Leeds United v Derby County play off semi final second leg

[Day]

1 minute ago, Jourdan said:

I would say that they are our best individuals, but maybe to beat Leeds, it has to be about the team, the unit, not individuals.

From one to eleven, we probably have better individuals than all of the top three.  But as teams, they function better. Sometimes you play your best team to win that particular game, and not necessarily always your best individuals.

Mount and Wilson are good players, but what is so bonkers about acknowledging that they will thrive in some games more so than others, and so it might be worth taking a different approach?

Leeds will work hard, press hard and battle hard. They will be physical. They will be rough. They will be crafty. They will be backed by a fired-up home crowd on top of that.

Are Mount and Wilson the kind of players who you expect to thrive in that situation? 

Personally I think it’s exactly the kind of game they have been shown to freeze in or be nullified in.

Our best games this season have been with those two in, our dip even coincided with Mount’s injury. As I said earlier the only reason I believe we are playing tonight is Mount’s return from injury.

From the team you have posted, there is no evidence to suggest they will work better as a team.

Whilst I share the view we need to try something different tonight, that should still include our best players.

We go out there tonight and give it our all with them, you just have to say Leeds deserved it.

We go out there and leave out key players and lose, questions will be asked all summer what if. We could argue this all day but there’s no way Frank would consider this, even during a weekend session with Jody.

I think you will be hard pushed to find many that will agree with you on this one, when I find myself in that situation I do question my own thinking and accept I’m probably a bit bonkers.

[DarkFruitsRam7]

34 minutes ago, Jourdan said:

Did you see anything in Saturday’s performance that would be cause for optimism?

There's always a cause for optimism in any sport.

[Jourdan]

2 minutes ago, David said:

Our best games this season have been with those two in, our dip even coincided with Mount’s injury. As I said earlier the only reason I believe we are playing tonight is Mount’s return from injury.

From the team you have posted, there is no evidence to suggest they will work better as a team.

Whilst I share the view we need to try something different tonight, that should still include our best players.

We go out there tonight and give it our all with them, you just have to say Leeds deserved it.

We go out there and leave out key players and lose, questions will be asked all summer what if. We could argue this all day but there’s no way Frank would consider this, even during a weekend session with Jody.

I think you will be hard pushed to find many that will agree with you on this one, when I find myself in that situation I do question my own thinking and accept I’m probably a bit bonkers.

We were playing poorly even before Mount got injured, so I think it is a bit simplistic to credit the team’s decline and resurgence all to one player.

Mount has made a difference, but so have 6-7 other players stepping up their game too.

I don’t need anyone to agree with me. I am just giving my opinion, having watched the game on Saturday. 

I just don’t see the sense in playing roughly the same eleven and expecting something to suddenly be different. We have come unstuck three games running.

As it is, Leeds can just turn up and stick to their tried and tested formula.

[Jourdan]

25 minutes ago, David said:

Our best games this season have been with those two in, our dip even coincided with Mount’s injury. As I said earlier the only reason I believe we are playing tonight is Mount’s return from injury.

From the team you have posted, there is no evidence to suggest they will work better as a team.

Whilst I share the view we need to try something different tonight, that should still include our best players.

We go out there tonight and give it our all with them, you just have to say Leeds deserved it.

We go out there and leave out key players and lose, questions will be asked all summer what if. We could argue this all day but there’s no way Frank would consider this, even during a weekend session with Jody.

I think you will be hard pushed to find many that will agree with you on this one, when I find myself in that situation I do question my own thinking and accept I’m probably a bit bonkers.

Our best performances have come with Mount and Wilson in the team, but also some of our worst.

We all have our opinions of what the team should be, or what might conceivably be a good tactical switch. Your 4-4-2 with Bennett and Marriott up top could be ripped apart and labelled bonkers just as much.

Whatever approach we take and whatever happens, questions are going to be asked anyway.

But if we go in with the same approach yet again and lose in uninspiring fashion yet again, now that would be disappointing.

Can’t we show a different side to our game? Can’t we show that we have the variety in the squad to do something different?

I give it 20 minutes into the game and there’ll be posts in the match thread of ‘1-0, here we go again’ and people will be complaining that we are too soft and too predictable.

Not by me, of course. I’ll be teaching. But at 9:31, be ready. ?

[Srg]

1 minute ago, Jourdan said:

 

I give it 20 minutes into the game and there’ll be posts in the match thread of ‘1-0, here we go again’ and people will be complaining that we are too soft and too predictable.

And that will be because the formation and game plan hasn't changed, not because Mount and Wilson are on the pitch

[Day]

6 minutes ago, Jourdan said:

Not by me, of course. I’ll be teaching. But at 9:31, be ready. ?

That explains it, picking a horrible team knowing you won’t have to watch it, bit twisted that is, should give you a warning! ?

[Smyth_18]

With out reading all of the posts in the last hour i think @Jourdan could be onto something regarding Mount.

He is by far our best player. It seems when he plays well, we play well. Leeds know that and know how to keep him out of the game.

Without Mount in the team i think a lot of what they have focused on goes out of the window. We'd just have to hope the adjusted team without him would have some sort of plan we didn't have while he was injured.

[Day]

Just now, Smyth_18 said:

With out reading all of the posts in the last hour i think @Jourdan could be onto something regarding Mount.

He is by far our best player. It seems when he plays well, we play well. Leeds know that and know how to keep him out of the game.

Without Mount in the team i think a lot of what they have focused on goes out of the window. We'd just have to hope the adjusted team without him would have some sort of plan we didn't have while he was injured.

[Jourdan]

2 minutes ago, David said:

That explains it, picking a horrible team knowing you won’t have to watch it, bit twisted that is, should give you a warning! ?

Could that team do any worse than the XI on Saturday that couldn’t even manage a shot on target, at home?

In my mind, playing a team with less flair and more industry could work in our favour. Leeds might relax, Leeds might get complacent. Plus we could always bring Mount and Wilson off the bench to affect the game against tired legs.

There is no way for me to watch it, in any case.

No Rams TV screening and no Championship coverage on Portuguese television to my knowledge.

[Day]

1 minute ago, Jourdan said:

Could that team do any worse than the XI on Saturday that couldn’t even manage a shot on target, at home?

In my mind, playing a team with less flair and more industry could work in our favour. Leeds might relax, Leeds might get complacent. Plus we could always bring Mount and Wilson off the bench to affect the game against tired legs.

There is no way for me to watch it, in any case.

No Rams TV screening and no Championship coverage on Portuguese television to my knowledge.

If you can access ESPN app in Portugal you can watch it on there under the desk, they offer a free trial

[Topram]

Got to try keep them from getting on top first 20, try keep Ellanf road quiet! Longer we stay in more we believe come on the rams!

[Jourdan]

3 minutes ago, Smyth_18 said:

With out reading all of the posts in the last hour i think @Jourdan could be onto something regarding Mount.

He is by far our best player. It seems when he plays well, we play well. Leeds know that and know how to keep him out of the game.

Without Mount in the team i think a lot of what they have focused on goes out of the window. We'd just have to hope the adjusted team without him would have some sort of plan we didn't have while he was injured.

Thank you!

I really don’t think it is such an outrageous suggestion.

I mean David said Frank wouldn’t dream it up after a wild night on the whiskey with Jody.

But this is the same Frank who went to Villa Park and opted for a midfield of Max Bird and George Evans over Johnson, full backs of Cole and Wisdom over Bogle and Malone, wide players of Bennett and Jozefzoon over Wilson.

By comparison, my suggested line up only has 2-3 changes from the regular team of late, only necessary because whatever we have tried before simply hasn’t worked.

[Jourdan]

13 minutes ago, David said:

If you can access ESPN app in Portugal you can watch it on there under the desk, they offer a free trial

Thank you, I’ll look into it.

[Rambalin]

If we turn up having worked out how to negate Leeds we are capable of blowing Leeds away.We have more and better flair players they have Hernandez and a better team structure.

We have not shown three times we can counter them but Saturday we limited the chances that is a building block question now is can we put more on top.

[TuffLuff]

https://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/reasons-believe-Derby-county-can-2865701

 

A decent write up from Nicholson this 

[Highgate]

Just hope we have a real go tonight.  Attacking, aggressive and energetic.  Have no fear and just give it 100%.  If that happens, I'll be happy with the lads and Frank, regardless of the result.

Just don't want a repeat of the ultra negative premeditated surrender, orchestrated by Rowett, that we all had the misfortune of witnessing last year against Fulham.

[Jourdan]

It’s all a learning curve, anyway.

If Frank loses the tactical battle tonight, he’ll learn from it and we’ll come back stronger next season. I feel confident about that at least.

And in a worst case scenario, it might help my students finally crack conditionals.

João: ’If Derby had dropped Mount and Wilson, they would have beaten Leeds.’

Me: ’Excellent, João, excellent! Now if you want an A, sign up to dcfcfans.uk and tell everyone else that.’

?

[Wolfie]

39 minutes ago, Highgate said:

Just hope we have a real go tonight.  Attacking, aggressive and energetic.  Have no fear and just give it 100%.  If that happens, I'll be happy with the lads and Frank, regardless of the result.

Just don't want a repeat of the ultra negative premeditated surrender, orchestrated by Rowett, that we all had the misfortune of witnessing last year against Fulham.

Boooo, we want 110% minimum.

[JfR]

Somehow gone from more or less completely giving up hope after Saturday's game to convincing myself we're going to win this.
 

[Brammie Steve]

39 minutes ago, JfR said:

Somehow gone from more or less completely giving up hope after Saturday's game to convincing myself we're going to win this.
 

Me too, only I needed a half hour telephone counselling session with Brother Mozza.

(BTW my ipad tried to correct Mozza to Mozzarella, how cheesy is that??