Ambitious Posted August 17, 2014 Share Posted August 17, 2014 I thought I'd do my take on why this season has, seemingly, started a little bit slower than last season finished and what the major difference is and why we shouldn't worry too much. After mulling over the game against Sheffield Wednesday in my head and what was different to how last season finished, I've come to one conclusion - the pressure is on. Now, I think a lot is made of 'pressure' and 'experience' that I don't believe, but the biggest change for me is the mentality in the play. For instance, last season we went for the kill in waves of attack and not matter how the game played out, we had chance on chance on chance. However, this season, we've created some quality 'clear cut' chances but the waves of attack have been slowed by a deeper and more negative formation. I, for one, think we need to go back to last season's mentality of throwing men forward and playing with more vigour. I don't mean headless chicken attempts forward, but we need to could do with a performance where we just throw men forward and get behind the lines. Put the emphasis on attack rather than defence. I could be way out to reality, but that's what I feel. There is no doom and gloom and the quality is still there and that's proven, but we just need to unlock that ruthless mentality again. The lack of attacking options when going forward has really dented what our attacks are about, a few more men forward and I think we will be better off. Give the team a break, release the pressure and play with the attacking carefree attitude from last season. I was stunned when we didn't go 4-2-4 on Saturday. It's something we did constantly last season and benefited more often than not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ram a lamb a ding dong Posted August 17, 2014 Share Posted August 17, 2014 Chillsville Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
i-Ram Posted August 17, 2014 Share Posted August 17, 2014 My take is that we have played 3 games so far this season as opposed to about 50 towards the end of last season. My guess is that we might get a bit better over the coming weeks as we get used to kicking the ball again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tombo Posted August 17, 2014 Share Posted August 17, 2014 We'll be ripped apart throwing droves of men forward, everyone has the tapes from last season and they know how to counter it. People called for us to try something different so we don't get figured out. This is it. That's why we're seeming to "struggle" but you wait until teams start trying to go at us because they've heard this "struggling" falsehood and they get mullered on the counter. It's like an ensnaring tactic. "Okay. You got us. We're suffering a playoff hangover. We're defending for our lives now. Send waves of attacks at us because we certainly won't be able to handle you........Gotcha! Jeff Hendrick/Cyrus Christie/Craig Bryson/Simon Dawkins/Johnny Russell counter attacking run caught you cold. 1-0 up" - The view of a hopeless optimist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ambitious Posted August 17, 2014 Author Share Posted August 17, 2014 FYI, my post isn't negative in anyway but an observation. We've looked strong at the back and the players have defended well and in numbers, but we're playing a lot 'safer' and 'deeper' in patches than we did last season. Dawkins for instance was getting fans riled, but he simply didn't have the options he did last season. I don't think that's his fault at all, but those around him. Therefore, I'd like us to take more of a chance which we became accustom too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walsall_Ram Posted August 17, 2014 Share Posted August 17, 2014 The power of having a pre season with coaches that actually know what they are doing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DerbyLad Posted August 17, 2014 Share Posted August 17, 2014 I do think there's a slight bit of arrogance creeping in. We are favourites, and against Wednesday, I don't think we got in their faces and definately didn't look to get into their faces first half, which gave them belief. Just though id throw it in there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
i-Ram Posted August 17, 2014 Share Posted August 17, 2014 I'm off to bed Ambitious/Tombo and I know you are not negative, but there are so many threads on here suggesting we have some sort of crisis so early in the season. How short are poster's memories that last season we started off with 7 pts from the first 15 available and 12 pts from the first 30 available. Let's just find something else to beef about at least until August is out, but my guess is that the Boys will be a lot better off than both those comparative yardsticks after the completion of another 3/8 games. And at this stage I'd rather have points for points sake, rather than artistic merit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tombo Posted August 17, 2014 Share Posted August 17, 2014 It's always a grind at this stage of the season anyway. Look at the "entertainers" Arsenal against managerless Palace yesterday. Went 1-0 down and had to work hard for the equaliser. Extreme slice of luck to find the winner to make it 2-1. Do we think they'll struggle this year after falling just short of the title, in their best chance in years last year. Do we see heartbreak in their young players? Of course not. Some are just worried because they want the best for Derby. I appreciate that the concerns come from the heart, but relax. There's no crisis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RamNut Posted August 17, 2014 Share Posted August 17, 2014 I can't quite put my finger on it. Maybe there are maybe a number of factors from the changes in midfield, to individuals losing form. And i accept that there were plenty of times last season when we struggled to produce too. But we have lost a bit of zip and we aren't creating many chances. My theory atm is that we are simply hitting too many long balls - mainly from the keeper - instead of playing it out. In the first hslf yesterday we hit over 20 long passes aimed at the strikers. In the first 15 minutes we only hit 5 long balls and we played reasonably well. In the next 15 minutes we hit 8 long balls- we lost most of the aerial battles but won a lot of second ball. In the last 15 minutes we hit another 9 long balls. Maybe this increasing tendency to hoof it was why we faded from a decent start? Half of these were from goal kicks or free kicks in our box when we were under no pressure to launch it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CumbrianRam Posted August 17, 2014 Share Posted August 17, 2014 Well people wanted a solid defence..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CumbrianRam Posted August 17, 2014 Share Posted August 17, 2014 I think we well be back in our groove come October/November time, not many teams in the PL or Champ played at their best this week and some players are still not fully fit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RamNut Posted August 17, 2014 Share Posted August 17, 2014 I agree that there will be a few cobwebs. But simple question. Are we better with the ball in the air or the ball on the deck? I think we instinctively know the answer to that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neil62uk Posted August 18, 2014 Share Posted August 18, 2014 last season first two fixtures , Derby 1 Blackburn 1 Brighton 1 Derby 2 after 2 games 4 points scored 3 conceded 2 this season after two games .................. surely I don't have to tell you ...................... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bris Vegas Posted August 18, 2014 Share Posted August 18, 2014 How the hell can anyone judge a team on two games - seriously, how? "Sheffield Wednesday are my tips for a surprise package after today". Yeh, I bet Reading and QPR said that last season too when they got walloped 5-2 and 3-0. Everyone just needs to calm down. We judge last season on the excellent performances on the whole. But let's not forget that not every game was plain sailing. We were fortunate to beat Weds last time out and wins against the likes of Bournemouth and Brighton were off the back of goals out of nothing. I think it's ridiculously harsh to be suggesting that our wingers are poor and Martin doesn't look like getting 20 goals again after just two games. The only tweak I'd make is to push Hughes further forward and bring in Mascarell. There is something quite not right with Hughes, Hendrick and Bryson playing together and that stems from last season too. I think it's more awareness and positioning than anything. You look at Real Madrid and they have a holder (Xabi Alonso), a technical player (Modric) and the forward runner (Di Maria). Last season we had the same in Thorne, Hughes and then Hendrick/Bryson. For me it has to be Mascarell (holder), Hughes (technical) and Brsyon/Hendrick (runner) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmericanRam Posted August 18, 2014 Share Posted August 18, 2014 From my perspective, we have started rather slow but I am confident things will pick up considerably over the next few weeks. Teams in several leagues around the world are just starting to get their feet wet in their seasons, and their will be some nervousness and perhaps over excitement as such. I do feel as some have said that Hughes seems to be a little off to start the season. Is it simply due to him thinking he has to wholly make up for losing George in terms of playing his role? I do not think it is really that, but rather simply because of how him and the other midfielders are just not gelling right now. I think Omar needs a chance to really prove what he can do over a whole game and that imo should start Tuesday with Charlton. I also think some people have gave a lot of gaff to Dawkins and Ward over these first two league matches. It is understandable as they both have been far from quality at times on the pitch, but I think they will get in the groove. However, with that being said I would not mind seeing Russell get the start Tuesday over Ward if SM thinks that could work well versus the Addicks. As Ambitious said, we also are not playing with the hunger over the full 90 minutes this season it seems as we did over the majority of last season. Is it because we are overconfident due to the media's expectations? I do not think so, but rather it is the the case that we seem to be more cautious this year in getting points rather than just going for it. I am quite confident we will get things in gear and I am very happy with 4 points in the first two games and getting to the second round of the cup . Their is no time to panic; if this was the middle of March and we were playing this way that is one thing, but we still have 44 league matches to accomplish and gel so as to meet everyone's expectations this season. Looking at Fulham's messageboards their fans are not losing it really at all and they have played pretty terrible their first two matches. P.S. I love just the yellow shirt and white shorts on the road versus yellow/blue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddie Posted August 18, 2014 Share Posted August 18, 2014 FYI, my post isn't negative in anyway but an observation. We've looked strong at the back and the players have defended well and in numbers, but we're playing a lot 'safer' and 'deeper' in patches than we did last season. Dawkins for instance was getting fans riled, but he simply didn't have the options he did last season. I don't think that's his fault at all, but those around him. Therefore, I'd like us to take more of a chance which we became accustom too. Dawkins 'getting fans riled' demonstrated one thing - the general level of intelligence of some football fans. Take the performances of Dawkins and Ward on Saturday - and contrast that with the performance of Christie and Forsyth. Now throw the Wendies full backs and wide players into the equation - same lack of effectiveness trying to penetrate Derby's back line, but conversely the same solidity at the back (until the last 15 minutes). They had a single tactic for 70-odd minutes - which was to play the ball long, early and high to Nuhiu, and by and large it worked. It throttled Derby - and Derby throttled Sheffield Wednesday. Full backs 4 Wide players 0. Funnily enough, removing Nuhiu from the equation seemed to work in Derby's favour. Not sure how and why (perhaps it was just the introduction of the more robust and direct running style of Russell), but we suddenly seemed to have a lot more space. Someone mentioned that this coincided with Hughes and Hendrick swapping positions for 5 minutes before the introduction of Mascarell - but if that was the case, then there's not a lot broken at Derby. A bit of fine-tuning, clean the spark plugs, a squirt of Redex and away we go. Or maybe the wrist slashers would prefer a rebore (pun intended). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angry Ram Posted August 18, 2014 Share Posted August 18, 2014 Why are all threads the same now.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashz09 Posted August 18, 2014 Share Posted August 18, 2014 For a long time I think our counter is teams who defend with numbers and close down before we can get in advanced positions. I've seen it with a few teams mainly teams who cause us problem. What we need to do is pass a lot quicker tire these teams out. I remember one game from last season they was chasing us all over the park doing a good job. Then around 70th minute mark they stopped doing it they was knackered we was patient and took advantage. Against Rotherham they sat back but I thought the passing was side ways far to much! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RamNut Posted August 18, 2014 Share Posted August 18, 2014 We never really recovered our early sparkle v sheff wed. After a hour we had two superb chances. For the first, Buxton - instead of launching it ( which he had been doing for the previous quarter of an hour) - plays a george thorne type forward ball with pace to martin's feet... Martin lays it off to bryson who plays in russell all with quick one touch football. We sliced them open with our one and only really good move. Unfortunately - on the day - russell couldn''t hit a barn door. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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