Transfer window failings plague Preston North End as numbers remain grim for Graham Alexander

Graham Alexander says football is a game of numbers. Well, the numbers don't lie, and they spelt disaster for Preston North End at Wrexham.

Four goals goals conceded. Nine in three games. Six shots compared to 13. Three successive games with just one shot on target. Three successive defeats.

Zero points.

Things couldn't have gone much worse on the pitch since Alexander took charge, but it's hard not to have sympathy for him when he has inherited an imbalanced squad that the summer transfer window failed to fix.

Predictably, Ben Whiteman scored the second goal for Wrexham in his first match against his former club (and set one up), in a perfect metaphor for just how much the summer's business has proved costly as a whole.

You can't argue with Preston's intent in the summer. They spent a record £20m and broke their previous transfer record on a single player multiple times.

Yet, to have spent so much and be left with a back three of Jordan Storey, Liam Lindsay and Andrew Hughes, at a combined age of 94, shows that at least one area should have received more of that funding.

27 is another number, and it's the number of games since Preston last kept a clean sheet, breaking the previous record of 26 that had held for 56 years. It's been 252 days since the last one, a 1-0 win over Portsmouth on February 7.

In the second-half came a collapse reminiscent of St. Andrew’s as two goals were shipped in a matter of minutes, both from set pieces as the defensive frailties were laid bare again and again.

Preston finally scored under Alexander, but attacking patterns are near non-existent

There was at least one goal in North End's column for the first time since Alexander took charge, with that record signing Alfie Devine clinically finishing into the bottom corner to briefly level things up.

But it was the only moment to celebrate in another match in which Preston struggled to create attacking patterns.

Wrexham offered an interesting contrast, with the Welsh side also lining up in a back three formation but able to move up the pitch so much quicker, looking menacing every time they did.

Callum O'Hare operated behind two strikers and was constantly threading passes through for the strikers and wing-backs, with the Red Dragons getting the bodies forward that Preston did not.

You can't please everyone, with a Welsh lilt constantly complaining about his side's team's attacking play.

"You don't win games playing like that, Reds! Play some football!"

But it turns out you do. Wrexham were able to maintain pressure and cut through the North End back line repeatedly, only Daniel Iversen ensuring they didn't go ahead much sooner with some fine saves.

Preston, meanwhile, mostly resorted to long balls into the channels for Johnny Kenny, a welcomed surprise inclusion in the starting XI whose deflected shot teed up Devine, to hopelessly chase against burly centre-backs who won every header.

Kenny got into some good positions, basically taking it upon himself to run towards the box, but his shooting radar was understandably off kilter in his first game back. Still, he looks the only player capable of making something out of nothing.

What made the constant long balls even more perplexing is that PNE actually looked bright in the rare moments they did get the ball down and played.

Callum Lang showed nice turns and endeavoured to go forward, while Odel Offiah provided support on the right flank and looked more comfortable in the wing-back role. The duo combined with Leo Leroy in one first-half moment to create a nice move.

But those pieces of play were few and far between, as Preston's players could not keep up with the ball being sent high and long to commit enough bodies forward in support of the front three.

Perhaps the long balls were in a bid to relieve pressure but, instead, it invited more when the attackers couldn't make it stick.

Lang, Devine and Kenny tried their best, but there was only so much they could do when constantly outnumbered. With little off the bench able to change things, Preston's thin squad and lack of firepower again points to transfer window failings.

In his first press conference after taking charge, Alexander said he wants his sides to defend by committing players forward and making the other team defend instead. We are yet to see his side play on that aggressive front foot.

If that doesn't change soon, then the numbers will continue to read 24th place.