Pundit makes U-Turn on Preston North End prediction after Graham Alexander news | OneFootball

Will Graham Alexander get Preston North End firing again?

Preston North End have this week ushered in a new era with the appointment of Graham Alexander as their new manager.

The Lilywhites waited it out two weeks after Paul Heckingbottom's dismissal to hone in on the right candidate, and after approaching Bradford City for talks, they've brought Deepdale icon Alexander back to the club after his stellar work at Valley Parade.

The 54-year-old had the Bantams top of the League One standings after seven matches and has a 50 per cent win record with them, securing victories in 79 of his 158 matches in charge, but he's returning to a place where he featured 421 times as a player, scoring 66 times and becoming one of the EFL's leading penalty takers in that time.

Graham Alexander appointment at Preston North End backed by EFL pundit

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Alexander has already had a brief spell as manager of North End, teaming up with David Unsworth in 2011 as co-interim bosses following the sacking of Phil Brown - the pair won two of their five league contests in charge before Graham Westley's permanent appointment.

Nearly 15 years later, Alexander is back in the Deepdale dugout, and EFL pundit George Elek of the NTT20 podcast thinks PNE have made the right move here, despite some initial supporter skepticism.

"They've appointed Graham Alexander, a club hero, what a player for them - and it's been met with a bit of a shrug of the shoulders from North End fans, I think because he's percieved as a lower-league manager, and they're a Championship club appointing him," Elek said.

"|'ve seen the term 'already planning for League One' tossed around - I think that's absolute nonsense. There's no way that after eight games of the season, the Preston North End hierarchy are thinking 'let's go and hire a manager who knows League One'.

"They are hiring someone who I think his style of football is pretty well-suited to being one of the poorer Championship sides in terms of player quality, because it's much more to do with out of possession shape and pressing and building a strong defensive unit, than it is around technical quality and individual ability, that is what has taken Bradford up, that's what previous successes were based upon too.

"So, I quite like that appointment, and I also think the whole 'never go back' thing is nonsense.

EFL pundit renegs on Preston North End relegation prediction

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In their pre-season predictions for the Championship, Elek and his NTT20 co-host Ali Maxwell had North End to finish in the bottom three of the Championship, and given early season results, it's looking like a shrewd one at this moment.

But the appointment of Alexander has swayed the aforementioned Elek into a change of mind over his bottom three selections, with the Lilywhites no longer among them, especially given the way PNE's data looks after a handful of matches.

"There's also just the numbers side of things. Often when a team is much better than their results, their underlying numbers are better - that's reflecting fan opinion," Elek added.

"With North End, it's not at all. They have a positive expected goals ratio, as per Opta, yet their goal difference is minus seven. They're eight goals away from where they should be, as per xG, but their fans I think would come down much more on the side of results than the underlying data numbers, they don't necessarily see where the unfortunate nature of this has all come from, they wanted Heckingbottom to be sacked when he was sacked.

"Part of this will obviously come down to the fact North End have been behind in quite a lot of games, and that will change the way the game is staked, and it'll impact the xG numbers.

"They've had good performances - they were pretty good against Bristol City where they lost 3-1, ironically their win against Blackburn was a game where they were probably second-best within it, and losing six of their first eight games is obviously difficult.

"But I do think there are elements of the squad that are okay. Stan Mills is a player who I really like, and has come into Preston and shown what he's about. I think he'll probably be hoping that Alexander ditches the wing-back system he's been playing at Bradford, but I think he's also quite capable of playing in that role too.

"I think Lang and Kenny are fine as strikers - Kenny coming into the side against QPR and scoring those two goals, and Lang has started the season okay. Devine showed last season what he's about, even if he's started the season poorly.

"I think the defensive unit has got more issues, but Clarke coming in is a pretty good signing - he can play as a right-sided centre-back or a right-back.

"There's enough there and the numbers being good that my hottest take is that I'm not going to put Preston North End in my bottom three."

Can Graham Alexander get a tune out of faltering Preston North End?

There's likely going to be little tactical change from Heckingbottom to Alexander, given his liking for a back three formation with wing-backs utilised, but the ex-Scotland international needs to make PNE more defensively solid after the international break is over.

North End have leaked too many goals this season already, and their second half against QPR under Jason Euell's management summed up how the mentality really was - two goals ahead at half-time and with a man advantage, PNE sat off and let the Hoops dominate, and they eventually scored twice to secure a point with a 2-2 draw at Loftus Road.

Alexander and assistant Chris Lucketti will have to drill the squad back into a positive mindset as soon as possible, because there is a big run of fixtures coming, starting with the October 10 clash with Millwall at Deepdale, in what is not only Alexander's homecoming, but also his 55th birthday - not to mention Alex Neil will be back at his former club too in the Lions dugout.