Preston mega thread

[grafikhaus]

We played The Lilywhites three times last season and my thoughts were here:

Memries of Preston

Memries of Preston Pt. 2

Memries of Preston Pt. 3

We last met Preston at Bramall Lane on 28th April earlier this year – our last home game of the season. We lost this penultimate game of the 2017/18 season 0-1 and would end the season in tenth place (Preston finished 7th, just two points outside the play-offs).

​

Earlier in the season, we also lost 0-1 at Deepdale on 16th December 2017 in the league, but we beat them at home in the 4th Round of The Emirates FA Cup on 27th January 2018 thanks to a second-half Billy Sharp penalty.

To date, our League results against Preston read:

Home: P: 52 W: 34 D: 10 L: 8 F: 94 A: 47

Away: P: 52 W: 11 D: 16 L: 25 F: 56 A: 90

Full Sheffield United v Preston history

Championship Table:

We currently sit in 6th place in the table. Preston, however, are second-bottom with just five points from eight games.

Full Championship Table

Championship Form Guide:

The Blades sit a healthy third in the form guide.


Preston are rock bottom with just two points from their last six games…


Full Championship Form Guide

Preston haven’t won since the opening day of the season (4th August), a 1-0 home win over QPR. Last Tuesday, they lost at Leeds 3-0 where only 288 visiting supporters bothered to travel.

Preston Top Scorers:

These aren’t just Preston’s top scorers, they’re their only scorers this season:



Needless to say, Preston’s fans aren’t ‘appy. In a poll of all 24 Championship clubs, only 21% of Lilywhites fans said they were ‘happy’ with just Reading (16%), WBA (14%) and Norwich (9%) below them.

Amazingly – and obviously S24SU members weren’t allowed to vote – United are joint third ‘appiest with Wigan – 91%.

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Going into Saturday’s game, another error by Preston goalkeeper Declan Rudd against Leeds means there is plenty of debate about who should be between the sticks against The Blades on Saturday.
Central midfielder Ben Pearson will complete his three-match suspension following a red card awarded after the final whistle of the recent game v Bolton.

Man to watch?:

​

Striker Tom Barkhuizen. Scored eight goals last season but is still to get off the mark this term.

 

[derfblade.3]

288 travelled to Leeds?
All i would say is they must be bloody awful to watch.

 

[grafikhaus]

288 travelled to Leeds?
All i would say is they must be bloody awful to watch.

They probably are but it's almost certainly down to the 'red button'. This is going to seriously affect midweek attendances. Who's bright idea is that? Why have clubs agreed to it?

 

[Houston_Blade]

Gallagher will play well and either score or set one up. Another player who was wank for us and always plays well against us.

 

[Revolution]

They put on a perfect Alex Neil team performance to beat us at home last season. If we play like we did on Wednesday they will do it again. We have to do better.

 

[stringjunior]

They probably are but it's almost certainly down to the 'red button'. This is going to seriously affect midweek attendances. Who's bright idea is that? Why have clubs agreed to it?

Maybe the EFL are hoping to emulate the NFLs lead where almost all games are televised one way or another, and after attendances initially dropped they've now rocketed.

 

[Cerberus Blade]

We played The Lilywhites three times last season and my thoughts were here:

Memries of Preston

Memries of Preston Pt. 2

Memries of Preston Pt. 3

We last met Preston at Bramall Lane on 28th April earlier this year – our last home game of the season. We lost this penultimate game of the 2017/18 season 0-1 and would end the season in tenth place (Preston finished 7th, just two points outside the play-offs).

​

Earlier in the season, we also lost 0-1 at Deepdale on 16th December 2017 in the league, but we beat them at home in the 4th Round of The Emirates FA Cup on 27th January 2018 thanks to a second-half Billy Sharp penalty.

To date, our League results against Preston read:

Home: P: 52 W: 34 D: 10 L: 8 F: 94 A: 47

Away: P: 52 W: 11 D: 16 L: 25 F: 56 A: 90

Full Sheffield United v Preston history

Championship Table:

We currently sit in 6th place in the table. Preston, however, are second-bottom with just five points from eight games.

Full Championship Table

Championship Form Guide:

The Blades sit a healthy third in the form guide.

View attachment 44407
Preston are rock bottom with just two points from their last six games…

View attachment 44408
Full Championship Form Guide

Preston haven’t won since the opening day of the season (4th August), a 1-0 home win over QPR. Last Tuesday, they lost at Leeds 3-0 where only 288 visiting supporters bothered to travel.

Preston Top Scorers:

These aren’t just Preston’s top scorers, they’re their only scorers this season:

View attachment 44409

Needless to say, Preston’s fans aren’t ‘appy. In a poll of all 24 Championship clubs, only 21% of Lilywhites fans said they were ‘happy’ with just Reading (16%), WBA (14%) and Norwich (9%) below them.

Amazingly – and obviously S24SU members weren’t allowed to vote – United are joint third ‘appiest with Wigan – 91%.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Going into Saturday’s game, another error by Preston goalkeeper Declan Rudd against Leeds means there is plenty of debate about who should be between the sticks against The Blades on Saturday.
Central midfielder Ben Pearson will complete his three-match suspension following a red card awarded after the final whistle of the recent game v Bolton.

Man to watch?:

View attachment 44410​

Striker Tom Barkhuizen. Scored eight goals last season but is still to get off the mark this term.

I like your post. I like it because you've used Preston's proper nickname for a start. The "Lillywhites". That's how it should be. Never mind these young 'uns who want to change their clubs nickname so that it's summat easier to say, or text. It's "Lillywhites", not "Whites" for example. Any Preston fan reading this, if you can't be bothered to call your team by it's full nickname, then why not shorten it to "Lillets" instead?

That video you included made good viewing actually. I'd forgotten what a good match that was v Preston - frustrating, but good entertainment. I'd forgotten also, how inept Blackman was at times, especially with low shots. The video shows a good example of him pawing a shot tamely into the path of the Preston strikers. Some will say, "good reflex save", I would say, "good initial reflex save but should have punched it away with some gusto, not just pawed at it like that, because that led to their goal". It's nice we don't have to worry about things like that now that we've got a proper goalkeeper between the sticks. Meanwhile, Blackman has only played 2 games for the dirties this season, me and Marco Bielsa, we see it alike!

There are a couple of Preston players I really don't like. One is Ben Pearson. That little runt! He's just a horrible piece of work, that's all. You watch him on saturday if he's playing. He'll be winding folks up like a wasp at a picnic. The other is Daniel Johnson. That little bloke with the long pony-tail and the permanently surprised look on his face. He's not a bad player though, I'll give him that. But sometimes I just don't like the look of folks and it makes me want to hit them. He's one of them. Probably a true gent, truth be told?

Anyhow, not much of this matters because I think we will steamroller them on saturday. Things are not looking too good for them at the moment - meanwhile we are seething with frustration after the match with Brum the other night.

Summat's got to give - and it will.

If we don't get at least 4 goals on saturday I'll be surprised. Leon Clarke hat trick coming up?

 

[grafikhaus]

I like your post. I like it because you've used Preston's proper nickname for a start. The "Lillywhites". That's how it should be.

'Like' on the way!

That video you included made good viewing actually. I'd forgotten what a good match that was v Preston - frustrating, but good entertainment. I'd forgotten also, how inept Blackman was at times, especially with low shots. The video shows a good example of him pawing a shot tamely into the path of the Preston strikers. Some will say, "good reflex save", I would say, "good initial reflex save but should have punched it away with some gusto, not just pawed at it like that, because that led to their goal". It's nice we don't have to worry about things like that now that we've got a proper goalkeeper between the sticks. Meanwhile, Blackman has only played 2 games for the dirties this season, me and Marco Bielsa, we see it alike!

Good point. A lot of goalies play the ball back into the danger area. But that goal wasn't just down to Blackman. Enda Stevens played his all-too-common trick of 'losing' his opponent at the back post.

There are a couple of Preston players I really don't like. One is Ben Pearson. That little runt! He's just a horrible piece of work, that's all. You watch him on saturday if he's playing. He'll be winding folks up like a wasp at a picnic.

Central midfielder Ben Pearson will complete his three-match suspension following a red card awarded after the final whistle of the recent game v Bolton.

Anyhow, not much of this matters because I think we will steamroller them on saturday. Things are not looking too good for them at the moment - meanwhile we are seething with frustration after the match with Brum the other night.

Summat's got to give - and it will.

If we don't get at least 4 goals on saturday I'll be surprised. Leon Clarke hat trick coming up?

Good post, CB. But then you had to go and ruin it...

 

[Champagneblade]

I like your post. I like it because you've used Preston's proper nickname for a start. The "Lillywhites". That's how it should be. Never mind these young 'uns who want to change their clubs nickname so that it's summat easier to say, or text. It's "Lillywhites", not "Whites" for example. Any Preston fan reading this, if you can't be bothered to call your team by it's full nickname, then why not shorten it to "Lillets" instead?

That video you included made good viewing actually. I'd forgotten what a good match that was v Preston - frustrating, but good entertainment. I'd forgotten also, how inept Blackman was at times, especially with low shots. The video shows a good example of him pawing a shot tamely into the path of the Preston strikers. Some will say, "good reflex save", I would say, "good initial reflex save but should have punched it away with some gusto, not just pawed at it like that, because that led to their goal". It's nice we don't have to worry about things like that now that we've got a proper goalkeeper between the sticks. Meanwhile, Blackman has only played 2 games for the dirties this season, me and Marco Bielsa, we see it alike!

There are a couple of Preston players I really don't like. One is Ben Pearson. That little runt! He's just a horrible piece of work, that's all. You watch him on saturday if he's playing. He'll be winding folks up like a wasp at a picnic. The other is Daniel Johnson. That little bloke with the long pony-tail and the permanently surprised look on his face. He's not a bad player though, I'll give him that. But sometimes I just don't like the look of folks and it makes me want to hit them. He's one of them. Probably a true gent, truth be told?

Anyhow, not much of this matters because I think we will steamroller them on saturday. Things are not looking too good for them at the moment - meanwhile we are seething with frustration after the match with Brum the other night.

Summat's got to give - and it will.

If we don't get at least 4 goals on saturday I'll be surprised. Leon Clarke hat trick coming up?

I seem to recall Ben Pearson is suspended.

 

[pommpey]

If we don't get at least 4 goals on saturday I'll be surprised. Leon Clarke hat trick coming up?

I fucking hope so. He needs to start getting his shooting boots on. 800 minutes of Championship football and fuck all to show for it. It's becoming a bit of a joke about his undroppability and he needs to prove cynics like me wrong that he isn't past it and offers fuck all.

pommpey

 

[grafikhaus]

Maybe the EFL are hoping to emulate the NFLs lead where almost all games are televised one way or another, and after attendances initially dropped they've now rocketed.

If they're hoping that 'attendances will rocket' as a result of 'red button' they're dreaming. If anything, anybody who watched the Brum game won't be thinking 'Hmm, I'll definitely be going to the Preston game'... Truth is, 90 minutes of televised football - even if it's your club - is usually boring. At least if you're watching at home on TV, you can always turn over.

Comparisons with the US are flawed. Any country that has netball and rounders as their national sports are nothing like us. Ditto a mass brawl called 'football'. Plus, the culture of mass away followings - owing to the vast distances involved - doesn't exist in the US.

The days when a football club could just open the turnstiles and many thousands would unthinkingly flow in are long gone. A lot is down to other 'pulls' on people's time, but they've put too many obstacles in the way of the casual attendee.

Imagine, say, thinking 'I'll go to the cinema on Saturday. The weather's good, that new film looks interesting and we'll do a bit of shopping and have a coffee afterwards.'

Football's equivalent?

Arrive at the turnstile with cash? 'Sorry sir. You'll have to go round to the ticket office, stand in a queue and probably miss the start. Are you on our database? Have you got enough loyalty points? If we're playing a team you may have heard of, that'll be £30+. Each. Think you can just turn up on a sunny Saturday? Sorry, sir. Owing to the utterly pointless 'International Break', this game will now be played on a Tuesday night. In February. In the freezing fucking cold. Oh, and did you know you can stay at home and watch the game on the 'red button'? Still daft enough to come back for a midweek match? Refreshments? Well we offer overpriced muck and warm lager. And how are you planning to get home in the cold and dark? Bus??? Sorry, sir. You do know how to tell 'em!' (as I found after the Brum game, Worst Bus have practically given up on 'the night time economy'. After waiting over an hour on Shoreham Street, I gave up and got a taxi. £12.)

 

[Cerberus Blade]

I fucking hope so. He needs to start getting his shooting boots on. 800 minutes of Championship football and fuck all to show for it. It's becoming a bit of a joke about his undroppability and he needs to prove cynics like me wrong that he isn't past it and offers fuck all.

pommpey

I could put up with him not scoring for a few games if he was otherwise making a big contribution to the team. But he isn't doing that either.

Against Brum the other night I heard the kop burst into applause when he chased a player from one side of the pitch to the other to try and get the ball. I wish I was a bit younger, I think the kop would love me too, because I could do that as well. We seem to have a fair few fans who are suffering from "Done's syndrome" ? An over-appreciation of any player who is willing to chase after things and run fast, regardless of whether they can actually do anything when they get the ball. This is why Washington is going to be such a popular player with these fans - because he'll chase after stuff like a dog chasing an ice cream van.

I've said it before and it's based on bugger all, apart from life experience. But I think there's summat up with Leon. Even when he's happy he seems sad and gloomy. I reckon the lad's head isn't where it should be. His career is testament to that. Occasional highs with lots of lows. He needs to start hitting the net because I can just see him falling off his game altogether if not. Maybe Wilder is thinking the same - stick him in there and let him get that feelgood feeling back again quick, before he takes an even bigger downturn in performance.

 

[grafikhaus]

I like your post. I like it because you've used Preston's proper nickname for a start. The "Lillywhites". That's how it should be. Never mind these young 'uns who want to change their clubs nickname so that it's summat easier to say, or text. It's "Lillywhites", not "Whites" for example. Any Preston fan reading this, if you can't be bothered to call your team by it's full nickname, then why not shorten it to "Lillets" instead?

Pedant alert! Only one 'l' (well, two) in Lilywhites.

 

[SwissBlade]

They probably are but it's almost certainly down to the 'red button'. This is going to seriously affect midweek attendances. Who's bright idea is that? Why have clubs agreed to it?

It'll be interesting to know if 288 actual Preston fans watched it instead of being at the game. I watched it as i'd rather watch Championship that Champions League.

Midweek games are always a nightmare for away fans but despite the distance not being that far, its still a 3 hour journey in midweek, not sure if ticket prices are an issue, but to quote derfblade.3 :

288 travelled to Leeds?
All i would say is they must be bloody awful to watch.

Either way, shit support

 

[pommpey]

... what he said ....

Yep. Monty used to chase plastic bags in the wind too. Great engine on him. Fantastic footballer. Until he was required to do the footballing thing and it would bounce off his shins and end up in touch or his next touch was a yellow card. Yet people loved him. I get that, but it don't win games.

pommpey

 

[Cerberus Blade]

If they're hoping that 'attendances will rocket' as a result of 'red button' they're dreaming. If anything, anybody who watched the Brum game won't be thinking 'Hmm, I'll definitely be going to the Preston game'... Truth is, 90 minutes of televised football - even if it's your club - is usually boring. At least if you're watching at home on TV, you can always turn over.

Comparisons with the US are flawed. Any country that has netball and rounders as their national sports are nothing like us. Ditto a mass brawl called 'football'. Plus, the culture of mass away followings - owing to the vast distances involved - doesn't exist in the US.

The days when a football club could just open the turnstiles and many thousands would unthinkingly flow in are long gone. A lot is down to other 'pulls' on people's time, but they've put too many obstacles in the way of the casual attendee.

Imagine, say, thinking 'I'll go to the cinema on Saturday. The weather's good, that new film looks interesting and we'll do a bit of shopping and have a coffee afterwards.'

Football's equivalent?

Arrive at the turnstile with cash? 'Sorry sir. You'll have to go round to the ticket office, stand in a queue and probably miss the start. Are you on our database? Have you got enough loyalty points? If we're playing a team you may have heard of, that'll be £30+. Each. Think you can just turn up on a sunny Saturday? Sorry, sir. Owing to the utterly pointless 'International Break', this game will now be played on a Tuesday night. In February. In the freezing fucking cold. Oh, and did you know you can stay at home and watch the game on the 'red button'? Still daft enough to come back for a midweek match? Refreshments? Well we offer overpriced muck and warm lager. And how are you planning to get home in the cold and dark? Bus??? Sorry, sir. You do know how to tell 'em!' (as I found after the Brum game, Worst Bus have practically given up on 'the night time economy'. After waiting over an hour on Shoreham Street, I gave up and got a taxi. £12.)

I think you're spot on with that tbh.

They do make it hard to go and watch your team.

When we played Bolton away a few weeks ago I'd left it a bit late to decide to go to the game. We'd not sold our allocation but the tickets were only on sale until 11am on Friday morning, then they were sent back. I went on our website to try and buy one but couldn't. So, I phoned up Bolton Wanderers FC and asked if I could pay on the day. They said no. So what had happened to the unsold tickets we sent back then I wonder? They weren't available in Sheffield. They weren't available in Bolton. They had vanished into thin air! Fallen down a hole somewhere between Luddendenfoot and Westhoughton I suspect?

I was there, on the end of the phone, wanting to give their club some money, for two of us actually, I had my bank card in my hand, I was ready to read out the long number on the front, and the expiry date, and the 3 digits on the back and let them have £60 of my money, but they didn't want it. And I thought Bolton were in a bit of a financial mess? (No bloody wonder!). But it's not just them of course, this happens all the time at other clubs as well, including our own.

Fortunately I'd been sneaky enough (last season actually) to register myself on Bolton's website as a fan. So I just went and bought 2 tickets in the home area instead. It was difficult sitting on my hands and not getting excited for 90 minutes I'll tell you!

I've done this at a few clubs btw - register myself on their websites. I've got enough loyalty points to get my own ticket on the first day of sale, due to me being both a loyal supporter and an old bastard. But if my dearest wife Petunia wishes to go to the match then she insists on us sitting together (so she can ask me daft questions all the way through it) and I can't get her a ticket until they go on general sale. When we played at Wembley v Burnley in the play-offs I went down and queued three times, once to get my ticket and then again to take my ticket back and get 2 more for my boys (who are season ticket holders but don't have as many loyalty points) and then a third time to take all 3 back and get 4 together so my wife could come.

That Wembley trip was a farce as well. I took a car load of us down to London, went to the rather splendid Fox and Goose pub/hotel, not far from Hangar Lane and a short bus ride to the stadium. We sat in the beer garden enjoying a drink in the sunshine, but I left my mates to drink in the pub garden because I'd planned to take Petunia for a meal, in the restaurant at Wembley, with champagne, before the game. I'd said to her, "this is a bit of a one-off life experience, so let's make the most of it" (not realising at the time that we'd be back again soon). We got into Wembley about 1pm. Went to the restaurant..."CLOSED". Why? "Not the right category game!" apparently! Over 70,000 fans expected in the ground, but not sufficient to warrant opening the restaurant! Then to cap it all, there'd been some kind of power cut and there was no hot food at the catering stands until about 2pm we were told. I was there, wanting to spend money, wanting to have a nice lunch for 2 with champagne, but they didn't want my money! or that of the other 69,999 folks that were there. In the end we had a foot long hot dog each and a Bovril. My missus likes a big sausage normally, but she was disappointed, as I was, on this occasion.

How not to run a business eh? What concerns me is that football, outside of the Premier League (which will always attract the fair-weather, neutral and corporate supporter) will wither on the vine if it isn't better managed. It's not at all "customer-focused". The customers are us, the fans, who are wanting to give them our money - but they make us feel unimportant and generally make things difficult for us to do so. And when we do part with it, the "match--day experience" is second rate. Second rate food and drink, second rate toilet facilities, second rate organisation.

We'll get to a point where only a minority of dyed in the wool, passionate fans, go to games. The rest will drift away, or choose to watch it on their televisions, laptops, mobile phones, or...in the future, on a heads-up display on their car windscreen, whilst the car, with zero emissions, running off electricity, drives itself to a pre-programmed destination.

 

[Cerberus Blade]

Pedant alert! Only one 'l' (well, two) in Lilywhites.

Got me!

I droped a bolock there!

 

[Blade_In_Sydney]

Got me!

I droped a bolock there!

Pedantic alert No.2

Maybe more than one bollock dropped.

But I'm of an age when I don't even remember them dropping.

 

[grafikhaus]

How not to run a business eh? What concerns me is that football, outside of the Premier League (which will always attract the fair-weather, neutral and corporate supporter) will wither on the vine if it isn't better managed. It's not at all "customer-focused". The customers are us, the fans, who are wanting to give them our money - but they make us feel unimportant and generally make things difficult for us to do so. And when we do part with it, the "match--day experience" is second rate. Second rate food and drink, second rate toilet facilities, second rate organisation.

As we all know, actual supporters who attend matches in the PL are unimportant - there's so much money up there that they could afford to let people in for free. Obviously they won't as it would damage the brand and they can keep claiming that the PL is 'the best league in the world' - so much so that PL attendance figures are grossly inflated upwards - up by 22% in West Ham's case. We see banks of empty seats at Arsenal - even Man. City, yet they claim near-capacity. They excuse this by saying the crowd figures are based on 'tickets sold' - including season tickets where people don't attend. So what if there's another Hillsborough? Don't the police etc. need to know how many are actually in the crowd instead of the fairy stories?

At our level - and even more so as you go down the pyramid - crowds are the lifeblood that keeps clubs going, and 'Red Button' will seriously harm these teams. Maybe the PL don't care and just want the 'chosen few' to prosper?

 

[Cerberus Blade]

Pedantic alert No.2

Maybe more than one bollock dropped.

But I'm of an age when I don't even remember them dropping.

As long as you can still see them and count them you’re doing fine.

 

[Yellarbellyblade]

Can’t remember the last time there were many goals in games v them al says seem to have been 0-0/1-0 anyone enlighten my aging brain ?

 

[Champagneblade]

Yep. Monty used to chase plastic bags in the wind too. Great engine on him. Fantastic footballer. Until he was required to do the footballing thing and it would bounce off his shins and end up in touch or his next touch was a yellow card. Yet people loved him. I get that, but it don't win games.

pommpey

Just ny teo cents but I never had an issue with Monty. 50% of any game you don’t have the ball. Someone has to get it back and stop the opposition doing something with it. Your Pirlos of this world don’t do that.

The issue has more been we’ve had too few Pirlos to do something with it when we have our 50%. As a result, at times water carriers like Monty ended up being asked to do what wasn’t their role. Remember when Captain Marvel tried to turn Monty into a box to box goal scorer?

Until now. We have a midfield 3 from 4 who can limit the opposition to 40% of the meaningful use of the ball. It’s just a question of whether our forwards can make the most of this. So far this seems to be the potential failing.

 

[grafikhaus]

Can’t remember the last time there were many goals in games v them al says seem to have been 0-0/1-0 anyone enlighten my aging brain ?

Won 4-2 19/10/11?

Full history v Preston Nob End

 

[United Aren't Back.]

Preston 0-2 Sheffield United | Championship highlights

Highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between Preston North End and Sheffield United.

www.skysports.com

Just to keep the records complete.