Match Day Thread Preston North End v Barnsley Deepdale 11/12/2021

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MANAGER

Poya Asbaghi (Persian: پویا اسبقی‎, [puːjɒː æsbæɣiː]; born 17 July 1985) is a Swedish Iranian football manager who is head coach of English Championship side Barnsley.

IFK Göteborg[edit]
Asbaghi was appointed as manager of Swedish Allsvenskan side IFK Göteborg before the start of the 2018 Allsvenskan season.[1][2][3] On 25 July 2019, IFK extended his contract until 2022.[4] After the 2019 season, Poya Asbaghi was nominated as the manager of the year in Allsvenskan.[5] He was subsequently offered the manager role at English Championship side Barnsley which he turned down.[6]

Asbaghi led Göteborg to the 2019–20 Swedish Cup final after a win over IF Elfsborg on 9 July 2020.[7] On 30 July 2020, Asbaghi and Göteborg won the 2020 Swedish Cup Final after a 2–1 extra time win over Malmö FF, qualifying the team to the 2020–21 UEFA Europa League qualifying rounds.[8]

Asbaghi was relieved of his duties on 3 September 2020 during the 2020 season.[9]

Sweden U21[edit]
On 24 November 2020, Asbaghi was appointed as manager of the Sweden national under-21 football team, with his contract running until summer 2023. He left in November 2021 to join Barnsley as their new head coach.[10]

Barnsley[edit]
In November 2021, Asbaghi was appointed head coach of Barnsley after the sacking of former head coach Markus Schopp. Ferran Sibila became his assistant.[11]

LAST TIME OUT

FORM GUIDE

PNE 6 BARNSLEY 3

PNE Team News

In his pre-match press conference, manager Ryan Lowe said there were a few knocks within the team, with Ched Evans, Andrew Hughes and Sepp van den Berg all struggling.

Lowe also told the media that Tom Barkhuizen, who missed last weekend's defeat through injury, and Josh Murphy are both being checked out to see when they can return.

The Opposition

Barnsley have endured a difficult season so far, having picked up just two victories from their 21 Championship games.

After last season’s remarkable push for the Play-Offs, Valérien Ismaël left for West Brom, and in came Markus Schopp, but he lost his job and was replaced by former Sweden U21 boss Poya Asbaghi in November.

He is yet to experience the feeling of victory in his short time in charge and if he’s to do that on Saturday afternoon, it would be Barnsley’s first away win of the season in league action.

Key Stats

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In Cauley Woodrow, Barnsley have a striker who they have relied on for double figures in terms of goals in their past two Championship campaigns, however he’s netted only three so far this term heading into Saturday.

PNE have had a good record over the Tykes in recent years, having come out on top in three of the last four meetings, with the first of those being a 5-1 victory at Deepdale in October 2019.

The overall head-to-head record between the two sides sees PNE just about edge it, having won 25 times compared to Barnsley’s 20. The first time they faced each other was all the way back in September 1901.

Our Last Meeting





North End came out 2-0 winners the last time they came up against the Tykes in the penultimate game of the 2020/21 season.

Jordan Storey and Ched Evans were on the scoresheet that afternoon, with close-range finishes sealing a third consecutive victory.

Man In The Middle

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Experienced EFL referee Keith Stroud will take the whistle this weekend to take charge of his first PNE fixture this season.

He’s certainly no stranger to North End, having regularly officiated their matches over the years, dating back to 2005.

Stroud has been the main official of 15 games so far this term, the majority of those games being in the Championship.

MACS VIEW
Firstly a word or two about Frankie Mc, sad for him that it didn't work out, probably too nice a bloke do not think he was helped by the fact we played games behind closed doors totally different scenario to playing in front of a baying mob at Bloomfield and that was just the away fans wish him the best for the future
Good look to Mr Lowe apparently there are health warnings from Argyle fans if it does go a bit tits up but he has a very good assistant in Mike Marsh who worked under Cooper at Swansea.
Let's see what happens

 

Preston North End 2 Browne Johnson Barnsley 1 Woodrow
PNE line-up: Iversen; van den Berg, Bauer, Hughes; McCann (Ledson, 69), Browne, Whiteman, Johnson (Potts, 90), Earl; Riis, Maguire (Sinclair, 70). Subs not used: Hudson, Cunningham, Lindsay, Rafferty.

Barnsley line-up: Collins; Helik, Andersen, Kitching; Brittain, Palmer, Gomes, Styles (Adevoyejo, 84); Odour (Leya Iseka, 76), Woodrow (Benson, 84), Morris. Subs not used: Jinadu, Williams, Benson, Moon, Vita.

Referee: Mr K Stroud

Attendance: 11,106 (798 away fans)

So the new era started with a win over a Barnsley side who like us are in a transitional period with a new manager three games into his tenure at The Oakwell club, they will possibly feel they possibly should have got something from the game especially during the period when they were on top in the first half when Morris headed against the bar and then shortly afterwards Woodrow hitting over when possibly could have made the keeper work. Not the worse side that have been to Deepdale by any means
Some good bits and some improvement also required, think we need to find another forward to play along side Riis who workedhard today and personal view McCann is not a wing back although the manager stated he can be, well see on that
Whiteman in front of the back four is a big plus played well and also Johnson back in the side makes a difference.
The game was overly brilliant but we passed the ball at a better tempo should have scored early on after a good move down the left Earl finding DJ who fired over the top.
Barnsley were on top from then some defensive uncertainly following a mishit Iversen clearance nearly brought some danger but a world class tackle by Johnson saved the day. Following the two close calls for them Hughes headed wide and we should have done better when Maguire broke with the ball should have squaredto an unmarked Riis instead he lost possession, the roles were reversed Riis down the right ball to Maguire just too far ahead of the Irishman.
At the start of the second McCann nearly gifted two goalds Odour and Woodrow missed good chances.
The opening goal when it came was worth the weight Johnson dummied two players advanced on goal inch perfect pass to Browne side footed into the net.
Soon pegged back his time to Van Den Berg having a brain fail at the corner flag should have cleared it down field tried to be fancy with a back heel the ball eventually ended up on the other side of the box a mishit shot bounced up, possible offside but Woodrow didn't stop to wait and headed home. Just before teh goal they had had a claim for a penalty as the earth's gravitational pull brought down Morris in the box not given. Morris was a handful for Van Den Berg all afternoon.
Double substitution and with 15 minutes left back into the lead well worked free kick Ledson to Johnson keeper got a hand to it but coud not keep itout. A bit of pressure in the latter stages from Barnsley but without really troubling us.
Job done but room for improvement also.
Preston North End manager Ryan Lowe told BBC Radio Lancashire:

"I thought the performance was fantastic, the way we played.

"It's always tough when a new manager comes into the building. The style of how I want to play, the lads have bought into straight away.

"We have shown them lots of clips over the past few days of how we go about our business.

"We could have done better in certain areas. I thought we defended fantastic, the counter-press was unbelievable."

Barnsley head coach Poya Asbaghi told BBC Radio Sheffield:

"Even though we had a good start, we hit the crossbar, I think Preston made their way into the game.

"We got back in and created chances as well so coming into half-time, we knew that if we could improve things, we could win this game.

"We conceded a goal - still early - but our reaction from that was still brilliant.

"Them getting the free-kick and using that in a good way was a massive blow for us."