Assistant manager Glynn Snodin says that the Lilywhites must concentrate on themselves after changes at Saturday’s opponents QPR.
The North End No.2 spoke ahead of the trip to Loftus Road and admitted that much of the scouting and research about the R’s would be of little use after the sacking of Chris Ramsey on Wednesday night.
However, he feels that if the team can keep the ball better, they can build on the solidity shown over the past few weeks.
“We have already started our preparations for Saturday, but things could be totally different now,” said Snods.
“Neil is in charge and it could change how he is going to set up, what players will be used and the positions those players will be in, so everything changes, especially the video analysis we do in preparation.
“If we can keep the ball better than we did on Tuesday night then we can be a top team. Defensively, throughout the team – not just the back three or five – we have been excellent and given ourselves something to build on.”
Despite the change of manager at the side who relegated from the Premier League last season, Snodin is well aware of the threats in the squad that Warnock has at his disposal.
“They have some good players,” he continued. “Everyone knows that Charlie [Austin] is a threat and if you give him a couple of chances, usually one of those goes in the back of the net.
“We will be looking to keep him quiet, just as we have done with the other strikers we have played against in the last five games.
“But we don’t know what might have changed; the line-up, the way they set up, the set pieces, we have to concentrate on ourselves and putting our own stamp on the game.”
Five consecutive clean sheets in the Championship is no mean feat, especially considering the step up in quality this season, but the North End assistant is well aware that improvements can still be made.
“We are coming up better quality teams and better quality individuals, no disrespect to League One. There are some great players in the Championship and you also have to be wary of their quality from set pieces and things like that as well, so the clean sheets have been great for us.
“We now need to build on the other side of it and if we can get the goalscoring going, then we will keep on moving up this table,” he added.