Derby County v Ipswich Town

[irobinson]

I thought Eustace was ok today - solid - and we need that experience against the Gumps - full stop

 

Bucko - is not fit - he is overweight and is carrying an injury (hip / trunk)- looked awkward and cumbersome. Whitbread or Shotton should come in.

 

Bryson is out of form

 

Hendrick injury is a real shame - he will be out for 6-8 weeks

 

i saw some positives from Leon today - least he got stuck in

 

I was disappointed in a draw - but hey - its a long way to go

 

ps too much of a long queue for south stand at 5 to 3!!

[Sexydadbod]

Yh thought leon best looked good

[unclej]

Martin should concentrate more rather than moaning to the ref. When it isn't running for Fossy, he should go back to basics and keep it simple. Our number one should boss his area and take control. Christie was good again, Ward still looks like a handful. What will that wise old fox (lol) Pearce be telling them on their training ground next week? How are they going to beat Derby? They are going to hit us hard when we keep going off the boil and we should be ready for them in the first few minutes of the second half. It all depends on which Derby they end up getting, v Fulham or v Ipswich.

[-JW-]

Best was alright, although he was offside on a couple of occasions when he really shouldn't have been

[RIMBAUD]

Christie got done for the goal big time.

 

He looked good going forward - not so great defensively.

[HorsforthRam]

We play well when we play with good tempo. Today we badly lacked tempo and also won very few second balls. The lack of second balls won has been a theme at Sheffield and Charlton. We talk about our strong midfield... felt today it was overrun. Little bit worrying tbh.

[HorsforthRam]

Also, Grant's kicks are just a fast turnover of possession. No midfield player takes the ball off the centre backs. Invariably, it's put into Martin who normally falls over but anyhow receives it far to deep. We can't seem to get him the ball in the last third facing the opposition goal

[-JW-]

The most depressing thing for me is that we've got to wait two frickin weeks till we play again.

[peakram]

One left field idea (ok its on the right!) could play Shotton at RB and Christie further up on the right as he seems the best man to beat someone and deliver the crosses at the moment, could also strengthen us defensively at the same time. Though suppose that might be for later on if things are still not clicking (if ever!)

 

Though Shotton seems to see himself as a central defender primarily when being interviewed.

 

Hopefully Ibe will provide a spark, seen another video of him where he looks very good (the first one posted didn't seem to show his best moments).

[Srg]

One left field idea (ok its on the right!) could play Shotton at RB and Christie further up on the right as he seems the best man to beat someone and deliver the crosses at the moment, could also strengthen us defensively at the same time. Though suppose that might be for later on if things are still not clicking (if ever!)

Though Shotton seems to see himself as a central defender primarily when being interviewed.

Hopefully Ibe will provide a spark, seen another video of him where he looks very good (the first one posted didn't seem to show his best moments).

Hmm don't speak of this idea again.

[Tombo]

Hmm don't speak of this idea again.

The idea isn't that bad. I don't necessarily agree with the idea being pitched, but I think it's a fair shout to make. The only real problem is dropping one of the wingers to play him there.

[Ovis aries]

At least McClaren has good reason to make changes for the scum game

[Ambitious]

Without going into it too much, I thought the attitude was appalling today. We came out in the second half like it was a training match.

We have the players, management..etc for promotion, but if they don't apply themselves it won't happen.

The Forest game is huge - I just hope we can snap out of this superiority complex and remember what made us good in the first place.

At this rate, we will be lucky to make the play offs.

[Carl Sagan]

Agree with Ambitious above.

 

Also, just seen the "highlights" on the FLS. How is that not handball after Ward's shot?

[NeilHunt180]

Absolutely blatent handball - neither the ref nor the linesman were watching. Mind you, that linesman was worse than useless all day as well.

Agree with Ambitious though - we need to stop believing our own hype and get back to grafting. That midfield display from the moment Hendrick went off was nothing other than abysmal.

[Tombo]

The atmosphere was electric in the south stand for the first 25 minutes as well, and then everyone seemed to tire themselves out so it went silent for the rest of the first half and the majority of the second half. What the hell happened with that? 

[Jourdan]

Today was frustrating but not altogether too surprising. It's still August after all. If there was a time for such a disjointed performance, it's now. I'd be worried if we were playing like this at the business end of the season.

 

It was just a rather flat and quite honestly, forgettable performance. There was no zip, no urgency and most definitely no fluency. I don't know if it was nerves or if it was complacency. Part of me thinks we are finding it hard to deal with the pressure of being one of the favourites for promotion. Last season the lack of expectations allowed us to play with a freedom that we probably won't see this season with bumper, expectant crowds.

 

There is another part of me that thinks we got the early goal and thought it was job done. It's understandable because for large parts, Ipswich were set up to frustrate us, stop us and take the sting out of the game rather than win the game. But their equaliser gave them confidence and they grew into the game and actually looked more likely to win towards the end. But before their goal, they didn't offer very much and I couldn't see them scoring to be perfectly honest. It was that kind of game.

 

For us, there were far too many players who were ineffective and nowhere near their best and when this happens, it's only natural that things don't click. But let's hope we are getting these kind of performances out of our system. It wasn't the kind of game that leaves you feeling encouraged for games to come, especially the Forest game in two weeks, but I'm sure we'll get better. I sincerely hope so! 

[MACKWORTHRAM]

A poor game all round. Agree the referee was diabolical and the linesman was too.

The Hendrick injury really disrupted the flow of the game. Felt we needed half time to allow us to re group. Turned out we were worse 2nd half.

Grant 6- Not a lot to do. But for their goal, he came out and hesitated and then tried to get back. Occasionally through the ball out and put the player under pressure.

Forsyth- 4 I actually think that this was his worst game for us. I cant remember him passing to a Derby player all game. We miss his runs down the left hand side as well. But he was one if the best left backs in the league last season and for him to have 1 bad game and some of our fans come out and say we need a new left back shows the level of intelligence that some of them have. Joke.

Buxton- 6 Didnt play bad, didnt play well. Didnt make any errors that I can remember. But we conceded a goal from a set piece.

Keogh 7 Thought he was our best defender on the day. Always spots the space to run into and looks to start an attack. Threw himself in to block a few shots and also covered Christies arse a few times defensively. Listening to the radio on the way back the amount of texts and calls slating Keogh was a disgrace. The bloke literally did nothing wrong today. If I was him id look to get out if this football club as I wouldnt want to play for fans like ours.

Christie 6- Good going forward as usual. But the last 20 or so minutes he looked poor defensively and needed help from Keogh on a couple of occassions.

Eustace 6- Not as good as Fulham. But got stuck in and does what he is in there to do. Tired towards the end.

Hendrick- 6 Hard to give him a mark as he wasnt on the pitch long. But we missed him when he went off.

Hughes- 4 Poor from him. Didnt impose himself on the game at all. A lot of people calling for him to start but he doesnt offer as much as Hendrick.

Bryson 4- Another poor game from him. He didnt impose himself on the game at all. Just totally out of the game today.

Russell 5- Didnt do anything. Didnt get at his man, didnt cross, shoot. We should be getting more out of him in my opinion.

Ward- 5 Back to his usual self. Had a brilliant game against Fulham. Really hoping he carried it on into today. But as usual he was poor. Will more than likely have a good game in about 5 or 6 games time. Really disappointed in him.

Martin 7- Our best player. Scored the goal and got battered all game with no protection from an awful referee. With poor performances from Bryson, Hughes, Ward and Russell meant he had no service whatsoever.

Subs:-

Best 6- Thought he did ok. Won every header but was caught offside a couple of times when he should never have been.

Dawkins- 6 Looked sharp when he came on.

If it was up to me id play Ibe and Dawkins in the next game. We need wingers. Direct, quick, get to the byline, crosses the ball, gets,at his full back.

Ward and Russell arent wingers at all. I know Dawkins hasnt had the best start but he is the best winger we have. (Havent seen Ibe so cant comment)

Id play Eustace for obvious reasons against Forest. But sooner or later Mascarell is going to have to play. Otherwise he might as well go back to Real.

All in all a poor game and a poor performance caused by too many having an off game.

We could have lost it and we could have won it. So a draw was the fair result.

Still unbeaten at home.

Bring on Forest.

[Srg]

The idea isn't that bad. I don't necessarily agree with the idea being pitched, but I think it's a fair shout to make. The only real problem is dropping one of the wingers to play him there.

And the fact he seems to not know what he's doing a lot the time when he gets there. Trips over the ball etc.

Would be ridiculous to play him there.

[Leicester Ram]

It was a poor game in many respects, but we've got lots to learn from it

Stop giving away stupid free-kicks. Ipswich scored from a free-kick, Fulham scored as a result of one and every time we face a set piece, I never see us as favourites to win it. Can put it down to the inexperienced nature of the team, but McClarens got to drill it out of them.

Teams will come to frustrate us, we need to accept this and find a way around it. We never properly kept possession for long periods of the game today, especially in the second half when we needed to take the wind out of Ipswich's sails. We have the players to do it, Hughes should be in his element in this situation, we can't get drawn into a tat for tat contest, because teams like Ipswich will come out on top. Simply not our game.

Any stick for Keogh today is completely unfounded, he was our best defender by a long chalk. I'm not sure what's up with Forsyth but I'm more confident that he'll come good than continue this way, the lads just adjusting to a new defensive balance.

We'll come good.