Matchday Thread - Derby County v Oxford United (30/07 15:00)

[Leeds Ram]

It was an emotional day and a brilliant atmosphere for the first fifteen minutes as we penned Oxford in their own half. Then they began to take control which inevitably began to quieten us down and build up their confidence. They looked useful at times in possession but generally defensively we seemed to manage it. I thought we did lack organisation at points, and looked vulnerable when they could get near the box with some last ditch blocks and tackles saving us from peril. The first 10 minutes of the first half started off the same except they looked even more dangerous. Then Sibley came on and changed the game. His pace and endeavour brought their defence out, allowed us to hit Collins more and make use of the space. Their pressing died down latterly as they lost energy which then gave us more time to hit the flanks, MZL looks pacey, direct and dangerous but he could have scored 2 and set up 1 yesterday... 

We deserved to win on the second half and as soon as a couple of those challenges began flying in our crowd got its back ups and reasserted our domination off the pitch as well as on it. All in all, considering how little time this team has had and the fact Oxford are top 6 material, I'm much less nervous than I was before. If we can speed up our tempo and have an extra runner in midfield we could tear up this league at home at least. I'm now expecting top 6 after that tbh. 

[ariotofmyown]

5 hours ago, Wistaston Ram said:

I bought a bottle of coke yesterday and they left the top on, so presume they have changed their policy unless the guy serving me forgot.

Two Sprites and a bag of Capri-sun thankyouverymuch

[ariotofmyown]

4 hours ago, Carl Sagan said:

I nowadays always bring spare bottle tops to games or gigs so I can put one on when the jobsworths have removed it.

Come on Grandad, which gigs are you going too?! Fair play if you crowd surfing though.

[ariotofmyown]

6 hours ago, Carl Sagan said:

With three or four players around him on the edge of their box he calmly and cleverly found Hourihane in the space that had been created, and it was an excellent first touch then finish from the Irishman. 

It was a decent first touch, but it bounced up a bit. What was excellent was how he waited for it to drop, then rather than snatching at it, curled it calmly into the corner. Feels a bit like a cheat code having him for League One.

[Rammy03]

Obviously he means the third tier

[IlsonDerby]

23 hours ago, Blondest Goat said:

You can see he's a decent player but I thought he had one of those days where nothing went right for him yesterday.  Just seemed on a different wavelength to the rest of the team. Totally understandable of course given how little time the team have had together.

Sibley was much more effective when he replaced him.

Think he showed very quickly that he will make things happen and get us up the pitch. Difference between him passing back to CBs vs others is that he was sprinting to make a new angle to get the ball back through the lines. He was actually getting very frustrated at not getting the ball back. 
 

also that ball for NML was delightful. 
 

Agreed Sibley made a good impact when coming on but honestly believe he could have replaced about 3/4 different players when he came on. 

[Carl Sagan]

12 hours ago, ariotofmyown said:

Come on Grandad, which gigs are you going too?! Fair play if you crowd surfing though.

I refer you to the gig-going thread!

 

[ram59]

23 minutes ago, IlsonDerby said:

Think he showed very quickly that he will make things happen and get us up the pitch. Difference between him passing back to CBs vs others is that he was sprinting to make a new angle to get the ball back through the lines. He was actually getting very frustrated at not getting the ball back. 
 

also that ball for NML was delightful. 
 

Agreed Sibley made a good impact when coming on but honestly believe he could have replaced about 3/4 different players when he came on. 

Yes, I'd noticed that with Smith. Unfortunately, the rest of the team didn't seem to be on his wavelength. On a number of occasions he found space in a forward position, but wasn't picked out. In 1 instance he would have been clean through on goal, but Cashin's pass was miles over hit straight through to their keeper.

It'll come together with more game time.

[MadAmster]

On 27/07/2022 at 08:59, one_chop said:

Let's hope we can emulate the 80's era in division 3 and Liam is our Arthur Cox.

We opened that 84/85 first season back in D3 away at Bournemouth, 1-0 defeat. 4 wins, 4 defeats and 2 draws in the opening 10 games, saw them all. Millwall away was the last. 3 days after that game I moved to the Netherlands, still here.  

[Yani P]