Opposition Preview - Preston North End

Blog written by ad_wilkin
Published: 6th October 2023 14:11

When Town played Preston North End in a pre-season friendly on 19th July, neither set of fans would have predicted that they would have had such good starts to the season.

Preston were unbeaten in eight until mid-September. Having drawn the opening game of the season against Bristol City, they then won their next six in a row (2-1 Sunderland, 1-0 Sheffield Wednesday, 2-1 Swansea, 2-0 Stoke, 2-1 Plymouth, 2-1 Birmingham).

They have since been brought back down to earth a bit with a 1-1 draw with Rotherham and a 4-0 thrashing by West Brom. On Tuesday night a valiant defensive battling team eventually went down 3-0 to league leaders Leicester.

That makes this one second v third coming into Saturday. A win for Town could potentially stretch the gap to the play-offs to eight points.

<h1>Goalkeepers </h1>

Preston’s number one is Freddie Woodman who is a very reliable keeper at Championship level. The Newcastle academy graduate has now found a place to settle following back-to-back successful loan spells at Swansea and a less than successful one at Bournemouth where he failed to make a Championship appearance.

He has 51 clean sheets in 142 appearances which is a very impressive number and had only conceded six goals in his eight appearances before shipping seven in his next two.

His stability and the ability to keep the ball out of the net provide Preston with a solid base and he is definitely one of the better keepers in the division.

The same probably can’t be said about his back-up. Former Town man Dai Cornell is Preston’s number two. During his time at Town he struggled to replace Tomas Holy making 15 appearances and conceding 19 goals in appearances across League One and cup competitions.

Now 32 years of age he appears to be content to settle for the number two role. His two appearances for Preston so far have both come in the EFL Cup and both resulted in defeat.

<h1>Defenders </h1>

Preston play with a solid back three and have five centre-halves vying for those three slots. We’ll start with Liam Lindsey, who has started all ten games so far and been the stand out performer whilst also managing to get up the other end and head in a couple of goals.

The 27-year-old Scotsman has been at Preston since July 2021 when he joined from Stoke. His two goals so far this season already equals his best Championship tally for a full season. He’s also very solid defensively, winning 73% of his ariel duels so far, for comparison Town heading magnet Cameron Burgess has only won 61% so he should be able to deal with any crosses that Town throw at him.

The other main starter so far this season is Jordan Storey. The 26-year-old went out on loan to Sheffield Wednesday in the 2021/22 season but came back last season and hasn’t looked back. He made 44 appearances last season, scoring two goals and had played 27 consecutive games before missing out on Tuesday night.

Storey's preferred position is on the right of the three, drifting out to cover that side of defence and like Lindsey is also very strong in the air, having won 70% of his ariel duels. He was at fault for West Brom’s second goal in the 4-0 defeat, failing to clear his lines with an attempted chip in his box.

Next up is Andrew Hughes, the oldest member of the back three at 31 years of age, he has racked up an impressive 183 appearances for the Whites in his five years there since joining from Peterborough. He’s mainly been deployed as the left centre-half but also pushed further up to play left wing-back against Stoke with his versatility enabling him to make that move. He’s also chipped in with a goal this season, heading in against Swansea.

Those are the main three starters but Jack Whatmough has also featured in seven matches, albeit most of them off the bench.

Whatmough is a new signing at Deepdale having been picked up on a free transfer from Wigan this summer and has struggled to break into what was already a strong unit that knows each other well. A poor performance against Salford in the Carabao Cup didn’t help but he’s performed well when he’s come on as a sub and with defensive frailties finally exposed against West Brom could be pushing for inclusion more often.

He only has one season of Championship experience to his name with Wigan so every game will be a learning curve for him.

The final man in that unit is 30-year-old German Patrick Bauer. His excellent form at Charlton got him a Championship switch to Preston in July 2019 and he has made 102 appearances for the side. However he fell out of favour in the 2022/23 season and his only appearance so far in this one has been in the Carabao Cup.

Bauer is another one who is a threat in the air with 7 goals for Preston but if he is to get into this team it would probably require a serious dip in form from Lindsay as his most natural position would be in the middle of that back three. With Hughes and Storey missing out against Leicester, there’s a small chance he might get his first league start of the season against Town.

The consistency at the back continues in the right wing-back/right midfield position with Brad Potts having played every game so far.

The 29-year-old has been at Preston since 2018 and in that time has made 180 appearances for the club, scoring 15 goals. He started his career mainly in the centre of the park and has even featured a few times in attacking midfield but in his later years at Plymouth he has nailed down that right wing role and possesses a lot of similar attributes to Ipswich’s Wes Burns, where he has lacked a lot this season is his final ball with no goals and no assists so far this season.

If Potts gets injured, then Preston don’t have too much depth in that area. In the Carabo Cup they turned to 19-year-old Josh Seary, who was making his debut in that match. Seary is twice capped by the Republic of Ireland U18s but is still very much learning his trade.

On the left-hand side 18-year-old Kian Best started the season in the left wing-back role. He had hit and miss performances in what is his first taste of senior football but did manage to get an assist against Sheffield Wednesday with an excellent whipped ball from a deep free kick.

To provide Best with support, North End have signed 24-year-old Canadian Liam Miller on loan from Basel. He made an excellent start scoring on his debut in a 2-1 win against Plymouth and will bring more experience to that side of the pitch.

Best has 21 caps for Canada and is making his return to English football having left Liverpool to get game time in Switzerland following loan spells at Kilmarnock and Charlton. In his two full season at Basel he only managed two assists so will be looking to work on that and improve his end product as he battles with Best and Hughes for that position.

Greg Cunnigham is also an option in that position, but the 32-year-old Irishman seems to be firmly third-choice this season with only 14 minutes off of the bench against Stoke so far. He does however provide reliable experienced cover on the bench having played 241 Championship games in his career.

Robbie Brady brings even more experience and versatility, able to play on either the left or down the centre. He’s made one start at left wing back so far getting an assist against Rotherham. The rest of is appearance have come mainly as a central midfield sub. The former Hull man now brings vast experience with 60 Ireland caps and 160 Premier League appearances so is a great option to have to bring off the bench and help see games out.

<h1>Midfield </h1>

The midfield shapes up with two holders and two more advanced players, again quite similar to how Ipswich line up. It’s been thre into two so far in the midfield but skipper Alan Browne has played in both the deeper role and also the more advanced. Fans think it is the more advanced role that makes the most of his attributes, with his man of the match performance against Birmingham adding further evidence to that.

The 28-year-old is an Ireland international and started both of their games in the last international break. He’s a one-club man and has been at Preston since 2014. In that time he has made 380 appearances and scored 42 goals. Wherever he plays he’ll be influential for the Whites in this one if he is fit.

Another who has started all 10 games so far is Ryan Ledson. Ledson signed from Oxford United in July 2018. He has now made 163 appearances for North End with last season being his most consistent to date with 40 Championship appearances. He’s not a prolific goalscorer but he provides Preston with a base to play from.

When Browne has played further forward it is Alistair McCann who has played alongside Ledson. The 23-year-old Northern Irishman signed from St Johnstone in August 2021. He had a period out of the squad towards the back end of last season but has come back in and cemented his place in the team in this one with a series of solid performances.

He is strong in the tackle and has made 3.7 tackles per game so far putting him fourth in the league for that metric. Teammate Brad Potts is joint second on 3.9 alongside Town’s Sam Morsy. When McCann plays that strengthens the midfield base even more and solidifies a Preston side who rarely have more possession than their opponents and instead like to hit teams on the counter and maximise set pieces.

This solid base then provides the freedom for the attacking midfielders to be creative. This is an area where Preston have gone and strengthened signing Mads Frokjaer Jensen from Odense BK for an undisclosed fee.

The Dane has scored once and has two assists to his name in his games so far and has recently dropped out of the team with Browne being pushed forward as he looks to get up to speed with the physicality of the English game.

His last season at Odense saw him score eight goals in 28 appearances. When asked whether Jensen will start more games soon, Preston boss Ryan Lowe said he sees him having more of an impact with his pace and energy coming off of the bench.

Someone who is used to the pace of the Championship is 28-year-old Duane Holmes who was signed this summer from Huddersfield for an undisclosed fee. He has 190 championship appearances to his name and has scored 17 goals.

He already has two goals and two assists so far this season in the league as well as one of each in the cup. He has never scored more than five in a season so that is a strong start for him. His winner against Swansea was following a move where he drifted into space and drilled the pull back into the roof of the net and his opener against Plymouth followed some good movement to get himself into the box and throw himself into a diving header following a goalkeeping error.

<h1>Strikers </h1>

Former Town man Will Keane was signed in the summer to add some goal threat. The striker who was never really fully fit at Ipswich got himself back up to speed and scored 12 goals in 43 appearances for Wigan last term (his best numbers in the Championship).

He started this season on fire as well scoring four goals in five games. He then dropped out of the squad with an adductor injury but has returned to the squad, coming off of the bench in the defeats to West Brom and Leicester.

Filling in for him while he was injured was Milutin Osmajic. The 24-year-old Macedonian joined this summer from Cadiz. He scored eight goals in 31 appearances on loan at Vizela in Portugal last season with four of those coming from outside of the box including a beautiful chip against Vitoria.

He’s both pacy and powerful and provides a strong pressing presence at the front of the pitch whilst also being able to make runs in behind. He provides a different option to Keane and yet more flexibility for Ryan Lowe to play with.

Lastly I'm going to include Ben Woodburn who has only started one game in the cup and made five sub appearances in the league with an average of eight minutes per appearance. Although naturally an inverted winger, that is not a role currently being used by Lowe so he has had to make do.

He started as a central striker alongside Keane against Salford and did manage to find the net in that one. He’s also come on as one of the two tens and at 23 years old will be looking to adapt his game to those positions.

He’s only ever played 90 minutes in two of his 44 Championship appearances for Preston and will probably still have to make do with trying to make an impact from the bench in this one.

<h1>The Teams </h1>

The talking points will be the same yet again with Tuesday night proving how effective Town’s squad depth in all positions is. Vaclav Hladky will start in goal as it is his shirt to lose, although there is the tactical consideration that Town could face a lot of balls into the box that Christian Walton would be more adept at dealing with.

Brandon Williams did enough to maintain the right-back spot. Despite Edmundson’s good performance on Tuesday tactically with Preston’s style and ariel threat it makes sense to bring CameronBurgess back into this one alongside Luke Woolfenden with Leif Davis down the left.

The midfield in this high-pressure game is likely to be the two experienced heads of Sam Morsy and Massimo Luongo.

Further forward it’s harder to pick, Omari Hutchinson and Marcus Harness have both performed excellently in their cup and league starts but I think Lieran McKenna will revert to his first-choice players of Wes Burns, Conor Chaplin and Nathan Broadhead (who was fit enough to make the bench against Hull).

Up top again George Hirst appears to be first-choice and I think he’ll also be picked for this one.

Preston could be a harder team to pick. Having conceded four against West Brom and suffering from injuries they went for what looked like a bespoke game plan against Leicester, setting up in a 4-4-1-1 with defensive wide midfielders.

What didn’t help was the absence of Browne, Hughes and Storey and whether any of those are back in time for Saturday remains to be seen. Depending on who is available I can see a switch back to the 3-4-2-1 formation for this one.

That means Woodman in goal, Storey, Lindsay and Hughes and the three central defenders with Whatmough and Bauer potentially coming in if either of those aren’t fit. The holding midfield will remain the same with Ledson and McCann and at wing-back I've gone for Potts and the experience of Roby Brady.

In attacking midfield, if Browne is back fit then it is likely to be him and Holmes and I can see Keane returning to start with the motivation of playing against his former club and the poor form of Osmajic both being factors in that.

<h1>Action areas </h1>

Preston have scored all of their goals from inside the area so far with four of them coming from headers. It will be incredibly important that Town limit the set pieces they concede and deal with aerial balls into the box.

With the formations also matching up pretty closely, it will be on a lot of individual battles but Burns and Davis could again get a lot of joy down the wings.

Going the other way it could leave Preston’s 10s with a bit of space to work in with Morsy and Luongo having to either drop deep to cover them off or one of the back two needing to step out to deal with them.

Preston were a lot higher in the league that a lot of metrics would have placed them with their Sofascore statistical rating being 20th. They’ve suffered two heavy defeats as things have started to unravel. It’s also worth noting that Town looked by far the superior side in a 2-1 friendly win in pre-season. I’m confident going into this one and I'm going for a 4-0 victory for the super blues.

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