It’s not hard to see why Preston have done well this season. I gawked at how muscular and physical the majority of their players are. They look more like a rugby team than a football one, and that’s ignoring the front two who in Jon Parkin and Chris Brown are big lads indeed.
We started really well though and there was a great tempo about our attacking play and an intent that I hadn’t seen from us in some time. We looked sharp, lively and confident on the ball with the majority of our best work coming through Lee Cook who almost scored early doors with a decent hit that Patrick Agyemang should have done better with on the rebound.
Poor old Pat eh? He just can’t buy a goal at the moment and you begin to sense it’s starting to get on his nerves, but he certainly deserves one. I’m sure it’ll come soon so long as he gets a decent run in the side. I’m really pleased with his contribution to the team at the moment and his movement into the channels is an important part of our style under Paolo Sousa’s system.
I was really happy for Lee Cook. It’s about time he put in a performance of that magnitude and if he can find that level for at least half of the remaining games this season, then that would be great progress for him in my eyes. He’s always been a player who benefits from a solid pre-season under his belt and it takes time to get back on song after spending so long out through injury. It’s just nice to see him back on his game and he’s shown the quality is still there. He’s got to strive for consistency now.
Heidar Helguson’s opening goal was also a finish of terrific class. The move that led to the goal was good, the delivery from Cook sensational, but the coolness of the header from Helguson was Premiership class. I like him but I’m still not sure he is the right fit. His movement in the little narrow pockets of space and his control is clearly a cut above, but I want to see a little more of him before jumping on the ‘sign him up’ bandwagon. The early signs are very positive though, so long as we can keep improving under the system Sousa has deployed. I really liked how Cook went from the top of the diamond into left sided positions that were not too wide, but enough for him to be able to cross from beautiful angles and positions. A smart striker like Helguson can really benefit from that type of service.
But the one concern I have this season, and to be fair, it’s affected us for a few seasons now, is that as soon as there is any remote sign of danger in the sense of pressure building up on our goal, we concede. We don’t soak up pressure or deal with sudden danger well enough and we’re letting teams back into games with too much ease. We get punished for switching off or small mistakes far too often and if we can eradicate this from our play then we will be a top side in this division, but until that happens, we’re always going to flirt with what might have been.
I expected Preston to come out and play better in the second-half and that’s exactly what happened. It’s easy to criticise our players for dropping off deep, but Preston adapted well. They pinged the ball into their strikers who laid it out wide much more quickly and they moved into the space well, switching he ball from side-to-side with much slicker pace, causing our wider men in the diamond midfield to have to work very hard to maintain shape.
We tired a little due to Preston’s approach as we were sometimes dragged out of shape and by just enough to be detrimental to our own game. When we got the ball, we were a little more happy to play direct as opposed to the slick shorter passing in the first-half. When the ball is more direct, more often, over greater distances, then the chances of retaining possession or finding a team-mate precisely reduces. And that allowed Preston to get even more of a foothold back into the match and thus, the cycle of their play continues.
But we were brave and went to 3-4-3. When that happened I said to Leonie and Sam that surely this was calculated and planned. It felt that way to me from watching how we reacted to the substitutions and I said to them I bet they’ve been working on this in training which proved to be the case given Sousa’s post-match press conference. Fair play to him and the team, because I felt we deserved to win despite Preston’s improved second-half display. It was a thoroughly entertaining game and it’s not often we’ve said that this season so the signs are we’re moving in the right direction.
On a final note, and one other random observation, but why does Damion Stewart not pull his shorts down if they ride up his leg after a tackle? At one point this afternoon, and it’s something we’ve noticed down the years, one side of his shorts went up his leg and it looked like he was wearing half a pair of shorts… I guess it doesn’t really matter, but I’ve played football a ton of times and if that happened to me, it would just irritate the hell out of me and I’d put it back where it’s supposed to be… Stewpeas though just strolls around for a few minutes seemingly without realising before either pulling them down or letting nature do it for him.
It would affect my concentration levels, but ah well, that’s just me I suppose. 
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