Four talking points as Preston North End demolished by impressive West Brom

Unrecognisable Lilywhites

Preston North End were unbeaten heading into the game, having picked up 20 points from their first eight games of the campaign. But this was a flashback to darker times, with all aspects of PNE’s performance way under par. Defensive errors were made, the midfield battle was lost and Preston were as tame as you like going forward. West Brom deserve a lot of credit for their display on the day, with Carlos Corberan setting them up perfectly to both stop and hurt North End.

But, Preston offered nothing and had no real answer to the Baggies - who did both sides of the game exceptionally well. PNE need to make those matches - against teams with real individual quality - a battle, but the game was played entirely on Albion’s terms, like some kind of exhibition clash. Nobody expected the Lilywhites to stay unbeaten all season but this was a good and proper pummelling, on a dreary old day at Deepdale.

Selection and substitutes

Ryan Lowe made one change on the day, with Liam Millar brought back into the side in place of Robbie Brady - a straight swap down the left flank with PNE 3-4-2-1 once again. Preston had a free midweek under their belt and Lowe resisted making further changes to last weekend’s draw at Rotherham. The Liverpudlian does not tend to tinker for the sake of it, but you imagine Wednesday night’s trip to Leicester will see a fair few changes now.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing but Ben Whiteman’s omission from the starting lineup on Saturday came as a surprise. The number four is having to bide his time after injury, but the game certainly could’ve done with his composure and control in possession. It felt as though the match was crying out for Whiteman at half-time, but Brady came on for Ali McCann as Lowe went to a 4-4-2 shape. Whiteman was then introduced at 0-3 as PNE changed to 3-5-2, but at that point the game was as good as gone.

All about the response

As bad as Saturday was, North End have plenty of credit in the bank and cool heads are needed in the hope this was just a blip. Nobody ever wants to see their team get dominated in all departments like Preston were against Albion, but the Lilywhites have done a lot right so far this campaign and must be stuck by through thick and thin.

There tends to be one or two of these days in a season and North End will certainly hope there aren’t more of them in store. Their next two games are about as tough as it gets - Leicester City and Ipswich Town away - but Preston’s dressing room should be more motivated than ever to go into both of those matches and compete fiercely.

Team mates clash

Something that never looks great on a football pitch, but hopefully it is water under the bridge for Alan Browne and Brad Potts. In the aftermath of West Brom’s third goal the two players - who have been team mates for several years and are good friends - were raging with one another. There was some pushing and shoving with heated words exchanged. North End players needed to get in between the pair and calm the situation down.

It looked as though Potts tried to fix the spat before play resumed and both players went on to complete the 90 minutes. PNE’s manager had no issue with it when asked post-match and assured that it had been put to bed by Browne and Potts. They are two players who care greatly about their club and want to win, so frustration boiling over - given the sorry state of the game at that stage - is somewhat understandable.