Graham Alexander explains what it will take to stop setbacks being 'fatal' to Preston North End

Graham Alexander says Preston North End must improve their competitiveness in training and play with defiance to ensure they aren’t completely rocked by setbacks in games.

Preston have now registered the worst set of results, on goal difference, in the opening 14 games of a Championship season since the league’s rebrand in 2004 after Tuesday’s 3-2 defeat to Sheffield United.

Leo Leroy, who is suspended for Saturday’s visit of Southampton, fired in the first goal after just two minutes as Preston started the game strongly and looked threatening on the counter attack.

However, Sydie Peck’s cross into the box evaded everyone to land in the back of the net and the Blades found themselves level out of nowhere. As has been the case on multiple occasions this season, Preston’s heads dropped after the setback and they were unable to get close to the visitors as Peck completed his hat-trick before the break.

That’s the second home game in succession Preston have taken the lead without being able to hold on to it, with Alexander giving ‘we concede p*** poor goals’ as explanation as to why.

Alexander says PNE need to fight and compete

The manager has talked at length about the squad’s mentality after such a difficult period, and how he wants to help them ensure setbacks and mistakes don’t become ‘fatal’ by reacting negatively to them.

When asked by The Post how that can be achieved, he pointed towards hard work on the training pitch to ensure his team can be competitive for an entire 90 minutes instead of brief periods.

He said: “Work. Belief. Work every day. Fight. Anger. Desire. Defiance. All those words that mean you're fighting and competing, that's what we need to do every single day.

“Not just on a Saturday, not just on a Tuesday, every single day. So when we're defending and attacking crosses in training people are contacting each other, people are competing against each other because then it comes into a game you can compete against your opponents, at the minute we're just lacking a little bit of that.

“If we can get that, as we do in spells. As we did in the first 20 minutes, as we did in the last 20, 25, 30 minutes. But we have to make complete performances, we have to have our blood boiling all the time and play with that anger.”

Is it a mentality or quality issue for Preston?

While Preston did have some good periods where they were competitive against Sheffield United, quality in both boxes let the side down, as it has repeatedly in Alexander’s six winless games so far.

Preston did manage to get forward a fair bit but mustered only five shots compared to United’s 17, with their only shots on target being the goals. Though several dangerous crosses were put into the box, North End couldn’t take advantage of them after the opener.

At the other end, defensive mistakes can be found in all three goals.

“I think there's a bit of everything.” Alexander said when asked if it was a mentality or quality issue with his players.

“I've not been here long enough to fully judge the actual quality of each individual player but when you've been losing a lot of games for almost a calendar year, it's going to bring you down.

“It's going to give you wounds that are still not healed up.

“What I've learned in life and from football is no one's here to make it better for you, you have to make it better for yourself so that's what we have to have every single day. Can we make it better ourselves?”