2019-20 season assessment.

[1967Ram]

It was long and OK

[hintonsboots]

51 minutes ago, Sparkle said:

Marriott Holmes and Lawrence hmmm I hope we have somebody to give them the ball because they won’t be winning it 

To be fair TL’s defensive game has improved a lot, and didn’t Marriott take the ball off a Brum defender for Whittaker’s goal ? Duanes in the team to run at defenders which he does well when fit.

[RamNut]

9 hours ago, YorkshireRam said:

Anya- £28k per week, Huddlestone- £25k per week, Keogh- £16k per week, Thorne- approx.£12k per week= £81k per week

32Red's star clause gives us £1.5m a year which if put towards Rooney's wages leaves us with just over £21k a week to pay- Huddlestone's departure alone covers Rooney to be fair, the other departures free up space for new signings' potential wages. 

Don’t know where you getting those salaries from. If 32red money = 30k per week then we could be missing Another 30-50k per week for Rooney. 

[ramit]

[RamNut]

4 hours ago, Van der MoodHoover said:

Rooney slowing down to a waddle

?

[Leicester Ram]

27 minutes ago, 1967Ram said:

It was long and OK

Honestly think that’s the best summary of this season I’ve seen

[Rampage]

4 hours ago, Ellafella said:

A great analysis @RamNut. Overall, we did well to finish 10th given some of the events that tarnished the great name that Derby County has in football. PC has shown great resilience to have stuck with the task. 
The things that concern me going forward:

1. Playing Style 

2. Our poor discipline. 
 

Playing Style

Glimpses of fast exciting football but our default is to be slow and ponderous. Is the latter symptomatic of the coaching culture and directly attributable to PC? If so,  PC is the wrong man for the job because that style will not get us out of this division except via the trap door. Jury still out but that is the key factor that is subservient to all other issues. 
 

Poor Discipline 

This simply has to change. We finished bottom of this table and I would hope to hear PC address this head on. Does it link to a culture that led to Drinkgate? We are not a dirty side but you cannot be an effective unit without a strict moral team code. 
 

I’d like to see the Club somehow “come together” as one and draw a line over some of the negatives from this season. Perhaps this could be achieved by a virtual “fans’ forum”? 
 

The youngsters breaking through has been phenomenal. The resurgence of Andre Wisdom very notable and of course CM19 who we know is a great footballer that we need to hang on to. Shinnie is a very good player and he needs to be played regularly.
 

Next Season?

We need to be seriously challenging the top 6 next season. That is a totally realistic aim for a Club of Derby’s stature. We need a top Goal Keeper and we need to utilise Marriott who clearly has 20 goals in him given a clean bill of health. We need a pacey winger who can give us an alternative outlet. We are not too far away from a very good side but I have doubts about PC’s capacity to fix discipline and I do wonder about the slow and ponderous play. 
 

Fair play to Derby. Mmmmm.

[LeedsCityRam]

Overall, the absolute embodiment of a 'transition season' - I would score it a 'B' mark

Although there is rarely the patience to actually see it through, most sensible observers thought we needed something of a reset of the approach of recent seasons. If we include the players that left last summer, we've lost Nugent, Bradley Johnson, Bryson, Anya, Keogh (not by choice admittedly), Huddlestone, Thorne, Butterfield, Olsson and Blackman - a massive wedge off the wage bill & some of them not contributing much to the first XI.

Whilst the journey hasn't always been easy, we now find ourselves with a much leaner squad & most impressively, a core of young players who have not only come through the system but are actively contributing to the team. The culture of the club has turned around markedly in 12 very long months. For me, the best situation we've been in since the start of 2013/14.

In between, the football has often been disappointing as yet another new manager sought to make his imprint on the club. At points in the second half of the season though, there were some very good results and displays & also some impressive shows of character to pull results out of the bag (Charlton at home, Forest at home, Wigan away). The trend has definitely been upwards & most (but not all) of the personnel are now in place to deliver the final product.

The off-field stuff has obviously hung over the club like a dark cloud all season - its been relentless & many lesser squads and managers would have sunk. To deliver 10th place & a semi-serious playoff charge in the context of that chaos was a very creditable finish & will be seen as a good first season by Cocu and his staff. I believe that in seasons to come, 2019/20 will be seen as the season the club needed to have.

[Comrade 86]

6 minutes ago, LeedsCityRam said:

Overall, the absolute embodiment of a 'transition season' - I would score it a 'B' mark

Although there is rarely the patience to actually see it through, most sensible observers thought we needed something of a reset of the approach of recent seasons. If we include the players that left last summer, we've lost Nugent, Bradley Johnson, Bryson, Anya, Keogh (not by choice admittedly), Huddlestone, Thorne, Butterfield, Olsson and Blackman - a massive wedge off the wage bill & some of them not contributing much to the first XI.

Whilst the journey hasn't always been easy, we now find ourselves with a much leaner squad & most impressively, a core of young players who have not only come through the system but are actively contributing to the team. The culture of the club has turned around markedly in 12 very long months. For me, the best situation we've been in since the start of 2013/14.

In between, the football has often been disappointing as yet another new manager sought to make his imprint on the club. At points in the second half of the season though, there were some very good results and displays & also some impressive shows of character to pull results out of the bag (Charlton at home, Forest at home, Wigan away). The trend has definitely been upwards & most (but not all) of the personnel are now in place to deliver the final product.

The off-field stuff has obviously hung over the club like a dark cloud all season - its been relentless & many lesser squads and managers would have sunk. To deliver 10th place & a semi-serious playoff charge in the context of that chaos was a very creditable finish & will be seen as a good first season by Cocu and his staff. I believe that in seasons to come, 2019/20 will be seen as the season the club needed to have.

NAIL.ON.HEAD ?

[europia]

Disappointing season, albeit no surprise. 

[Jram]

3 hours ago, Ellafella said:

I think an SPC analysis would show otherwise. We are clearly significantly different from most if not all other Championship teams and it’s not a random causal factor. We’re not dirty but we are naive, wreck less and inexperienced in key areas. 
 

And whilst we are at it, what sample size / number of observations would you recommend @Jram? And what statistical test / analysis would you employ? 

I don’t know what an SPC analysis is but do I think it’s possible that in a 46 game period any team could receive 6 red cards? Yes, that’s completely feasible and I don’t think it necessarily points to a fundamental lack of discipline in a team 

[Andicis]

Ultimately, our second half of the season form would have been enough to get us into the playoffs, which is much better than I was hoping for during December, when we looked lost. It's a struggle to be too critical of Cocu with the sheer amount of youth players we've managed to get in and around the team this season, it's exactly what we have needed. 

Next season, I'd like to see us attack the opposition with more purpose. On the odd occasion we could be pretty ruthless but those games were too few and far between. An improvement in attack and a new goalkeeper could see us around the middle of the playoffs, hopefully. 

[RamNut]

Under cocu the team seems to drop deep and play a slow, patient, game that times seem to lack attacking intent.

Watching Fulham v Cardiff, Fulham controlled possession cocu-style  but moved the ball much quicker than we do. they also had the pace on the flanks that we lack. Cairney is supposedly in one of the two holding roles, but he is all over the pitch.

Max Bird should watch Cairney. If he could do that for us it would transform the midfield. 

[Gritstone Ram]

The Good

We have brought in several players from the academy. Two of the players you don’t have to watch through rose tinted glasses to know they are good enough.

The Bad

Very poor away record and inability to lay a glove on teams in the top six when it mattered most.

The Ugly

Disciplinary record is the worst in the league. Too many straight reds. We really need 11 players on the pitch to get us points not seeing games out with 10 men.

 

[RamNut]

Fulham aren’t a bad benchmark for where we need to get to.....

their final 7 games of the season yielded 13 points more than we got from the same fixtures.

[G STAR RAM]

58 minutes ago, Van Gritters said:

The Good

We have brought in several players from the academy. Two of the players you don’t have to watch through rose tinted glasses to know they are good enough.

The Bad

Very poor away record and inability to lay a glove on teams in the top six when it mattered most.

The Ugly

Disciplinary record is the worst in the league. Too many straight reds. We really need 11 players on the pitch to get us points not seeing games out with 10 men.

 

Being lazy here, how many red cards did we get?

[Sparkle]

10 hours ago, hintonsboots said:

To be fair TL’s defensive game has improved a lot, and didn’t Marriott take the ball off a Brum defender for Whittaker’s goal ? Duanes in the team to run at defenders which he does well when fit.

If we are fair all three of them give the ball away more than they give it to our own players, as for Lawrence his work rate improved since Rooney came in at January but a liability he remains when the opponent has the ball I wish it was different but it isn’t in my opinion 

[Gritty]

20 hours ago, YorkshireRam said:

Anya- £28k per week, Huddlestone- £25k per week, Keogh- £16k per week, Thorne- approx.£12k per week= £81k per week

32Red's star clause gives us £1.5m a year which if put towards Rooney's wages leaves us with just over £21k a week to pay- Huddlestone's departure alone covers Rooney to be fair, the other departures free up space for new signings' potential wages. 

I don't think ''loans and freebies'' is the expectation at all. We'll have to be more prudent, maybe more of a sell-to-buy policy but I think we'll definitely see some permanent signings of some quality. With Cocu at the helm, there is far less 'uncertainty' than previous seasons because we can continue building under the current manager's philosophy; a luxury rarely afforded to us in recent years. The squad's in decent shape with lots of upcoming talent already with decent experience, we just need a few astute signings in key areas to help us push to be challengers. 

The problem with this analysis IMO is that it doesn't take into account we are already massively loss making and - were it not for stadium sale - would have obliterated FFP.  So the wage savings you highlight won't free up cash for new signings, they'll reduce our losses and hopefully bring us back into compliance with FFP.  But I don't expect we'll be paying anything other than nominal fees for players unless there are significant outgoings.  And players coming in will be on much lower wages

[G STAR RAM]

3 minutes ago, Gritty said:

The problem with this analysis IMO is that it doesn't take into account we are already massively loss making and - were it not for stadium sale - would have obliterated FFP.  So the wage savings you highlight won't free up cash for new signings, they'll reduce our losses and hopefully bring us back into compliance with FFP.  But I don't expect we'll be paying anything other than nominal fees for players unless there are significant outgoings.  And players coming in will be on much lower wages

Transfer fees are not a problem as long as you are investing in potential where you are likely to be able to recoup some of that money.

Our problem over the years has been excessive fees for players where it was highly unlikely that they would have any re-sale value.

For instance £9m on Bielik was probably a more sound business move than £3m on Nugent. (Just using these figures for comparison, no idea if they are correct).

[Gritty]

4 minutes ago, G STAR RAM said:

Transfer fees are not a problem as long as you are investing in potential where you are likely to be able to recoup some of that money.

Our problem over the years has been excessive fees for players where it was highly unlikely that they would have any re-sale value.

For instance £9m on Bielik was probably a more sound business move than £3m on Nugent. (Just using these figures for comparison, no idea if they are correct).

Yes but given EFL are saying our current amortisation method is dodgy (and will probably be banned), we're going to have to amortise those fees over the life of the contract most likely. And I'm not sure we have FFP headroom to do that?

Agree with the substance of what you say though. Buying with resale value is better (albeit think we massively overpaid for Bielik if that £9mn fee is correct)