Sunderland v Derby County - Match day thread

[Highgate]

Good to see the Rams getting stronger as the game wore on, hopefully that's a sign of a good level of fitness at the club. Obviously it's too early to draw conclusions on that. 

Also good to see that we weren't settling for a point away from home, there seemed to be a genuine intent to go for 3 at the end,

Great to see Huddlestone back, what a lovely ball for Russell's break to set up the goal! He could really be a dominant figure in this division.

Clearly, Vydra deserves to start the next game, our brightest attacking threat even though he only played a fraction of the game.

Surprisingly poor at defending set-pieces, given the height of the team. Also I don't know why Huddlestone is being asked to float corner kicks into the box.

Not a great deal of creativity from the midfield and attack until Vydra came on. I think everyone knows we need an addition or two in the wide/attacking areas.

Overall, some promising signs, but plenty of room for improvement, notably set pieces at both ends of the pitch.

[EulogyForEvolution]

I was pleased with the performance. First game of the season, still a bit rusty. Vydra was the game changer I wanted him to be. Him and Martin will make an amazing partnership this year. Mark my words!

[MACKWORTHRAM]

Just back from Sunderland. Thought id give some some ratings. 

Carson 8- Would have given him a 7 but that save was top drawer. 

Wisdom 7- Strong and steady. Made one mistake. 

Keogh 7- Didn't put a foot wrong for me. Looked solid. 

Davies 7- Same as Keogh 

Forsyth 6- Beaten a couple of times and a couple of awful crosses. 

Huddlestone 7- Few lovely passes but also a few wayward. Looked good though. 

Johnson 6- Scored but didn't do much else. Shocking bit of play and we were almost 2-1 down. 

Butterfield 4- Awful. The lad looks like he's got no confidence at all. Harsh penalty though. 

Weimann 5- Huffed and puffed but didn't do a lot more. Didn't get a lot of the ball. 

Russell 4- If he didn't get the assist I'd probably give him a 2 or a 3. Stupid foul he gave away first half. Doesn't make any runs. Wisdom runs down the wing. Russell nowhere to be seen. He's got no football brain at all. Useless. Vydra did more in a 20 minutes. 

Martin 5- Not much service and the one chance he did get ended up in Durham. 

All in all. Take Butterfield, Weimann and Russell out of the side and sign replacements. Then we'll do well. But we aren't good enough in the forward areas to finish top 6 at the minute. But GR will know that. 

[ReyDCFC]

7 minutes ago, MACKWORTHRAM said:

Forsyth 6- Beaten a couple of times and a couple of awful crosses.  

Speaking of Fozzy, I just saw him in Costco 

[Sparkle]

28 minutes ago, MACKWORTHRAM said:

Just back from Sunderland. Thought id give some some ratings. 

Carson 8- Would have given him a 7 but that save was top drawer. 

Wisdom 7- Strong and steady. Made one mistake. 

Keogh 7- Didn't put a foot wrong for me. Looked solid. 

Davies 7- Same as Keogh 

Forsyth 6- Beaten a couple of times and a couple of awful crosses. 

Huddlestone 7- Few lovely passes but also a few wayward. Looked good though. 

Johnson 6- Scored but didn't do much else. Shocking bit of play and we were almost 2-1 down. 

Butterfield 4- Awful. The lad looks like he's got no confidence at all. Harsh penalty though. 

Weimann 5- Huffed and puffed but didn't do a lot more. Didn't get a lot of the ball. 

Russell 4- If he didn't get the assist I'd probably give him a 2 or a 3. Stupid foul he gave away first half. Doesn't make any runs. Wisdom runs down the wing. Russell nowhere to be seen. He's got no football brain at all. Useless. Vydra did more in a 20 minutes. 

Martin 5- Not much service and the one chance he did get ended up in Durham. 

All in all. Take Butterfield, Weimann and Russell out of the side and sign replacements. Then we'll do well. But we aren't good enough in the forward areas to finish top 6 at the minute. But GR will know that. 

I agree with most of that apart from the Russell bit, yes he could have played the ball better but he did get in to the bye line at least on 3 occasions one of which resulted in a goal and if we are looking at positives from the right hand side getting to the bye line is an improvement on Ince - but wieman didn't do himself any favours and butterfield should at best be a sub

[B4ev6is]

I disagree with russle bit he helps out the defance or have just ingore that bit of the game.

[DEL]

 

[Mafiabob]

11 minutes ago, B4ev6is said:

I disagree with russle bit he helps out the defance or have just ingore that bit of the game.

Especially the bit where he gave away the free kick.

Too be fair he did get to byline more than any last night. 

[B4ev6is]

Well always put his foot in the way some times you need bring other players down.

[MACKWORTHRAM]

35 minutes ago, Mafiabob said:

Especially the bit where he gave away the free kick.

Too be fair he did get to byline more than any last night. 

And didn't pick out a man with one cross. 

Even the one to Johnson deflected twice. 

[Mafiabob]

Just now, MACKWORTHRAM said:

And didn't pick out a man with one cross. 

Even the one to Johnson deflected twice. 

Look I'm no fan of Russell.....

But if that was Bryson/Thorne/Hudds etc who played that across it'll be "wow brilliant" from them...... and you know it..... 

He did well for that goal. Give him credit. 

[Angry Ram]

First game.. Meh. Never traditionally a great one for us. Draw away at Sunderland, probably would have taken that when the fixtures came out.  In fact I thought we were pretty lucky in the end.

I know it's early but Rowett has been here long enough not to make some of these errors. We bring Martin back from Fulham, okay I am not a fan of CM but for god sake give the lad a chance. Great lay off for Huddlestones chance in the first half but then aimless long balls and nobody near him. WTF. We did not look to have any real plan apart from long balls. Russell has taken some flack and nobody can deny his decision making is woeful. Not all his fault, plenty of average out there yesterday.. 

Preseason is about minutes and fitness but it is also about structure and formation. Partnerships, understandings.. We lacked that.

As has been mentioned before we need creativity in the last third. Hopefully the are addressing this. 

Rowett will get away with that for the first game but Morris won't accept that crap going forward. 

Wolves a home, no place to hide.

The Derby Way V7. 

[Curtains]

4 minutes ago, Angry Ram said:

First game.. Meh. Never traditionally a great one for us. Draw away at Sunderland, probably would have taken that when the fixtures came out.  In fact I thought we were pretty lucky in the end.

I know it's early but Rowett has been here long enough not to make some of these errors. We bring Martin back from Fulham, okay I am not a fan of CM but for god sake give the lad a chance. Great lay off for Huddlestones chance in the first half but then aimless long balls and nobody near him. WTF. We did not look to have any real plan apart from long balls. Russell has taken some flack and nobody can deny his decision making is woeful. Not all his fault, plenty of average out there yesterday.. 

Preseason is about minutes and fitness but it is also about structure and formation. Partnerships, understandings.. We lacked that.

As has been mentioned before we need creativity in the last third. Hopefully the are addressing this. 

Rowett will get away with that for the first game but Morris won't accept that crap going forward. 

Wolves a home, no place to hide.

The Derby Way V7. 

But Sheff Wed ,Boro and Reading must have made a few errors today as they all lost. 

We do need to improve in the final 3rd though and so does Russell even though he had a hand in the goal but that's his job .

[SuperDerbySuperRams]

Btw, Wisdom was absolutely immense yesterday. Such a bargain 

[nogbad van 50]

18 hours ago, Carl Sagan said:

Interesting game and a solid start, but still a work in progress. We were clearly massively fitter and totally dominated the final half-hour, which leads to a feeling of disappointment in not winning But a point away at Sunderland is a good point and you have to question a referee who doesn't give the penalty and sending off for the blatant foul on Curtis Davies. It's understandable he gave a penalty against Butterfield, but questionable because it was obviously an accidental handball while falling over. But it was criminal not to give us one at the other end, also a clear denial of a goalscoring opportunity with no attempt to play the ball (automatic red card).

Carson was as good as he could have been and very unlucky not to save the penalty.

Keogh was excellent throughout and I also though Davies was pretty good. Fozzy was off the pace but that's understandable having been out for two seasons. As long as he picks up soon. There was no threat from us down the left because Weimann was ineffectual. But is Weimann a left winger? Of course not. He ran and chased plenty but to little effect.

Wisdom made a great block and I hope will grown into the season.

Huddlestone started well but faded after the first half hour. He needs to put pace on the corners too. Our midfield trio were overrun for the first half hour and we went long almost all the time. Oh for the magical ability of Hughes. Butterfield and Johnson struggled to get into the game. In the second half Butterfield picked up. Of course both made catastrophic mistakes, Butterfield with the pen and Johnson giving the ball away leading to Grabban's fierce drive against the post.

Martin did his best with the long ball stuff in the first half and his few touches were good. But he faded and missed our second best chance of the game. Vydra was a man on a mission and created that chance and always looked purposeful, skillful and dangerous. When he replaced Martin, Nugent was lucky not to be booked and missed a good opening created by late sub Bryson.

Johnny Russell his typical frustrating selff, with some good (ceating our goal) and some bad (getting in a brilliant position only to panic and play the ball to their only defender as well as the very silly foul on Grabban in a dangerous position in the first half),

Well done to the fans who made a long journey on a Friday night and comfortably out sang the opposition. I think having lost the lead before halftime it's good to see us tough it out and get the point and finish much the stronger. Who knows what the season will bring, but it was a reasonable start.

It will be interesting to see who gets a runout against Grimsby. I expect half a dozen changes.

Great summary,take a bow!?

[PistoldPete2]

Where was Anya last night BTW ? Is he injured?

[RiddingsRam]

16 minutes ago, PistoldPete2 said:

Where was Anya last night BTW ? Is he injured?

Nah !! Just s**** 

[angieram]

Don't know about Friday night but last night he was at the athletics! 

 

[B4ev6is]

Hey i throught all of the derby team played well. I think it will be same team but maybe couple of changes.

 

[Popular side]

The Sunderland game just reminded me of so many performances last season. The problem is midfield. With no width Butterfield and Johnson get easily cancelled out, hence Toms role of playing over the top which again is easy to play against unless it's done on the break.

The chink of light came late in the second half . Huddlestone and wisdom bringing the ball forward between them, drew sunderlands midfield , freeing up Johnson and Butterfeild, with vydra working the spaces. I know Sunderland began to tire but Derby did start to overrun them