Preston North End head coach Ryan Lowe has admitted that the side’s current run of form hasn’t been good enough, having started 2024 with yet another defeat at home to Sunderland.
The Lilywhites kicked off the new year with a disappointing defeat against the Black Cats at Deepdale, having gone 2-0 behind at the break. Alex Pritchard opened the scoring for the visitors inside ten minutes before Nazariy Rusyn bagged his first of the campaign for Sunderland right before the interval.
Lowe’s men have now dropped to 14th in the Championship, having spent the first few months of the season inside the playoff places and even sat top of the table at the beginning of the campaign.
However, Preston have now suffered four defeats from their last five games and are free-falling down the table, having won merely four matches in 19 now. Furthermore, the Lancashire club have some difficult fixtures on the horizon against Chelsea in the FA Cup, Bristol City and Leeds United.
Speaking in his post-match interview, Lowe admitted that his team needs to try something different in their upcoming games to turn their fortunes around [quotes via the Lancashire Post]:
“The points we got early on in the season was obviously good, but we need to get back to that and find a way. It is all of our jobs to put it right.
“There are some good players in there and they’ve proven it throughout the season so far. We need to find a solution to do something a little bit different, whether it is a shot from 25 or 30 yards,” he continued.
“But, what I will say is that Mads had two clear cut chances for his quality and ability and they went over. They had one moment in the first half from 35 yards and it found its way in.
“I haven’t looked that far mate. You have obviously been doing your homework, but I haven’t looked at four wins in 19; I am just looking at the next one.
As you well know and are probably wanting to point of quickly, it is not good enough and we know that. I don’t need you to tell me that, but we know that it’s not good enough and we need to find solutions to make it better.”
Writer’s View
There is still a lot of time left for Preston North End to turn their form around. While supporters and Lowe himself will be disappointed with the side’s current spell of form, the Lilywhites remain just five points off the playoff places.
If Preston put a run of wins together, they could be back in contention for a playoff place by the end of January or the beginning of February at the earliest, but the team need to turn their fortunes around as quickly as possible to avoid a further drop down the table.
