Duracell Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 Remember when teams used to come to Pride Park and play us off the pitch? Remember when we used to expect to lose every game? Remember when almost every team in this league had something we envied, something we really lacked? Well, this season we've surely turned the corner. What made me realise this was a few comments on a Bristol City forum. These comments could have been us talking about other good Championship sides only a few seasons ago. Through the game yesterday watching Derby knock it through our midfield etc, my old man nods to the Derby bench and said "His sides play football like his father's teams. Best side I ever saw down here before you were born was his old man's Forest side with Archie Gemmill and the like" Salmon put himself about and was very combatative he looked the ideal lone forward, something we sadly lack. Thought they played as well as any team at the Gate this season. Yes we made it easy for them but tbh we've made it easy for every visiting team and Derby really did play the ball around nicely. They were a decent little side to be fair. Comfortably better than us, but they played some good stuff. Will Hughes was different class. As you say kept them ticking over nicely. Amazing how a 17 year old can show such composure and class on the ball in comparison to our more experienced players that couldn't do that in a million years. Hughes will be in the prem before long. What summed everything up for me yesterday was about half way through the first half. The ball came through the air to the back four from the Derby goalkick. It came to Fontaine, who had absolutely nobody near him (either Derby or City) and he basically closed his eyes and just headed it high and forward back to where it came. Literally straight to the bank of Derby defenders. In contrast, their player took it down, looked up and played forward to the feet of a central midfielder who had come looking for it. They then played it on the floor and with purpose. We got it and again lumped it forward. We just look like a clueless, route 1 side and frankly on those tactics should go down because its embarrassing at this level. It's not better than the crap I saw under the final season of Johnson. So, my question is, with good football happenig to us, more good results than bad and a competitive season looking likely...why the hell aren't we enjoying it more? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brammie Steve Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 I'm enjoying it a lot more1 Watching them on telly against Leeds was like reliving the glory years! Who wouldn't enjoy that? Enjoy the fun...especially while we've got Will! Merry Christmas all 'http://www.dcfcfans.co.uk/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wub' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':wub:' /> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCFCfranco Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 Well I'm quite happy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curb Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 Probably because we've had many good spells before and it's quickly turned to ****. I've no confidence Clough can keep it going tbh, a couple of defeats and he reverts back to hoof it. I dunno, he seems to want his teams to play passing football, but doesn't seem to have the strength of his convictions to see it through. Look at the Leeds game and the last 15 mins. We totally controlled the game for 75 minutes, so why did we put ourselves under pressure by panicking at the end? All we needed to do was keep the ball, keep doing what we were doing for the rest of the game. We got away with it, but there have many occasions when we haven't. This seems to happen on a larger scale when we get a few defeats, we can't get out of the spiral because we revert to this backs to the wall stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ladyram Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 Good points Bunny. I reckon there's a certain dread that it might all go wrong and we'll slip down again, that the home form won't be maintained, that the board may get rid of our best player... It almost gets sometimes like people can't dare to hope of getting any higher and when they do they get pulled to pieces for it and I think that's just being overly pessimistic when there's no need to be. Those comments you've posted are similar to ones I've read on other forums, even on Leeds forums they said the same things. If some people can see how we're playing and appreciate it, why can't more of our fans? It's taken a while for Cloughie to get this team where he wants them, but it's happening isn't it? I hope we can build on our away form wins, reap the points and carry on dominating at home. Every other team might think the same thing, given that this league is as tight as it is, but I don't even think about them, I don't care what they do. If we can keep up the momentum and take every game by the scruff of the neck, the potentials there to go higher. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheron85 Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 I'm having fun winding trying to wind Bris up... does that count? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOB BIGGS Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 I'm enjoying it a lot more1 Watching them on telly against Leeds was like reliving the glory years! Who wouldn't enjoy that? Enjoy the fun...especially while we've got Will! Merry Christmas all 'http://www.dcfcfans.co.uk/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wub' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':wub:' /> Totally agree. However, lots of people only enjoy the negative side of life so you can't expect them to throw away a life time's worth of caution. This is better than it's been for some time but I think most of us who have watched football for a while are well aware that we still have some way to go. So, I enjoy the good times - and there are more of them this season. Others enjoy the bad times - so they can come on and have a moan. It's all about the aspirations of different people. I suffer from being a reallst 'http://www.dcfcfans.co.uk/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' /> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
networker1884 Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 It's hard to enjoy it on here. You show the smallest bit of optimism and you get hacked down. Happens every season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ambitious Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 I remember being top of the league last season 'http://www.dcfcfans.co.uk/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':(' /> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duracell Posted December 18, 2012 Author Share Posted December 18, 2012 Probably because we've had many good spells before and it's quickly turned to ****. I've no confidence Clough can keep it going tbh, a couple of defeats and he reverts back to hoof it. I dunno, he seems to want his teams to play passing football, but doesn't seem to have the strength of his convictions to see it through. Look at the Leeds game and the last 15 mins. We totally controlled the game for 75 minutes, so why did we put ourselves under pressure by panicking at the end? All we needed to do was keep the ball, keep doing what we were doing for the rest of the game. We got away with it, but there have many occasions when we haven't. This seems to happen on a larger scale when we get a few defeats, we can't get out of the spiral because we revert to this backs to the wall stuff. Fitness is a large factor, we look absolutely knackered by 70 minutes in most games. How many players in our side has played a full season of football at this level before this year? Of our regular starters it's less than half the team. It's a big ask. Most good things come through Hughes, and if you've been watching the games you'd have noticed that he gradually fades. And why wouldn't he? He's 17. That does require a different philosophy to see out games. This season has been different. Last season I was completely dissillusioned at many points but I feel like this has been true progress. It's not like we've had one short blast of good results followed by a long barron period - in fact, we've been pretty consistent throughout the season and we've not sank like a lead balloon in November. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Scarlet Pimpernel Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 Remember when teams used to come to Pride Park and play us off the pitch? Remember when we used to expect to lose every game? Remember when almost every team in this league had something we envied, something we really lacked? Well, this season we've surely turned the corner. What made me realise this was a few comments on a Bristol City forum. These comments could have been us talking about other good Championship sides only a few seasons ago. So, my question is, with good football happenig to us, more good results than bad and a competitive season looking likely...why the hell aren't we enjoying it more? Coming out the ground at Bristol one of the Bristol stewards said out loud "why aren't you lot happy, you just won". .... Maybe we are just a grumpy bunch. Having said that the atmosphere I thought was pretty good from us fans through the game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheron85 Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 It rains a lot in Derby... Maybe that's it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duracell Posted December 18, 2012 Author Share Posted December 18, 2012 Good points Bunny. I reckon there's a certain dread that it might all go wrong and we'll slip down again, that the home form won't be maintained, that the board may get rid of our best player... It almost gets sometimes like people can't dare to hope of getting any higher and when they do they get pulled to pieces for it and I think that's just being overly pessimistic when there's no need to be. Those comments you've posted are similar to ones I've read on other forums, even on Leeds forums they said the same things. If some people can see how we're playing and appreciate it, why can't more of our fans? It's taken a while for Cloughie to get this team where he wants them, but it's happening isn't it? I hope we can build on our away form wins, reap the points and carry on dominating at home. Every other team might think the same thing, given that this league is as tight as it is, but I don't even think about them, I don't care what they do. If we can keep up the momentum and take every game by the scruff of the neck, the potentials there to go higher. There are causes for concern and obviously this is not a perfect season and I still doubt it will end in a play-off season. But we're nearly at half-way point in the season, we're 10th and you've got to say that our form hasn't drastically swung one way or the other...that's half a season of being one of the league's more comepetitive sides with other fans saying very nice things about our side at times. That lingering doubt in your mind you've alluded to is always there, but if you're proved right, then surely we'll all be lamenting not enjoying Hughes while he's here... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duracell Posted December 18, 2012 Author Share Posted December 18, 2012 Coming out the ground at Bristol one of the Bristol stewards said out loud "why aren't you lot happy, you just won". .... Maybe we are just a grumpy bunch. Having said that the atmosphere I thought was pretty good from us fans through the game. I think that sums us up as much as anything! My dad tells me what some fans used to say during the Championship winning seasons, many weren't satisfied then either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ladyram Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 "You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can't please all of the people all of the time." True that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alph Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 I'm happy! The away thing niggles at me. Do I sound like a cnut if I say that I expect to beat Bristol so I'm not that impressed? With the home games I'm thrilled With Will Hughes I'm excited to watch Derby. Finally it's worth £30!! Take that home performance on the road, to Hull and Burnley and Watford and..., and I'll be buzzing. The defeats at Palace and P'Boro etc are just too fresh for me. Watching us away and knowing that we CAN do sooo much better annoys me. Did we give Millwall the same sort of game we gave Birmingham? No. It looked like we didn't even try to!! In all though I know our problems are finally starting to dissolve. We don't need 35 players per season or whatever. Nigel seems to do less tinkering and sticking by his favourites. We have a midfielder that Nigel has started to build a team around. I'm not talking by signing players that compliment Hughes. I'm talking the way we feed off him. The way his intelligence and composure gives other players a platform. I can't believe a good team like Hull are coming on Friday and if we win I'll not be especially suprised. But if we were going to Hull I'd still pray for a point. We need a bit more away from home to create a buzz. The home stuff is great!! Really good. But it only accounts for half the games so if we can improve away and actually expect 3pts more often I think even us can get a bit of a buzz going. Now we believe we can win 50% of our games. Once we go around thinking 75% of them are winnable I'm sure we'll all be buzzing. That's where Leicester baffle me. They should believe they can win 100% of the time but they're as lifeless as anyone! Over to you Derby. Points on the road!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 People are enjoying it more, forums are only a select few, and more often than not the posters become embroiled in trying to score points off each other than sitting back and enjoying what should be a form of entertainment. I cant imagine sitting in the pub discussing the fact X player has scored 1.34445 points per game, its very simply who played well, who didn’t and what was thought of the game in general. You don’t sit there discussing mind numbing boring figures on how much the club is in debt, the %age possession, or what minute we have scored in or not during the season. Those facts are reserved for us keyboard warriors, and this results in 20 pages discussions about trivial points, that 5 years ago before the day of the internet forums would have not even been spoken about. The only thing that is missing is the atmosphere, I can remember in our promotion season being at PNE on NY day in a sell out away end, taking thousands to Barnsley and Sunderland to name but a few, but these will return in we start challenging for promotion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOB BIGGS Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 Over to you Derby. Points on the road!! I think we're still short of a couple of strong, quality players for us to be a good away team. You need more guts and strength/power when you're under pressure and we're a bit short of that. We still have a few who don't keep the ball well enough too. All of that said, we're getting there and I'd just love us to get promoted in the next 2/3 seasons. Might even do a little dance if we did 'http://www.dcfcfans.co.uk/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' /> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddie Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 Many just enjoy a good moan. Playing decent football deprives them of that pleasure, so they moan. Oh, wait.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackNwhites Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 I'm trying not to get carried away. In the past I've been quoted as saying "this is promotion form" only for Derby to go on a terrible run for the next 20 games or so. The games I've seen have been brilliant. Even when we lost to Leicester 4-1 I really enjoyed watching us play, compare that to a couple of seasons ago when we played some dire football, Bywater deciding he couldn't be arsed to play, Leacock giving up on life, it's quite the breath of fresh air. The forum at that time was a depressing place sometimes. You could be embroiled in a never ending debate about DCFC and the progressive improvement off the field and finally, we're seeing the rewards of patience on the field. If you had any patience to begin with. Anyway, it's pretty sweet right now. Defensively we need to improve, our away form should improve over the next half of the season (psychology of already doing well against those teams at home) and ya never know, we might have what one might consider play off form...but I'm saying nout... 'http://www.dcfcfans.co.uk/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/huh' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':huh:' />. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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