Pne

After our performance against Everton, I felt a little disappointed tonight.
Agree with Cashy that PNE played some slick impressive football & dominated the match.
Their overall ball possession must have reached about 75-80% & the scoreline could easily have been much greater had it not been for some fine saves from Chapman.
Must have been watching a different game, as I can't agree with Mr Coleman that 'we matched them & all our players played well in the first half'.
We became far more effective in the second with the addition of Pearson, Beckles, Clark & the 'trialist'.
For all their speed, Sousa & Mcleod flatter to deceive & invariably lost the ball when their opportunities arose. Perhaps they'll be more effective against league 2 opposition?
Despite their domination, we almost grabbed a last gasp equaliser in the dying seconds but overall PNE showed why they're in the Championship.
Thought tonight would see an improved attendance against our near neighbour but if anything, it felt like the lowest of the friendlies so far???
Sad! :(
 
I thought that we edged Preston for the first 36 minutes tonight. They committed a lot of fouls during this period which was an indication of how well our boys were doing. Donacien continues to look like a really 'classy' player to me. Sykes was doing well at centre back and Hughes was using his experience effectively. Early on both our wingers were on the attack constantly and both were were working very hard when back tracking too. The first Preston goal was a soft one to give away and I thought that our keeper should have saved it. I was right behind it in the Clayton End and it came form the first real threat by Preston down their right wing, a cut back from the goal line towards the penalty spot, (my favourite move), but their lad didn't hit it all that cleanly, about five feet to Chapman's right. He got a hand to it but it dribbled in! Their second goal finished the match as a contest and was just down to bad marking. When Preston subbed nine players after about an hour they upped the pace and produced some really good quality football! Matty Pearson was outstanding for us in the second half and fully deserved his late goal.
I think that the experience of playing Huddrsfield, PNE and also the young Everton team was great for our boys and their were a number of times tonight when we matched the quality of passing that these higher league teams produce consistently. We need to replicate that consistency in our play and I do believe that our squad is getting very close to where we need it to be in order to make a challenge for a high League Two placing again this season.
IMHO we still need another Goal Keeper to be our No1. Of even more importance though is our need for a clinical striker up front who can give us 20+ goals next season. The sort of forward who can be anonymous for 88 minutes but score a couple of 'Tap Ins' to win a match!
I am certain that Coley and the backroom staff are working on this and will come up with the goods!
ON STANLEY ON:theband:
 
Last edited:
:) Thought up to when Preston scored we had matched them well, young Sykes (5) and Ogle(3) had good games as did Nolan(8). second half changes by both sides opened the game up, could have equalised right at the death but overall a good run out.
 
Wynonie Harris said:
Thought 989 was quite a reasonable attendance, considering there only seemed to be a couple of hundred from Preston at the most.
Click to expand...
Don't know how tonight's attendance compared against those for Huddersfield & Everton?
Simply going off what felt like a rather sparsely populated Clayton End at tonight's match.
 
Average attendance from all three friendlies is 1,200. That's about 70% of average league games? Seems mighty impressive to me.

Coleman on new signings; "hoping to get one over the line tomorrow".
 
Oops! 'Wolves loanee Jonny Edwards' in the fishy match report! The Tigers won't be too pleased...
 
mab said:
Attendance's 1663......1032.....989 respectfuly
Click to expand...

Why do people on here get so bl***y defensive about attendances!!!!!
All I said was I was disappointed at what seemed to be the lowest attendance so far against a near neighbour, when I thought it would be the highest.
It would seem my feelings were justified, as Mab has confirmed it to be a FACT!
The Coppice end was empty against Everton, so you can't blame it all on the away fans.
 
cashman said:
overall i thought Preston played the best of the 3 weve played? also thought we did, People should remember these bigger/better off clubs than us, certainly aren't playing a few trialists, they have bigger more settled squads, reckon moaning minnie J.C. should take that on board.;)
Click to expand...

loosing by the odd goal against a side two divisions higher than us in a friendly game with as cashy says a bigger and better off club is for me not a bad result. like to see another who can play upfront joining us before the season starts.
 
monkey hanger said:
loosing by the odd goal against a side two divisions higher than us in a friendly game with as cashy says a bigger and better off club is for me not a bad result. like to see another who can play upfront joining us before the season starts.
Click to expand...
I would, but to be honest playing 1 up front, particularly at home,dont really do us any favours imho. and that seems to be the norm. Think the friendly gates are far better (double even) than the gates we normally get against non-league clubs?
 
cashman said:
I would, but to be honest playing 1 up front, particularly at home,dont really do us any favours imho. and that seems to be the norm.
Click to expand...

Think you've hit the nail on the head there Cashy!
Everyone keeps going on about how we need a new goalkeeper & criticising Chapman, but to be fair to the lad, I think he's played OK in the last 3 friendlies.
Yes, his Achilles heel are low shots, mainly due to his enormous size.
But last night, for every low shot he struggled with, he made twice as many superb high saves to prevent what looked certain goals.
Our big problem for the past few seasons has been lack of goals.
From what I've seen so far, I think that problem will continue.
 
:) I noticed no Seamus Conneely on the team sheet last night ,wonder if he's picked up a knock or is JC just resting him :)
 
mab said:
:) I noticed no Seamus Conneely on the team sheet last night ,wonder if he's picked up a knock or is JC just resting him :)
Click to expand...
Mab, not only Seamus missing from our starting 11.
Where was 'Big Ben' Richards-Everton?
Agree with you that Sykes, Ogle, Nolan & the Don all played well.
However, I still feel Mr Coleman made too many changes from the team we put out against the Everton XI.
When you consider we started without Pearson, Beckles, Richards-Everton, Clark, Conneely & McConville (?), it's not surprising Everton made it look easy in the first half.
 
Lord Stiffupperlip said:
Mab, not only Seamus missing from our starting 11.
Where was 'Big Ben' Richards-Everton?
Agree with you that Sykes, Ogle, Nolan & the Don all played well.
However, I still feel Mr Coleman made too many changes from the team we put out against the Everton XI.
When you consider we started without Pearson, Beckles, Richards-Everton, Clark, Conneely & McConville (?), it's not surprising Everton made it look easy in the first half.
Click to expand...
BR-E was on the bench as was McConville, Rommy, Beckel's, Mohammed, no Seamus thou!We seem to have the making of a vgood team with a bit of depth
 
Last edited:
Lord Stiffupperlip; Our big problem for the past few seasons has been lack of goals. From what I've seen so far said:
haven,t seen any friendly games but looking at the players available at the moment it looks like we,ll be hard to beat but equally going to be hard to win especially at home where the opposition will quickly get players behind the ball and get away with murder giving our players a rough time with minimal protection. lets hope coley has got an ace up his sleve but the clock is ticking now.
Click to expand...
 
Lord Stiffupperlip said:
Mab, not only Seamus missing from our starting 11.
Where was 'Big Ben' Richards-Everton?
Agree with you that Sykes, Ogle, Nolan & the Don all played well.
However, I still feel Mr Coleman made too many changes from the team we put out against the Everton XI.
When you consider we started without Pearson, Beckles, Richards-Everton, Clark, Conneely & McConville (?), it's not surprising Everton made it look easy in the first half.
Click to expand...

Everton made it look easy ? Think you mean PNE ?
Coley has to experiment pre season.
Think he knows his starting 11 but he's already said he's going to be running with a smaller squad so with injuries and suspensions everybody's got to be ready.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top