What's new
PNE Online
Welcome to PNE-Online. Why not register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox! You can also join up as a forum Patron to help support in the running costs of the forum.

Squad depth & fringe players exposed again in the Cup

Ripley was fine today, in fact, he's been ok in all four of his games this season.

Ederson would have conceded the same amount today with the bag of bollocks that played in front of him.

Him & Riis the only players worthy of a 6 today.
 
sf said:
Ripley was fine today, in fact, he's been ok in all four of his games this season.

Ederson would have conceded the same amount today with the bag of bollocks that played in front of him.

Him & Riis the only players worthy of a 6 today.
Click to expand...
I very much doubt it. He’s still at Manchester City.
 
pet shop boy said:
How did you rate our reserves today ?
Ripley 5
Rafferty 5
Earl 4
Storey 5
Bayliss 5
Stockley 4
I’d call the others regular 1st team squad members.
Click to expand...
Not acceptable really, although I’m sure most of these players would perform much better if they weren’t thrust in with all of the other reserves/back-ups, etc. Too much of a change and too many of our “weaker” players playing to give potentially more promising lads like Molumby, Earl and Bayliss much of a chance to impress.
 
What's Molumby's preferred position. Was is the position he played yesterday? I thought he was a defensive midfielder so straight away being asked to play a different role if that's the case.
 
sf said:
Ripley was fine today, in fact, he's been ok in all four of his games this season.

Ederson would have conceded the same amount today with the bag of bollocks that played in front of him.

Him & Riis the only players worthy of a 6 today
Click to expand...

Made a couple of decent saves but he inspires zero confidence in me. He must have one of the worst goals per game ratio's of any keeper in our history.

There are questions over his fitness and attitude.

Shouldn't be anywhere near the 1st team, hence we sought to bring a new keeper in within hours of Rudds injury.
 
HunterLionheart said:
Sure, I see where you're coming from there. But they should also be doing better than a hammering from the worst team in our division if they want to be considered for the first team.
Click to expand...
Worst team in the league battered us at Deepdale "we were lucky to get a point" and destroyed us yesterday. I think you need a reality check as to whats happening at our club.
 
Durutti said:
I don't blame him for concentrating on the league, my problem is that he is now sending a clear message to the youth players that he isn't going to develop them. That is shit and you all know I am an AN fan.

Stockley needs to fuck off this window. Riis need to play in his proper position. Ledson needs to not be an option if he isn't going to contribute anything. Baxter and O'Neill should be given a run out. 90 mins for Stockley? AN has given everyone a rod to beat him with on that shit.
Click to expand...
Without a mention of Potts.
 
miff said:
Worst team in the league battered us at Deepdale "we were lucky to get a point" and destroyed us yesterday. I think you need a reality check as to whats happening at our club.
Click to expand...

I mean it's just a fact, look at the table.

We've been shit against them twice. Objectively they're a bad team, but for whatever reason, their style of play is causing us major difficulties.
 
sedgwick__7 said:
Think we can all see that Alex Neil doesn’t care at all about any cups. Even against Man City last season, he made changes in order to rest players for a league game.

We’ve been dreadful now 3 times on the spin in the 3rd round of the FA Cup when a plethora of changes are made. After Doncaster a couple of years ago, we never saw Burke or Crowe play for the club again. Last season against Norwich, it became clear just how poor Ripley was.

These games often seem to be a watershed moment for certain fringe players and how they are viewed by the manager and fans, and it just shows people how weakened we are when we do make quite a few changes.

Personally I think today has to be the final straw for a few of the players selected. Stockley was atrocious, as he has been all season. He offers nothing and needs to be offloaded this month. Rafferty and Storey look way out of their depth almost every time they play at the moment. The squad players in general at the back are really poor defensively and if we have to rely on any of them for an extended period in the league it will represent a major problem. This needs work during the window this month.

I don’t think anyone expects us to be able to field 2 really strong Championship XIs, but some of these squad men are way off the pace at this level and it needs addressing.
Click to expand...
We just rolled over and got what we deserved. An absolute gutless display and I hope some of these players never pull on a North end shirt again. It's not as if Wycombe Changed their approach, they just get in your face and see if your man enough to win the battles. Sadly we were found short once again.
 
JK said:
Made a couple of decent saves but he inspires zero confidence in me. He must have one of the worst goals per game ratio's of any keeper in our history.

There are questions over his fitness and attitude.

Shouldn't be anywhere near the 1st team, hence we sought to bring a new keeper in within hours of Rudds injury.
Click to expand...
In agreement with you JK. Just baffles me why he won't play Hudson to give him the time. Or play Adam O'Reilly instead of Stockley in a 4231
 
kitman99 said:
In agreement with you JK. Just baffles me why he won't play Hudson to give him the time. Or play Adam O'Reilly instead of Stockley in a 4231
Click to expand...
We'd be playing wingers in that formation, so he still wouldn't have played over Ledson, Bayliss, Molumby in the middle.
 
HunterLionheart said:
We'd be playing wingers in that formation, so he still wouldn't have played over Ledson, Bayliss, Molumby in the middle.
Click to expand...
Played a diamond and Molumby and Bayliss both pushed out wide when we played out from the back (Multiple times saw Bayliss trying to play down the LW when that's not his game. More of a central player). O'Reilly could have been on the left cutting in.

Ledson Bayliss
Molumby, Potts, O'Reilly

Or even just use him as a sub if he ain't guna start.
 
kitman99 said:
Played a diamond and Molumby and Bayliss both pushed out wide when we played out from the back (Multiple times saw Bayliss trying to play down the LW when that's not his game. More of a central player). O'Reilly could have been on the left cutting in.

Ledson Bayliss
Molumby, Potts, O'Reilly

Or even just use him as a sub if he ain't guna start.
Click to expand...

They were central players in a diamond who occasionally occupied spaces in the channels. They're not your winger threats.

Don't get me wrong, I'd like to see the lads blooded more, it would probably help their chances of a decent loan too.

Ledson, Molumby
Potts, Bayliss, Walker

Would have been more likely for me.
 
HunterLionheart said:
They were central players in a diamond who occasionally occupied spaces in the channels. They're not your winger threats.

Don't get me wrong, I'd like to see the lads blooded more, it would probably help their chances of a decent loan too.

Ledson, Molumby
Potts, Bayliss, Walker

Would have been more likely for me.
Click to expand...
Think you missed my point, I'm agreeing with you that Bayliss and Molumby aren't wingers, yet when we were playing out from the back they were pushed out wide to receive the ball. Didn't build any play using triangles through the middle of the park.

Hands up, walker would have been a better option on the left.

I also think I saw @baysidepne say on twitter that Earl isn't defensively good enough. So maybe Earl should be considered as more of a Winger/wing back
 
kitman99 said:
Think you missed my point, I'm agreeing with you that Bayliss and Molumby aren't wingers, yet when we were playing out from the back they were pushed out wide to receive the ball. Didn't build any play using triangles through the middle of the park.

Hands up, walker would have been a better option on the left.

I also think I saw @baysidepne say on twitter that Earl isn't defensively good enough. So maybe Earl should be considered as more of a Winger/wing back
Click to expand...

Earl should definitely just be a wingback for now, though his defensive deficiencies can be worked on.

But yeah, from that, my point was that whilst they took up spaces out wide, they're definitely not suited to playing the wide attacker roles in a 4231
 
The contempt for the Cup is a big mistake IMO.
1. A cup run generates revenue.
2. A cup run generates wider interest. God knows our biggest issue is a poor fans to population ratio in Preston and surrounding boroughs. And don't tell me it wouldn't make a difference, because fans of a certain age still talk about 1964. We were Div 2 then.
3. Players want exposure and to compete against the best players.
On that final point, I firmly believe playing the fringe players against City last season was when we lost the likes of Pearo. You put 100% into every game, get the chance to play against David Silva, Sterling, De Bruyne, Bernard Silva etc, and you're sat in the stand! It was the biggest game of the season, and we rested our best player!
I know most fans disagree with this view, and FTF podcast guys all said they didn't care, but I just disagree. How can you not care? This wasn't the Lancs Manx Cup!
 
Top