Preston North End boss Ryan Lowe makes Sheffield United assurance as 'big week' starts

Preston North End boss Ryan LowePreston North End boss Ryan Lowe
Preston North End boss Ryan Lowe | CameraSport - Dave Howarth
PNE preparing for season number four under Ryan Lowe

Preston North End’s pre-season is done and dusted and a first team selection of the season now awaits boss Ryan Lowe.

The Lilywhites kick off at Deepdale, against relegated Sheffield United on Friday night. The Blades have been busy adding to their squad in recent weeks, and the Championship curtain raiser is not far away now. PNE played eight games over the course of pre-season and - with two new recruits in the building - North End’s manager has a good idea what he’ll do against Chris Wilder’s team.

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“I have, yeah,” said Lowe. “With the lads who haven’t played as many minutes as they probably would’ve liked, we’ve looked at certain things. There are going to be some disappointed players on Wednesday, when we start going through the team. I have already said to them that I need them to be disappointed, because I don’t want anyone to not be. But, they are all going to get opportunities and play a part - whether it is the first or fifth game. We’ve got 46, potentially 47, 48, 49 games to play. So, yeah, they are all in good spirits.

“Pre-season is done now, we’ve ticked loads of boxes and seen some good stuff. We’ve seen some stuff we can get better at, like conceding sloppy goals - which we don’t want to do. We’ve been excellent at learning from that. Can we get on the end of good deliveries into the box? Can we make sure attacks do not peter out? Can we get the ball in the box and make them defend? There is a lot of positive, good stuff and a lot of stuff we feel we can get better at. Hopefully we can take that to fruition this week.”

Lowe added: “We’ve definitely tried a lot. We started with two tens and one striker and finished with two strikers and one (vs Everton) - so we’ve experimented with that and what it looks like. I think all the players are up to match speed now, which is where we want them. There were a few tired bodies (vs Everton), hence why - when the result was out of our hands - we felt we’d save the lads until Monday morning, when we’ll have a headcount.

“We’ll then build up through the week and hopefully we will be ready to go. It’s been a mixed pre-season, but I think most results are - and there are no points gained or lost. Our focus is making sure everyone’s fit and available; we have got a big week. It’s Friday, Tuesday, Saturday to open the campaign, with a cup game in between. If I’ve got them all fit and available for training on Monday, then I will be a happy manager.”

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