Warnock will ring the changes for Saturday's game v Sheff Wed. He doesn't suffer fools gladly and several of the players that let both him and us down will be replaced. Onwards & upwards
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Warnock will ring the changes for Saturday's game v Sheff Wed. He doesn't suffer fools gladly and several of the players that let both him and us down will be replaced. Onwards & upwards
I am glad the next game is tough. Right back at it
I think the litmus test is whether or not we see a similar performance before Christmas. Confidence is all, but I hope City players haven't been taking the hype about how good we are too seriously.
Managers prove their worth at times like these, and there's no-one I'd rather that be than Warnock. Talking to a few friends last night I commented that this league looks really strong, and defence - rather than attack- holds the key to success.
Preston are - in my opinion - a bit like a poor man's Fulham. They''ll be close to the play offs.
There were two moments for me that summed up the game (I watched all bar the last 10 minutes on ifollow). In the first half Ralls (I think) played a square pass to Hoilett. It was a feeble pass but under normal circumstances would have reached Hoilett with no problems. However, Hoilett had no desire to rush to get the ball until he noticed an onrushing midfielder (whose name I forget), so had to react quickly to get the ball. The Preston man got there second, fouled Hoilett and got booked, but it summed up a side that I thought was expecting things to happen, rather than going out there and making things happen. Warnock has cited fatigue, that might be the case, but Preston had a greater desire throughout the game. They improved when they went ahead and had something to hold onto.
The other was a hand in the face of Gunnarsson on the far side from the cameras in the second half. The ball was going out harmlessly for a throw in, yet Gunnarsson had a whack in the face for no apparent reason. He stuck his arms out gesturing to the referee and asking how on earth he couldn't see that. Some regard Warnock's sides as physical, streetwise even. I don't think I've seen us play like Preston did last night under him. I have no problems with teams being physical, but there were a number of times when Preston's players were over the top and the referee either turned a blind eye to it or was just inept.
Knowing what Alex Neil had said before the game (which I wasn't aware of until after the match), I don't see Hoilett and Mendez-Laing as players who you want in a battle. They hardly had a kick all night.
Ultimately Preston wanted it more. That's not something I think we've seen much of during Warnock's reign.
Easy to say in hindsight as you would have expected ANY team picked by Warnock to give 100% for 90 minutes, but perhaps he should have mixed the team up a bit.
Over confidence or complacency perhaps but every point in this division is earned by hard work over anything.
PNE don't forget had conceded only 2 goals all season and were bound to be physical. However there was no reason to suspect a capitulation like that.
Only positive I can think of is now City have been found out, Warnock will know which players are up to it and which perhaps need working on.
For this has to be ironed out in the days leading up to a difficult game on saturday.
You can't rip the side out that's done so well in a panic. 3/4 changes max. I'd suggest Ward, Tomlin and Murphy have very good chances of playing from the off though. Etheridge is currently dropping a clanger every game. Last night's errors, he should have cost us at least one goal vs Fulham and it was his fault for the QPR goal. At least 3 major errors in 3 straight games.
I thought they were much better than Fulham. Their pace was stand out and their ball control in pouring rain and wind was awesome. They always had somebody available to run at us with the ball. We couldn't cope with it and made errors that led to their goals, on the other hand we coped with Fulham and were given space to play ourselves. The latter wasn't given to us last night; Preston were all over us.
Spedger
Well he's brought Murphy in before and he did well. Etheridge is currently costing us a goal a game. His save at Wolves, in isolation, wasn't too bad but he should have parried it further away; it was his fault for the QPR goal, he should have cost us a goal at Fulham for his miskick only to be bailed out by Bennett and he cost us at least one goal last night. We need Camp back and fit asap, and failing that, we have to buy one in January.
After his comments post Fulham of players being tired I was surprised to see the same team selected.
Now changes will be made on the back of a loss.
Dare I say that we have got to win against SW!
Lots of panic going on here but based on what I saw at Fulham I think Warnock has called it right - the players are working so hard in each game that they're just not able to maintain that level game after game.
It actually surprised me that Zohore started v Preston as he didn't seem right v Fulham and appeared to be carrying an injury. Teams will also have watched our matches and figured out how to defend against what was initially an unknown strike force.
So what happened last night is just part and parcel of football. NW knows he should have changed it but didn't want to mess with a winning side. It caught up with us. Let's see how we fare at home v Weds before giving up on the team already.