Derby County v Grimsby Town

[TETRA]

Ok we are through to the next round with our 1-0 win last night to Grimsby Town, which as Pearson said after the game was all that mattered. 

I was somewhat surprised that we started the game with what some of my fellow rams fans around me in the crowd last night thought was a stronger starting eleven than we put out at the start of our first league game of the season on Saturday against Brighton. I have to say with that starting eleven at home against a side just back into league football after winning promotion I would have expected a somewhat easier more comfortable passage into the next round, or am I being too critical in saying that perhaps ?. 

From what I saw off the majority of Championship teams last night most start their respective games with a good number of changes. Brighton our opponents last Saturday I notice started their game last night with eleven changes from the team that  started against us last Saturday including four first team debutants at the back.

i just feel with with the loan system changing this season it was somewhat important to perhaps give some of our successful under 23 squad a chance to gain some valuable first team experience last night. But I suppose Pearson must have had his reason why he didn't go down this route.

[dcfcfan1]

This 4-4-2 crap will be the death of us

 

we just are so much more suited to a 4-2-3-1 or a 4-3-3

 

[jono]

9 hours ago, rynny said:

Cracking action Photo .. I was 70 yards away but it looked like it would look like that .. Exocet delivery from Bryson and blood and thunder diving header from the Skipper .. Top drawer ! 

[rynny]

3 minutes ago, jono said:

Cracking action Photo .. I was 70 yards away but it looked like it would look like that .. Exocet delivery from Bryson and blood and thunder diving header from the Skipper .. Top drawer ! 

It is, saw it on twitter so unfortunately cannot take credit for it 

[TomBustler1884]

I sat in the West Stand last night for a change of scene and ended up spending most of the game watching Pearson. So, a few observations based on that - 

1. The guy kicks every ball, not seen a manager for us so involved before.

2. He was frustrated with the performance for vast swathes of that game, but trying to hide it by turning back towards the bench instead of showing it to the players on the pitch.

3. Was constantly telling them to press the opposition. Blackman and Russell in particular got a LOT of reminders!

4. I am really worried about Will Hughes. I think he is under the spotlight with Pearson. Every mistake or misplaced pass, Pearson looked furious with him. Now that is either higher expectations for him, or he is nowhere near a favourite. Could be an interesting last few weeks of the window if Will doesn't put in a few good performances.

5. Focus on training this week? Pressing, shooting and moving the ball quicker and wider.

[DCFCArmy]

B4 brightens up this forum, so don't get upset by a bit of banter B4, it's in good humour mate. 

[Srg]

Grimsby impressed me. They knocked it around and didn't panic in a lot of tough situations. It was much better than you'd expect from a League 2 side - that said, they created literally nothing other than the keeper's header in injury time. Guess that's where the two league gap showed.

As for us, pretty poor for most of it. Looked better towards the end of the first half, once Forsyth had finally remembered how to pass and had shaken off his rust. Only Bryson looked like he was willing to make a tackle up until then.

There were glimpses of good football. There was a lovely move on the right hand side once Butterfield came on (who I think deserves a start on Saturday given his two cameos), which lead to a cross that landed perfectly on Bent's head, only for him to nod it over.

Still not a fan of 442/4411 in it's current iteration. Chris Martin seemed to think just because he was playing up front he had to run in behind constantly, whereas it should be Bent doing that, allowing Martin to show for it. The poor movement between the two and the midfield was evident, particularly first half. This isn't to say it won't work eventually, as clearly we're in the infancy of using it. But, we look a long way off at the moment.

Bent could have legitimately been pushing for double figures in goals this season already with the amount of very good chances he's squandered. The only hope is if one goes in, they'll all go in.

[Duracell]

14 minutes ago, The 1884 Group said:

4. I am really worried about Will Hughes. I think he is under the spotlight with Pearson. Every mistake or misplaced pass, Pearson looked furious with him. Now that is either higher expectations for him, or he is nowhere near a favourite. Could be an interesting last few weeks of the window if Will doesn't put in a few good performances.

In his Radio Derby interview, Pearson said a number of times that it's important that players set a high expectation "of themselves". And he also said he's more likely to pick a player if he thinks they're going to play close to their maximum.

Maybe I'm reading too much into that, but is there a slight implication that the manager thinks our Will is taking it a little too easy?

[Srg]

5 minutes ago, Duracell said:

In his Radio Derby interview, Pearson said a number of times that it's important that players set a high expectation "of themselves". And he also said he's more likely to pick a player if he thinks they're going to play close to their maximum.

Maybe I'm reading too much into that, but is there a slight implication that the manager thinks our Will is taking it a little too easy?

I imagine Chris Martin is lumped into this too.

[RadioactiveWaste]

I think perhaps some of the squad are being pushed out of their comfort zone. McClaren and Clement werent strong enough with them to push it when the senior squad dug in, Wassall took the get the comfort back option and it worked a bit, but not enough to get us up,obviously. I think Pearson is going to push it. We might lose a few favorites but the ones who come through it will be.better for it. 

Just my speculation. 

[Bald Eagle's Barmy Army]

52 minutes ago, The 1884 Group said:

I sat in the West Stand last night for a change of scene and ended up spending most of the game watching Pearson. So, a few observations based on that - 

1. The guy kicks every ball, not seen a manager for us so involved before.

2. He was frustrated with the performance for vast swathes of that game, but trying to hide it by turning back towards the bench instead of showing it to the players on the pitch.

3. Was constantly telling them to press the opposition. Blackman and Russell in particular got a LOT of reminders!

4. I am really worried about Will Hughes. I think he is under the spotlight with Pearson. Every mistake or misplaced pass, Pearson looked furious with him. Now that is either higher expectations for him, or he is nowhere near a favourite. Could be an interesting last few weeks of the window if Will doesn't put in a few good performances.

5. Focus on training this week? Pressing, shooting and moving the ball quicker and wider.

I did exactly the same and your observations were spot on, I thought exactly the same.

[Bald Eagle's Barmy Army]

A big part of me wants to see the back of Martin. Personally I don't think he offers enough for a promotion winning side. Last night he wasn't interested at all and created nothing against a league 2 side.

A bit like Bent, we are giving him a chance now because we think he deserves it, but if he is what we are relying on then a mid table finish at best is what we will get.

[Alph]

If Pearson doesn't rate Hughes then I like him even less than I already did. 

McClaren used to piss me off with that.

Hughes puts in 4 great performances and 1 average one... dropped for a game. Others can be really ordinary but have to be crap to get dropped. 

Showed his class in the final friendly and on Saturday. But you watch last night cost him his place. 

[inter politics]

Agreed...I would stick with Bryson and Hughes as the central two and let them build up a partnership. I'm not sure you're getting the best out of either by playing this formation but Hughes natural ability and vision is still evident and Bryson has done a lot of the ugly stuff these past two games.

For whatever reason, he seems to prefer Bent ('pace', ability to stretch the opposition, more likely to score a goal?) but Martin is clearly the better player at this stage in their careers...his link up play is far better. I would much rather see Martin and Ince have the chance to build up an understanding (or Ince out wide again with Russell/Weimann or even Hughes with Martin). We're going nowhere with Bent. For a team aiming for promotion, he's a super sub, occasional starter and not much more. Good pro, works hard but not the answer.

[SaintRam]

I think people trying to read Pearson's opinion of players at this stage is just asking for a lot of misunderstanding and misplaced anger.

 

[Curtains]

24 minutes ago, Alpha said:

If Pearson doesn't rate Hughes then I like him even less than I already did. 

McClaren used to piss me off with that.

Hughes puts in 4 great performances and 1 average one... dropped for a game. Others can be really ordinary but have to be crap to get dropped. 

Showed his class in the final friendly and on Saturday. But you watch last night cost him his place. 

All about team blend mate. 

Bryson and  Hughes as a 2 is not the right blend for Pearson maybe  .

Does look very weak no matter how each player plays individually 

Also Bent and Martin looks weak  as a 2  .

Grimsby bossed us a lot of the time without creating until 2 cleared off the line in the last minute

The manager has to look at the overall picture.

Butterfeld looked great when he came on last night.  

 

 

[JS1997]

Regardless of the opposition, I though Bryson was immense last night, ran all game and lost count of how many times he won the ball. Also much improved on the ball from Saturday, gave it away cheaply a few times on Saturday.

[JS1997]

Furthermore still think we will be overrun in midfield against better teams playing 3 in the middle. Personally would be looking at something like what we finished against Brighton with a diamond for Saturday. Didn't work as well on Saturday because for a narrow diamond to be effective you need up and down full backs (like Christie and Fozzy) not Baird who at that point was exhausted.

                         Carson

Christie    Keogh          Shackell    Forsyth

                         Hughes

              Bryson         Butterfield

                          Ince

             Blackman         Bent

[Tony Le Mesmer]

First of all massive praise to the club for a few things actually. A theme of my posts that no doubt will come to annoy you all immensely over time will be my comparisons between DCFC and my DCFC experiences and my 25 years previous in following ***** league 2 / conference clubs across the country. It's my badge of honour.

Right, off the pitch last night I paid £23 all in for 2 adults / kid / parking to watch a near full strength Championship side in an amazing stadium to spend an evening getting out of the house and watching a live sporting event. Well, not so much of event as it turned out but clubs get mullered for ripping off fans often enough and I just think that on this occasion I have to say thankyou DCFC and well done. Just a shame that more fans couldn't make it despite this and despite that overall across the cup last night Derby's attendance was more than creditable.

Obviously lower league clubs need to make as much cash as they can but I know from experience that the same round like for like at a league 2 club would have cost me nearly double that and to watch inferior teams and have inferior facilities / view.

My kid got a free flag plus colouring crayons and also some sweets from two nice girls in the family corner (found it!!) which made her day. I never buy her presents at birthdays / Christmas. 

Just overall we had a really good day out despite once again for the most part witnessing footballing quality for the best part of an hour not dissimilar to the type Grimsby are used to week in week out. Everyone sat round us was pleasant and no rants or bad language whatsoever once again so pats on the backs in the North Stand for everyone last night and thanks.

My only disappointment was that i'm a singer / drummer and a cajoler by trade at the footy and to sit in the North family area with a kid, relatively quietly and see those lads at t'other end in the SS bouncing and trying to make a difference really got to me last night. Brought back so many memories of times I've had and is a departure to what i'm used to. I feel as the season wears on and I get more used to going to games and more involved personally then i'll get saddened a little in the North Stand not being able to join in but I guess I can do that at away games and other cup games if I can rope a mate in and get somewhere around the noise in the SS so it's not all lost by any means.

Grimsby played exactly as I thought although I was a little surprised that we afforded them so much time to get their feet under the table first half hour where they sprayed it around nicely without creating much. First half hour there was no way to tell that there was a 2 division gulf between the teams. Gradually though Derby's passing and superior personnel ground down the Grimsby team as they sat deeper and last half hour plenty of chances created for Derby, most off target though which needs work. They tried to use set pieces to maximum effect culminating in the mad last couple of minutes where they could have scored a couple of times from a succession of corners.

Good to hear the Codheads were in full voice with their sense of humour and highly original thought provoking chants.

"Your support is &*%$£&* ****"  they sang. So will theirs be once again on Saturday when they take barely 700 to Wycombe at over 20 quid a pop and then only about 30 of them sing.

"I wanna go home, I wanna go hoooooooooooome................." well be my guest. Growing up around South Yorkshire / North Lincs I've had so many holidays / day trips to Cleggy that I've lost count. My only memories are grim. A week spent at the fitties caravan site was once classed as one of the top 50 character building exercises of all time. I'm one person who is glad to have swapped that area for this. Derbyshire is my home now.

"You only sing when you're winning!" so does EVERY set of supporters. That's why I always tried to get songs going constantly even if the team are 8-0 down as then such a trueism can never be levelled and another banal, obnoxious, predictable generic footy chant that belongs in the 80's can be made obsolete.

All made with all due respect of course.

There is a place for old traditional songs of course there is but these 3 in particular are embarrassing.

Overall it's a win to back up the point on Saturday and it's a solid start and although it's early days I have an inkling that Pearson's team aren't going to be all that great on the eye to watch and there could be quite a few scraped wins / draws this season. Just an inkling though. I've no idea how it will all pan out and if new additions will change this but i'm always hopeful.

Loving this new Derby journey and can't wait now for the Villa game. Absolutely gutted not to be able to get to Barnsley with me knowing the area really well and I can't get to Preston either because of the kid. She's got classes and stuff that I can't get out of. So I guess in a way the Grimsby fans ARE right...................my support IS %$&**£@ ****!

 

[ollycutts1982]

I thought Martin did okay last night. Looked interested and kept going in search of the ball. Understandably he was getting frustrated at how long it was taking the ball to get forward, I was watching and it annoyed me. Him and Bent on occasion made the same runs, understandable as we haven't played that much with a front 2 unless we are chasing a game. Think it showed with Martin as he kept lumping the ball out wide as Cyrus and Blackman were in loads of space. Bent is frustrating to watch but can pinch a goal. If you look at Martins best bits it's when the ball is played quickly into him with runners in and around him, fair enough NP might want to play differently but we have no wingers, haven't had for ages so either sign some or play a system that suits the players. Dare I say it last night with Martin and Bent playing together is was almost like they were fighting for that one spot as they didn't play together.