To all the moaners....

[Reggie Greenwood]

1 hour ago, RamNut said:

Wisdom may not be Maldini but he has played very well this season. 
The best defence providing a solid platform for the midfield gives us a chance.

picking the defence he did sends out the wrong message imo. 

Wisdom was ill not available for selection 

[Roots Manuva]

1 hour ago, Derbyram1 said:

Just wanted to add my own little opinion.....

Having been relocated from my East stand ST seat i was still optimistic i would enjoy myself despite not sitting with my "football friends", wow how wrong was I!

I thought the atmosphere was awful....(that's putting it mildly) and the level of football on show from our boys was woeful.

Sibley tried but other than that it was men against boys, the utd players will not get an easier game all season which was helped by our lack of ability to pass to one another.

Fozzy and Evans did a job but why take out Clarke and Wisdom (although he was apparently ill)???

Oh and the amount of half and half scarves around fans necks was hideous, luckily the people that bought them probably won't be at the game on Sunday.

32,000 last night......25,000 on Sunday, but hey that's football for you.

I had one guy furiously waving his match ticket/A4 sheet at me in the NE corner suggesting I was in their seat, quick flash of my ST card and another look at his sheet showed that he doesn't know the difference between 262 and 292 <sigh> this was 10 minutes into the game too.

added to that the 2 fellas taking photos of the turnstiles on their phones as they were in the queue waiting to go in....

a unique atmosphere indeed!

have to admit this week I've been looking forward to the Blackburn game more than last night, would've been different had it been Man City or Arsenal or a prem side we haven't faced in a while but feels like we play United every year in the cups so that novelty/excitement of a facing a new side wasn't there for me either.

have there been any updates on Lawrence's calf injury?

 

[Wolfie20]

1 minute ago, Roots Manuva said:

I had one guy furiously waving his match ticket/A4 sheet at me in the NE corner suggesting I was in their seat, quick flash of my ST card and another look at his sheet showed that he doesn't know the difference between 262 and 292 <sigh> this was 10 minutes into the game too.

added to that the 2 fellas taking photos of the turnstiles on their phones as they were in the queue waiting to go in....

a unique atmosphere indeed!

have to admit this week I've been looking forward to the Blackburn game more than last night, would've been different had it been Man City or Arsenal or a prem side we haven't faced in a while but feels like we play United every year in the cups so that novelty/excitement of a facing a new side wasn't there for me either.

have there been any updates on Lawrence's calf injury?

 

With you on looking forward more to the Blackburn game on Sunday

[Eatonram]

I like many was disappointed when I heard the team selection. By the end of the match I thought he actually got it bang on.

 

Perhaps, just maybe (even though I've been watching the Rams 52 years) Cocu knows more about our players, and understands football a little better than I do.

 

There may be a few others that need to consider this possibility.

[Wolfie20]

1 minute ago, Eatonram said:

I like many was disappointed when I heard the team selection. By the end of the match I thought he actually got it bang on.

 

Perhaps, just maybe (even though I've been watching the Rams 52 years) Cocu knows more about our players, and understands football a little better than I do.

 

There may be a few others that need to consider this possibility.

Thing is they won't - no matter what. I found the team selection strange - wasn't expecting Evans to play and disappointed not to see Martin start but then we aren't party to Chris Martins' current medical situation. Evans did ok and did enough in that role to show he can be a useful squad member next season.

[Derbyram1]

32 minutes ago, Roots Manuva said:

I had one guy furiously waving his match ticket/A4 sheet at me in the NE corner suggesting I was in their seat, quick flash of my ST card and another look at his sheet showed that he doesn't know the difference between 262 and 292 <sigh> this was 10 minutes into the game too.

added to that the 2 fellas taking photos of the turnstiles on their phones as they were in the queue waiting to go in....

a unique atmosphere indeed!

have to admit this week I've been looking forward to the Blackburn game more than last night, would've been different had it been Man City or Arsenal or a prem side we haven't faced in a while but feels like we play United every year in the cups so that novelty/excitement of a facing a new side wasn't there for me either.

have there been any updates on Lawrence's calf injury?

 

100% agree with this, looking forward to Sundays game much more than last night.

I understand not everyone can get a season ticket but last night was so full of day trippers it was embarrassing.

I know Tom L left in a protective boot, other than that ive heard nothing.

 

[StantonRam]

hi all

Very proud of last night's team especially the youngsters.  Even if Cocu had gone for experience over mobility last night it wouldn't have changed much.  We had chances and didn't score, they had about the same number of chances and put 3 of them away, which is simply attributable to the difference between both the relative quality/cost of the teams and therefore the league positions.

What a game like that tells you is who is stepping up and who isn't.  Of the Academy players on display last night, for me only Whittaker didn't quite seem to show the nous and energy that was clearly required, everyone else displayed fearlessness and guts, as well as a fair amount of skill.

With the 3 loanees last season we got very close to going up.  Since that's unlikely to happen again we have to find the next set of players from within, which is exactly what Cocu is doing, and these last few games coming up are an ideal testing ground.  Top 6 is now unlikely, so the pressure is off, and paradoxically going with the home grown talent might just enable us to grab 6th place.

Win or lose, surely the real issue is always - did those on the pitch give 110% and show pride in the shirt?  Last night the answer was unquestionably yes, and I don't think we can ask for more really.

All the best

LR2

[BBG83]

I watched the game almost as a neutral and I really enjoyed it.

Of course I wanted Derby to win but you've got to be realistic. There's a huge gap between Derby & Man Utd on all levels, and there has been for a three decades now.

I appreciated the way Utd broke Derby down but more so the way our young lads had a real go supported by Rooney. I enjoyed watching Sibley take them on with feet and heart, Knight causing problems and Max Bird so assured in that role. Result is irrelevant in current circumstances, but the future is definitely bright.

Said it before, If Cocu succeeds with his plan I wouldn't be surprised to see him (in two or three years) managing at Utd with some of these lads in the team and Utd's youth system redeveloped (like ours is being).

[Tyler Durden]

11 hours ago, IslandExile said:

Do you still not see it?

Do you still not get what Cocu is building? And how he's doing it?

Every match thread, it's a race to see who can whinge about the team selection first.

Tonight was no different.... "How are we going to beat the fifth best team in the country without Davies in central defence and Malone amongst the substitutes?"

The youngsters were brilliant tonight and will learn so much from their experience.

Some people just like to complain. I get that. But Cocu is establishing a real foundation here, he's looking long term. He will build a successful Derby County team and sustain that, over years, by using the academy to its fullest.

Do you not want to embrace that?

Do you not want to ride the wave of the next golden period in this great club's glorious history?

Don't miss out. Support Cocu. Support the kids. Support the team. Support the club.

COYR ? Come on Cocu?

Don't you think that your statement smacks of the Emperor's New Clothes though, if you can't see from last night what Cocu was trying to achieve then you are not in the clique and are a dullard accordingly so embrace the wave unquestioningly.

[Roots Manuva]

15 minutes ago, Derbyram1 said:

100% agree with this, looking forward to Sundays game much more than last night.

I understand not everyone can get a season ticket but last night was so full of day trippers it was embarrassing.

I know Tom L left in a protective boot, other than that ive heard nothing.

 

exactly. was expecting it heading in, yet I assumed it would be Derby fans that have just steered clear of PP for a while? looked to me like general fairweather football fans who could've supported anyone really that were just willing to pay a reasonable price to watch United play. no issue for me really if it generates cash for the club (Mel peddled this fixture to great commercial effect playing off the Rooney link etc.) with the programmes, limited edition shirts etc. I can stomach being surrounded by daytrippers for one game if DCFC benefits from it.

wasn't nearly as bad as the reaction Notts County fans give to daytrippers at meadow lane when Alan Hardy was offering matchday tickets for £2 against Cambridge last season. I went along to it as only live a 20 min walk from Trent Bridge and it was an international break, the atmosphere there was horrible, their noisy section constant chants against the people turning up off the back of the offer...added to the fact the 'pies were beyond awful too... should've saved my £2

as for Lawrence, protective boot could just be precautionary?

[Animal is a Ram]

I was a little surprised and disappointed that it had come in this game, but the more I thought about it, the more it made sense.

Last night was an embodiment of Mel's 50% academy vision.

They weren't an embarrassment, far from it. In fact, they competed well against a back four that Utd spent c£100m on, and a front six of c£150m, and a sub of £54m. (Figures from transfermarkt). A team that hasn't lost in 8 games, with a fair few clean sheets in there.

It's nice to have a manager who's thinking is beyond the immediate- to short-term. A way for players to really put their case forward, and mostly, they didn't disappoint. Bogle, Lowe, Knight, Sibley and Bird can hold their heads very high.

Hope we can have those 5 involved regularly next season, though I wouldn't be surprised to see offers come in for Bogle. Whittaker could do with a loan out, I feel. Need to get Sibley more involved at the back end of this season.

[Derbyram1]

28 minutes ago, Roots Manuva said:

exactly. was expecting it heading in, yet I assumed it would be Derby fans that have just steered clear of PP for a while? looked to me like general fairweather football fans who could've supported anyone really that were just willing to pay a reasonable price to watch United play. no issue for me really if it generates cash for the club (Mel peddled this fixture to great commercial effect playing off the Rooney link etc.) with the programmes, limited edition shirts etc. I can stomach being surrounded by daytrippers for one game if DCFC benefits from it.

wasn't nearly as bad as the reaction Notts County fans give to daytrippers at meadow lane when Alan Hardy was offering matchday tickets for £2 against Cambridge last season. I went along to it as only live a 20 min walk from Trent Bridge and it was an international break, the atmosphere there was horrible, their noisy section constant chants against the people turning up off the back of the offer...added to the fact the 'pies were beyond awful too... should've saved my £2

as for Lawrence, protective boot could just be precautionary?

Common place in football now days it seems but as you said, if it brings money in then i can stomach it once or twice a season.

As for Lawrence, Cocu saying a bad knock to his calf....no idea what that means regarding damage but doesn't seem too bad.  TBH he has been our main spark of late and will be a big loss if he isn't fit for Blackburn.

[Andicis]

2 hours ago, ramsbottom said:

I didn't know we played Liverpool last night ?

Yeah and look what happened the first game after that glorious night...  A stinking 1-0 defeat to Bolton...  Same as the brave defeat to Brighton, a 1-0 reversal to Millwall...  Until we're an established Premier League side, I can't see any point in prioritsing a cup run, especially as the whole day out at Wembley angle has been disrespected by the FA playing the semis there, just because they're trying to clear their own debt on the stadium.

Now if Cocu went out and played the youngsters constantly in league games, despite it not winning us vital points I could understand people's anger, but they're one off games in a cup we're unlikely to win...

Because we have nothing else to play for now. Why not prioritise the cup, when you have no chance of going either up or down? I'd rather have won last night and got smashed 3-0 by Blackburn at the weekend.

[Day]

Just now, Andicis said:

Because we have nothing else to play for now.

Keep seeing this yet the other week we was in a relegation scrap fearing what a points deduction would drag us into. 

Cant help but think that would be the discussion this morning had we played a “full strength” team and lost, they will be knackered for our must win game on Sunday. 

Cocu is always in a lose/lose situation in terms of team selection, will always be done that are angered by his teams. 

[Andicis]

4 minutes ago, David said:

Keep seeing this yet the other week we was in a relegation scrap fearing what a points deduction would drag us into. 

Cant help but think that would be the discussion this morning had we played a “full strength” team and lost, they will be knackered for our must win game on Sunday. 

Cocu is always in a lose/lose situation in terms of team selection, will always be done that are angered by his teams. 

I don't see Sunday as a must win. If it transpires we are getting a large deduction maybe, but short of a huge deduction which I don't consider likely, the league is full of dead rubbers now. I'd like to beat Leeds and Forest, but apart from that I don't really care about the results of the rest of the games. We can easily use that time to bring through young players. But a cup tie at home in a sellout crowd is the right time to start at least the spine of first team players.

[Day]

2 minutes ago, Andicis said:

I don't see Sunday as a must win. If it transpires we are getting a large deduction maybe, but short of a huge deduction which I don't consider likely, the league is full of dead rubbers now. I'd like to beat Leeds and Forest, but apart from that I don't really care about the results of the rest of the games. We can easily use that time to bring through young players. But a cup tie at home in a sellout crowd is the right time to start at least the spine of first team players.

We’re not at the dead rubber stage yet. 
7 clubs between us and the top 6 and 8 points. 

That’s not impossible and I would be angry if Cocu and the players gave up at this point. 

There is nothing to suggest we could go and win our next 10 with those 7 losing 3 of their last 10, nothing at all, but you still aim for that starting Sunday. 

They are dead rubbers when even Carol Vorderman can’t even get the numbers to work 

[DRBee]

13 hours ago, IslandExile said:

Do you still not see it?

 

Every match thread, it's a race to see who can whinge about the team selection first.

Tonight was no different.... "How are we going to beat the fifth best team in the country without Davies in central defence and Malone amongst the substitutes?"

 

Some people just like to complain. I get that.

Do you not want to embrace that?

Do you not want to ride the wave of the next golden period in this great club's glorious history?

 

I too thought the youngsters played well last night - but you clearly don't see how intolerant this post is. You need to grow up and learn the realities of life, i.e. not everyone will agree with you .

[Andicis]

Just now, David said:

We’re not at the dead rubber stage yet. 
7 clubs between us and the top 6 and 8 points. 

That’s not impossible and I would be angry if Cocu and the players gave up at this point. 

There is nothing to suggest we could go and win our next 10 with those 7 losing 3 of their last 10, nothing at all, but you still aim for that starting Sunday. 

They are dead rubbers when even Carol Vorderman can’t even get the numbers to work 

It's mathematically possible, but the odds of it happening are so low it's basically over. The likelihood of us winning the next 10, including a lot of tough fixtures against the top end of our league is minuscule, particularly some of the away games. 

[Day]

Just now, Andicis said:

It's mathematically possible, but the odds of it happening are so low it's basically over. The likelihood of us winning the next 10, including a lot of tough fixtures against the top end of our league is minuscule, particularly some of the away games. 

Nobody gave us a chance at Sheffield Wednesday. 

I don’t disagree with you on the odds, but until it’s mathematically impossible we still have something to fight for. 

Looking towards the summer and attracting new players, higher up the table we can get will work in our favour than sliding down and playing with the Wigan’s and Hull’s down there.

[Millenniumram]

I’m sure most will consider me the moaniest of moaners, but I wouldn’t say that I’m blind to the long term philosophy that is being built here. I think it’s clear to anyone that Cocu was brought here under instruction to develop players from our highly regarded academy, and turn them into first team quality players. That is something that he is expected to focus on long term, throughout his tenure at the club, that much is obvious. And I think it should also be pretty obvious to all but the most blind of fans that he’s made a very decent start in that regard, laying some good foundations for seasons to come. He deserves great credit for helping to bring through the likes of Knight and Bird into the first team, who have clearly both been very successful, and show signs of being real quality players at this level. Obviously his next task is to build a team from those foundations (as well as adding further youngsters coming through) that can compete for promotion. That won’t be easy, but I think anyone who doesn’t praise Cocu for the start he’s made bringing through young players this season is being extremely disingenuous imo. 

The good work he’s done bringing through young players doesn’t make him immune from criticism though. I think you can simultaneously acknowledge that he’s building good long term foundations, whilst also reserving the right to be a bit annoyed with some of the other decisions he makes. After all, his main task remains to win football matches and take us as high up the leagues as he can get us, as it is for any football manager. So I still feel I’m entitled to be a little pissed off about the team he put out last night, as simply put it wasn’t the team that had the best chance of getting the job done. And that’s nothing to do with the fact it was inexperienced - it was to do with the fact he played two unnatural centre backs, neither of which are exactly young. It was totally unnecessary imo, and we have the right as fans to be a little disappointed in the manager imo - even if we’d have still lost regardless of who went sent out most likely.