BFTG Preston

[Dave-Royal II]

Total shit as usual. Inflatables MOTM

Did anybody stay for the lap of embarrassment?

Walk of shame, more like!

[RoyalBlue]

Barrett was excellent.
Should have been playing for weeks.

And Dellor should have asked 'Blameless Brian' why he wasn't!

[Armadillo Roadkill]

I didn't think we were all that bad. Quinn's goal was a beauty.

We were undone by (a) not enough guile to convert half chances into goals (b) piss-poor dead ball delivery and (c) two moments of catastrophically inept defending.

Which is pretty much been the pattern since November.

Brian has a HUGE task this summer if he is to turn it around. His impact has been (in my estimation) negligible so far. He won't have long to make a difference.

And I did stay behind for the lap of underachievment. Most of them looked suitable embarrassed. Apart from Ferdinand who bounded over, stripped as if ready to play, not at all unwilling to meet the fans face to face. I love that man.

[genome]

Apart from Ferdinand who bounded over, stripped as if ready to play, not at all unwilling to meet the fans face to face. I love that man.

Waving to us like he was off, I feel.

[howser]

If the owners are daft enough to keep him in charge I give McDermott 6 games at the start of next season to try and prove he is the manager some, not as many as in December, think he is.

[John Madejski's Wallet]

That was without doubt the worst defensive display in donkeys. Kinda came out of leftfield tbh.

Though I guess Gunter had no small part in that. Cooper was on another planet

[Armadillo Roadkill]

Apart from Ferdinand who bounded over, stripped as if ready to play, not at all unwilling to meet the fans face to face. I love that man.

Waving to us like he was off, I feel.

I think he was too. So was McLeary.

[Lower West]

We need a Harris Queensway in the summer. (Massive Clearout)

That was the rump of the players available for next season on the pitch today. No loan players and no out of contract. Going to take a couple of years at least to build a good squad.

[Lower West]

And get a new manager while we are at it.Ultimately Brian has had 6 months to sort it out and we've gone backwards in that time.

We've been going backwards since he was sacked before.

[sandman]

Al Habsi - Kept us in it in the first half. Well deserved player of the season award. 8

McCleary - Different position but same story as the last two seasons, gets into good positions wastes the cross. Probably needs to move on to revitalise himself. 5
McShane - Absolute stinker. Failed to play to the whistle for the first goal and a weak header to give them the ball for the second. Infuriating to see him come back from a stupid suspension and turn in a performance like that. 3
Cooper - Shaky and lots of misplaced passes. 4
Gunter - Same on the left as he is on the right. Gets the ball, cuts inside and plays a negative pass. Two good opportunities to cross near the end and either under hits it or he shanks the ball too long. Not forgetting of course his old habit of turning his back and letting numerous crosses in. 4

Evans - Didn't really notice him. Anonymous. 4
Norwood - Not been at the races since the turn of the year and that continued today. Won't be too sad if he goes to Bournemouth and takes the "quarterback role" with him. 5
Quinn - One of the few who actually looked like he gave a fcuk. Well taken goal and kept the ball better than in recent weeks. 7
Williams - Lots of running around, not much of anything else. 5

Rakels - Another one who actually tried to show for the ball. Looks promising. 7
Kermogant - Held the ball up fairly well when we could string more than two passes together and get the ball to him. 5

Sub:

Barrett - MotM. Probably should give that to Al Habsi but Barrett gave some hope for the future. Hardly gave the ball away, was adventurous and looked like he wanted to play for his club. 8

[royalp-we]

What a fine day out that was. overpaid bunch of oxf*rd.

I stayed and watched the lap of underachievement, which was over in about 60s. Brian leading and barely interacting with the team. They were all

And rightly so.

[Ian Royal]

Same old same old. Play some decent stuff in the middle but offer no goal threat and look vulnerable at the back. We couldn't make ourselves more easy to play against if we tried. Pedestrian, predictable. Lots of potential, but the mix is wrong and they haven't believed in it for months. Way too narrow, the diamond really doesn't suit us at all.

Al-Habsi - his season in a nutshell, some great saves and then he starts, stops and concedes a goal out of nothing
McCleary - not the greatest defender, but no worse than Gunter, with less support and offers much more going forward
Gunter - at least at left back his natural negative inclination to check back puts him on his preferred foot
McShane - stopped and watched for the first goal, I don't care that he saw Ali start to come, he's got to be tracking Beckford to see Habsi safe
Cooper - full of mistakes again
Norwood - needs to be more positive (and have others move for him) plus get some consistent good set piece delivery, sublime followed by poor poor and poor
Evans - all right
Williams - loves over running it down a blind alley
Quinn - works hard but his second touch is to control his first touch too often
Rakels - well he tries, but he doesn't have much to work with
Kermorgant - just not very good at anything

Barrett - showed more positivity, intent, intelligence and most importantly execution in his 45 minutes than most players have managed in 45 games. Of course he did just stop and watch Preston win it rather than track his man or make even the tiniest effort of putting in a challenge to stop him going through. That's certainly a reason why the kids haven't had more chances. Life lesson there, but looked very very sharp otherwise.

I actively dislike the diamond. 3-5-2, or 4-3-3 next season please, unless we bring in enough wingers to play 4-4-2 with quality and width.

[RoyalBlue]

I didn't think we were all that bad. Quinn's goal was a beauty.

We were undone by (a) not enough guile to convert half chances into goals (b) piss-poor dead ball delivery and (c) two moments of catastrophically inept defending.

There were probably at least six more moments of catastrophically poor defending which fortunately Preston narrowly (and also due to some great saves from Al-Habsi) failed to exploit. Just what do our coaching team do all week?!

[The Cap]

BonBoh wrote:
somebody please dig up Robin Friday and bring back a bit of character to this club.

+1. You know that mate.

It comes to something when the main attraction is some inflatable dolphin doing the rounds in Y25/26. And our best player is a 17 year old. Give me strength. And not only that, it looks like Dave-Royal's alter ego has arrived on these boards. It's a funny ol' game.

[Berry]

Unfortunately today's game is what modern football has ended up giving to the fans, players that don't really care and are playing for money, owners that are looking to make money but are cautious to open the bank, young academy players who are untainted at present just enjoying their football and a manager who has now having to try to get the best of what he has rather than planning and building a successful squad, the Championship is littered with teams in our plight, its a roll of the dice every year to make it all come together, but isn't that one of the reasons we love and hate football?

[RoyalBlue]

What a fine day out that was. overpaid bunch of oxf*rd.

I stayed and watched the lap of underachievement, which was over in about 60s. Brian leading and barely interacting with the team. They were all

And rightly so.

Hopefully Brian will continue to lead most of them - out of the door !

Just so long as someone locks it before he sneaks back in.

[Sutekh]

The last 3 games we should have been seeing Barrett, Watson, Kuhl playing instead of the same tired old crap and utterly spakko team formations. We may well have still lost but at least we would cared about some of the team and they could have seen how they matched up against full professionals.

Oh well, onwards to another summer of tight arse, no money, on the cheap b****x signings and more cost cutting while watching any money come in quietly disappear - just as the Thais (officially) will when REP fails to get clearance.

Looking forward to games against the mighty Fleetwood and Barnet already.

[3points]

Why the oxf*rd did Brian not make more substitutions. There were so many bad performances on the pitch. Why not give Watson a 20 minute run? If Cooper had been a horse today, they would have put him down. Gunter is just embarrassing. One time he was through in their box, and on his right foot. But never did he look like he would try to shoot. I'm gutted we let him sign a new contract. I think he's one of the worst full backs I've seen in the Championship this season.

I still think the Norwood - Williams midfield combo is at the heart of our problems for the past two seasons. I would have replaced Willaims after half an hour today. He did absolutely nothing. At least last week at QPR Cox was finding space and offering the midfield an outlet, playing between the lines, getting into the box and also did as much defensively as Willaims did today. I really hope he leaves in the summer.

I also wonder if we would be higher up in the league if McShane had been partnered with Ferdinand a lot more this season. Cooper just looks like a mistake waiting to happen every game now.

[Super Kevin Bremner!]

McDermott after the game talked a lot about the scenario today summing up the last two years. Then he pretty much blamed everything on how it's been left before him. He's had 25% of the last two years so he's gotta stop blaming what was left before him. I wouldn't get this long in his wage to turn a team around in what I'm doing.

Josh Barrett was very impressive by the way. Reminded me a bit of James Henry. He looks a bit chunky which I guess is good and bad at that age. Can't see him doing 90 mins with his physique at the moment in professional football.

[Gunny Fishcake]

Load of crap that typified our season, gutless don't give a toss performance from most of our so called players. Good riddance to this season and most of this squad and unless BM gets to team off to a good start next season he can clear off too. I cannot recall a new manager having such an ineffective complete unpositive impact in his team and appointment. That squad were good enough to produce results but he couldn't find the key. Love him or hate him look at the impact Neil Warnock had at Rotherham. I stayed for the so called lap of appreciation , it was more like a funeral procession , I just watched them , it was pitiful. As I left the ground I saw McCleary in his £100k Merc laughing and joking with his mate in his car as they left the ground, just about sums up football today , grossly overpaid players who don't give a flying toss about the club or for that matter their pride. If most people performed in their job like this lot has since Christmas they'd be sacked not laughing all the way to the bank.