Cardiff v Derby County match day thread init.

[TheresOnlyWanChope 1,427]

I knew I had seen this Derby passing style before

[DavesaRam 1,478]

Two killers tonight - firstly the defence looked like it had never played together before tonight, largely because the defence hadn't played together before tonight. And secondly Cardiff played a very high press, and we didn't. And it wasn't just "a press", it was like a horde of Viking invaders had heard the command "CHARGE!" as soon as we got the ball in defence. Our response when they got the ball in defence was to sit off them and give them the freedom of the pitch. This is a pet argument of mine - for years we have had a go at pressing the opposition, and lo and behold it actually works. Then we stop doing it, and it stops working. Funny that

It seems Rooney chucked the game away as soon as he wrote out his team sheet to save his players for an infinitely more winnable game on Saturday, and hopefully we will end up with a comfortable victory. More likely if we are lucky we will scrape a dour 1 - 0 win. But what Wayne has done is take us from comfortably moving away from the relegation zone to being one loss away from being back in it, and with a much worse goal difference. All of a sudden we are in the high pressure position of having to win against Coventry - a pretty stupid move by all accounts.

There are some good things to be taken from tonight's efforts, nay half-hearted wanderings. Firstly, although Cardiff managed to crock two of our players within the first 10 minutes or so, this wasn't McCarthy football at all. Yes, Cardiff were stronger than us, but there wasn't any thug football, despite having Morrison in their team. Instead it was they who were playing the football. And secondly Watson looks like a real prospect, although I am sure that a few quiet words will drum that out of him before too long.

Sadly the knives are out for both Joswiack and Sibley. Both of them put in a real shift tonight, doing a lot of good defensive work. And both of them have two or three defenders on them as soon as they are within reach of the ball. Gregory on his own up front had a tough job, but he often doesn't show for the ball, and isn't a CKR or Martin type of target man, even though that is what would bring the best out of both Joswiack and Sibley. So when either gets the ball, they virtually always have to beat at least two men before they can think of playing someone else into the game. But when nobody is showing for the ball, where can either or these guys go? Early in the first half Joswiack got the ball as a result of some slick play (yes, we could look threatening when we decided to play football) and worked his way out to the right wing, turned back on himself 2 or 3 times because there was no-one in support, and despite holding the ball for ages, nobody actually bothered to turn up, and he was tackled out of it. What more could he have done? A final worry is that every time in the past when we have rested a load of players ready for an upcoming fixture, they haven't actually showed up, instead putting in a dreadfully lethargic performance making the cost of resting them a complete waste of time and money, and usually points as well.

Come on you Rams. And come on Wayne, behave yourself.

[kash_a_ram_a_ding_dong 8,266]

I remember when we were in our pomp 2014 to 16,thinking what it would be like to be a bottom of the table champ team and just how bad it would feel be to be playing that badly and being a fan of that sort of club,struggling along.

Well,here we are........it's not felt like this for a long time but it still stings.

 

Edited March 2 by kash_a_ram_a_ding_dong

[CBRammette 1,144]

4 minutes ago, DavesaRam said:

Two killers tonight - firstly the defence looked like it had never played together before tonight, largely because the defence hadn't played together before tonight. And secondly Cardiff played a very high press, and we didn't. And it wasn't just "a press", it was like a horde of Viking invaders had heard the command "CHARGE!" as soon as we got the ball in defence. Our response when they got the ball in defence was to sit off them and give them the freedom of the pitch. This is a pet argument of mine - for years we have had a go at pressing the opposition, and lo and behold it actually works. Then we stop doing it, and it stops working. Funny that

It seems Rooney chucked the game away as soon as he wrote out his team sheet to save his players for an infinitely more winnable game on Saturday, and hopefully we will end up with a comfortable victory. More likely if we are lucky we will scrape a dour 1 - 0 win. But what Wayne has done is take us from comfortably moving away from the relegation zone to being one loss away from being back in it, and with a much worse goal difference. All of a sudden we are in the high pressure position of having to win against Coventry - a pretty stupid move by all accounts.

There are some good things to be taken from tonight's efforts, nay half-hearted wanderings. Firstly, although Cardiff managed to crock two of our players within the first 10 minutes or so, this wasn't McCarthy football at all. Yes, Cardiff were stronger than us, but there wasn't any thug football, despite having Morrison in their team. Instead it was they who were playing the football. And secondly Watson looks like a real prospect, although I am sure that a few quiet words will drum that out of him before too long.

Sadly the knives are out for both Joswiack and Sibley. Both of them put in a real shift tonight, doing a lot of good defensive work. And both of them have two or three defenders on them as soon as they are within reach of the ball. Gregory on his own up front had a tough job, but he often doesn't show for the ball, and isn't a CKR or Martin type of target man, even though that is what would bring the best out of both Joswiack and Sibley. So when either gets the ball, they virtually always have to beat at least two men before they can think of playing someone else into the game. But when nobody is showing for the ball, where can either or these guys go? Early in the first half Joswiack got the ball as a result of some slick play (yes, we could look threatening when we decided to play football) and worked his way out to the right wing, turned back on himself 2 or 3 times because there was no-one in support, and despite holding the ball for ages, nobody actually bothered to turn up, and he was tackled out of it. What more could he have done? A final worry is that every time in the past when we have rested a load of players ready for an upcoming fixture, they haven't actually showed up, instead putting in a dreadfully lethargic performance making the cost of resting them a complete waste of time and money, and usually points as well.

Come on you Rams. And come on Wayne, behave yourself.

Totally agree re Sibley and Jozwiak - very difficult for them to do anything tonight

[Rammy03 1,496]

We haven't looked anywhere near the same side since Bielik got injured. That period of games before Christmas and up until Sheffield Wednesday we were actually playing some dominant attacking football. Recently we seem to have lost our way. We're not playing great, we're conceding goals again and not creating enough. 

[Ghost of Clough 9,591]

1 hour ago, Chris_Martin said:

neither bird or knight are good enough defensively though

Shocking stats from tonight...

Shinnie was on the field 3 times longer than Bird was.

Bird made more tackles than Shinnie.

Bird made more interceptions than Shinnie.

 

From the season as a whole, Bird is only marginally behind Shinnie for tackles. Ahead on interceptions and blocked shots. He also gives away half as many fouls.

[uttoxram75 17,343]

Cardiff are in a rich vein of form but we didn't half make it easy for them. Every goal was pisspoor defending, they really didn't have to be Lionel Messi to open us up.

CKR and Knighty probably needed a rest, they've played their hearts out twice a week and will have picked up niggles and strains.

I was disappointed that our midfield weren't confident enough to demand the ball off our back line as they laboured to pass it amongst themselves, I was annoyed late on when every time one of our corners was headed to one of our players just outside the box we turned and passed it all the way back to Roos. 

Wayne got it wrong or maybe we are not good enough to field a weakened team, whatever, its a long season and a very tough apprenticeship for him.

We will go through this league next season like we did with King Arthur in 1986/87.

 

[uttoxram75 17,343]

25 minutes ago, DavesaRam said:

There are some good things to be taken from tonight's efforts

Sibley kicking Morrison in the face?

[86 Hair Islands 19,189]

15 minutes ago, Ghost of Clough said:

Shocking stats from tonight...

Shinnie was on the field 3 times longer than Bird was.

Bird made more tackles than Shinnie.

Bird made more interceptions than Shinnie.

 

From the season as a whole, Bird is only marginally behind Shinnie for tackles. Ahead on interceptions and blocked shots. He also gives away half as many fouls.

Some folk just see what they want to see, Bird and Shinnie have both come in for a fair amount of flak but to me they're some of the most consistent players we have right now. Tonight wasn't Shinnie's best I grant you but he's a key player for us if for no other reason than he's a fighter in a tough league. Every bad game we get folk forming assessments of players on the basis of what they've just seen (sometimes not even that) instead of the balance of their play. It's hard to fathom.

 

[Ghost of Clough 9,591]

😢

[Rampant 863]

Positives for me:

1. I like the look of Baningime and I'm sure I read on here his contract at Everton is up in the summer.

2. The other results went our way tonight.

3. With a decision to make concerning which of our six loanees to omit each matchday, Mengi's second timid display from two appearances should make that choice easier in future.

[86 Hair Islands 19,189]

8 minutes ago, uttoxram75 said:

Sibley kicking Morrison in the face?

[uttoxram75 17,343]

10 minutes ago, 86 Hair Islands said:

Always take the positives.......

[kevinhectoring 708]

53 minutes ago, Ghost of Clough said:

Shocking stats from tonight...

Shinnie was on the field 3 times longer than Bird was.

Bird made more tackles than Shinnie.

Bird made more interceptions than Shinnie.

 

From the season as a whole, Bird is only marginally behind Shinnie for tackles. Ahead on interceptions and blocked shots. He also gives away half as many fouls.

Can you tell us how many kms each of Shinnie and Bird cover on average? I’m guessing Shinnie would cover much more 

[Derby blood 3,798]

We where poor tonight no hiding from that. 

But since Wayne came in, we are in top 6 form, so a great turn around, yes he rested players, but Knight and Kazim will hopefully benefit from the rest, lets see how we do against Coventry and Barnsley, 4 points would be great, 2 not a disaster, and 3 would be good, and 6 would be out of this world, lets all get behind the team and the club, because staying in this division is so important for our futures on and off the pitch. 

Once A Ram Always A Ram. 

[r4derby 1,206]

10 hours ago, Taribo said:

 

Oooh I missed that, is that definitely true about about our Colin?

I’m talking about when Rooney came in as manager, before Colin became an integral part of the team. There wasn’t a big song and dance, just stating why Colin wasn’t in the squad. Needed to work harder and apply himself more. And boy, has he stepped up.

[Gladys' Handbag 343]

2 hours ago, Jimbo Ram said:

Yes, it was a struggle to see it through until the end. Not much fun watching the rams at the moment. The empty stadiums don’t help 👍

Actually I found the empty stadium to be a plus - it's a long drive back from Cardiff when you've lost 4-0.

[Chris_Martin 1,309]

33 minutes ago, Derby blood said:

We where poor tonight no hiding from that. 

But since Wayne came in, we are in top 6 form, so a great turn around, yes he rested players, but Knight and Kazim will hopefully benefit from the rest, lets see how we do against Coventry and Barnsley, 4 points would be great, 2 not a disaster, and 3 would be good, and 6 would be out of this world, lets all get behind the team and the club, because staying in this division is so important for our futures on and off the pitch. 

Once A Ram Always A Ram. 

My how we've fallen

[Chris_Martin 1,309]

3 hours ago, TINMANTED said:

this was worse than anything cocu cocked up,its getting unbearable to watch.the last time we played decent football was the 1-0 defeat at wednesday,since then its been the sideways/ backwards,fanny about in our own half rubbish.we had a few corners tonight where we managed to get players up into the box,each one ended back with roos,who was our mom tonight,not with his keeping,simply because he had the most touches of the ball.gregory offers less than waghorn,which seems impossible,but without ckr we have no attack.rooney needs to stop this cocu tinkering and get us back to the quick tempo passing game we had before christmas and stop the obsession with the opposition before we lose all confidence and get dragged back into the mire

This. 

Although I'm not sure it's quite Cocu standards yet.

[Ibby 249]

ROONEY AWFUL RESULT.