Preston – Middlesbrough SOCCER PICKS
Preston North End and Middlesbrough meet at Deepdale. Preston North End treated Blackburn Rovers last Saturday with a 4-1 defeat while Middlesbrough triumphed 1-2 at Brentford in London. Which team holds the right shape? A look in the glass bulb!
Preston North End:
Preston North End proved itself an excellent service on Saturday afternoon at Deeldale by winning no less than 4-1 against Blackburn Rovers. The spectators were only just at their seat when the match was practically decided. Tom Barkhuizen and Callum Robinson made sure that the meeting was decided within ten minutes. Despite Daniel Graham’s goal after the break, the margin was extended to three goals in the last fifteen minutes by goals from Louis Moult and Alan Browne.
Preston North End is currently in absolute top form. From the last eight games, it gained eighteen points and did not lose a single game. The series consists of four victories and four draws. These are statistics that belong to a team that struggle for promotion to the Premier League. Nevertheless, Preston North End is only sixteenth with twenty-one points from seventeen matches. The start of manager Alex Neil with his Preston North End was weak. From the first ten games, it only gained five points.
Middlesbrough:
Middlesbrough is currently second in the ranking. Club’s manager Tony Pulis started the season very well, but the last ten games were only won four times and were lost once, but the other games were all played in the same place. Those equal games are inherent in the defensive view of the game that the English manager uses. In away games it is mainly a question of stopping and counting. At home it tries to make the game more often, but even in these matches the manager is not ashamed to play with nine players behind the ball.
Last Saturday criticism came from (un) expected corner of colleague manager Thomas Frank: ‘It is difficult to play against a team which always keeps nine or ten players behind the ball.’ Of course it is not forbidden to take such a view of the game. but you can expect more from a team with a market value of 86.2 million euros. Last Saturday Middlesbrough won with 1-2 from Brentford. Jordan Hugill and Marcus Tavernier made the decision within a period of seven minutes. The tying goal of Alan Judgde about fifteen minutes before time was one for the statistics.
