idea to check your facts before saying the bloke's no good on the back of assumptions

A question for those fans who were actually at Preston on Saturday: Cooper said we changed formation and went to a 352 late on. So who played in which position, and who was sweeper between the two markers?

He certainly done some goalkeeper coaching, not at a professional club though AFAIK.  And at one point was looking at setting up goalkeeper coaching courses in the area.

But  even so, its a bit of a leap to say Digby has made Wes worse. Its one possibility, granted, but it could be anything. The way we play and the personnel in front of him leaving him more exposed, or Wes himself becoming comfortable in the job and relaxing a bit too much, or responding worse to Cooper not beating him up in the same PDC did, or, or...

As I said a couple of pages back, Wes has played very well in the last two games in my opinion. Don't remember him making any mistakes at MK either really.

Re Foderingham....it's not unusual for keepers to come in as young players, look to have a really bright future, then performances tail off a bit. Look at Joe Hart, look at Chris Kirkland, look at Paul Robinson...the list goes on.

Think what happens, is that to be a long term consistent goalkeeper requires psychological fortitude...young keepers enter this phase unknowingly...the strong minded survive and have long careers, the weak end up as personal trainers in a David Lloyd sports centre.

That keepers are a strange breed...look no further than Dosser's hero, the man who took the Icke out of cricket....also Albert Camus, who put all he knew about morality down to football, he was a keeper, and Vladimir Nabakov, no doubt Graham Rix's author of choice who wrote....

As with folded arms I leant against the left goalpost. I enjoyed the luxury of closing my eyes, and thus I would listen to my heart knocking and feel the blind drizzle on my face, and hear in the distance the broken sounds of the game, and think of myself as of a fabulous exotic being in an English footballer’s disguise composing my verse in a tongue nobody understood about a remote country nobody knew. Small wonder I was not very popular with my teammates.

IMO this happened to Digby himself - especially after the injury at Palace.

He may have done coaching before, he may had even had his own business doing it. It doesn't mean he has to be any good at it.

I can only go on what I see and that is, in my view, Wes is a worse keeper now then when PDC's crew were here.

Wes picked up a blatant backpass in one of his first games here

he time travelled to train with digby then went back and played that match.

Which year was that?

87 in the 87/88 season....brought us a first look at Nicky Hammond  :)

He also did an amazing save on Saturday, he must have remembered that from the training he was given 2 years ago.

So I sat through the Preston tunnelcam footage in the vain hope of some drama. To spare you a similar fate, here are the "highlights":

6:38-7:15 Cooper waits for the ref at h/t to complain about a player leading with his elbow (Davies I imagine)

8:55-9:57 Grayson waits in the tunnel to give Darren Ward a warm greeting. Where do they know each other from?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4ZydG-OPDU (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4ZydG-OPDU)

That's quite interesting, it'll be better with sound though!

They both drink from the same pool of stagnent water to prevent calf strains and dinosaur attacks.

September felt like a pretty decent month for us yet we only won once. It says a lot about our expectations, doesn't it?

I think it says a lot about some of our performances. We deserved a lot more than one point out of franchise and Wolves. Wins will come. As to expectations, I'll still be happy with a top half finish.

Agreed. Wolves was probably the best performance I've seen in my time as a Town fan (not much competition admittedly) and we played well against both Franchise and Chelsea.

In previous years, the level of performance wouldn't have mattered to many and the results would have been considered unacceptable - that's why I think our expectations as a fanbase has shifted, partially because we've finally developed a sense of patience and also because we've demonstrated on a number of occasions just how good we can be. I hope this continues for a few years even if we don't enjoy any success.

I forgot to predict a score for this. I was going for a 2-0 Preston win, any chance I can get the prediction table updated Samdy?

Nope, sorry. I know you forgot and it was an incorrect prediction, but I'm sure other people forget too and it wouldn't be fair on them (or on me to have to keep entering predictions after the event).

It was a little toungue in cheek and didn't really expect you to mate!

More irritated with myself for forgetting to do it!!

I was going to post about that! Dirty fucker- just like the rest of his team by the sounds of it.

They were just niggly all over the pitch and exposed our naievity as much as anything!

However Kevin Davies deserves everything he gets, the way he left his foot in on Thompson was well nawty.

The Thompson twins dish out as much if not more than they get. They'll injure plenty of players and get plenty of cards over their careers.

The difference being that they (particularly Nath) put in proper tackles not cowardly ones like Davies on Saturday though.

They are neither intentionally dirty. Nathan especially does go in hard (hehe) but his eyes are always on the ball.

Davies has made a career of being dirty. Got away with it and then some last week, but it's not the reason we lost, obviously.

It's certainly not Tails. We were poor until the last 15 end of.

Davies' treatment by the ref on Saturday was the exact reason Byrne's sending off annoyed the hell out of me. A lot was said on here about "the letter of the law" after MK. Where was this letter of the law on Saturday I ask myself?

Cooper said it recently and it must be doing his head in, there seems to be no consistency at all among referees. I've become increasingly frustrated with it, we're quite an 'honest' team yet we seem to be punished for not cheating. OK granted, Pritchard and Ranger have probably been guilty of going to ground too easily but it seems to me that since Di Canio left, we haven't really had the rub of the green decisions wise. Brentford play off second leg a prime example.

Been going for a lot longer then that, I remember one game when Wilson was in charge, we were playing Hartlepool at home midweek, ref was blatently biased, didnt give us anything, gave them everything, including a penalty in the last 5 mins. Worst ref performance I have witnessed ever!!!

I cant remember who the ref was, but he deserves a flying headbutt!

Yeah but I think over that period it evened itself out. Since Di Canio left I don't think we've really had any favours.

Another example, L. Thompson lunges into a challenge v Bristol City, wins the ball, and is booked.  Literally within seconds, Fielding takes Ranger down in an equally lungey fashion, also winning the ball, and we got sod all.

We just have bad press mate, in that unfortunatly forms opinions in peoples minds! Karl robinson is another case in point when he said something along the lines off:

'how can we compete with a club that went into admin for the 3rd time, and then splashed out 400k on a player'

Ill informed bollocks mate!

The pen was for a high foot as well!! High fucking foot!!

....and it was outside the box and not even a penalty if it was inside the box!!!!

I've got an idea how you can compete, Karl - how about not bothering risking the severe uncertainties of a fight upwardly through several leagues and instead buying a club, renaming it, dumping its existing fans, relocating it to where you happen to be and - voila - you are ready to compete, no mess!

How can you compete?!  Fuck off, Robinson.  Your sorry excuse for a 'club' shouldn't even exist.

Got a surprising degree of pleasure by watching the obnoxious Preston keeper having a total mare in their game yesterday,  buggered up massively for two goals.

What goes around sunshine....

One went through his hands didn't it?!
Plus the Flint backpass.
And much as I have a mild disklike of the Pikies, it was a pleasure to see them sink Franchise.
And the Scum lost. As did Rovers and Cheltenham, both 1 point outside the drop zone. And Reading lost and Charlie got a brace for QPR :)

Great day of football results really.

For those that didnt see the Flint through ball  :clap:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0UQCIdIGhM

He executed that pass with aplomb. Great vision, good work agent Flint.

To be fair the entire passage of play leading up to that goal from a City point of view is just fucking embarrassing. I had to watch it twice because the first time I just assumed City were attacking the goal to the right. What the fuck were they all up to?

The Flint double take to see Hughes is excellent...

Hughes and his fucking gay shit dance. Just fuck off you bald murdering cunt.