Lancashire

Andy Bayes
BBC Radio Lancashire sports editor

Image source, Rex Features

Preston North End go into the third international break placed very handily indeed.

Pre-season predictions would have had them being nowhere near three points behind second-placed Middlesbrough. It really is a far cry from the way last season ended, that's for sure.

At this stage a year ago, they were 11 points worse off. The draws are still a little on the high side, but the defeats have halved and the victories more than doubled.

This represents their second-best return at this point since returning to the Championship in 2015 - only Alex Neil's team in the Covid impacted season of 2019-20 amassed more.

So what have been the factors in this change?

The biggest one for me is that head coach Paul Heckingbottom had almost a full season to assess what he had and he knew things had to change, albeit with limited finances.

Of the 10 players to leave permanently, only really Emil Riis and Freddie Woodman could be considered first picks. Riis was clear that he was leaving, with the club deciding against a new deal for Woodman.

Following the recent arrival of Jamal Lewis, 13 players have come in, with only Odel Offiah costing a substantial fee. The rest were either free agents, loan signings or players allowed to leave Sheffield Wednesday after their issues paying players.

The change has breathed new life into a club that some of its own supporters felt was treading water and had been perhaps guilty of keeping the same nucleus of a squad for far too long.

With such an influx of new players, the hope is that as many as possible hit the ground running, and in the main they really have.

But it hasn't been straightforward. The physio room has been overcrowded for too long. We're still to see Brad Potts, Will Keane, Robbie Brady and Jordan Thompson this season because of injury - that's a combined 788 Championship appearances across the quartet.

Pol Valentin has missed the past eight games, Ali McCann has a broken arm and is on the long-term list, as is Andrija Vukcevic, and Daniel Jebbison hasn't been involved in six of the 15 games. It's a lot to contend with, which makes the achievements so far all the more impressive.

They'll now have another eight games without striker Milutin Osmajic. Providing all of the matches between now and Boxing Day are played, he'll be suspension-free for a visit to Wrexham on 29 December.

In terms of other key factors for the turnaround, some are pretty simple. They've scored more goals and substantially cut down on the number conceded.

They've got the joint best return for home points in the league. They've won five games already, having only won seven at Deepdale in the whole of last season.

And, importantly, they come out of traps quickly, as well as end games strongly. Of 20 goals scored, 11 have come either in the first 15 minutes or past the 76-minute mark.

Sometimes football can be made far too complicated. The facts are that North End have been great. The hope is that it continues.

The squad is infinitely better than the one they had a year ago and there is no reason why they can't keep this fine form going.

Natalie Bromley
Fan writer

Image source, Getty Images

For all the optimism that the results against Leeds and Wolves delivered, Saturday's defeat at West Ham United was a blow. Especially considering how well Burnley played in the first half and the extent to which they dominated the game.

In the post-match interview, Scott Parker talked of his frustration at how easily his players switched off and how a lack of focus and discipline allowed the game to get away from us.

He didn't exactly throw his players under the bus - he is too classy for that - but it was perhaps the first time I have heard him be openly critical and call his players out for mistakes.

I welcome this, if it gets the message across in the right manner. It is signs of leadership, as opposed to just management. When you are Burnley in the Premier League you simply cannot afford to switch off for a single minute, especially when you are on top of a game and confidence is high.

That said, I'm not sure Parker is blameless either. Armando Broja was brought on ahead of Lyle Foster, which seemed questionable, as was taking Lesley Ugochukwu off. And Jaiden Anthony, a player so desperately in need of a rest, was left on for far too long.

Ultimately, it was goalkeeping errors that costs us the goals, but Martin Dubrakva gets a pass from criticism this week - he has single-handedly won us more points than he has cost us recently.

Perhaps Burnley would be wise to use the international break to work on set-pieces...

Find more from Natalie Bromley at No Nay Never podcast, external

Former Preston North End forward Brett Ormerod says that Lilywhites fans must be "pinching themselves" following their fine start to the campaign.

North End are fourth in the table after a 1-1 draw with sixth placed Millwall on Saturday.

"Anyone would have taken a draw at The Den this year because they [Millwall] are really good at home so it's a fantastic point," Ormerod told BBC Radio Lancashire.

"You only have to look at Birmingham and Wrexham, who have spent massively. They aren't struggling but they are mid-table, they are still trying to find their feet in this league.

"I think a lot of people thought they'd just go and take the league by storm and be straight up at the top and it's not been the case, because this league is so competitive. There's nowhere you can go."

Listen to the full discussion and more Preston North End content on BBC Sounds.

We asked for your thoughts after Saturday's Premier League game between West Ham and Burnley.

Here are some of your comments:

West Ham fans

Joe: West Ham might still not be the prettiest football team to watch, but it is good to see the team grind out a win. Need more of this if we have a chance in beating the drop. Tomas Soucek is so underrated, he always turns up with a goal.

Steve: Hammers started slowly as usual but Nuno Espirito Santo seems to have finally decided on the players and a system they can play in. Callum Wilson needs to get fit and Crysencio Summerville gets pushed off the ball too easily - from the stands he looks like a schoolboy playing with men. He has potential, but I'm just not sure where he can fit in other than bombing down the wing and putting in crosses, which he needs to improve his technique with. Well done all the team and Soucek again coming off the bench to score. Luckily we had a two-goal lead as Burnley scored with the last kick of the game.

Michael: Not the best performance on the pitch but all that mattered was the three points.

Adrian: There is no doubt the team are playing better now than earlier in the season. The defence still looks vulnerable but Freddie Potts has improved the midfield and Summerville looks a threat. Wilson and Jarrod Bowen worked hard. I was impressed with Burnley. They will make a fight of staying up.

Burnley fans

Graham: Excellent, confident, dominant football against a docile West Ham, but Burnley contrived to let them score more goals. Simple! Never really pressurised or consistently threatened throughout the match. Burnley just didn't have the aggression or firepower to kill off the match, and paid the price.

Pete: West Ham were there for the taking. Really disappointing substitutions that took the wind out of our sails.

Bob: Once again, we played well in part but still lost! We don't seem to quite have what it takes to dominate and get the vital wins we will need to stay up.

Jack: Definitely Scott Parker's fault. His substitution decisions were awful. To introduce Armando Broja left us with no threat for 15 minutes of the game.

Chris Wise
Final Score reporter

Image source, Getty Images

You didn't even need to listen to what Scott Parker was saying after Burnley's defeat by West Ham. His body language alone told you everything you needed to know.

The way Parker's side allowed the game to slowly slip out of their grasp will concern him. He has been in the Premier League managerial game long enough now to know that it's matches like Saturday's that can define whether your team can stay in the top flight or not.

Burnley were effective in the first half, but then lost their way. What will irritate Parker is that even in the moments when his team looked more clunky in the second half, it still didn't ever feel like they were being overrun or outplayed by West Ham.

Without the errors from Martin Dubravka, there is a really strong chance the game would have finished 1-1. It is a shame that something so costly happened to Burnley's goalkeeper as the Slovakian has largely been very solid since joining.

Parker's immense frustration was hard to mask.

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