02-10-2024, 14:37
After being “too easy to play against” at the weekend, Paul Heckingbottom has reinforced some of his fundamental ideas in preparation for the visit of Watford.
The manager, who had been encouraged by the performances of his squad during his first few matches in charge, was left frustrated on Saturday as he felt they strayed away from what they’d been doing so well in the 3-1 defeat at Millwall.
He’s been showing the group clips of the game in order to be really clear about where they can improve and what’s expected of them
Hecky said: “I want to be really clear with everyone. We did things we haven’t been doing and that’s why we lost the game. You’ve got to use it as learning.
“Everything we’ve been trying to improve on in how we build and keep people connected and go up the pitch together, we didn’t do. It was off the cuff and then when we lost the ball, it was too easy to play against.
“We’ve been really good at defending set plays and then for some reason virtually every one we weren’t switched on. We weren’t organised quickly enough.
“It was disappointing in that way when you’re two steps forward, one step back. I hope now we’ll start going forwards again, so it was frustrating. Then we had half-time to try and correct things and then to concede straight away after having a good chance sort of ended the game for us really.”
His focus after the clash at The Den turned to Wednesday’s match against Watford as quickly as his car journey to the train station.
The Hornets, under the guidance of Tom Cleverley, sit seventh in the Championship table ahead of the midweek round of fixtures, and arrive following a victory over high-flying Sunderland.
Hecky said: “The squad’s dangerous. They’ve got some dangerous players with pace and athleticism.
“We know that and they’ve got really big moments in them. They may be quiet, but they’ve got big moments in them. They can also really compete so they started the season really, really well.
“They’ve had a couple of results they wouldn’t have been happy with and then they had a big win at the weekend, so we know it’s going to be tough, but we’ve played against good opposition before.
“It’s like I keep saying, and it’s not anything disrespectful to Watford, I’m not really bothered who’s in front of us. It's about how we perform which is what’s most important, and we’ve shown that regardless of whether we’ve had ten men against a relegated Premier League side or a Premier League side – it doesn’t matter who’s in front of us if we perform well.
“If we perform how we know we can, then we’ll give anybody a game.”
WATFORD VIEW
Watford know that Preston North End will be a different proposition at Deepdale this evening (7.45pm KO) due to their early-season managerial change.
Hornets Head Coach Tom Cleverley came up against Ryan Lowe in a 0-0 draw with the Lilywhites towards the end of last season, but the visiting boss at Vicarage Road that day has now been replaced by Paul Heckingbottom.
Explaining the preparation for the midweek trip, Cleverley said: “We watch the footage and break it down into three or four different phases of the game and how we feel like we can dominate in each of those phases.
“We focus on us and how we can really hurt them.
“That process has happened and it’s a little bit different to the Preston team we faced under Ryan Lowe at the end of last season.”
Lowe left just one game into the current season, with former Sheffield United boss Heckingbottom appointed later in August.
Cleverley is expecting some similarities from Lowe’s spell in charge and added: “It’s a lot of the same personnel.
“My players will have a clear gameplan and the belief that we can go and win the game.
“If we execute that as well as we know we can, I’m confident we will.”
The manager, who had been encouraged by the performances of his squad during his first few matches in charge, was left frustrated on Saturday as he felt they strayed away from what they’d been doing so well in the 3-1 defeat at Millwall.
He’s been showing the group clips of the game in order to be really clear about where they can improve and what’s expected of them
Hecky said: “I want to be really clear with everyone. We did things we haven’t been doing and that’s why we lost the game. You’ve got to use it as learning.
“Everything we’ve been trying to improve on in how we build and keep people connected and go up the pitch together, we didn’t do. It was off the cuff and then when we lost the ball, it was too easy to play against.
“We’ve been really good at defending set plays and then for some reason virtually every one we weren’t switched on. We weren’t organised quickly enough.
“It was disappointing in that way when you’re two steps forward, one step back. I hope now we’ll start going forwards again, so it was frustrating. Then we had half-time to try and correct things and then to concede straight away after having a good chance sort of ended the game for us really.”
His focus after the clash at The Den turned to Wednesday’s match against Watford as quickly as his car journey to the train station.
The Hornets, under the guidance of Tom Cleverley, sit seventh in the Championship table ahead of the midweek round of fixtures, and arrive following a victory over high-flying Sunderland.
Hecky said: “The squad’s dangerous. They’ve got some dangerous players with pace and athleticism.
“We know that and they’ve got really big moments in them. They may be quiet, but they’ve got big moments in them. They can also really compete so they started the season really, really well.
“They’ve had a couple of results they wouldn’t have been happy with and then they had a big win at the weekend, so we know it’s going to be tough, but we’ve played against good opposition before.
“It’s like I keep saying, and it’s not anything disrespectful to Watford, I’m not really bothered who’s in front of us. It's about how we perform which is what’s most important, and we’ve shown that regardless of whether we’ve had ten men against a relegated Premier League side or a Premier League side – it doesn’t matter who’s in front of us if we perform well.
“If we perform how we know we can, then we’ll give anybody a game.”
WATFORD VIEW
Watford know that Preston North End will be a different proposition at Deepdale this evening (7.45pm KO) due to their early-season managerial change.
Hornets Head Coach Tom Cleverley came up against Ryan Lowe in a 0-0 draw with the Lilywhites towards the end of last season, but the visiting boss at Vicarage Road that day has now been replaced by Paul Heckingbottom.
Explaining the preparation for the midweek trip, Cleverley said: “We watch the footage and break it down into three or four different phases of the game and how we feel like we can dominate in each of those phases.
“We focus on us and how we can really hurt them.
“That process has happened and it’s a little bit different to the Preston team we faced under Ryan Lowe at the end of last season.”
Lowe left just one game into the current season, with former Sheffield United boss Heckingbottom appointed later in August.
Cleverley is expecting some similarities from Lowe’s spell in charge and added: “It’s a lot of the same personnel.
“My players will have a clear gameplan and the belief that we can go and win the game.
“If we execute that as well as we know we can, I’m confident we will.”
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