duncanjwitham

If he'd played every minute in the league of last season, he would have scored 18 (at the rate he was scoring at).  So him scoring 20 is not beyond crazy, if we're playing more to his strengths this year.
(Obviously over-simplistic stat is over-simplistic etc etc.)

If he'd played every minute in the league of last season, he would have scored 18 (at the rate he was scoring at).  So him scoring 20 is not beyond crazy, if we're playing more to his strengths this year.
(Obviously over-simplistic stat is over-simplistic etc etc.)

His best football for us was that first spell when he broke through, basically playing as a split striker off a focal point up front.  You want him getting on the ball, running at defenders in the final third and getting shots off.  Not doing death-sprints up and down the wing, chasing opposing wingers and hugging the touchline to get crosses in.

But he did, by all accounts, tell Hughes he wasn't his type of player and wasn't going to use him very much, which is what led to Hughes leaving.

That was Gary Rowett...

That was Gary Rowett...

It was something like 3 or 4 good performances out of maybe 10, which is more than good enough as a youngster that had just broken though, in a COVID-interrupted season.  Then we never really used him like that again, he got stuck out wide or given the odd 20 minutes here or there.
He only played a tiny handful of games as an actual wingback last season, and was pretty terrible.  His best run last season was as a fullback, but he wasn't good enough defensively and teams were starting to exploit that, so we stopped using him there.

His best football for us was that first spell when he broke through, basically playing as a split striker off a focal point up front.  You want him getting on the ball, running at defenders in the final third and getting shots off.  Not doing death-sprints up and down the wing, chasing opposing wingers and hugging the touchline to get crosses in.

His best football for us was that first spell when he broke through, basically playing as a split striker off a focal point up front.  You want him getting on the ball, running at defenders in the final third and getting shots off.  Not doing death-sprints up and down the wing, chasing opposing wingers and hugging the touchline to get crosses in.

His best football for us was that first spell when he broke through, basically playing as a split striker off a focal point up front.  You want him getting on the ball, running at defenders in the final third and getting shots off.  Not doing death-sprints up and down the wing, chasing opposing wingers and hugging the touchline to get crosses in.

His best football for us was that first spell when he broke through, basically playing as a split striker off a focal point up front.  You want him getting on the ball, running at defenders in the final third and getting shots off.  Not doing death-sprints up and down the wing, chasing opposing wingers and hugging the touchline to get crosses in.

That was Gary Rowett...

Looks like promotion, until it all goes to pieces at the end? 😉

When we signed him I had a quick skim through his previous stats.  I don’t think he’s ever played at wingback before, it’s always been at fullback in a flat 4.

He was taken off before half time in one game.  That definitely merits a "hauled off" in my book.

It's not about balance and options though, it's entirely a numbers game.  If you want players to absolutely run themselves into the ground (which Warne openly admits he wants), then you simply can't get by with a small squad.  Burnout in the later stages of a season has been a consistent thing with both us last season and his Rotherham teams.  The smaller the squad, the more that is going to happen.

Bielik in that 10 ish game spell in 20/21 was easily one of the best spells of games a player has had for Derby in the past 15 years, like you said, he single-handedly kept us up with amazing performances. The performances against Swansea, Brentford and Bournemouth were incredible. 
Thorne was quality, but he didn't drag us through games like Bielik did, he fit seamlessly into the team, but the team was already good. We were perfectly capable with Eustace in the team too. But as soon as Bielik was injured in 2021, we only won 4/20 games.
In the 13 games Bielik played in 20/21, we scored 11 goals and conceded 5 at 1.62 points per game.

Those stats don't completely tally with what I looked at.  I'm going off WhoScored, which does factor in what positions they actually played, but doesn't have any data for 2017/18.  I'm also using league stats only (because WhoScored separates the cups out).  In the 5 seasons I looked at, only 2 midfielders scored 5 or more from open play.  The are another 4 players who hit that mark if you include set pieces, but that's not really that relevant if we're talking about style of play.  Last season, only Hourihane did for us.
Warne's teams just don't seem to produce midfielders that score lots of goals, unless they take a lot of set pieces/penalties.

Good post.
The other thing I'd say is, if you are the kind of team that wants to move the ball forward quickly (which is what Warne openly says he wants his teams to do), rather than build up slowly through the thirds, you are going to get less goals from your midfielders.  The game gets stretched a lot more, there's a lot more vertical distance between your players, and you get less of the types of situations where forwards are laying the ball off for midfielders to score goals.  
If you look back over Warne's seasons at Rotherham, the goal totals are always dominated by forwards.  You'll maybe see one midfielder taking a bunch of set-pieces/penalties and getting a decent goal return, but you don't really see lots of midfielders (or even wingbacks) getting in the 8-10 goals range in the same season.

Should he be?  Yes
Is he capable of being? Yes
Will he be with Warne in charge? No.

From what you’ve seen from Bird in the last few years, does he strike you as the type of player that can play that role?
Feels a little bit like the way Pearson tried to use Will Hughes to me. 
I like PW a lot and I think he’ll get us promoted, but let’s not be naive to the fact that he does clearly have a way of playing that will suit some a lot more than others. That’s not to say one way is good and the other isn’t; it’s just football.

Should he be?  Yes
Is he capable of being? Yes
Will he be with Warne in charge? No.

Shocked by the amount of negativity towards Bird. I think he’s one of the most cultured and technically gifted players we’ve produced in years and would much rather hold onto him over Knight or Sibley.
Unfortunately I don’t think we’ll see the best of him under PW; he seems to favour the Bryson/Knight type of midfielder from what I’ve seen so far. My only hope for him in the immediate is that Warne can give him the Barlaser treatment as the 1 in a 3-1-4-2

Good post.
The other thing I'd say is, if you are the kind of team that wants to move the ball forward quickly (which is what Warne openly says he wants his teams to do), rather than build up slowly through the thirds, you are going to get less goals from your midfielders.  The game gets stretched a lot more, there's a lot more vertical distance between your players, and you get less of the types of situations where forwards are laying the ball off for midfielders to score goals.  
If you look back over Warne's seasons at Rotherham, the goal totals are always dominated by forwards.  You'll maybe see one midfielder taking a bunch of set-pieces/penalties and getting a decent goal return, but you don't really see lots of midfielders (or even wingbacks) getting in the 8-10 goals range in the same season.

Good post.
The other thing I'd say is, if you are the kind of team that wants to move the ball forward quickly (which is what Warne openly says he wants his teams to do), rather than build up slowly through the thirds, you are going to get less goals from your midfielders.  The game gets stretched a lot more, there's a lot more vertical distance between your players, and you get less of the types of situations where forwards are laying the ball off for midfielders to score goals.  
If you look back over Warne's seasons at Rotherham, the goal totals are always dominated by forwards.  You'll maybe see one midfielder taking a bunch of set-pieces/penalties and getting a decent goal return, but you don't really see lots of midfielders (or even wingbacks) getting in the 8-10 goals range in the same season.