17-08-2017, 16:22
Preston North End v Reading @ Deepdale 19/8/2017
After three away games the lads return to home turf with a game against last years beaten play off finalists Huddersfield Town after losing a penalty shoot out.
The Royals last visit to Deepdale ended with them getting hammered 3-0 and it was actually a surprise to me that they made the finals as they were one of the poorer teams to arrive at Deepdale last season.
Like us the Royals have four points, winning on Wednesday night against those hapless saps from Villa Park, away from home they have only played at QPR were they lost by 2-0. Since last season they have lost keeper Ali Al Habsi who probably did more than anyone else to keep them at the higher end of the table, they also indebited to Kermogant who scored 18 league goals however he is injured at the moment and mpore than likely will not play at Deepdale, need to keep an eye on Barrows who has a bit of space, surprisingly he was let go by Swansea, also have Swift who always seem to cause us a few problems.
Last time out against the Villa
Reading: Mannone, Gunter, McShane ©, Moore, Blackett, Van den Berg (Evans 70), Swift, Kelly, Barrow (Beerens 77), Popa (McCleary 70), Clement.
Unused subs: Jaakkola, Mendes, Bacuna, Ilori.
Given our inability to score at the moment the boss has said he will freshen the side up, apparently Gallagher's head knock has removed his memory of Tuesday's match sadly it is still in mine. Early days yet however in my view we have four points which considering our early fixtures is a bonus, if we have seven by Saturday night consider it highly successful.
T'other fixtures
Fri
Bur v Bir
Sat
Villa v Nor
Bol v Der
Brizzle v Mill
Ful v Wendies
Ips v Bees
Trees v Smoggies
QPR V Hull
Blades v Toby Tyke
Graysonland v Marching All Together
Portugal v Colin
Manager Alex Neil may look to make changes to his side for this weekend's visit of Reading.
The North End boss admitted his side lacked their usual energy on Tuesday night at Pride Park, and will bear that in mind when selecting his side to face the Royals on Saturday at Deepdale.
Speaking to iFollow PNE ahead of the game, Neil said: "I think mentally as well as physically we looked a bit jaded in the game in comparison to what we'd done in the previous two matches. It's certainly something we will be looking at, we willl see how the players respond in training and different things and I will have an eye on that looking forward to the game Saturday."
The manager has been pleased with his side on the whole in the league this season, and is preparing to take on Jaap Stam's Reading side next, and feels his side have a good opportunity to add their points tally on home turf.
"I think we've performed well in the main, I think we've had two really good performances out of three. At Derby I think we did ok but not quite enough to win the match, we were disappointed to lose it on a penalty but we've got another great opportunity now to go and try and get another three points on the board.
"I think their style has obviously changed significantly, they make a lot of passes, try and retain the ball, their possession stats have been really high since Jaap has been in there.
"I think it's certainly a team that you can go and get at and you can try and hurt them. Preston played really well against them last season and that's a game that I will be watching before we play and we will set up and go and try to win the game.
"Hopefully the fans will be quite pleased with how we've equipped ourselves so far, we've played some difficult games so far and we've done well so hopefully they will turn out in their droves and support us and hopefully cheer across the line."
The gaffer will have Ben Pearson available after he served a one-match suspension after his sending off at Leeds United, and the manager has reiterated the midfielder's importance to his side.
"I don't think we've got a natural sitting midfield player like Ben which we are trying to address at the moment.
"I think he is a key player for us, when he is missing we do lack something when he's not there.
"It's a great boost for us, he's an important player for us and he does a specific role so we are hoping that he will be bright and ready to go."
Tuesday night's game saw a few casualties in the form of Paul Gallagher and Greg Cunningham, Gallagher with a knock to the back of the head and Cunningham with a knee injury. Ahead of the weekend, the manager
gave an update on the pair and is hopeful that stand-in skipper Greg will be available.
"Paul has got concusion and a bit of whiplash at the moment so we just need to monitor him and hopefully he gets turned around pretty quickly.
"Greg is another one we need to keep an eye on, it's certainly not anything serious, but we are just hoping that he will be fully recovered for the game on Saturday."
Jaap Stam says his team are determined to come away from Preston North End with all three points this weekend.
Royals go into Saturday's match unbeaten in our last three matches in all competitions, with a first Championship victory of the season secured on Tuesday night against Aston Villa.
Despite winning against the Lilywhites at Madejski Stadium last season, Stam says a 3-0 defeat at Deepdale shows the quality of opponent his side will be facing on Saturday.
"We don't look at that result because of last season, 'we lost there so now we need to win,' we know and everybody knows that every game, especially away games, are very, very tough," he said.
"It'll be very hard to beat them, they know how we play. They did last season and they did it very well.
"They're very aggressive going forward, we need to know that they're probably going to be doing that as well.
"We need to be prepared for that, but we will work very hard for ourselves to get a result."
Stam says his side will do whatever it takes to take all three points on Saturday afternoon at Deepdale, after Tuesday night's first victory of the season.
"We want to do that in a certain way of playing, if we can't do that in the way we want to play then we'll do it in a different way.
"That's what we're looking for, and we are warned by what happened last season."
After three away games the lads return to home turf with a game against last years beaten play off finalists Huddersfield Town after losing a penalty shoot out.
The Royals last visit to Deepdale ended with them getting hammered 3-0 and it was actually a surprise to me that they made the finals as they were one of the poorer teams to arrive at Deepdale last season.
Like us the Royals have four points, winning on Wednesday night against those hapless saps from Villa Park, away from home they have only played at QPR were they lost by 2-0. Since last season they have lost keeper Ali Al Habsi who probably did more than anyone else to keep them at the higher end of the table, they also indebited to Kermogant who scored 18 league goals however he is injured at the moment and mpore than likely will not play at Deepdale, need to keep an eye on Barrows who has a bit of space, surprisingly he was let go by Swansea, also have Swift who always seem to cause us a few problems.
Last time out against the Villa
Reading: Mannone, Gunter, McShane ©, Moore, Blackett, Van den Berg (Evans 70), Swift, Kelly, Barrow (Beerens 77), Popa (McCleary 70), Clement.
Unused subs: Jaakkola, Mendes, Bacuna, Ilori.
Given our inability to score at the moment the boss has said he will freshen the side up, apparently Gallagher's head knock has removed his memory of Tuesday's match sadly it is still in mine. Early days yet however in my view we have four points which considering our early fixtures is a bonus, if we have seven by Saturday night consider it highly successful.
T'other fixtures
Fri
Bur v Bir
Sat
Villa v Nor
Bol v Der
Brizzle v Mill
Ful v Wendies
Ips v Bees
Trees v Smoggies
QPR V Hull
Blades v Toby Tyke
Graysonland v Marching All Together
Portugal v Colin
Manager Alex Neil may look to make changes to his side for this weekend's visit of Reading.
The North End boss admitted his side lacked their usual energy on Tuesday night at Pride Park, and will bear that in mind when selecting his side to face the Royals on Saturday at Deepdale.
Speaking to iFollow PNE ahead of the game, Neil said: "I think mentally as well as physically we looked a bit jaded in the game in comparison to what we'd done in the previous two matches. It's certainly something we will be looking at, we willl see how the players respond in training and different things and I will have an eye on that looking forward to the game Saturday."
The manager has been pleased with his side on the whole in the league this season, and is preparing to take on Jaap Stam's Reading side next, and feels his side have a good opportunity to add their points tally on home turf.
"I think we've performed well in the main, I think we've had two really good performances out of three. At Derby I think we did ok but not quite enough to win the match, we were disappointed to lose it on a penalty but we've got another great opportunity now to go and try and get another three points on the board.
"I think their style has obviously changed significantly, they make a lot of passes, try and retain the ball, their possession stats have been really high since Jaap has been in there.
"I think it's certainly a team that you can go and get at and you can try and hurt them. Preston played really well against them last season and that's a game that I will be watching before we play and we will set up and go and try to win the game.
"Hopefully the fans will be quite pleased with how we've equipped ourselves so far, we've played some difficult games so far and we've done well so hopefully they will turn out in their droves and support us and hopefully cheer across the line."
The gaffer will have Ben Pearson available after he served a one-match suspension after his sending off at Leeds United, and the manager has reiterated the midfielder's importance to his side.
"I don't think we've got a natural sitting midfield player like Ben which we are trying to address at the moment.
"I think he is a key player for us, when he is missing we do lack something when he's not there.
"It's a great boost for us, he's an important player for us and he does a specific role so we are hoping that he will be bright and ready to go."
Tuesday night's game saw a few casualties in the form of Paul Gallagher and Greg Cunningham, Gallagher with a knock to the back of the head and Cunningham with a knee injury. Ahead of the weekend, the manager
gave an update on the pair and is hopeful that stand-in skipper Greg will be available.
"Paul has got concusion and a bit of whiplash at the moment so we just need to monitor him and hopefully he gets turned around pretty quickly.
"Greg is another one we need to keep an eye on, it's certainly not anything serious, but we are just hoping that he will be fully recovered for the game on Saturday."
Jaap Stam says his team are determined to come away from Preston North End with all three points this weekend.
Royals go into Saturday's match unbeaten in our last three matches in all competitions, with a first Championship victory of the season secured on Tuesday night against Aston Villa.
Despite winning against the Lilywhites at Madejski Stadium last season, Stam says a 3-0 defeat at Deepdale shows the quality of opponent his side will be facing on Saturday.
"We don't look at that result because of last season, 'we lost there so now we need to win,' we know and everybody knows that every game, especially away games, are very, very tough," he said.
"It'll be very hard to beat them, they know how we play. They did last season and they did it very well.
"They're very aggressive going forward, we need to know that they're probably going to be doing that as well.
"We need to be prepared for that, but we will work very hard for ourselves to get a result."
Stam says his side will do whatever it takes to take all three points on Saturday afternoon at Deepdale, after Tuesday night's first victory of the season.
"We want to do that in a certain way of playing, if we can't do that in the way we want to play then we'll do it in a different way.
"That's what we're looking for, and we are warned by what happened last season."
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