Preston North End v Portsmouth: pre-match preview

The News, Portsmouth

Pepe Lacey and George Hodgson join forces to discuss Pompey's trip to Preston in the Championship

Transcript

00:00Hello there and welcome to the latest video on the News Portsmouth website. Today, following

00:07up Pompey's loss to Plymouth in midweek, I'm joined by George Hodgson, my co-colleague

00:15really, sort of long distance colleague. You obviously cover Preston for LEP. Pompey, of

00:22course, make the trip up to up to Deepdale tomorrow. Thanks for joining me. And what's

00:29it like covering Preston at the moment?

00:32Yeah, a bit frustrating. They're in a lot of games north end. They're a competitive

00:37side and you feel like they're always going to give themselves a chance to win. But it's

00:41been a real struggle. They've drawn 17 matches this season. Might even be more now, not checked.

00:46But yeah, they're right up there for draws. I don't think anybody's drawn more games.

00:49So yeah, and most of those have been kind of positive but frustrating games where they've

00:55not been far away from picking up three points. And yeah, it was a similar story midweek

01:01at Sunderland. Looked like they were going to pick up a massive win on the road. Would

01:06have been a bit of a statement and then just a wonder goal in the 88th minute. Got a point

01:11for Sunderland and yeah, sort of familiar story for north end. And you could see the

01:15frustration in the manager after it. So, they'll be really keen to, because they've been good

01:20at home this season, so they'll be really keen to get this done on Saturday and heading

01:23into the break with three points. But it's not going to be easy, I don't think.

01:28No, and you touched on the home form there. I think I counted 14 games unbeaten in all

01:34competitions. That's including Leeds, Sunderland, Burnley, a draw in the league and then the

01:40win in the FA Cup as well. So much has been spoken about Pompey's form at home, two defeats

01:46in 13 at Fratton Park. Deep down, it's almost turned into some kind of a fortress.

01:53Yeah, and I think it's massive, isn't it? Put Preston and Portsmouth in a similar bracket

01:59in terms of not the biggest clubs and biggest budgets in the division. So, their own form

02:03has got to be right on it and it wasn't last season. And that's probably been a major positive

02:08of Heckingbottom's time so far, that teams are coming and struggling to certainly win.

02:13Obviously, teams have got points and stuff. They kept Burnley out three times from scoring

02:16this season, twice at Deeddale. So, they've gone toe-to-toe with the better teams in the

02:21division and almost that's brought the best out of them. But the kind of thing that's

02:26always remained has been good home form and I think it's really important because ultimately

02:30that's where most of your fans are seeing the team, aren't they? So, that's where their

02:34opinions formed and their view of the side. Not everybody goes away. So, yeah, obviously

02:39on paper, Portsmouth away form, which you probably come on to, is not great. So, Northend

02:44should fancy themselves, but I just don't think it's going to be an easy game at all.

02:48Yeah. I think there's 3,500 Pompey fans making the over 500 mile round trip. What can they

02:56sort of expect at Deeddale? What kind of atmosphere can they expect? And how should they go into

03:03the game given how Preston set up?

03:08Yeah, it'll be interesting to see. I think Northend will still be sort of hurting from

03:12what happened at Fratton Park. It was probably, you know, players and the manager have mentioned

03:17that game a lot this season because it's the one they felt they really didn't turn up in

03:21and were almost bullied in the first half. It's very rare with Northend teams that I

03:26think that when they've been good at home and in this season, really, they've kind of

03:30out-battled and out-fought and had more in their legs. They've been hard in the tackle

03:34and tough to break down and carried a threat. So, if Northend are on it, that's what's in

03:39store for Portsmouth. But I think they've got the players and stuff to match that. And

03:43atmosphere-wise, I won't lie, it's been pretty quiet a lot of the season. But when there's

03:48a big away end like Portsmouth and they bring the noisy away fans, it sometimes brings the

03:53best out of the Preston fans and they match it. So, yeah, I'd expect a bit of back and

03:57forth and hopefully a real kind of feisty encounter because I think both teams kind

04:03of like that.

04:04Yeah, you just touched on it there, the Threatened Park game. I was there and it sort of

04:12spurred Pompey on this season. That's the game every Pompey fan has spoken about as

04:19sort of the season-defining game in a way. Pompey have gone unbeaten in 11 of their 13

04:25games since and obviously Colby Bishop's come back. But that was sort of the catalyst that

04:30sparked that turnaround. You mentioned it there about how Preston have reflected on

04:36it. Would you say it's almost sort of an anomaly how they played that day and then sort of

04:42compared to how they play now?

04:45Yeah, definitely. I think there was a half at Millwall that was similar. But the version

04:50you, or Portsmouth fans, saw at Threatened Park that day is there was too much of it

04:55last season, but Heckingbottom's kind of stamped it out. And then it was a real

04:59disappointment when it came out. I have to say that I thought the feel in Threatened Park

05:03that day, you sort of felt, you know, this isn't... Because Portsmouth were struggling,

05:07weren't they?

05:07Yeah, I think we were 1-14.

05:11Yeah. So I thought at the time this might just kick them on because it just felt a really

05:17tough place to come and fair play. They've kicked on since then. But yeah, it definitely

05:21was an anomaly for North End. And I guess you allow sort of two or three of them a season

05:26and that's been the case really for Preston. But I think Portsmouth give them credit on

05:31that day. Like I say, all those good things you like about North End when they're at their

05:35best, Portsmouth did it better. So, yeah, they fully deserved the win and Bishop was

05:38that, wasn't he? And when that came out, I thought, that's just going to give them a

05:41boost. So, yeah, you were good.

05:44Yeah. So tomorrow you're expected sort of a completely different side, really, to how

05:50they've played against Pompey all the way back in November, I think it was now.

05:54Yeah, I bloody hope so, otherwise I'm in trouble. So, yeah, just obviously North End,

06:00Portsmouth win this game, they go above them in the league and it's kind of... North End

06:04don't want to sleepwalk into anything because they've done really well to pull away and

06:08have their heads above water and they've been looking up and stuff. And now they just don't

06:12want to let anybody in in terms of slipping down to like 18th, 19th because then it would

06:17get interesting. So I think it's a really important game to go and attack and win and

06:22hopefully they can get the job done. But, yeah, you'd expect Portsmouth to be competitive

06:26despite, I think they've only picked up 10 points, is it, away from home or something

06:29like that? The manager said he's kind of looked at performances and they should have more

06:34than that. I don't know if that's a fair assessment or not, but he does do his research

06:39into teams. So, yeah, I'm sure Portsmouth won't make it easy, but North End will pack

06:43themselves at home. I think they've played well in midweek and potentially a couple of

06:47bodies back. So, yeah, they'll be confident.

06:50Yeah, Jack Whatmore, former Pompey player, he featured at Threatened Park back in November.

06:56Obviously, he's now out for the season, I believe. What's the injury situation like

07:02at deep down at the moment?

07:05Yeah, so Whatmore's out, I think Preston's injuries this year have kind of all been in

07:09one area, which is just nightmare stuff, isn't it? So Whatmore's out, Story could be back

07:15in, Jordan Story, potential boost in defence. Ali McCann's a really important midfielder

07:21sort of tenacious and brings bite to the team and he's going to be out. Brad Potts did

07:26his hamstring on Tuesday, he'll be out. But Mads Frakja's back in Nuffall, Ben Whiting

07:32and the captain's back and Militano's Mahe could also return. So, a mixture of blows

07:37and potential boosts.

07:40It's all set to be a cracking game with a cracking atmosphere. I'm looking forward to

07:44travelling up. Pompey should, could try and get their third league win away from home

07:52this season. I mean, it's just going to be such a tough battle for them. It's deep down

07:57such a tough place to go. I'm not so sure. I think if Pompey can escape with a point,

08:03I think that'll be a fair result for both sides. And ultimately, that could be enough

08:07to keep both sides sort of, I don't know what the talk is at Preston about the relegation

08:13fight, so to say, below them. You mentioned they want to try and stay adrift from that.

08:20Pompey, if they do win, like you mentioned, they go above them. Would that spark concern

08:24among many at Preston if they are dragged into sort of a dogfight?

08:29I think it would, yeah. Because obviously, John Moosini, I read his quotes after Plymouth

08:33saying, like, make no mistake, we're in a scrap. So, if a manager of a team saying that

08:37and then they overtake you with, what, eight games to go or whatever it is, then certainly

08:43you'd be worried. But it's not really been discussed or even thought about or considered.

08:47And then all of a sudden, you're looking at it thinking, well, you just don't want to

08:51end up in that group. Teams at the bottom are starting to win games and mental things

08:57happen at the end of the campaign. So, yeah, it'd be important for an offender to get a

09:01couple of wins under the belt and it'd be a great time to get one on Saturday.

09:05Yeah, well, George, it was a pleasure speaking to you. We're going to wrap it up here. You

09:11can follow all the coverage, all the Pompey coverage from myself and George. I'll be making

09:16the long journey up to Preston tomorrow. George will be in the press box as well tomorrow. So,

09:22it'll be good.

09:23I'll still be asleep when you're setting off.

09:25Yeah, I know. It's going to be an early rise. I think it's 7am. I'm leaving home to make the

09:32journey up to Deepdale. But hopefully, for my sake, it's a positive one for Pompey. George,

09:36thank you very much for joining us. We'll speak to you in the next video.

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