v Preston North End (a) - 21/11/25, 8:00pm ko Sky TV

[USABlue]

I was amazed that both our goals.came.from set pieces.  The corner was a corner nothing special just a good cross into a good area and a good header with Miller having to fight off his marker.  The second was a lovely freekick, different and caught nobbers completely off guard with Ice man sneaking round the back un noticed and finishing with a nicely placed header.  If it was down to the new coach well done.  Poor Ihashi must be tired of getting battered every time he is challenged he never get the calls he should.  One in the 1st half not sure if it was Ohashi or hos counrry man but he oushed the balk past the defender and wiuld have been gone but he was clearly obstructed and with a two handed push.  To me it was a yellow cos he would have been off.  Ref was 5.yards.away.and did not even deem it worthy of a foul.  Same with BigMac he does not get the calls.  There was also Smith smacking Ohashi in the throat,.anither yellow or in the Prem likely a red and again nothing.  At least this game Yuki got out of it without a gash in his head.

 

Edited 1 hour ago by USABlue

[RevidgeBlue]

18 minutes ago, Penwortham Blue said:

Corrado Grabbi had loads of ability, fantastic in his first few matches but as the luck deserted him, so did his confidence and that proved fatal. He could have had a hatrick in that early match against United, think he hit the woodwork twice. 

I thought Grabbi was absolutely atrocious from the first minute I saw him in a pre season friendly.

We were 100% scammed on that one. His Club/representatives saw us coming.

[arbitro]

2 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Obviously Pratt has had two extra weeks to learn what was required to play the position in the first team.

I really don't think that would make any difference. Pratt has played plenty of times in a three in the under 21's so from a system point of view he knows the role.I

How would Hedges know the role never having played there before?

What would have happened had one of the three centre had got injured in the warm up or in the early stages?

I believe Ismael got it completely wrong against Derby.

[arbitro]

A close friend was at the game last night as the referees coach and as such attends the security briefing before the game.

He told me the police had said they were really worried about a group of 40 Zwolle supporters who were over for the game and had a reputation for causing bother.

I wasn't aware of any trouble but we parked near the White Hart well away from the town centre.

Is anybody else aware of this?

[RevidgeBlue]

6 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Obviously Pratt has had two extra weeks to learn what was required to play the position in the first team.

I usually agree with you on everything Tyrone but c'mon, what is there to learn that he couldn't impart in  a matter of minutes? You make it sound like "experienced" players never have a bad game!

Ismael bottled it against Derby and we paid the price. He got it right last night and we benefitted so credit to him for that.

[Hasta]

3 minutes ago, arbitro said:

A close friend was at the game last night as the referees coach and as such attends the security briefing before the game.

He told me the police had said they were really worried about a group of 40 Zwolle supporters who were over for the game and had a reputation for causing bother.

I wasn't aware of any trouble but we parked near the White Hart well away from the town centre.

Is anybody else aware of this?

There was a fairly large Police escort after the game taking a group of fans back into town. We followed it down to the Adelphi where it continued further into town. I just presumed it was PNE fans as weirdly Preston is one of the only places I’ve seen the home fans in an escort before.

[simongarnerisgod]

27 minutes ago, Penwortham Blue said:

Corrado Grabbi had loads of ability, fantastic in his first few matches but as the luck deserted him, so did his confidence and that proved fatal. He could have had a hatrick in that early match against United, think he hit the woodwork twice. 

souness stated he had the ability but could`nt adapt to living or playing in england,did score that fantastic bullet header against liverpool,he was invisible a lot of times though,one dreadful boxing day game against sunderland he was particularly bad 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

1 minute ago, RevidgeBlue said:

I usually agree with you on everything Tyrone but c'mon, what is there to learn that he couldn't impart in  a matter of minutes? You make it sound like "experienced" players never have a bad game!

Ismael bottled it against Derby and we paid the price. He got it right last night and we benefitted so credit to him for that.

I think modern football is a bit more complicated nowadays than when you and I last played. Whether that’s a good thing or not is another story. Nobody signs a player on Friday and then throws them into the game on Saturday these days. It used to happen regularly in the old days. I remember Don Martin signing in those circumstances and looking completely lost in his first game.

[RevidgeBlue]

12 minutes ago, USABlue said:

I was amazed that both our goals.came.from set pieces.  The corner was a corner nothing special just a good cross into a good area and a good header with Miller having to fight off his marker.  The second was a lovely freekick, different and caught nobbers completely off guard with Ice man sneaking round the back un noticed and finishing with a nicely placed header.  If it was down to the new coach well done.  Poor Ihashi must be tired of getting battered every time he is challenged he never get the calls he should.  One in the 1st half not sure if it was Ohashi or hos counrry man but he oushed the balk past the defender and wiuld have been gone but he was clearly obstructed and with a two handed push.  To me it was a yellow cos he would have been off.  Ref was 5.yards.away.and did not even deem it worthy of a foul.  Same with BigMac he does not get the calls.  There was also Smith smacking Ohashi in the throat,.anither yellow or in the Prem likely a red and again nothing.  At least this game Yuki got out of it without a gash in his head.

 

We have a set piece specialist now apparently. Corners and everything seemed much improved last night.

Prior to us scoring the commentators recited a stat that we hadn't scored a single goal from a cross all season.

 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Just now, simongarnerisgod said:

souness stated he had the ability but could`nt adapt to living or playing in england,did score that fantastic bullet header against liverpool,he was invisible a lot of times though,one dreadful boxing day game against sunderland he was particularly bad 

I remember him playing against Everton at Ewood. He just picked up the ball in the old inside left position, came inside, dipped his  shoulder to come inside the two would be tacklers and slotted the ball into the far corner. As cool as you like. He made it look really easy.   Reminded me of the goals Bryan Douglas used to score regularly.

[KentExile]

17 minutes ago, USABlue said:

I was amazed that both our goals.came.from set pieces.  The corner was a corner nothing special just a good cross into a good area and a good header with Miller having to fight off his marker.  The second was a lovely freekick, different and caught nobbers completely off guard with Ice man sneaking round the back un noticed and finishing with a nicely placed header.  If it was down to the new coach well done.  Poor Ihashi must be tired of getting battered every time he is challenged he never get the calls he should.  One in the 1st half not sure if it was Ohashi or hos counrry man but he oushed the balk past the defender and wiuld have been gone but he was clearly obstructed and with a two handed push.  To me it was a yellow cos he would have been off.  Ref was 5.yards.away.and did not even deem it worthy of a foul.  Same with BigMac he does not get the calls.  There was also Smith smacking Ohashi in the throat,.anither yellow or in the Prem likely a red and again nothing.  At least this game Yuki got out of it without a gash in his head.

 

 

3 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

We have a set piece specialist now apparently. Corners and everything seemed much improved last night.

Prior to us scoring the commentators recited a stat that we hadn't scored a single goal from a cross all season.

 

Danny Ventre joined us earlier this month

[RevidgeBlue]

7 minutes ago, simongarnerisgod said:

souness stated he had the ability but could`nt adapt to living or playing in england,did score that fantastic bullet header against liverpool,he was invisible a lot of times though,one dreadful boxing day game against sunderland he was particularly bad 

I was told a story that Souness said "Get me the top scorer in Seria B". and thought he was getting a centre forward.

At the first team meeting Grabbi explained he was a wide player and Souness turned white.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

15 minutes ago, arbitro said:

He told me the police had said they were really worried about a group of 40 Zwolle supporters who were over for the game and had a reputation for causing bother.

 

The same lads who were at Ewood V Burnley last Season no doubt.

[Dreams of 1995]

4 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

I was told a story that Souness said "Get me the top scorer in Seria B". and thought he was getting a centre forward.

At the first team meeting Grabbi explained he was a wide player and Souness turned white.

Wouldn’t have happened with data analysis Rev 😉

[RevidgeBlue]

6 minutes ago, Dreams of 1995 said:

Wouldn’t have happened with data analysis Rev 😉

Boom Boom!

Very good.

 

 

[RoversTilliDie]

41 minutes ago, USABlue said:

I was amazed that both our goals.came.from set pieces.  The corner was a corner nothing special just a good cross into a good area and a good header with Miller having to fight off his marker.  The second was a lovely freekick, different and caught nobbers completely off guard with Ice man sneaking round the back un noticed and finishing with a nicely placed header.  If it was down to the new coach well done.  Poor Ihashi must be tired of getting battered every time he is challenged he never get the calls he should.  One in the 1st half not sure if it was Ohashi or hos counrry man but he oushed the balk past the defender and wiuld have been gone but he was clearly obstructed and with a two handed push.  To me it was a yellow cos he would have been off.  Ref was 5.yards.away.and did not even deem it worthy of a foul.  Same with BigMac he does not get the calls.  There was also Smith smacking Ohashi in the throat,.anither yellow or in the Prem likely a red and again nothing.  At least this game Yuki got out of it without a gash in his head.

 

Makes a change, it's usually the opposition, sneaking round the back unnoticed, and sticking it in the net.

[RoversTilliDie]

2 hours ago, 47er said:

The thing is it soon will be. Everyone's for sale.

And some people have been saying, ismael should be sacked. He's worked wonders with the threadbare squad hes got. The only worry, our disappointing home form.

[Ghost7]

41 minutes ago, USABlue said:

I was amazed that both our goals.came.from set pieces.  The corner was a corner nothing special just a good cross into a good area and a good header with Miller having to fight off his marker.  The second was a lovely freekick, different and caught nobbers completely off guard with Ice man sneaking round the back un noticed and finishing with a nicely placed header.  If it was down to the new coach well done.  Poor Ihashi must be tired of getting battered every time he is challenged he never get the calls he should.  One in the 1st half not sure if it was Ohashi or hos counrry man but he oushed the balk past the defender and wiuld have been gone but he was clearly obstructed and with a two handed push.  To me it was a yellow cos he would have been off.  Ref was 5.yards.away.and did not even deem it worthy of a foul.  Same with BigMac he does not get the calls.  There was also Smith smacking Ohashi in the throat,.anither yellow or in the Prem likely a red and again nothing.  At least this game Yuki got out of it without a gash in his head.

 

 

It's about time Ohashi learned some dark arts.. He has plenty of opportunities to go down and win freekicks, which is largely the only way to get them in the Championship, he could have easily had Small booked last night. Instead he stands and kindly looks at the ref, he did it so often against Derby staying up when he's clearly been fouled.... then asks for the freekick nicely as the game moves on, he makes it too easy to say no to and consequently is becoming a bit of a rag doll for defenders to see what they can get away with.

[AspRover]

had a bit of a watch back of the highlights -

Their goal is an absolute shambles from start to finish, but it's kicked off by three of our players going to challenge for the initial header from the long kick and pretty much all getting in each others way. My best guess is that it came from an instruction to support/look out for Pratt, if they had left him to deal with it then either he'd have won the header or, if he doesn't, the covering players wouldn't be out of position and it doesn't become such a scramble.

This is the danger of playing a young lad on his debut, and it's a shame because it wasn't really his fault and he looked very solid otherwise.

Yuki is genuinely very unlucky, he draws a lot of fouls that don't get called and seems to force a lot of good saves. If a couple of goals go in you fancy him to go on a bit of a goal scoring run.

Pears is not particularly good, but he's also not the sunday league reject we occasionally make him out to be.

The team, in general, is improving. Some of the players, particularly the new lads, are developing a good understanding on the pitch. Yuki/Morishita/Alebiosu and Gudjohnsen all work well as a unit. I wish we had a settled partner for Tronstad though. Maybe it will be Baradji, but far too early to tell from the cameo yesterday.

Edited 26 minutes ago by AspRover