Portsmouth v Derby County

[Rev]

I can hear the sound of tears crashing against keyboards echoing across Derby tonight. You're all such drama queens. Is it that time of the month or what?

You've been hacking people's laptop microphones again, haven't you?

[dcfc_ryan]

Obviously early days yet, but the signs aren't promising. Clements first job as a coach so its all new to him. I'm just hoping he gets it right sooner rather than later, as I do believe we have a squad perfectly capable of a top 6 finish!

Oh and like others have suggested, can we go back to 4-3-3 please.

[Philmycock]

#433

[MACKWORTHRAM]

Watched it tonight. Poor performamce all round. Clement sounded really p****d off on the radio after the game and he has every right to be. 

Very interesting to hear how he knows his line up for Saturday already. 

Ill give some ratings. 

Grant 3- Awful. A few occassions he threw the ball out to a player who wasnt looking and I still have no idea what he was trying to do for the first goal.

Ssewankambo 6- Steady enough. Didnt do anything wrong. Good experience for the lad. Good back up. 

Pearce 6- Dont think he did anything wrong. In all fairness I hardly noticed him. Think Keogh will be back on Saturday.

Shackell 7- Our best player. Commanding. Good blocks. Leader. He plays every week.

Forsyth 4- Got forward well enough and put 1 good cross in all game. Distribution was awful. He needs to sort this out. Big time. 

Baird 5- Couple of misplaced passes. He is a country mile better at right back. This for me has highlighted the need for another DM. If he wants to play 4231 he needs to keep Baird right back. 

Hendrick 3- Im being kind here. The only reason he got 3 is because he is out of position. But I thought he was pathetic tonight. He just doesnt have the awareness to play DM. Im starting to get used to him misplacing passes and getting robbed of possesion. If Hughes had stayed fit id have sold him. How telling was it that Bryson missed the last 2 games of pre season but first game he was straight in over Hendrick. Bryson is miles better. Hendrick can thank his lucky stars we have no options in the middle. Because after tonight he'd have no chance of starting on Saturday. 

Dawkins 5- Tidy enough but no penetration. He tends to have bursts, then stops and goes sideways or backwards. Ok in the short term while Bryson is out. But we need more.

Russell 6- Lively. Should have had a pen. Dont think he found a Derby player with a cross all night

Weimann 6- Worked hard. But didnt really do alot. Dont think thats his position. 

Bent 4- His work rate is a joke. But if we are playing Bent up top we need to play to his strengths. But he got no service at all. Hes a completely different striker to Martin. Plays on the shoulder and a goal poacher. Ive no idea how he is going to fit in the team.

Subs:-

Martin 4- Did nothing.

Ince 5- Looked lively. But still think he should play on the wing. Didnt do much.

Thorne 7- Best player on the pitch when he came on. Imperative he stays fit .

We are 3 short in my opinion (Would only have been 2 if Hughes wasnt injured)

A defensive midfielder, a replacement for Will and I still think we need an attacker/winger who gets at his full back..

We got to the quarter finals last year and it got us nowhere. Its a nothing cup that we arent gonna win that I dont care about. Disappointing performance. But in a way im glad we are out. Going up is all that matters.

If nobody comes in. This would be my team for Saturday. Back to basics:-

Carson

Baird, Keogh, Shackell, Warnock

               Thorne

Dawkins            Hendrick

Ince.                   Weimann

           Martin

Subs:- Grant, Shotton, Pearce, Forsyth Hanson, Russell, Bent

COYR

[Ram a lamb a ding dong]

After the highs of the past few seasons i have something of an "after the lords mayor show" feel. Not very pretty to watch.

it must be 4-3-3. If not working go to 2 up top. Away from home play a 4-2-3-1

play Forsyth

 

 

 

[Tombo]

Nobody was exactly world class for us tonight but I do think Hendrick is getting harsh ratings. Not as bad as you're all making out.

[All in Red]

Wonder if Paul Clementine was on the phone to carlo during the match? 

[i-Ram]

Poor tactics but still, barely any of the players looked like they gave a f**k. They had to wait for Ince and Martin to come on and hold their hand before they manned up and took the game to Pompey. We definitely need 2 new centre mids, preferably 1 holding and 1 who can create something

I was suggesting to you a few weeks back Cam that we needed a playmaker midfielder, but you thought we had an abundance of riches.  I know that the loss of Hughes will have swayed you in this regard, but even if we still had Hughes we still wouldn't really have a player that knits it all together in front of the forwards. I have been concerned for a while that if we lose Thorne we are in really big trouble as I am not convinced that either Hendrick or Bryson are anything other than average championship players, and certainly not "leaders".  I was encouraged this week that Clement agreed that further to Hughes injury we might need two midfielders. I can't see it happening but I for one would be pleased to see Barton join because although he doesn't apparently have a brain off the field, he is a fine footballer and consistent performer. In the hole I have no immediate answers but surely Evans/PC must know of some decent foreign player who could come in and play some tika taka, and even just hold on to the ball for a while. I do still hope Dawks can kick on this season in the hole, but it is a big risk not finding a quality player in that role.

[All in Red]

Watched it tonight. Poor performamce all round. Clement sounded really p****d off on the radio after the game and he has every right to be. 

Very interesting to hear how he knows his line up for Saturday already. 

Ill give some ratings. 

Grant 3- Awful. A few occassions he threw the ball out to a player who wasnt looking and I still have no idea what he was trying to do for the first goal.

Ssewankambo 6- Steady enough. Didnt do anything wrong. Good experience for the lad. Good back up. 

Pearce 6- Dont think he did anything wrong. In all fairness I hardly noticed him. Think Keogh will be back on Saturday.

Shackell 7- Our best player. Commanding. Good blocks. Leader. He plays every week.

Forsyth 4- Got forward well enough and put 1 good cross in all game. Distribution was awful. He needs to sort this out. Big time. 

Baird 5- Couple of misplaced passes. He is a country mile better at right back. This for me has highlighted the need for another DM. If he wants to play 4231 he needs to keep Baird right back. 

Hendrick 3- Im being kind here. The only reason he got 3 is because he is out of position. But I thought he was pathetic tonight. He just doesnt have the awareness to play DM. Im starting to get used to him misplacing passes and getting robbed of possesion. If Hughes had stayed fit id have sold him. How telling was it that Bryson missed the last 2 games of pre season but first game he was straight in over Hendrick. Bryson is miles better. Hendrick can thank his lucky stars we have no options in the middle. Because after tonight he'd have no chance of starting on Saturday. 

Dawkins 5- Tidy enough but no penetration. He tends to have bursts, then stops and goes sideways or backwards. Ok in the short term while Bryson is out. But we need more.

Russell 6- Lively. Should have had a pen. Dont think he found a Derby player with a cross all night

Weimann 6- Worked hard. But didnt really do alot. Dont think thats his position. 

Bent 4- His work rate is a joke. But if we are playing Bent up top we need to play to his strengths. But he got no service at all. Hes a completely different striker to Martin. Plays on the shoulder and a goal poacher. Ive no idea how he is going to fit in the team.

Subs:-

Martin 4- Did nothing.

Ince 5- Looked lively. But still think he should play on the wing. Didnt do much.

Thorne 7- Best player on the pitch when he came on. Imperative he stays fit .

We are 3 short in my opinion (Would only have been 2 if Hughes wasnt injured)

A defensive midfielder, a replacement for Will and I still think we need an attacker/winger who gets at his full back..

We got to the quarter finals last year and it got us nowhere. Its a nothing cup that we arent gonna win that I dont care about. Disappointing performance. But in a way im glad we are out. Going up is all that matters.

If nobody comes in. This would be my team for Saturday. Back to basics:-

Carson

Baird, Keogh, Shackell, Warnock

               Thorne

Dawkins            Hendrick

Ince.                   Weimann

           Martin

Subs:- Grant, Shotton, Pearce, Forsyth Hanson, Russell, Bent

COYR

Crikey you should apply for the sacred post after Mr Clementine gets the hoof..Your in depth knowledge of the game is outstanding. 

 

Imagine the title..Mackworth ram, Professor Mack of Football Ergonomics.. 

[Belper Ram 1988]

Wonder if Paul Clementine was on the phone to carlo during the match? 

asking for a job or a couple of world beating players we could borrow for a season?  

[Gandalf's shin pads]

After hearing Clement on RD after the game and his abruptness on being asked "Do you know your starting 11 for Saturday?" I got the impression he was quietly seething about some of the performances from a number of the players he had given a chance to prove themselves tonight.  To my mind, tonight was all about (for Clement) looking at and learning a thing or two about the other half of his squad.

I can only agree with those saying he needs to be given time. He is a new, inexperienced head coach/manager having to make assessments and judgements on a squad of players he has only recently had the chance to see in competitive games.

He needs to see what their characters and personalities are like as well as what they can and can't do and where is best to play them in which system. Pre season only shows you half of what you need to know about a player. 

Make no mistake, tonight was poor from most of the team and we can't afford too many more like it but we must show patience and accept that performances may not hit full throttle immediately.

[Ambitious]

£30 with Sky Bet on Charlton to beat us on Saturday returns £165.00

It's a licence to print money based on our first two games. 

[Cam the Ram]

I was suggesting to you a few weeks back Cam that we needed a playmaker midfielder, but you thought we had an abundance of riches.  I know that the loss of Hughes will have swayed you in this regard, but even if we still had Hughes we still wouldn't really have a player that knits it all together in front of the forwards. I have been concerned for a while that if we lose Thorne we are in really big trouble as I am not convinced that either Hendrick or Bryson are anything other than average championship players, and certainly not "leaders".  I was encouraged this week that Clement agreed that further to Hughes injury we might need two midfielders. I can't see it happening but I for one would be pleased to see Barton join because although he doesn't apparently have a brain off the field, he is a fine footballer and consistent performer. In the hole I have no immediate answers but surely Evans/PC must know of some decent foreign player who could come in and play some tika taka, and even just hold on to the ball for a while. I do still hope Dawks can kick on this season in the hole, but it is a big risk not finding a quality player in that role.

Yep can definitely see your point now so apologies for completely shooting your opinion down back then. Ince is better out wide and we need someone in the #10 role who can create if Clement is sticking with the diamond/4-2-3-1. And we need a better holding mid than Hendrick if he plans on using 2 holding mids again

[Kernow]

The highlights on the League Cup show really didn't make us look as bad as some of the comments suggest.

We should have had a penalty, their second goal was well worked and the less said about their first the better.

We had good movement around the box and created a fair few chances. They have a tiny pitch and you could see how compact it was around there. The Russell free-kick on the edge of the box that should have been a penalty only looked about 10 yards out. Very small pitch.

Obviously they probably showed us at our very best judging by the comments from everyone who watched the entire game, but I'm still no less confident about getting a win on Saturday, which I think we will.

[roboto]

The most obvious thing tonight was, that without Hughes or Thorne on the pitch we can't control the midfield or tempo of the game. We can probably get by with one of them fully fit, but Hendrick and Baird together was sh!te. Neither of them were looking to play a cutting pass to the front four and the ball ended up passed back to a defender or Grant and hoofed over Bent's head...

I don't mind the 4-2-3-1 as long as we have a midfield that can pass the ball. When Thorne came on we played much better. He played several cutting forward passes and got the attackers into good positions. I don't think there is a place in the team for Hendrick in a 4-2-3-1 though.

Weimann and Russell were hard working but ultimately ineffective tonight. It should've been a penalty, but when it was only a free kick I don't understand why he didn't let Ince take it from there. Martin was just as isolated as Bent in this formation, so that needs some work if we're going to persevere with it. 

Defensively, Forsyth has had much better games, but he's still a massive improvement on Warnock. I thought Ssewankambo was steady. A bit raw and inexperienced, but did his job well. Not sure why Sage rated him so lowly further back in the thread. Pearce was ok, but that may be because Shackell was covering for him well. Grant should have cleaned the butter off his gloves after his half time bacon buttie...

[RadioactiveWaste]

Just seen the highlights on C5.

Would "Santorum" be an appropriate word for that....?

That was poor looking even on "edited to make it look exciting" highlights. Sorry Grant, you might as well have a word with Jamie Ward and see if Doogie will have you.

[JuanFloEvraTheCocu'sNesta]

Tonight was just poor all round against a team playing above themselves. It's not the end of the world but from what I saw in the pre-season matches I watched and the first two games of the season a lack of width has been common factor in all of them. I hope this will change because it will lose us more points than it will win.

Clement is still learning and tonight will have taught him a fair bit about the squad. I think he is figuring out in his mind the players he will depend on and a few performances tonight will go a long way to cementing that.

 

[MACKWORTHRAM]

Crikey you should apply for the sacred post after Mr Clementine gets the hoof..Your in depth knowledge of the game is outstanding. 

 

Imagine the title..Mackworth ram, Professor Mack of Football Ergonomics.. 

Forest fan on the Derby board?

Focus on your own club going down the **** pan.

[i-Ram]

Joined by @i-Ram too, 3 games he's had, ruptured testicle in the 1st, bore draw 2nd and now this!

Rev let it be known that as Thread Starter for the new championship season I said that I would be an Invincible this season, and that is the case as I stand down tonight, as the team currently remains unbeaten in the league.  As for your "ruptured testicle" I am pretty sure it is something that a good clap doctor could treat.

[Malagaram]

90 minuites of my life wasted tonight,if we are to be succesful this year we really should be beating teams that are two divs below us out of sight,who will be the first team we will manage to win against?  !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!