New Year, Same problems

Preston's disappointing 1-1 draw against local rivals Rochdale raised more questions than answers. We have been Jekyll and Hyde recently, the team that fought back to draw 3-3 against Carlisle and beat MK Dons 1-0 away (the only team to have done so this season) and yet we tamely lost 2-0 to Sheffield Wednesday and were lucky to escape with a 1-1 draw against a team in the relegation zone. It wasn't as if we were banging on the door to score a second goal, we only had one shot which threatened the keeper and that was our goal from the impressive Jake Jervis who made his debut and got on the scoresheet after 16 minutes. Jamie Proctor was once again disappointing and a rant about the fans on Twitter after the game has landed him in hot water. He was venting his anger at being cheered off when he was subsituted. But when it's an away game and fans have paid money to come and watch Preston, that gives them the right to say what they want, and it wasn't as if they were on his back when he was on the pitch and also, not many fans were cheering him off anyway but it shows the dangers that Twitter can have for proffesional sportsmen, (just look at Joey Barton)

As a PNE fan it is worrying how we look poor in attack when Hume and Mellor are absent, granted if you take the two best players out of any of the teams in this league and they would struggle, but you would expect us to have some attacking force against a team in the bottom half and this was severely lacking. Our goal came from a scrappy corner and we never actually broke down a stubborn and organised Rochdale defence, on the other hand we just sat back and let the Rochdale players run at us. Adam Barton has gone back to what he was before the Sheffield Wednesday game and Paul Coutts probably had his worst game in a Preston shirt since he signed 2 years ago. It was apparent that there was no midfield bite at all, our defence played well but was shaky at times, the centre back partnership of Carlisle and Morgan was solid if not assured, but it was certainly better than when they partnered each other against Colchester on the opening day of the season. It is also good to see that we have brought in Harry Bunn on loan from Manchester City, both in the JPT and the league game he tormented our defences and in the league game particularly he gave Mclaughlin a torrid time and won a penalty while in the JPT he scored to level the game at 1-1 with a shot from outside the penalty area. This kind of player can only be beneficial to Preston and if he makes the kind of start that Jervis has had he will be a good player for us and it is positive that he has signed a loan deal up until the end of the season which would include the Play Offs if we got our act together and got up the table.

Looking onwards, either this week or next we will discover who the next permanent manager of Preston will be, some want Billy Davies, some want the caretakers to get the job, and other names have been mentioned. I think the placcid displays against Sheffield Wednesday and particularly Rochdale might have ruled out Alexander and Unsworth for the job, but I certainly think that they will make good managers in the future, particularly if they could replicate the MK Dons performance on a regular basis. What they have managed to do is instill a sense of belief in the team, the supporters are getting behind the team again after the torrid tenure of Brown, no doubt we would have lost to Rochdale if Brown was still manager, we only have to look to the defeat away to Bury to confirm that. But whoever the manager is, they will certainly get my full support and I certainly hope we make the right decision as we can't go on sacking managers the way we are doing because it's not good for stability. Luckily enough we don't have a game this weekend as we aren't in the FA Cup and Notts County are so that gives the board plenty of time to come to the right conclusions over who the next PNE manager will be, and I am certain that whoever they choose, they can get the team up into the top 6, because on our day, we are one of the best teams in the league as we have proved on occasion this season.