Mark Burton: "Brian Clough would be turning in his grave" at Derby style of play

[rynny]

But we don't try and play more passing moves than hoofs.. We don't.. 90% of the time when the defence or the GK has the ball it's pumped long..

I'm not pig headed at all.. People are tellling me that we're a passing team and passing it off as a fact.. I'm saying it's not.. And then the only evidence they can put forward is one or two moves throughout the match when 90% of the others are caused by long punts...

People are arguing the case because they simply can't accept the truth.. Like EHR mentions about his wife.. She's not the prettiest woman in the world but to him she is.. The same with Derby... Realism is needed, take a step back and look at it through a realitistic mind not the rose-tinited specs (opinions) that are shared here..

I imagine everyteam thinks theirs is the best, think they play the best football and have the best players in the league.. But we can't all be the best and have the best team/players etc.. At least I can be realistic when it comes to this club and not have serious delusions of grandeur..

I want us to improve in every possible way and I'd love to watch us on the box against the big boys.. But the reality is we're a nothing midtable club with an average management and I can see many aspecs in which we can improve.. I can see it, I'm sure you all can too.

We're not a passing team.. A percentage team who can string a few passes together in the final third we are..

Well if you think 90% of the time we play long punts then you clearly haven't seen many games this season and there is no point in trying to have a debate with someone who has imagined games.

[Bris Vegas]

Bris, i tend to agree with what you're saying, but that is just a massive over exagerration, 90% is just plain wrong, im 100% confident if you went through all our games this season and counted every time a member of our defence had the ball under no pressure the hoof percentage would be nowhere near 100%. If you truly believe it's 90% im starting to doubt whether you watch the games, cos it's more like 50% tops.

Are you telling me that in games this season when we have a goalkick Lego plays it out to a fullback or when he has it in his arms he rolls it out to he defence and from then on we pass through midfield and into the final 3rd 50% of the time?

I watched against Brum.. Lego recieved the ball many occasions and only once did he ever throw it out to the fullback.. That same ball was immediately returned to Lego who then hoofed it upfield..

[DCFCfranco]

Face it bris you are wrong.

[BorneoRam]

Ah, this old chestnut - I hadn't seen the thread but was amazed that Burton's comments had proven so controversial to have 10 pages.

OK - so on topic, Bris I assume you agree that his comments telling someone else's club what they should be doing - a la Carl Froch - were wrong, or is that only applicable when you don't agree 'http://www.dcfcfans.co.uk/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/ph34r' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':ph34r:' />

off topic but on what I assume 90% of the thread is about (only went back a page or 2 but have seen this thread and these posters a few times before)

It is possible to play passing football and percentage football, happens a lot in England due to the pace of the game - as you mention Bris, Derby (and pretty much every other club in England) try to play their passing football in the opponents half, the fact they do this does not mean (in my opinion, and probably 95% of others here) that they are not a passing team. They do this because English football tends to have more people getting forward at pace and so leaving gaps in behind that can be exploited by quick balls forward.

Spanish football, Mexican football, Italian football is played at a slower pace for much of the game with interspersions of very quick play when an opportunity is there - this means that players do tend to get more time on the ball so it encourages a more purer passing game and a slower build up ( I personally find this extremely boring and hard to watch, the success of English football as a television product around the world would seem to back me up on this as well but hey - just my opinion). There is also a greater fear factor in English football when on the ball - players are scared of giving away possession in bad areas and this means it gets hit long from the back - another factor in Latin football is the going to ground - refs give free kicks for fun so if a player gets caught in possession a lot of the time they can fall down and get a free kick - not the case here.

English football has defenders who defend and it is hard for clubs of our size to get a defender who can cope with the physical side of the Championship but can also play, at Derby I have seen Stimac, Macgrath, West and Wright but we will struggle to get players of that ilk in our current position - do you honestly want Bucko at al to be tapping it around at the back - the fans would be having kittens and screaming at him to get it out - this is UK football and it can work, in the last 8 years English clubs have been in the final of the CL 7 times, one time having both clubs.

In short Derby generally strive to have 4 midfielders who can pass, we don't have a big lump in there whose sole job is to kick people - we have a CB in Keogh who can play a bit and 2 decent full backs who join in and the football this season has been the best in a good while, especially at home. Sam, Pulis et al have good players but the difference is that as well as getting it up the other end as 95% of UK clubs do they also focus on bombarding the 18 yard area when they are up there - Derby have been doing a lot less of this which is why I think so many take umbrage at people making sweeping statements about us not being a passing team - if you compare us like for like (i.e. with other Championship clubs) I think we try and pass it more than 60% of other clubs albeit in the opposition half.