Ryan Lowe believes his Preston side are far from finished article but are showing good signs

Ryan Lowe thinks Preston North End are playing with the identity that he wants but it’s a continuous work in progress to improve it.
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The PNE boss says his side are far from the finished article but he has seen good signs over the two months he’s been in charge.

When appointed, Lowe spoke of his desire to play an attacking brand of football, building from the back and working the ball up field.

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He admits things have not always gone to play in games but three wins, four draws and one defeat in the league going into today’s visit to Hull City, point to steady progress.

PNE boss Ryan LowePNE boss Ryan Lowe
PNE boss Ryan Lowe

Lowe said: “We have an identity and that identity is to be a possession-based attacking football team starting from the back.

“The identity is there, sometimes we have lacked a bit of quality in certain areas and needed a bit better decision making.

“But the more we play and the more we train, that will come.

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“I have never made a secret of my style in my four years of being a manager.

“That won’t change, I will tactically adapt certain things but it is a footballing way I believe works.

“We have got very good footballers here, that first and foremost is important.

“As a group, they know how to look after the ball and we will always look to push that on and set the standard with the sessions we put on.”

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Lowe says the way he wants the game to be played has developed in his time in coaching rather than coming too much from his playing days as a striker.

“When I was a player I just wanted to score lots of goals,” said Lowe.

“I was selfish, get the ball to me and I will score!

“The more you go through your coaching qualifications and badges, the more you watch players, teams and styles, that is when you develop your ideas.

“When I started I was torn between 4-4-2, 4-2-3-1, 4-3-3 or 3-5-2.

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“At Bury I had the players to play a 3-5-2, I got better at it, coached it better and I got more ideas about it.

“We recruited then for types of players to play 3-5-2.

“Our team here at the moment has been recruited for different kinds of formations because they were here under Alex and Frankie who had different styles and system.

“They’ve done great to play how we’ve asked them to and will continue to get better as we go forward.

“Our recruitment will change in terms of how we get the type of players we want.

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“The team is doing terrific for us and we want to make sure the competition for places is there as time goes on.”

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