Derby County v QPR Matchday Thread

[ossieram]

1 hour ago, KBRam said:

Does Craig Forsyth practice crossing the ball ever.  Defensively didn’t have too much to complain about tonight but he was very poor in the attacking third again. Foot like a Threepenny bit.

Totally agree with this,  but surely Byrne has to get some criticism for his lack of crossing. 

[Ambitious]

20 minutes ago, Jourdan said:

Cocu needs to go in the next 48 hours.

I don’t think we can afford to give him even one more game unfortunately. It’s not the loss in itself. We are going to lose plenty more games this season. It’s the overall picture. It’s so bleak.

Sheffield Wednesday won on Tuesday night and earlier today they had their points deduction cut in half. They’ll be looking up again.

Wycombe won again tonight and seem to be improving and finding belief with every game. They’ll be feeling hopeful too.

Coventry looked fantastic on Friday night v Reading and were unlucky by all accounts tonight v Forest. They’ll still believe.

That’s before you even mention Luton - who many would expect to be right down there - who are currently in the top 10 with a 10 point cushion over us.

Even Rotherham and Barnsley - who suffered damaging defeats in recent days - will be fighting for their lives and won’t give anyone an inch.

10 defeats in 16 league games. 10 points from a possible 48 dating back to July. 6 goals scored all season long. Not even a glove laid on Barrow in the League Cup. A train wreck of a pre-season that set the tone for what has followed.

It would be a gamble of colossal proportions to stick with him after tonight.

It was the perfect opportunity - QPR having not won an away game all season - for the players and Cocu to breathe life into the season.

I don’t see how Cocu recovers from this.

Cocu will be going, absolutely no doubt about that, but who will be paying for that? However, I doubt Mel is ready to pay £4-6m for something that isn't going to be his problem in a week or two. I think unless the takeover is completed and the new guys have someone ready to come in then Cocu will probably get the next game as nothing more than a token.

I genuinely don't think it matters what's happened. He's finished here. 

[BondJovi]

Everything about tonight felt like the end of the line.

We were moving in the right direction, but tonight it all just slipped away. As a fan, I felt I was just going through the motions. 

I wouldn't have changed our setup. But we did. It should have been more attacking, but it wasn't. I didn't see the same desire from the whole team, not many left the pitch knowing they gave it all. And Rooney as captain, he seems a long long way from the man who let Marriott know it wasn't good enough.

Something you sense has derailed that glimmer of hope Cocu had. I don't believe players or staff should be immune to criticism after that performance. Someone on that pitch had to take charge and they didn't. 

If Cocu is in charge for the next game, I don't think the result will change a thing. Just passing time. And I suspect the players will play like it. Horrible and I feel so sorry for Cocu. 

 

[DesertRam]

Looks like a motivational problem, so at a loss ................?

[Jourdan]

1 hour ago, Ambitious said:

Cocu will be going, absolutely no doubt about that, but who will be paying for that? However, I doubt Mel is ready to pay £4-6m for something that isn't going to be his problem in a week or two. I think unless the takeover is completed and the new guys have someone ready to come in then Cocu will probably get the next game as nothing more than a token.

I genuinely don't think it matters what's happened. He's finished here. 

The next game is against Barnsley - another side with relegation concerns.

We can’t leave it in the hands of Cocu. It’s simply too risky.

If we end up being on the end of another luckless 0-1 reverse, we would leave ourselves with so much ground to make up.

A loss on Saturday and we would be 7 points behind Barnsley. We are already 10 points behind Luton and 7 points behind Huddersfield. We are even having to chase down Wycombe, Rotherham and Coventry at this point. The argument of there being three worse teams than us looks wafer-thin.

You make a fair point about the financial strain of sacking a manager and how the takeover complicates matters, but at the end of the day, Mel is still owner as it stands and he has to do what is best for the club and its future.

If we leave it for too long, there’s the danger of it becoming an irretrievable situation. Some may argue it already is.

[sunnyhill60]

Who is remotely surprised by the result and performance against QPR?

The ostrich count will have declined massively tonight for sure.

The multiple changes in personnel and formation once again cost us dear and were as baffling as the substitutions.

[Jourdan]

22 minutes ago, sunnyhill60 said:

Who is remotely surprised by the result and performance against QPR?

The ostrich count will have declined massively tonight for sure.

The multiple changes in personnel and formation once again cost us dear and were as baffling as the substitutions.

To be honest, the three at the back has always looked a damage limitation exercise rather than a progressive move.

I think the idea was always to move back to four at the back. The problem is we had to get the balance right with the personnel. Tonight we clearly didn’t.

Forsyth starting over Buchanan for the first time since Luton away was a massive red flag. Was Buchanan injured or dropped for his mistake v Bournemouth, you have to wonder? Strange nonetheless.

Davies and Clarke as a centre back pairing when Davies has only looked comfortable in a back 3/5 of late was another red flag. 

The biggest red flag of all was starting Rooney. A midfield of Rooney, Shinnie, and Knight is unbalanced and one that doesn’t inspire confidence that we are going to control games and create chances.

Cocu sympathisers will obviously divert blame to the players and hold them responsible for tonight. But I find it hard to agree. We have the makings of a side that should be mid-table at least, not in the bottom 3 and closing in on rock bottom.

[sunnyhill60]

45 minutes ago, Jourdan said:

To be honest, the three at the back has always looked a damage limitation exercise rather than a progressive move.

I think the idea was always to move back to four at the back. The problem is we had to get the balance right with the personnel. Tonight we clearly didn’t.

Forsyth starting over Buchanan for the first time since Luton away was a massive red flag. Was Buchanan injured or dropped for his mistake v Bournemouth, you have to wonder? Strange nonetheless.

Davies and Clarke as a centre back pairing when Davies has only looked comfortable in a back 3/5 of late was another red flag. 

The biggest red flag of all was starting Rooney. A midfield of Rooney, Shinnie, and Knight is unbalanced and one that doesn’t inspire confidence that we are going to control games and create chances.

Cocu sympathisers will obviously divert blame to the players and hold them responsible for tonight. But I find it hard to agree. We have the makings of a side that should be mid-table at least, not in the bottom 3 and closing in on rock bottom.

I think Cocu explained the Buchanan absence as due to number of games played recently - pure cobblers.

Many used the absences of Lawrence and Waghorn earlier as examples of the difficult hand Cocu was having to play. We have seen in recent games how limited they are in footballing intelligence and at times basic technical skills.

That Martin was not offered a better deal looks now to be a dreadful error. Just imagine now how he and Jozwiack would have linked up.  

The Emperor has no clothes!

[ariotofmyown]

5 hours ago, RadioactiveWaste said:

Whist i think there's more wrong than Cocu right now, he's not getting it right. The whole thing just makes me sad.

Also, wash your hands everybody, me and my better have been sick with 'rona - you don't want this thing. It gives you the squits real bad as well.

Have you had a positive test? Just asking as we we to Morocco in Feb half term. Night before we flew back, one of the kids hurled in the night which was unusual.

Pretty much as we arrived home the next night, wife and I got really bad sqiuts and didn't feel right for a week or so. Both also felt a bit sick and wife especially has headaches. Thought is was food poisoning, but didn't quite make sense with the time between kid getting it and us. I think other kid might have been unwell the following week come to think of it.

What other symptoms did you have?

Sorry bit off topic. Cocu out/in.

[ariotofmyown]

59 minutes ago, sunnyhill60 said:

I think Cocu explained the Buchanan absence as due to number of games played recently - pure cobblers.

Many used the absences of Lawrence and Waghorn earlier as examples of the difficult hand Cocu was having to play. We have seen in recent games how limited they are in footballing intelligence and at times basic technical skills.

That Martin was not offered a better deal looks now to be a dreadful error. Just imagine now how he and Jozwiack would have linked up.  

The Emperor has no clothes!

How much was Martin offered and what did Bristol offer him?

[ariotofmyown]

2 hours ago, Jourdan said:

If we leave it for too long, there’s the danger of it becoming an irretrievable situation. Some may argue it already is.

We are 2 points off safety. Think it's just still mathematically possible to stay up.

[ziggyram59]

Watched the match on TV last night and we could have played till today and still not scored to me felt like total humiliation as a Derby fan who lives in Nottingham, Cocu and our team are without doubt one of the worst Derby team I've seen in 50 years of supporting the club, I'm sorry like everyone on here I wanted Cocu to succeed but from day 1 it just hasn't worked out, if Cocu had any dignity he should have resigned last night, the longer he is with the club the worse we will become. I'm sorry to say on this evidence we're heading to League 1. 

[Jourdan]

40 minutes ago, ariotofmyown said:

We are 2 points off safety. Think it's just still mathematically possible to stay up.

It’s not so much the points on the board.

Of course - 2-3 wins and we could shoot up the table. 

When I talk about irretrievable situations, it’s the habits, the patterns of play, morale, confidence, instincts, things like that.

This run we’re on didn’t come about overnight.

[IlsonDerby]

8 hours ago, Ambitious said:

This was a particularly hard result to take. Cocu really needed this and honestly nothing kills my spirit than another managerial change. All he needed to do was keep us out of the bottom three and win a couple of games, literally one more win would have kept him in a job at this point. It's not like we're asking for the world. 

We have the team currently sat at the very top of the academy football pyramid, with the top goalscorer (may I add) and our first team would be BOTTOM of the second division had it not been for a point deduction with almost no goals from open play to show for 10 games. 

When you watch the games, it's clearly not an ability issue with the team. Today was bad viewing, but we have a very solid squad with regards to technical footballers. It's the managers job to put the players in the best positions in order to create and score goals. He has more than enough ability at his disposal to put together a winning team - it's not even close to being in question. 

It's tough. It's been a horrible year and if you're a Derby fan then this really won't help. I'm nearly in my 30s and nothing ruins my mood than a Derby County loss. We've had far too many of them throughout 2020. 

And to top it off I went upstairs to bed where my Mrs informs me, whilst grinning like a Cheshire Cat; that Forest have just scored a 97th minute winner. Nearly slept in the spare room after that ??

[IlsonDerby]

Carlos Coberham the new Huddersfield gaffer took over a side expected to be fighting relegation with a squad worse than ours - lost their best striker late in the transfer window - and who’s only experience is managing the under 23s - is comfortably above us in the table. 
 

Wycombe who lost their first 7 matches are above us after 11 games. 
 

there’s no defending it anymore 

[goldstar]

Sorry, lively? 

[Rampant]

4 minutes ago, goldstar said:

Sorry, lively? 

If there's one thing I learned years ago it's that for a true guide to a match you need to rely on, in order: your own eyes / the opinions of family, friends or other fans who saw the game / guesswork / the reports in the national media.

[Spanish]

6 hours ago, Ambitious said:

Cocu will be going, absolutely no doubt about that, but who will be paying for that? However, I doubt Mel is ready to pay £4-6m for something that isn't going to be his problem in a week or two. I think unless the takeover is completed and the new guys have someone ready to come in then Cocu will probably get the next game as nothing more than a token.

I genuinely don't think it matters what's happened. He's finished here. 

my fear is that no decision will be made until the takeover is finalised.  Some say what a great chap he is so Phil do the right thing and resign and take your coaching team with you.  I would be surprised if Mel sacks him in these circumstances and we will lose again on Saturday.  

[Tyler Durden]

35 minutes ago, goldstar said:

Sorry, lively? 

Everything is comparitive surely you know that by now. Rooney at least showed a modicum of an attempt to show some attacking intent compared to his teammates who resembled soporific sloths.

[derbydaz22]

7 hours ago, MuespachRam said:

He hasn’t worked hard since he signed for us....the biggest effort he ever put in was when he ran away from the scene of a crime. 

Sorry but that’s ********,he didn’t play well last night but one QPR attack he covered our static centre halves.