Southampton boss Russell Martin has offered his verdict on Ryan Lowe’s Preston North End ahead of locking horns tonight.
PNE make the long trip down to the South Coast this evening, taking on a promotion-chasing Southampton side.
North End have been in great form of late but this is an incredibly tough test given that Southampton still have a number of Premier League-calibre players.
The game isn’t played on paper though and Ryan Lowe takes his side to St Mary’s Stadium with genuine hope of a result.
Lowe locks horns with Russell Martin once again following their spat at the end of last season, and the Saints boss has offered his view on North End.
Russell Martin on Preston North End
Martin spoke to the media on Tuesday as he looked ahead to facing PNE.
Martin was somewhat complimentary but his comments again followed the same path as Hull City boss Liam Rosenior.
Speaking after Saturday’s 0-0 draw between PNE and Hull, Rosenior used works like strong, physical and aggressive to describe North End.
Martin has followed suit, suggesting that North End are physical, strong, athletic and powerful whilst adding that PNE are ‘really good at what they do’.
Martin is expecting a tough game and believes North End will try and make life difficult tonight.
“We’re meeting them at a really difficult time because they’re in a really good place,” said Martin. “I think we know what to expect. They’re very physical, very strong, athletic, powerful and they’re really good at what they do and the way they play.”
“They will definitely try and make it hard for us and we have to play in the same way we have done the last two games in terms of the build-up and how we start the game,” he added.
We would like to see more credit for the wing play of Liam Millar or the creative abilities of Mads Frøkjær-Jensen, but the stats do show North End as quite a direct side.
PNE play an average of 72 long passes per game, the most in the Championship.
Conversely, Southampton play the fewest long balls per game at an average of 39, as well as the most short passes per game at 643.
We would expect Southampton to have plenty of the ball with PNE looking to counter at pace, focusing on direct transition play to try and hurt the Saints and pick up an important result on the road.
