Matchday Thread - Shrewsbury Town v Derby County (16/08 19:45)

[DerbyRam!]

7 minutes ago, RamsFan10 said:

This is one of those phrases in football I don't always agree with. Service between the striker and the rest of the team isn't a one way street and there were multiple occassions today where Collins got caught on the ball or failed to get into space imo.

Again, not writing him off. Just think Dobbin has showed enough speed, ability and energy in tight spaces to suggest he might do a better job.

Dobbin is no doubt a class above the rest. No wonder we have him only on loan and could not sign him. 

Depending on what direction we want to go in, if we want promotion without a full team behind it we should definitely lean on Dobbin as much as possible.

[Guest]

1 minute ago, Crewton said:

OK, so who's cutting up their season ticket cards? ?

Is that 7 points from 4 games after a late preseason and a dozen new players? 

4 points from the next 2 and we'll be a point ahead of where I expected. 

Not me!  I think things will go from strength to strength as time progresses.

[MaltRam]

Dissapointed, but 3 goals despite massive possession tells you the story of our first 4 games. We need to find more cutting edge as we're looking for worldies or mistakes to get us our goals.

We have the players, but the blend isn't right yet. I think we're crying out for more energy, pace and urgency in the middle to get us nearer to Collins...or we have to start with a genuine 10 just off him.

Knight would be first name down in midfield, for me. Can't Smith play RB?

[EulogyForEvolution]

8 minutes ago, InstaRam said:

Hmm, maybe it might take a few more weeks getting a newly assembled squad to get used to each other as well as how they need to play in order to create and capitalize more in the final third? We have managed to get hold of the ball a lot, gets a fair few corners and aren't overly troubled at the back. Seems like a good foundation early on to me.

That said, a little more tweaks, in-form players, urgency and risk awareness might do us some good though ?.

Onwards and upwards! We took a point from home, almost unthinkable a few months ago!

I think for me the worry isn't the players or the time they will take to gel. It's the way they're being asked to play. A lot of the frustrating things from the last few years are very evident in this newly assembled squad already. 

The insistence on playing out from the back, the daft goal kick, allowing teams to reshape before we go on the attack, only taking risks in our own half, playing without midfield runners leading to an isolated front man, conservativism in our play right to the last minute...to name just a few.

I'll back the team and I wish Liam all the luck in the world, but I hope this isn't the plan. 

[Ram-Alf]

2 minutes ago, Andrew1 said:

Expectations have been raised by what I term to be miracle signings and what we have done so far.  There is nothing wrong with having developed confidence in the team in the time since our darkest hour…

Absolutely right, Then give it a little more time and that confidence might come to fruition on the field...5 games fella...5 games

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, Rampant said:

"We should be beating teams like.....xyz".

Can we please not go down that arrogant route? 

Arrogance and confidence are two different things. It is not arrogance to asses a situation and make a judgement based on what you see as the odds.  On paper we should be beating Shrewsbury…  IMHO

[Jubbs]

People need to calm down. Shrewsbury might not be a "good" side but they're an extremely difficult side to break down, stats show that and we created more dangerous chances than they've conceded in all 3 of their games put together. 

[Sufferingfool]

19 minutes ago, Tamworthram said:

Not sure I'd quite describe it as a "great" away point. But it's another point on the board.

True but I felt like over doing it on the positive slant to add some balance to those seeing it as a poor result. An away point is not to be dismissed at this stage.

[Rich3478]

All for a point away, but we were a long way from them in quality. They were time wasting from sixty minutes. 
 

starting midfield is too similar, need knight or sibley in there to drag players around. Hope Collins comes good but not seeing much to be enthused about so far.

 

really needs speeding up away, we let teams set up two banks of four by passing sideways and then have no clue how to break through it. Must say it’s not a new thing, change of approach needed away.

[Tyler Durden]

2 minutes ago, Needlesh said:

Dissapointed, but 3 goals despite massive possession tells you the story of our first 4 games. We need to find more cutting edge as we're looking for worldies or mistakes to get us our goals.

We have the players, but the blend isn't right yet. I think we're crying out for more energy, pace and urgency in the middle to get us nearer to Collins...or we have to start with a genuine 10 just off him.

Knight would be first name down in midfield, for me. Can't Smith play RB?

I don't think it's our cutting edge though. This would imply that we're carving out shed loads of chances but we don't have the necessary firepower upfront to convert them. That's simply not the case. 

I do agree about the pace and urgency but again it needs to be focused you can have pace and urgency but be running around like headless chickens. Needs to be more coordinated.

 

 

[Rampant]

3 minutes ago, Needlesh said:

Can't Smith play RB?

I'm sure I'd read that he's played there before. If the young lad Odurah isn't ready for the role then moving Smith there would get my vote. I think most are in agreement that Knight needs to be more involved.

[Rich3478]

7 minutes ago, Needlesh said:

Dissapointed, but 3 goals despite massive possession tells you the story of our first 4 games. We need to find more cutting edge as we're looking for worldies or mistakes to get us our goals.

We have the players, but the blend isn't right yet. I think we're crying out for more energy, pace and urgency in the middle to get us nearer to Collins...or we have to start with a genuine 10 just off him.

Knight would be first name down in midfield, for me. Can't Smith play RB?

Agree massively on knight! Him or sibley need to start to give us something different. Smith at right back next game

[Ian Buxton's Bat]

We could have had Sergio Aguero up top tonight and he'd have been anonymous.

The faffing around on the edge of the opposition box allows them to get 8 players back and that's then a hard nut to crack - with a bit more pace we could be getting 2v2s and 3v2s.

LR's interview on RD was a bit of a worry - doesn't want to risk losing possession.

I think it's a decent start but I think the squad is better than last season so dropped points against garbage like Shrewsbury are very frustrating.

With just a bit more zip we'll be top 2.

Frustrated but optimistic.

[bcnram]

7 minutes ago, Andrew1 said:

Arrogance and confidence are two different things. It is not arrogance to asses a situation and make a judgement based on what you see as the odds.  On paper we should be beating Shrewsbury…  IMHO

But alas, we play on grass. 

[Donegal Ram]

Regardless of players we decide to play it comes down to the tactics and style of play. Simple as that. 75% possession and very few attempts at goal is not good enough.

[jimtastic56]

32 minutes ago, kash_a_ram_a_ding_dong said:

He's the interim manager and most certainly on probation at the moment.

He will need to show that we are progressing in the attacking dept if he doesnt want to return to the assistant manager role.

Football waits for no man.

Sad , but true. If we are not in the top 6 at Xmas , Liam will come under pressure.He will know we are short of a 20 goal striker. But even in tier 3 they are expensive.COYR

[Tyler Durden]

7 minutes ago, Jubbs said:

People need to calm down. Shrewsbury might not be a "good" side but they're an extremely difficult side to break down, stats show that and we created more dangerous chances than they've conceded in all 3 of their games put together. 

Last season Shrewsbury conceded just over 50 goals which is by far the best results out of all the teams around them, indeed if you look at their GD of -4 this isn't even in the same magnitude of the teams beneath them which were all negative double digit crickets scores. 

So obviously they are set up not to concede many goals.

With this in mind though and obviously apparent to even a layman like myself what did LR do to counter this in the team set up tonight playing devil's advocate 

[derbydaz22]

14 minutes ago, Needlesh said:

Dissapointed, but 3 goals despite massive possession tells you the story of our first 4 games. We need to find more cutting edge as we're looking for worldies or mistakes to get us our goals.

We have the players, but the blend isn't right yet. I think we're crying out for more energy, pace and urgency in the middle to get us nearer to Collins...or we have to start with a genuine 10 just off him.

Knight would be first name down in midfield, for me. Can't Smith play RB?

Hope he plays RB better than he does in midfield 

[plymouthram]

12 minutes ago, DanS1992 said:

Hopefully LR will figure things out and get things firing. And I agree, we have no divine right to beat anyone, Shrewsbury included, but if the squad have any ounce of ambition (and the majority have stated that the aim is promotion), then we really should be beating teams like Shrewsbury. Anyway it's another point on the board (even if it's a disappointing one) and hopefully LR can find a way to get things clicking in the final third. Onwards and upwards.

Just under 5 weeks ago we had 5 players, this virtually new squad will take time to gel and get better. Steve Cotterill's teams are always hard to score against, even last season they only conceded 51 goals even though they finished in 18th position. The fixtures have not been kind to us, having played up until tonights game against teams that finished in the top half of the table barring Barnsley who came down with us. Rams fans please have faith, it's a long season and not a sprint.

[TuffLuff]

I think if I was Rosenior I’d be stressing the need for composure in the future third. We ‘earn’ the right to play a lot of the time and seemingly always have a pass to a player in space, but you can look at all our attacking players today and say they got in good positions and then lost the ball.

Case in point is Sibleys missed chance, it’s harsh to point him out but I think it’s a clearer example than say Hourihane missing a through ball or something like that. Anyway the ball is difficult for Sibley to control which I can appreciate, but the keeper has commited before he’s had his shot. Sibley has the ability for a bit of nous and composure and to get the ball away from the keeper at that point rather than hitting it at him, but that’s the part of his game he needs to learn quickly. I could say similar with Barkhuizen too.

Aside that I can find very little fault in our performance aside possibly Roberts needing to gel better with the side.