Championship - Preston North End vs Ipswich Town Preview & Matchday Thread

[AzzurroMark]

It sounds like with both new strikers we will be fine. Keeping positive, it's been a fantastic season so let's keep right behind the manager and players. Yes, we all get frustrated, we all think we can do better!
You know what, I really couldn't believe some of the negativity on here when I first logged on. I just hope that that type of feeling doesn't start transitioning from the stands at games! Everyone is entitled to an opinion, everyone entitled to disagree with others, but I say once again that we have exceeded all expectations, if the poorer recent results had been spread over the season and we'd just been climbing into 4th spot we'd all be delighted.

[arana peligrosa]

Other scores today are for sh*t. Leicester, Southampton and 'them' all going to pick up victories. Can't quite understand how the team were like 12 points clear in 2nd position only recent and now in fourth place being overtaken by others. It's, for want of better words, real disappointing to see.

i got a full-time in that we've been beaten 3 - 2 at the game. Right off the bat Moore has done real good with his debut but we seemed to be at a disadvantage from the get-go with the start formation and players utilized by McKenna. He's done great for us thus far but obvious flaws in his system by now appear to be evident.

Seems having two, three times amount possession and chances than the opposition can sometimes result in nothing but it's far from the first time you can witness. With players back and Moore continuing like today we got a chance to make it out the league but above all else, disappointment once again is the first reaction to the conclusion of this event. Have to catch up with reaction and full game report when time allows it.

[Cabanas Blue]

I know Jackson works hard but he has scored 4 goals in half a season Moore has scored 2 in 45 minutes, Moore has to start every game.

[ipswichtownNo1]

Yes but we're not climbing to 4th, we've dropped to 4th. Since December results we're a mid table team. Km has done a fantastic job with our squad but not starting kiefer Moore today cost us the game

[ashfordblue]

Kieran McKenna needs to go into a room shut the door and state these words. and banging his head against the wall.
How could I be so bloody nieve and stupid as to put Jackson on instead of a very fit Kieffer Moore who scored 2 goals when I replaced an inept Jackson for Kieffer, Knowingly I should have started him in the first place.
Please repeat after me I will not make this stupid mistake ever again, today I have learnt a lesson repeat this 10 times,
say three hail Marys and ask for divine forgiveness

[Steve]

Yes but we're not climbing to 4th, we've dropped to 4th. Since December results we're a mid table team. Km has done a fantastic job with our squad but not starting kiefer Moore today cost us the game

Do not fully agree. We were poor at the back, 1st deflected goal from a foul from Preston, second goal well offside and even then it was an own goal.

I'm more encouraged in how we fought back than thinking too much on a disaster of a first half. Are we going to soon hear fans turn on the manager I wonder ?

[AzzurroMark]

Yes but we're not climbing to 4th, we've dropped to 4th. Since December results we're a mid table team. Km has done a fantastic job with our squad but not starting kiefer Moore today cost us the game

Not exactly the point I was trying to make and while this slump in form since what was a very difficult December and a disrupted January squad wise, we are still in a good place. Losing Hirst was the most significant moment for me, had he been injured in say October, I don't doubt we'd have struggled similarly results wise. I reiterate that I am no fan of Jackson, he is not generally good enough for the Championship and this will now reflect in the limited minutes he will get from here on in.
So what if Moore had started? Maybe we'd have won, maybe not. What about Jackson's teammates? It's an eleven player team and it seems to me they needed the rocket up their **** that KM no doubt gave them at half time.

[valleyroad]

Yes but we're not climbing to 4th, we've dropped to 4th. Since December results we're a mid table team. Km has done a fantastic job with our squad but not starting kiefer Moore today cost us the game

Do not fully agree. We were poor at the back, 1st deflected goal from a foul from Preston, second goal well offside and even then it was an own goal.

I'm more encouraged in how we fought back than thinking too much on a disaster of a first half. Are we going to soon hear fans turn on the manager I wonder ?

Well if they turn on McKenna he'll be off.
McKenna naive comments just stagger me tbh.
Yes he can make mistakes which he will learn from, jeez Fergie made them
A number of spoilt brats who need to get a grip of themselves and appreciate the best coach Ipswich have had in years.
Town have a really decent run of fixtures coming up. I expect play off but for me the 3 who came down last season are quite a bit ahead of the rest which will bear out over the business end of the season

[Ricco]

Apparently Sarmiento played alright, that's a positive, another is Moore's goals. But why was he not on earlier?!

[AzzurroMark]

.Are we going to soon hear fans turn on the manager I wonder ?

Opinions are opinions, but I have to say I agree with you totally there Steve.
It's easy to forget that KM will have been working on formations, Preston's strengths and weaknesses all week long, not knowing who we were going to be able to bring in as a new striker, if any. It's a bit like losing a player in the pre-match warm up, it can often throw your plans out of the window. Hindsight and conjecture are wonderful things but I personally would still have started with KJ if that's what I'd been working on all week!

[Charnwood]

We may have lost but that second half performance definitely gives me hope that our season is far from over. Keiffer Moore looked as good a front man as I’ve seen in the Championship and looked like a “Championship Harland”

I’m a little concerned he and AlHamadi could get in each others way but that’s something they’ll have to work out in training. Another challenge will be getting the midfield settled as we appear to have too many options. Personally my preference is having Hutchinson on the pitch but whenever he starts he seems to go awol and always looks best coming off the bench. I like Jeremy Sarmiento out there too.

We need to get the show back on the road quickly and although we won’t win them all our five remaining games in February are winnable especially if we play like we did in the second half this afternoon.

Some people need to get real, we’ve still only lost 4 games this season the same as Leicester City and Southampton and the only clubs above us are last seasons relegated Premier League trio whilst most of our team came up from League One.

I know it’s frustrating but ffs don’t be defeatist and give up cos we’re far from done.

[hallamblue]

Yes but we're not climbing to 4th, we've dropped to 4th. Since December results we're a mid table team. Km has done a fantastic job with our squad but not starting kiefer Moore today cost us the game

Do not fully agree. We were poor at the back, 1st deflected goal from a foul from Preston, second goal well offside and even then it was an own goal.

I'm more encouraged in how we fought back than thinking too much on a disaster of a first half. Are we going to soon hear fans turn on the manager I wonder ?

Well if they turn on McKenna he'll be off.
McKenna naive comments just stagger me tbh.
Yes he can make mistakes which he will learn from, jeez Fergie made them
A number of spoilt brats who need to get a grip of themselves and appreciate the best coach Ipswich have had in year.
Town have a really decent run of fixtures coming up. I expect play off but for me the 3 who came down last season are quite a bit ahead of the rest which will bear out over the business end of the season

Yes he IS the best coach about. Without a shadow of doubt. But how many more games are we going to get caught either on the break by teams, or playing this so slow predictable build up from the back . Woolfie practically walks the hall out of defence . The opposition now just fit back and wait . Non league Maidstone did … every tram we play against now sits and waits … they target the “ second phase” . That way they go less running .

People are blaming Hldaky for some if the husks today. But why is Woolfenden passing the ball back to him on our goal line when there’s ONE players still in and around our 18yard are . WHY??? All he needed to do was face the PNE goal and bring the ball up the pitch … commit their players to running back to defend. It’s not rocket science. They’d been catching us out all afternoon with this PREDICTABLE SLOW tippy tappy ball out from the back.

We have no second gear now it seems . Only one way if playing … so if this isnt naive to keep “ to our principles” when opponents have sussed it, I don’t know what is.

[AzzurroMark]

Well if they turn on McKenna he'll be off.
McKenna naive comments just stagger me tbh.
Yes he can make mistakes which he will learn from, jeez Fergie made them
A number of spoilt brats who need to get a grip of themselves and appreciate the best coach Ipswich have had in years.
Town have a really decent run of fixtures coming up. I expect play off but for me the 3 who came down last season are quite a bit ahead of the rest which will bear out over the business end of the season

Precisely, well said VR.

[Charnwood]

Do not fully agree. We were poor at the back, 1st deflected goal from a foul from Preston, second goal well offside and even then it was an own goal.

I'm more encouraged in how we fought back than thinking too much on a disaster of a first half. Are we going to soon hear fans turn on the manager I wonder ?

Well if they turn on McKenna he'll be off.
McKenna naive comments just stagger me tbh.
Yes he can make mistakes which he will learn from, jeez Fergie made them
A number of spoilt brats who need to get a grip of themselves and appreciate the best coach Ipswich have had in year.
Town have a really decent run of fixtures coming up. I expect play off but for me the 3 who came down last season are quite a bit ahead of the rest which will bear out over the business end of the season

Yes he IS the best coach about. Without a shadow of doubt. But how many more games are we going to get caught either on the break by teams, or playing this so slow predictable build up from the back . Woolfie practically walks the hall out of defence . The opposition now just fit back and wait . Non league Maidstone did … every tram we play against now sits and waits … they target the “ second phase” . That way they go less running .

People are blaming Hldaky for some if the husks today. But why is Woolfenden passing the ball back to him on our goal line when there’s ONE players still in and around our 18yard are . WHY??? All he needed to do was face the PNE goal and bring the ball up the pitch … commit their players to running back to defend. It’s not rocket science. They’d been catching us out all afternoon with this PREDICTABLE SLOW tippy tappy ball out from the back.

We have no second gear now it seems . Only one way if playing … so if this isnt naive to keep “ to our principles” when opponents have sussed it, I don’t know what is.

No second gear, which gear do you think we were in second half Liz cos it wasn’t the same gear we were in for the first 45 mins. The problem for me was the players more than the manager. Wtf do they need McKenna to change gear for them, they should be able to up the momentum themselves without being told. The problem is they let their heads drop and lost concentration.

[valleyroad]

.Are we going to soon hear fans turn on the manager I wonder ?

Opinions are opinions, but I have to say I agree with you totally there Steve.
It's easy to forget that KM will have been working on formations, Preston's strengths and weaknesses all week long, not knowing who we were going to be able to bring in as a new striker, if any. It's a bit like losing a player in the pre-match warm up, it can often throw your plans out of the window. Hindsight and conjecture are wonderful things but I personally would still have started with KJ if that's what I'd been working on all week!

Spot on with this.
You opinions are always balanced and thought out

[Denny61]

This has to be a wake up call for us ..we were the hunted .now we hunting .maybe that will suit us better..remember last 16 games in league 1??? We still have 48 points to play for plus unless we do a Wednesday .we are guaranteed a play off anyway..yes we gave away soft goals and officials not on our side..but let's be positive now and onwards and upwards.. .before start of championship..what would our best expectations be ..,?mid table and possibly make play offs.. yes definitely would have taken that. But look where we are.....we too expectant on this team to be turning over teams every week we were spoiled up to now ..I thrust mckenna to take us to the premier ship..whether its this year..or nxt but he will....

[hallamblue]

I’m a little concerned he and AlHamadi could get in each others way but that’s something they’ll have to work out in training.

Personally my preference is having Hutchinson on the pitch but whenever he starts he seems to go awol and always looks best coming off the bench.

We need to get the show back on the road quickly and although we won’t win them all our five remaining games in February are winnable especially if we play like we did in the second half this afternoon.

Some people need to get real, we’ve still only lost 4 games this season the same as Leicester City and Southampton and the only clubs above us are last seasons relegated Premier League trio whilst most of our team came up from League One.

I know it’s frustrating but ffs don’t be defeatist and give up cos we’re far from done.

I would suggest they got in each others way becysse they’ve had no training time together . Certainly not Moore. Ali probably had one session before they left for Lancashire. This I’m sure will get sorted.

What annoys me is we are without fail giving ourselves a massive mountain to climb seemingly every game because……

We. Can’t. Defend (when we are asked if need to do so!!) . The pundits said a PNE goal was offside …. The other was foul just before they broke in goal. Even if this was the case our CB’s are too bloody slow and still had a job to do and cocked it up.

We can’t defend when we are needing to do that part of the game. It’s been like it all season. We’ve dug ourselves out of gifting soft goals .. well we didn’t today…. We didn’t against Maidstone …. We didn’t against scum etc etc …

It’s not defeated to make to observations of how a person sees the game. And if the record appears stuck it’s because we KEEP making the same mistakes. I’m ducking us gifting opponents soft goals every bloody game…. And not mixing things up a bit : it’s naive tactics .

[marko69]

Ash in his living room @ HT......

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ss7Ldx29GVQ

[rossi]

It sounds like with both new strikers we will be fine. Keeping positive, it's been a fantastic season so let's keep right behind the manager and players. Yes, we all get frustrated, we all think we can do better!
You know what, I really couldn't believe some of the negativity on here when I first logged on. I just hope that that type of feeling doesn't start transitioning from the stands at games! Everyone is entitled to an opinion, everyone entitled to disagree with others, but I say once again that we have exceeded all expectations, if the poorer recent results had been spread over the season and we'd just been climbing into 4th spot we'd all be delighted.

cannot agree with that at all - poorer results spread over 2 thirds of a season are a hell of a lot better than one win in eight. It's all about trend and momentum.

[hallamblue]

Well if they turn on McKenna he'll be off.
McKenna naive comments just stagger me tbh.
Yes he can make mistakes which he will learn from, jeez Fergie made them
A number of spoilt brats who need to get a grip of themselves and appreciate the best coach Ipswich have had in year.
Town have a really decent run of fixtures coming up. I expect play off but for me the 3 who came down last season are quite a bit ahead of the rest which will bear out over the business end of the season

Yes he IS the best coach about. Without a shadow of doubt. But how many more games are we going to get caught either on the break by teams, or playing this so slow predictable build up from the back . Woolfie practically walks the hall out of defence . The opposition now just fit back and wait . Non league Maidstone did … every tram we play against now sits and waits … they target the “ second phase” . That way they go less running .

People are blaming Hldaky for some if the husks today. But why is Woolfenden passing the ball back to him on our goal line when there’s ONE players still in and around our 18yard are . WHY??? All he needed to do was face the PNE goal and bring the ball up the pitch … commit their players to running back to defend. It’s not rocket science. They’d been catching us out all afternoon with this PREDICTABLE SLOW tippy tappy ball out from the back.

We have no second gear now it seems . Only one way if playing … so if this isnt naive to keep “ to our principles” when opponents have sussed it, I don’t know what is.

No second gear, which gear do you think we were in second half Liz cos it wasn’t the same gear we were in for the first 45 mins. The problem for me was the players more than the manager. Wtf do they need McKenna to change gear for them, they should be able to up the momentum themselves without being told. The problem is they let their heads drop and lost concentration.

Well you won’t like the reply Andy , but I’m afraid Woolfenden is the problem . HE’S too slow and one dimensional. He WALKS the ball out from the edge of the 18yRd area. Stops. Puts his foot on the ball . Opponents used to bits and try and come and get the ball … ( then he would play a sideways pass out to his right )…. Opponents don’t bother much now to try and don’t get . They sit tight . And so the ball goes back to him … he walks forward a bit more … passes it left …gets it back, passes it back to Hldaky, and so it goes on .

If he’s the playmaker, HE needs to change his pace … drive forward occasionally with the ball and get opponents to commit … or god forbid dink a ball forwards . I can tell you how we build up from out of defence with my eyes closed now. It’s the same pace, the same passes 99% of our attacks.

How about we surprise the opposition and put in the occasional quick pass forward? Change the pace of our play… we’re so predictable and SLOW.

[Steve]

These are words from Kieran regarding Kieffer Moore

"His (Moore) impact was there for all to see, he was excellent. I don't think it would have been right (to start him), he hasn't even trained with the group."

How can you realistically start a game with Kieffer Moore if he's not even trained with the team? Hindsight is a wonderful thing but I am not blaming the manager for starting without Moore

Bet he starts next match though and even Ali Al-Hamadi looked class when he came on

[hallamblue]

Going forward Moore and Al- Hamada will prove inspirational signings , but only if we play to their strengths. We need to mix it up … and stop pussy footing about with it in and around our own 18 yard area..

[ashfordblue]

Apparently Sarmiento played alright, that's a positive, another is Moore's goals. But why was he not on earlier?!

Exactly BIG BIG Mistake from KM I mean Jackson in preference to a quality Premiership striker in Kieffer who proved the mistake 2nd half

[rossi]

These are words from Kieran regarding Kieffer Moore

"His (Moore) impact was there for all to see, he was excellent. I don't think it would have been right (to start him), he hasn't even trained with the group."

How can you realistically start a game with Kieffer Moore if he's not even trained with the team? Hindsight is a wonderful thing but I am not blaming the manager for starting without Moore

Bet he starts next match though and even Ali Al-Hamadi looked class when he came on

sounds a bit Irish to me. If it wouldn't have been the right decision to start him due to the fact he had not trained with the squad, then why did he bring him on for the second half? That wins my prize for the most ridiculous statement of the month.

[Steve]

These are words from Kieran regarding Kieffer Moore

"His (Moore) impact was there for all to see, he was excellent. I don't think it would have been right (to start him), he hasn't even trained with the group."

How can you realistically start a game with Kieffer Moore if he's not even trained with the team? Hindsight is a wonderful thing but I am not blaming the manager for starting without Moore

Bet he starts next match though and even Ali Al-Hamadi looked class when he came on

sounds a bit Irish to me. If it wouldn't have been the right decision to start him due to the fact he had not trained with the squad, then why did he bring him on for the second half? That wins my prize for the most ridiculous statement of the month.

What choice did he have? 3-0 down he had to do something. Ideally would liked to bring him on with 20 or so minutes to go if we were leading. Happens with most new signings but in this case he no choice but to change the team being 3-0 down

[Bluemike]

People are allowed to show concerns, nobody is turning on him ffs, far from it, he is learning, he will get things wrong, he hasn't got many, we all see things differently, I personally would have started Moore, irrespective of his goals, I bet if you ask KM he wishes he'd started him too, some people seem to like to dig at those who question things, well tough sh*t, I love McKenna, best boss for years but he got it wrong today, my opinion of course, to accept things come what may is crap supporting, my opinion again.

[Steve]

People are allowed to show concerns, nobody is turning on him ffs, far from it, he is learning, he will get things wrong, he hasn't got many, we all see things differently, I personally would have started Moore, irrespective of his goals, I bet if you ask KM he wishes he'd started him too, some people seem to like to dig at those who question things, well tough sh*t, I love McKenna, best boss for years but he got it wrong today, my opinion of course, to accept things come what may is crap supporting, my opinion again.

Not questioning at all Mike, i'm not even swearing. Its all opinions and always will be, but if you can ask questions or view your opinions then so can others

[valleyroad]

These are words from Kieran regarding Kieffer Moore

"His (Moore) impact was there for all to see, he was excellent. I don't think it would have been right (to start him), he hasn't even trained with the group."

How can you realistically start a game with Kieffer Moore if he's not even trained with the team? Hindsight is a wonderful thing but I am not blaming the manager for starting without Moore

Bet he starts next match though and even Ali Al-Hamadi looked class when he came on

Look like first class recruitment from a tactically naive coach. You couldn't make it up.

[Shed on tour]

As I said after the Maidstone game there are some supporters in our fan base that feel McKenna never gets things wrong. For me it is far better to question things when he does make mistakes rather than always accept things as being ok.

[Mariner67]

Kieran McKenna needs to go into a room shut the door and state these words. and banging his head against the wall.
How could I be so bloody nieve and stupid as to put Jackson on instead of a very fit Kieffer Moore who scored 2 goals when I replaced an inept Jackson for Kieffer, Knowingly I should have started him in the first place.
Please repeat after me I will not make this stupid mistake ever again, today I have learnt a lesson repeat this 10 times,
say three hail Marys and ask for divine forgiveness

YES that should do the trick lol