what I think went wrong last season

[B4ev6is]

I think we started really well which we needed to do. But we went on a great run went a lot of games unbeaten and confordance grew and perhaps the lads got over cocky. So when we lost key players like of eutice we tried a number of players to fill that gap. For me omar was to light weight to cope of physlie nature of the champership. And then we tried will huges there as good a player he is just could not do it on his own. And jeff hendrick there he got bullied of the ball to easy. I think the best player to have played there. It was simon dawkins he was carming infurlance there he did his defance duties really well. But it was to little to late at that point. But also when we lost chris martin we also lost his goals and his abiltey to hold up play and bring others into play. Even with the likes of tom ince and darren bent came in they did really well but then darren bent came in. And then he got injuried and then chris martin and bent struggled for form.

But we had loans of ibe for me was way to selfish with the ball in the end he was starting to learn it was a team game and not just him. 

Cyrus christe he started really well and made this position his own. But as time went on he started to struggle which lead to fans to get on his back of which made him nervouse and cost us goals by silly mistakes he is still young and able to turn this into a postive he missed a likes of thorn or eutuce next him.

Craigh bryson he was told to stay in centrel midfield and to have so many passes on the edge of the box and not to shout outside the box as much were he had so much the season before were he baggied 15 goals that season.

And then there craigh forsigh he was not the same as last season as he was told to stay back but not to get forward but maybe he needed trust his  instinks a bit more.

Raul for me the lanague barrie must been a bit of the probleam. But at times when he came into the team he messied about with which nearly cost us but he did learn to get the ball up midfield a bit quicker.

Jake buxton

I think he has been struggleing with a back probleam all season. But I do think he use to cover keogh back as he panics to much. And plus buxton was brave on the ball willing to put his

Body on the line.

Richard keogh

I think a certain chant got his head about wembley last season bobby zomer of which I hated. He looked total lost and forgot the basics about defanding when under thre cosh just get clear so we can start again. But I do think he found new postion at right back.

Lee grant

At the start of the season he looked like he could not get beat he could trust his back 4 to protect him but as the season went he looked unsure of himself. And then he got injured and butland came in and did a great job and got the lads going again. But when lee grant came he looked like he lost some sharpness and struggled form sine that point on.

What I think steve mclean needs to do to put things right.

We all know the team needs strenging in certain postions but we needed get back to basics and also get back to our fast flowing football when we ran with the ball and kepted it moving with hit and move football. Even medie use to say we played better football than barcelona which at the was a feather in our gaps of which kept team guessing never knew what we were going to do next.

[Brammie Steve]

We had an exciting season and we're both the team to watch and the team to beat until February.

Our flowing style was a joy to watch. Unfortunately by the time that injuries had taken their toll opposing teams had tumbled to the fact that,  despite having a first rate attack, we had a colander system in defence. Vast areas were inadequately covered and any half way's decent attacker could squeeze through the gaps leaving only the goalie to beat.

The inevitable happened and we all know the rest.

Derby forever, regardless!

[Kernow]

I'm actually really pleased that I managed to read all that and understand the whole thing.

[Guest]

Would agree with most of that other than I don't ever remember Dawkins playing in the Eustace position  and doubt he ever would

[Boycie]

Didn't he play in the martin position once and did well before his personal probs?

[Van der MoodHoover]

Lots of good points b4.

I think though the CDM was a problem for us whole season. We started the season with Will in there for the first few games before realising it didn't work. and didn't we only bring Omar into the league team in October (Wolves?)

We fell away very badly. Worth benchmarking that Macs poor run was worse than the run that led to him replacing Nigel.

We absolutely have to exorcise all of those ghosts when we start next season or we could find ourselves trying to play catch up from a lowly position.

[McRamFan]

Too many injuries to too many key players at the same time hurt us, and the confidence took a huge dip and we never quite got it back as key players didn't get back as quick as was hoped.

Add to that performance dips also happened amoungst the kids.  Just plain bad luck.

[B4ev6is]

Simon dawkins played there fulam in the cup, millwall, blackpook. Of which I think he did a great job playing there.

[ramsbottom]

Simon dawkins played there fulam in the cup, millwall, blackpook. Of which I think he did a great job playing there.

​He certainly played in a more central midfield position but he didn't play as a defensive midfielder...

[Mostyn6]

Millwall and Blackpook were the worst two teams in the league, they got relegated with Wigin. Hardly justification for Dawkins in the role.

[Ilsonram12]

3 major points 

1 george Thorne, far too much was relied on him staying fit and playing the holding position the 1st pivotal position in the formation 

2 Chris Martin, he is the 2nd pivotal position in the formation and although bent scored a few, he didn't link up like Martin does, massive miss when Martin was out injured

3 plan feckin B!! We need a functional plan b to counteract if plan A fails in either injuries or form

[Diag Ram]

We only really started to struggle after Bent got injured. Having all your centre forwards and centre mids out (five players) in a 4-3-3 formation we play is quite unlucky. McClaren should have mixed it up and made use of what we had rather than trying to force players to play out of position.

The most frustrating thing about having no natural holding midfielder is that there was no cover for when Hendrick/Hughes went up the park. If they lost the ball there was miles of space in the middle, we conceded quite a few as a result of this.

Not sure what happened re: defence, confidence just went. Christie started well as players gave him the benefit of the doubt and remembered Wisdom's prescence when he was there. When they realised he was average we were screwed.

Whilst the season was a failure in the end, there was an element of bad luck and confidence lost. If we get that back, buy some better defenders (RB and 1-2 CBs) and a replacement for Ince (or have him back) then we'll be good to go next season.

[ChaddesdenRam]

What went wrong:

• Injuries - Thorne, Martin, Bucko, Eustace, Bent, Russell, Whitbread - Especially the timing of the injuries. 
• Reliance on 433 with 1 CDM protecting our weak defence. No plan B
• Individual mistakes
• Expectations, too much pressure on certain players given their age.
• McClaren not ending the speculation 
• Complacency against teams like Fulham and Birmingham

[Philmycock]

• Full-backs not effectively attacking compared to 2013/14

[ramblur]

 

The most frustrating thing about having no natural holding midfielder is that there was no cover for when Hendrick/Hughes went up the park. If they lost the ball there was miles of space in the middle, we conceded quite a few as a result of this.

 

​Living in Ireland,I often listen to match analysis delivered by John Giles,who openly sneers at the concept of a holding/defensive midfielder.His point is that every midfielder should be able to pass,tackle,head and score the odd goal and that if any of his tribe saw others go forward,he would have the discipline and intelligence to drop back.Of course,that was an era when players,to a large extent,were allowed to think for themselves.I think that in the modern game,with instructions constantly being yelled to players,the ability of players to think for themselves has greatly diminished.

[bcnram]

He did come from an era before the defensive holding midfielder. Had he been about in this era that is probably more the role he would have been placed in. As I recall, he was a nasty little, tough tackling very talented footballer. Didn't Nobby Stiles tend to occupy just that role as well (midfield with defensive leanings).

[Diag Ram]

Thorne seemed to have a good head on him. Nothing was getting past him when he played v Sheff Wed.

[ramblur]

He did come from an era before the defensive holding midfielder. Had he been about in this era that is probably more the role he would have been placed in. As I recall, he was a nasty little, tough tackling very talented footballer. Didn't Nobby Stiles tend to occupy just that role as well (midfield with defensive leanings).

​Tbf,I think he'd be remembered more for his creativity.The midfield 3 that I remember most would be Giles/Bremner/Madeley. In the modern game,I think most would put Madeley down as a defensive midfielder.However,I remember Madeley (underrated in my opinion,probably suffering from the 'utility player' tag as he was very competent in defence) getting forward quite a lot,and I suppose this is Giles's point-if this happened,he or Bremner would have the intelligence to drop back.Madeley wasn't just a defensive midfielder.

You'd be right about Stiles,but then he had little creativity and seldom scored,so he probably naturally patrolled a more withdrawn area.

[RamNut]

Nobby stiles was a better player than he gets credit for.

if you get to see the full 90 minutes of the  66 world cup final, he was absolutely superb, spraying passes all over the pitch.

[Mostyn6]