Dave Mackay Ate My Hamster Posted August 4, 2017 Share Posted August 4, 2017 I'll start with the positives, decent defence, dodgy penalty aside - improved with the addition of Wisdom, a fit Fozzy, Keogh showing he's not out of his depth amongst them and Hudds shielding the lot of them. And Carson was awesome. But in Derby's obsession with the 4-3-3, the remaining 5 have been here for ages, under-performed and struggle for guile and creation. Defence sorted, midfield and attacking 3, with the exception of Tom, long term servants constantly running into blind alleys. Constantly picked, constantly unable to dominate our league, despite being some of the better paid players in our division. We need a MAJOR restructuring of our midfield and attacking players. We've been doing the same for four years with the majority of the same players. Long term stalwarts like Martin, Bryson and Russell are nowhere near good enough. And more recent expensive additions like Johnson and Butterfield, despite their expensive price tags are not the solution. Yet we keep picking them, expecting a different outcome. I didn't even realise Martin was playing tonight till well into the game. I was surprised at Russell's "assist" till, on closer inspection it took a lucky deflection, to leave Johnson in acres of space for an easy open goal. They say the definition of insanity is to repeat the same thing over and over again and expect a different result. Groundhog day.... We need major midfield (Hudds excepted) and attacking surgery. Sorry to be so negative, but there's no other conclusion to draw.... How many transfer windows to turn around this Derby County tanker? I'm quite depressed at the proliferation of players we pay a much higher than average wage to for our division, who I think are having our pants down..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
europia Posted August 4, 2017 Share Posted August 4, 2017 On the plus side, I thought the new away strip looked really good, along with a decent shirt sponsor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Mackay Ate My Hamster Posted August 4, 2017 Author Share Posted August 4, 2017 Haha europia. I think it's in response in the the recent health and safety push. High viz shirts. Be seen be safe. Unfortunately some of our players have misinterpreted it as " Be seen (but don't risk anything) be safe (in the first team). Is this what having Mel's budget buys our club? Feeling a disconnect tonight, sorry...... :-( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimbo Ram Posted August 4, 2017 Share Posted August 4, 2017 I think saying Martin is not good enough is a bit harsh...he is the leading goal scorer in the Championship over the last 3 seasons...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Mackay Ate My Hamster Posted August 4, 2017 Author Share Posted August 4, 2017 Let's be honest, on chances, we should have lost about 6-2 to a s**** championship side who haven't got a prayer of going back up automatically. Worrying times... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimbo Ram Posted August 4, 2017 Share Posted August 4, 2017 1 minute ago, Dave Mackay Ate My Hamster said: Let's be honest, on chances, we should have lost about 6-2 to a s**** championship side who haven't got a prayer of going back up automatically. Worrying times... Jesus, did you watch the first 10 games under Jim Smith the season we went up??? We've played 1 game and are unbeaten... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunnyhill60 Posted August 4, 2017 Share Posted August 4, 2017 Same old? Yes! Johnson and Russell gave the ball away just as often as they usually do Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parsnip Posted August 4, 2017 Share Posted August 4, 2017 Is there any limit to how long our names can be? If I'd known we could go as big as @Dave Mackay Ate My Hamster I'd have come up with something way cooler than parsnip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Mackay Ate My Hamster Posted August 4, 2017 Author Share Posted August 4, 2017 2 minutes ago, Jimbo Ram said: I think saying Martin is not good enough is a bit harsh...he is the leading goal scorer in the Championship over the last 3 seasons...... The thing about Martin is he WAS a "1 in 2" player, now he's becoming a "1 in 4" player. If the team isn't set up totally using him as the fulcrum point he can be totally anonymous in games. I know it's an odd comparison, but can you imagine if Messi or Ronaldo only performed in one game in four for their clubs, how long would they last? I'm tiring of him, to be honest. If a genius falls down easily, you forgive it because of his otherwise genius. As decent a performer Martin HAS been for us, I'm reluctantly quickly coming to the conclusion he's past his sell by. Not a player for a promotion seeking side. If you play 4-4-2 you can afford for either of your strikers to suffer dips in form. If you structure your team to work towards a talisman striker, make sure he's Messie-esque ( for the division/level you play at ). If he's a " 1 in 4 " striker, you've got a major problem. Add to that, if his support strikers/wingers are also 1 in 3/ or 4 players... and you're paying them shed loads for your league, so that the " hunger " is questionable..... Therein lies our attacking problems..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Obi1Kenobi0 Posted August 4, 2017 Share Posted August 4, 2017 Agree with most of your sentiment Dave, defensively more solid but midfield/attacking mix doesn't work, ergo 4-3-3 wasn't going to work. Johnson and Butterfield struggled to find space and support the attack (bar the goal) with creative flair and predictable passing. Johnny seems to be coated with teflon which prevents him controlling the ball, he had a very similar game to Hoffenheim. Weimman struggled physically and again no outlet as muscled out the game. Martin was isolated and when he got his chance probably thought the goal was a mirage. I was hoping we'd start with a more mobile Nugent and Vrydra and it was no surprise to see us pick up when they came on. In summary +Lots of endeavour and defensive shape +Would have taken a draw, so at least we're off the mark. -We lack quality out wide so looked limited on the counter which meant less possession and going direct. If you play Martin it's ball to feet or nothing, -We needed to change at half time not after 70 mins. Unless we add creativity in midfield and out wide we'll finish a workmanlike 7th or 8th. Could do with an Ince and Hughes. Oh wait.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Mackay Ate My Hamster Posted August 4, 2017 Author Share Posted August 4, 2017 31 minutes ago, Jimbo Ram said: Jesus, did you watch the first 10 games under Jim Smith the season we went up??? We've played 1 game and are unbeaten... Jimbo, I'm not getting suicidal over one result, just the ever wheeled out same players who keep under performing for our club and still continue to get picked. At what point do you change the playing staff to attempt to exact a different outcome?.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
needles Posted August 4, 2017 Share Posted August 4, 2017 What do you think he's trying to do? Chill the f*** out man, for f**** sake. We drew away against a relegated club. It's the first week in August. Chris Martin has scored more goals than anyone else in the championship in the last three years. What exactly do you expect? 8 new signings? Who? From where? Paid for how? What about the squad we've got, are you going force people to take them? Tuck away Nuge's chance last minute and grand to a pinch of s**** everyone's wanking themselves silly about how we're going up. Aaaaaaagh. f*** it I'm off to bed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uttoxram75 Posted August 4, 2017 Share Posted August 4, 2017 2 minutes ago, needles said: What do you think he's trying to do? Chill the f*** out man, for f**** sake. We drew away against a relegated club. It's the first week in August. Chris Martin has scored more goals than anyone else in the championship in the last three years. What exactly do you expect? 8 new signings? Who? From where? Paid for how? What about the squad we've got, are you going force people to take them? Tuck away Nuge's chance last minute and grand to a pinch of s**** everyone's wanking themselves silly about how we're going up. Aaaaaaagh. f*** it I'm off to bed. Had a friday night shandy mate? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deano180 Posted August 4, 2017 Share Posted August 4, 2017 31 minutes ago, Parsnip said: Is there any limit to how long our names can be? If I'd known we could go as big as @Dave Mackay Ate My Hamster I'd have come up with something way cooler than parsnip. Wish he ate himself and disappeared with his wonderful positivity Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Perseus Posted August 4, 2017 Share Posted August 4, 2017 Two points dropped. Unless Sunderland really are useless (some players are), Derby controlled the second half of the game. Expect that at home or against the bottom seven clubs. Looks like it is halfway back to the 2013-14 team with a much stronger squad. Same 4-3-3. Played a little bit like Brighton did last year although passing out of defence was not so good. And only one winger. On that performance, as expected apart from the result, should be good enough for 82 points. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Mackay Ate My Hamster Posted August 4, 2017 Author Share Posted August 4, 2017 43 minutes ago, needles said: What do you think he's trying to do? Chill the f*** out man, for f**** sake. We drew away against a relegated club. It's the first week in August. Chris Martin has scored more goals than anyone else in the championship in the last three years. What exactly do you expect? 8 new signings? Who? From where? Paid for how? What about the squad we've got, are you going force people to take them? Tuck away Nuge's chance last minute and grand to a pinch of s**** everyone's wanking themselves silly about how we're going up. Aaaaaaagh. f*** it I'm off to bed. Needles, without adding to your blood pressure and wishing the top of your head to launch with the propulsion of steam.... It's one thing to support our club as we do, but to see the same players, playing the same way, expecting a different result...... I admire your support, but 5 out of our front 6 are perennial under performers . Sorry, but nothing I saw tonight changed that. Aggressive slaying of " nay sayers" won't somehow miraculously translate into results.... hmmm Mate, we have to face facts. We weren't good enough last season, and there was hardly a crumb of improvement tonight. Yes, it was the first game, but to suppress any criticism at all suggests the ultimate in blind faithism. If we'd played expansive, creative football, changed our style.....and lost to 2 sucker punch goals, you'd have a case. But for the 3rd or 4th season running we've started playing the same way, with mostly the same attacking personnel. FFS, at what point do you conclude they're not good enough to get us promoted? Exasperated........ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RamNut Posted August 5, 2017 Share Posted August 5, 2017 3 hours ago, Parsnip said: Is there any limit to how long our names can be? If I'd known we could go as big as @Dave Mackay Ate My Hamster I'd have come up with something way cooler than parsnip. Dave Mackay Ate my Parsnip? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparkle Posted August 5, 2017 Share Posted August 5, 2017 Sunderland actually created nothing themselves, we were reasonable for all their opportunities we should/could have scored through Martin/Nugent we nearly scored through Keogh and Davies could easily have had a penalty plus Russell got himself into some great positions ( which nobody else did) from the wing only to let himself down with his cut backs apart from the one in the first half which we scored from Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BramcoteRam84 Posted August 5, 2017 Share Posted August 5, 2017 As opening matches go, it was quite positive. Thought we were strong in last 20. The only time I remember a fluid cohesive performance on opening day was when we beat Reading 3-0 after relegation in 2002. Thought we were going to walk the league. In the end Reading got in the playoffs (or close to it can't quite remember) and we struggled. They were clearly galvanised by being walloped at Celtic and the whole Darron Gibson rant. They still have some decent players, Kone particularly who is one of the best CB's in the Championship. We're off the mark and already have one away game down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Igorwasking Posted August 5, 2017 Share Posted August 5, 2017 Bring Toral and Lawrence into that team - and the control, balance and threat increases ten fold. Rowett should try doing that (oh wait, he is trying to do that!). So everyone relax - it was the first game, with the personnel we had available - first game in September is the right time to judge how we might fare this season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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