Poll: Man of the Match vs Preston North End...and your player ratings

[Thurgoland Owl]

5 hours ago, Zlin Owl said:

Reach, just.......... for the only positive thing to come from our performance

 

 

No for the love of god no! he was truly awful along with many more.

 

[IstillhateSteveBould]

Hutchinson. No doubt.

 

I'm struggling to think of a poorer performance this season (maybe Burton). 

 

I do think they're a tough side to play against though. Very organised, very physical and very direct. Fair play to Leeds for beating them so comfortably. May have been different if we had a full squad I suppose. 

 

Similar performance to last year up there. We couldn't get anything going and the players you'd like to think could create something out of nothing (Bannan, Reach, Wallace), all underperformed. Bannan looks especially short of confidence to me.

 

Delighted with a point in the end.

[legendaryswan]

We werent ourselves today,looked very jaded,thought Loovens played well,he always keeps the rest on their toes,Hutch was another that kept going but we got over run in MF and barely won any second ball,off day so a valuable point

[legendaryswan]

Love how mr popular scores the opponents goal and still gets MOM,if it was Nuhihu wed have 30 pages of the usual drivel.....it wont last

[Guest The Claw]

we were lucky so not voting. for me it was the fans who turned up

[Buxtongent]

From the clips I've seen, and the commentaries and comments after Preston played their hearts out, were an excellent side on the day and very competitive. In cases like these, it is not fair to be complaining about our players not playing 'up to their usual standard'. They can often only play as well as they are allowed. The fact that Reach was ineffectual could have been due to the fact that he is an ex-PNE player, and his skills are well-known to the opposition.He did, however, in the final minute, do something none of our other forwards do.He shot - TWICE. The first one, with his obviously weaker foot, was  deflected. When the ball appeared shortly afterwards, he hit it with his much stronger foot, and it was goal-bound immediately, even through a crowd of players. How many of our other forwards can claim that.

 

[Notts Owl]

14 hours ago, Thurgoland Owl said:

 

 

No for the love of god no! he was truly awful along with many more.

 

But.......But if he hadn't hit the onion bag we would have lost so just for that and only that.

[frastheowl]

Westwood - 7 - Smart save in the first half from deflected effort. No fault for goal. Good handling on comfortable saves in 2nd half

 

Palmer - 5 - Offered little to no quality going forward, and struggled against McGeady all afternoon.

 

Lees - 8 - Our best player by a distance. Commanding, and made several vital tackles. Bossed Maikenhok until he went off. 

 

Loovens - 6 - Steady display, and despite how poorly we played, our centre halves looked reasonably comfortable. Little carless in possession at times though.

 

Pudil - 6 - Did alright up against Robinson and Gallacher, offered all our width in the first half, but refused to cross the ball to our big men in the box.

 

Hutchinson - 6 - It's in games like yesterday, where he becomes a problem to the way we play. Sits so deep, that effectively we play 1 in midfield, and when playing against the high press, we simply cannot get out, when we have Hutchinson playing as a 3rd centre half, and Bannan dropping deep as well. But still managed to have his impact on the game, defensively. 

 

Bannan - 6.5 - As big a problem as Hutchinson was in the first half. Drops too deep, makes the distance between midfield and attack huge (emphasised with two immobile strikers). Looked far more effective when stuck out on the wing in the 2nd half. Willing to commit players, and put a ball in the box.

 

Wallace - 5 - Totally ineffective. 

 

Reach - 6 - His worse game for us by a long way. Was bloody awful for the most part. Hesitant, poor first touch, too slow with the ball at his feet. But, fair play, kept going, and kept his nerve to score late on.

 

Fletcher - 6 - Felt a tad sorry for him yesterday. Asked to do an impossible task up front, with little or no support. But didn't give up and let his head go down, and made life as difficult as possible for the Preston defenders.

 

Nuhiu - 6 - A front two of Fletcher & Nuhiu was only going to work if we got balls into the ball and got support around them. We did neither in the first half, and something had to change. Nuhiu was always going to be the fall guy.

 

Jones - 6 - Made a few key interceptions, but generally kept things simple in the middle. When playing alongside Hutchinson, we need the 2nd central midfielder to be braver. 

 

Hunt - 6 - Made a little difference when he came on. Far more willing to get forward and overlap than Palmer.

 

Overall - A truly abject display, which originated from a line-up that was always going to struggle unless we dominated possession. Preston pressed high, stopped us from getting out, and as a result we got a right runaround. Seriously missing some pace and directness (hoping McManaman will provide this), and despite our huge squad, we are lacking in too many departments. Could, in the end, be a vital point, but the performances of late (Newcastle aside), have been distinctly poor, and it's becoming a worrying trend. 

 

[mattitheowl]

Westwood - 8 

Palmer - 5

Loovens - 6

Lees - 6

Pudil - 5

Wallace - 4

Bannan - 5

Hutchinson - 7

Reach - 4

Fletcher - 3

Nuhiu - 3

 

Jones - 4

Hunt - 4

Joao - 4

Edited January 1, 2017 by mattitheowl

[ash60s]

c'mon man we were poor but not THAT bad surely?

 

5's Hunt Nuhiu

6's Palmer Wallace Jones Joao

6.5's Pudil Reach 

7's Westwood Lees Loovens Bannon Hutchinson Fletcher

[ash60s]

Notice I didn't give a MoM? reckon it was a case of "After the Lord Mayor's Show" on Boxing Day

plus game plan might have been sit back thet them implode with thuggery tactics and we'll nick it late on

who knows? who cares?

Lt's just make sure we stuff Wolves - wawaw

[Dutch McLovin]

Westwood 8

 

Palmer 6

Lees 7

Loovens 8

Pudil 6

 

Wallace 5

Bannan 4 

Hutchinson 8

Reach 6

 

Nuhiu 5

Fletcher 5

[parkfieldowl14]

Westwood.

[Colin West's Quiff]

Reach said he was shattered in his interview as we're some of the team . As I have said before it was a poor display but we got a draw so . Positive result and played rubbish .

We have played well and lost so I'm taking the rough with the smooth. 

A few changes tomorrow to freshen things and let's get Hillsborough rocking . 

In carlos we trust

UTO

[OohAahGuyWhittingham]

Westwood 8 - Solid on set pieces, made important saves, could do nothing about the goal. Kept us in the game. Man of the match

 

Palmer 5 - Handled McGeady quite well but found himself out of position too often and poor going forward. As always, no self-belief. Slightly better player than Hunt but neither are good enough.

Lees 8 - Really looking back to his best. Composed, strong and tackled well

Loovens 7 - As good as ever, just edged by Lees

Pudil 5 - Not the worst we've seen from him but struggled defensively. Doesn't seem to have a great understanding with Reach

 

Wallace 5 - Not bad but had little effect on the game. Carlos seems to prefer him playing more central than last season which is stifling him.

Bannan 5 - Did well to create the scramble which resulted in the goal. Gave away possession too many times.

Hutchinson 7 - Slightly below the very high standards he's set in recent games but played well and saved the game with that last ditch tackle.

Reach 2 - Awful. Slow to release passes, dawdled on the ball and ruined countless attacks by getting tackled or misplacing the final pass. Let's hope this goal improves his confidence.

 

Nuhiu 4 - Ineffective, as he often is when starting. Much more effective as an impact sub.

Fletcher 6 - Had a tough day and feeding on scraps. Worked incredibly hard but doesn't have the pace that this game was crying out for.

 

Jones 4 - Pointless player. Went missing for the most part, and offers little in defense or attack.

Hunt 4 - Shocking lack of awareness for the goal. Otherwise not too bad.

Joao 6 - Better that in recent games in what was not an easy game for any of the strikers

 

Overall - Preston were very good. Like at Hillsborough where they were unlucky, they knew exactly how to play against us and consequently made us look very average. Their high-tempo, high-pressing game really got to us and we reverted to negative 'safe' play which gets us nowhere. We desperately lacked any creative spark and pace up front. Callum Mcmanaman would have been ideal really. We deserved nothing