Everything Paul Heckingbottom said on Preston North End’s defence, league position, Emil Riis form and Watford
PNE manager discussed a whole hosts of topics ahead of Wednesday night’s clash with Watford
Preston North End boss Paul Heckingbottom isn’t concerned about his side’s lowly position at this stage of the season, but made it clear he wants to climb up the Championship as quickly as possible.
The PNE boss spoke to the media ahead of Wednesday night’s encounter with Watford, as North End return to Deepdale following a hugely disappointing day at The Den. With one win, two draws and two defeats collected so far, Heckingbottom’s side have an important 90 minutes ahead on home soil.
Ahead of facing Tom Cleverley’s team, the Preston chief was quizzed on several things in his pre-match press conference on Monday morning…
On the concerns around a lack of pace in PNE’s defence
“Yeah listen, I have had that thrown all the time,” said Heckingbottom. “It is not a case of pace at the back. It is always that you’ve got no pace when you’re conceding goals. Scoring goals at the top end and keeping clean sheets at the back, it’s how you win or lose games without a doubt. So of course, every position, you always want better players. That’s it; getting them is another issue. Every window, you are looking to improve the squad, all the time. The next one will be no different.”
On whether the league position is any concern
“No, not for me at the minute,” said Heckingbottom. “But, we don’t want to be down there. So, the sooner you get wins and start looking up rather than down, the better. I think, at the minute, it’s more about us focusing on what we want to do, to be a more competitive team and a team that picks up more points than we have been doing. We have shown lots of signs of doing that, in all areas of the pitch. But, Saturday was a big reminder of what’s going to happen if you don’t produce those performances in this league – especially away from home.”
On Tom Cleverley and Watford
“I don’t think, with the calibre of players they’ve got, they were ever going to struggle,” said Heckingbottom. “I think expectations maybe shifted a little bit. The last two years, they have maybe expected to be in the top six. I have not heard too many people mention them this season, until probably now. They had a decent start, obviously a couple of dodgy results and then won again.
