Andy Munro watches Blues draw at home to Preston.
Nil-nil at home to Preston says it all, although the first half hour was very entertaining with both sides having chances. Yet even though the majority of the remainder was rather turgid, it at least stopped the rot and the worrying leakage of goals, and for that Bluenoses should be thankful.
Up front, Troy Deeney and Scott Hogan had their moments, but generally service to them was sparse and not helped by Jereme Bela having a complete mare. Far be it for me to question Lee Bowyer, but as Bela was booked in the first half it was crying out for Jordan Graham to be given a chance ,otherwise why the heck did we buy him? Taking off Deeney and Hogan for the Juke and Chuks Aneke also had little effect with the latter showing the mobility of a footballing Herman Munster.
Further back, Ryan Woods and Ivan Sunjic were decent with the latter probably deserving man of the match. Mind you, it’s a good job they were on their mettle as we looked decidedly shaky at the back and too easily carved open. However, with Marc Roberts and Kristian Pedersen returning, things should be sortable but it’s up front there is the dilemma.
Deeney is certainly not match fit and Aneke is no world beater so I would probably start with the Juke and Hogan up front for half a dozen matches to give them a chance to resurrect some understanding. Failing that I would be tempted to either play Tahith Chong as an out and out winger or put him up front down the middle with the Juke as an out and out forward.
Either way, QPR away is going to be a real test.
