Pathetic! The fact that we were by far the better team in the second half cuts no mustard with me. Preston are a totally shit team that we should have beaten. All they have is a well drilled defence and we didn't have what was needed to break them down. For me, Russell Martin is absolutely to blame. He surely knows that we have a crap defence who, almost by rote, give away a goal a game from some stupid error or other.
The world and his dog knows that all Preston can do is defend, so if we likely fell behind courtesy of one of our routine defensive brain farts (which of course we did), we would need whatever firepower we could bring to bear. Yet what does that prize moron Martin do? He drops Cullen out of the squad entirely thereby limiting our attacking options and chances of a goal. Is the man insane in football terms or what?
To sum up. The equation Martin faced was this. Preston have one of the best defences in the league. If we conceded first, we would need as many attacking options as possible to break them down. The chances of conceding first were high because we have got a totally shit defence who take it in turns to give away ridiculous goals. Therefore we would need as many striking options as possible to get back on terms. Simple enough I think.
Yet this wannabe manager/coach we've been stuck with seems to have added 2 + 2 and got God knows what answer except 4!!! He then compounds his mistake by selecting a starting eleven most of whom appeared to be asleep in the first half - and that certainly includes Piroe who might as well have been wearing his PJs let alone bursting with energy after a nice long rest. Will we ever learn that FOOTBALL IS A 90 MINUTE GAME and not the odd 45 minutes when it suits us or when we fall behind.
I thought Martin was beginning to get it right. This game put paid to that notion. He is inexperienced, stubborn, naive and tunnel visioned. I read that Norwich are still interested, along with some other clubs, and the likely compensation would be a million quid. For God's sake, Winter, snap their hands off and get Cameron Toshack in asap.