v Wigan (H) Match Thread

[SSD]

Disappointing result... However post match.

 

[DCFC1388]

We're only 3 points off top, calm down everyone

[bimmerman]

23 minutes ago, Sheepinthedales said:

Evening,

I'm new to this forum but been a Derby fan born and bred for 20+ years. Opinions often seem to be glass half full side of the fence but that is probably the average football fan outside of the Etihad.

I found today incredibly frustrating like most and fully acknowledge its the first game of the season and is not always a barometer of what the next game will be like let alone the season.

I actually think Wigan were alright , deserve credit. Wyke doesn't belong in L1 and I for one underestimated them purely based on the familiar feeling of chaos that's engulfed their preparations to the season. But.. I'm actually more worried than most and my feelings stem back to last season.

I appreciate all managers have a style and Warne knows his and has seen the fruits from it with Rotherham. His signings fit his ideas obviously and I thought Ward was great and the likes of Bradley, Nelson, Elder will improve although I can't say any of the new signings stunk the place bar the error from Bradley.

What does bother me is two things; the one dimensional almost pub football style of 'dump as many balls into the box as possible and one might bounce for us', which seems to be a Warne trait, but more worrying today was the almost confusion amongst the players about their roles and how this left the team so exposed. When we were defending goal kicks, particularly first half, Joe Ward was 10 yards into their half and Nelson was 20 yards infield so the keeper was able to launch it 70 yards to McManaman. Eiran Cashin I thought looked very unsure of his role and the overlapping centre half ala Sheff U does not suit him at all. One cross in the first half went for a throw in on half way. Max Bird isn't a 10 or an 8 and with Smith and Hourihane basically playing as 6's our centre midfield was non existant. NML again isn't a 10 and is only effective, in spurts, on the right but is likely to be in the way of Ward. Just felt a bit chaotic, unbalanced and I don't feel Waghorn gives too much we don't have now.

Lots of work to do and to my mind, we need more like 5 or 6 players. Perhaps the style will click slightly more if he can get the personnel he needs by the end of the window but a little bit confused by today more than anything 

Welcome

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In... Or Out... 😆

[PhilGeeWasMyIdol]

My take on today was that we werent that bad, other than 2 bad mistakes that cost goals, which is obviously the reason we lost. We created enough to score more than 1. Wigan defended well and had some threat going forward, at least in the first half. My heart goes out to big Sonny on his debut, these things happen, but ideally not his first match at a packed PPS.

Ward looks good, he will improve the team undoubtably. Too early to say with the other newbies, Nelson looked decent enough. I am no fan of Bird - but he is still in the best XI. Need two CMs - ideally box to box and ball winner/ dominator. Bryson and Powell types.

Clearly also a no.9 - for me someone with bags of pace as it will give us another dimension that we lack. 

If we play like that every week and cut out defensive errors (it will be rare that we make 2 that bad in a game you'd hope) then we will win most games, especially with a better no.9.

[DCFC1388]

1 hour ago, Anag Ram said:

Yeah, can anyone explain why we bought a roughty toughty 6’4” defender if he’s not going to take responsibility for a centre forward?

He is the central defender of the 3, unless he is told to man mark he will hold that position in open play so if the opposition striker pulls onto a different defender it isnt Bradleys fault. 

The 2nd goal the ball went over Bradley, Cashin was against Wyke but didnt do anything to prevent him from getting to the ball.

If you was at the game, you will have noticed im the 2nd half that from goal kicks Bradley & Cashin did swap so Bradley was marking Wyke for the aerial challenge.

[TINMANTED]

2 hours ago, TomTom92 said:

Did people think we were playing bad at 0-0 or at 1-1? I certainly didn’t.

At 0-0 we were loose and they had a couple of decent chances but so did we. We’ve been punished for them scoring their one chance at 1-1 and then for our lack of squad depth as we had nobody to bring on to save the day.

At 0-0 we had chances to put the game to bed,but our lack of quality up front as usual failed to make them count.defences are always going to make mistakes, they become a problem when you can't make the most of your own chances.its not just the first game of the season,it's gone on for multiple seasons,it's one of the reasons we are where we are

[Rich3478]

11 minutes ago, Steve Buckley’s Dog said:

Last year we were lacking pace and power all over the pitch. This year we are lacking pace and power all over the pitch. The manager and recruitment team haven’t really done their job have they? Hopefully they do in the next few weeks. 

 Yeah, this the bit I’m struggling with. Given all these reasons as to why we fell away last season. Aging players, small squad, lack of pace and energy.

Not sure any of that has been addressed. Bench looked awful today, I know sibley and barkhuizen to come back but it looked worrying today.

quite a big few weeks to come for warne I think.

[falconram]

Missed the game today but was able to watch it, points from the performance, we need 4 more new additions 2 forward a wide man and a midfield destroyer, that's as Important as the two forwards, if we have to sell Bird so be it. Played OK but mistakes and just not enough up top, fozzy scores a second the game is won. 

45 games to go keep the faith and if my memory serves me right we lost to Wigan opening day of the season under Arthur Cox and went on to win the league. 

 

[PrideParkhead]

11 minutes ago, Jimbo Ram said:

I am as disappointed as everyone else, but I can remember the response when we appointed Jim Smith and those first few games when we looked awful. He turned things around. It is going to take a bit of time for things to gel. Let’s give it 10 games and see what the squad looks like at the end of the window and see where we are then.

I get your point but there wasn't a transfer window in those days & the likes of Igor didn't come in until around October. We don't have that luxury anymore. We have 3 weeks to find 2 quality strikers. Ain't gonna happen I'm afraid 

[Woodley Ram]

We were a bit disjointed today, but that will come together, it feels like we need 2 or 3 more games especially the defence. I thought Wigan were far better organised than us, I liked their number 8 before he ran out of steam. I still think we deserved something from the game, we lost to two big errors but that is how it goes.

Three things stood out for me today, if we are going to pump balls into the box, our strikers are not big enough. We have no speed at the back, time and again we were outrun. I love NML, but do not see how he fits its the Warne system.

The defeat might be a blessing in diguise, its brings some realisation and thats not a bad thing.

We were never going to walk the league but I still think we will be promoted.

Edited August 5, 2023 by Woodley Ram

[DCFC1388]

1 minute ago, PhilGeeWasMyIdol said:

My take on today was that we werent that bad, other than 2 bad mistakes that cost goals, which is obviously the reason we lost. We created enough to score more than 1. Wigan defended well and had some threat going forward, at least in the first half. My heart goes out to big Sonny on his debut, these things happen, but ideally not his first match at a packed PPS.

Ward looks good, he will improve the team undoubtably. Too early to say with the other newbies, Nelson looked decent enough. I am no fan of Bird - but he is still in the best XI. Need two CMs - ideally box to box and ball winner/ dominator. Bryson and Powell types.

Clearly also a no.9 - for me someone with bags of pace as it will give us another dimension that we lack. 

If we play like that every week and cut out defensive errors (it will be rare that we make 2 that bad in a game you'd hope) then we will win most games, especially with a better no.9.

Spot on. I have always wanted a pacey striker, my only issue is that most teams will sit in against us so there wont be much room for pace in behind, which is why someone like Smith in the air will cause problems against teams who just sit in.

[Anag Ram]

1 minute ago, DCFC1388 said:

He is the central defender of the 3, unless he is told to man mark he will hold that position in open play so if the opposition striker pulls onto a different defender it isnt Bradleys fault. 

The 2nd goal the ball went over Bradley, Cashin was against Wyke but didnt do anything to prevent him from getting to the ball.

If you was at the game, you will have noticed im the 2nd half that from goal kicks Bradley & Cashin did swap so Bradley was marking Wyke for the aerial challenge.

Yes I was there. I was surprised in general how often our central defenders let the ball go over their heads.

 Shows poor judgment.

[Ram-Alf]

3 hours ago, Big Trav said:

I’ll say one thing, if we play like that every game this season. We go down. Midfield way too slow and lethargic, Hourihane was walking 70 mins, should’ve been hauled off. Little to no creativity. Felt like we were scared to make a forward pass at times. Ver very concerning first game. Hopefully Warne walks into clowes office tomorrow and tells him to get his players in

Pop over to the Waghorn thread, I said fans will decide DCs tenure next season, Oooops looks to be a year to early, Coming out of the ground all I heard was Warne out, Fans are fickle/entitled and think they know best...one game in and the knives are out.

It takes time...but it looks as tho the clock is ticking already FFS 🙄

[Jimbo Ram]

10 minutes ago, PrideParkhead said:

I get your point but there wasn't a transfer window in those days & the likes of Igor didn't come in until around October. We don't have that luxury anymore. We have 3 weeks to find 2 quality strikers. Ain't gonna happen I'm afraid 

I think Waggers will score a few in League 1, then 1 other striker (maybe a a Prem loan) and a mobile midfielder and we will be ok…

[angieram]

22 minutes ago, Ambitious said:

He wasn’t isolated at all, if you review the player positions - it also shows that their strikers’ average position on the pitch was similar to our defensive midfielder. 

It brings me back to situational football and needing better coaching when we’re so far up the pitch as a standard. 

This for me is our biggest problem.

We are going to be so far up the pitch in a lot of games at Pride Park that we're always going to be vulnerable to quick counter-attacks on the break. There's a lot of space there being marshalled  by a fairly slow back line.

I was trying to think why we looked so much better in the PP friendlies going forward and it was because we were the ones exploiting the space in behind. Bird looked so much better in those games when he had space to play those killer through-balls. Today he was cramped up too close to our strikers.

Maybe we'll do better away from home when the opposition will attack more? 

[FlyBritishMidland]

I didn’t think it was as bad as some are making out.  Thought we did OK first half up until their goal.  We’d created chances, put some good balls in the box and their keeper made a couple of good saves.  I didn’t think we got the ball to Ward quick enough in the 1st half and when we did it was a bit behind him or he had to set it for a cross.  We put that right in the 2nd half.

Up until their goal in the 2nd half they were barely out of their own half.  Cracking finish by Foz and I thought we’d go on and won’t then but their 2nd seem to knock the stuffing out of us a bit.

We lost due to a couple of errors, it happens.  Nothings won or lost in August, particularly on day 1.  Just cos we lost doesn’t mean we’re doomed, equally we could have battered them and it wouldn’t mean we’d win the league.  Let’s have a bit of balance.

Edited August 5, 2023 by FlyBritishMidland

[inter politics]

47 minutes ago, Ambitious said:

Anyway, from what I saw of Wigan they will be ok this season and would be surprised that if they’re not a top 6 at least on a points-per-game ratio. Warne said they had the best front four in the league, while I’m not sure about that it was very good. McManaman had Ward chasing shadows in the first half, Wyke was who we want Collins to be and I thought Humphrey’s was best of all. Lang, I believe is the highest rated one, but really didn’t see too much from him. I can see why Warne likes them so much. 

I also think the keeper looked excellent and at a such young age should win a lot of plaudits this season. Both centre backs, although young, babysat Collins through the game and stopped him from holding anything up or getting on the end of everything. Aasgard clearly a talented player, too. 

It would be a great achievement if they can get into the play-offs with their -8. Best team aside from Ipswich and Plymouth I’ve seen in this division in the past 12 months anyway. 

The 8, Smith really impressed me

[RoyMac5]

1 hour ago, Anag Ram said:

Yeah, can anyone explain why we bought a roughty toughty 6’4” defender if he’s not going to take responsibility for a centre forward?

I wondered that. Was very disappointed in Bradley today, even without the backpass.

[FKANorwichExile]

26 minutes ago, Ambitious said:

He wasn’t isolated at all, if you review the player positions - it also shows that their strikers’ average position on the pitch was similar to our defensive midfielder. 

It brings me back to situational football and needing better coaching when we’re so far up the pitch as a standard. 

Interesting, but doesn't that highlight my point of him dropping deeper to find options as the game progressed? 

I agree with the point on coaching. We looked clueless at times passing across their box.

[Sparkle]

Very disappointing today. We were playing 3 centre half’s but it looked like we were playing one! 
Ward’s delivery was excellent overall whilst Forsyth was our most dangerous player and could easily have had a hat trick ! 
Which says a lot - I thought Nelson was poor and his distribution was slow and inaccurate, Bradley was largely ineffective and obviously cost us a goal against whilst Cashin was backpedaling against their centre forward from goal kicks in a one on one situation frequently which was just Bizarre.

Our midfield was massively missing Jason Knight winning the football and obviously we missed McGoldrick winning headers and controlling a football - I am not going to blame Collins for being Collins but we lack pace all over the pitch.

seriously lots of room to improve but we looked easy to play against.

pet hate, could we please have someone showing for ball from throw ins.

Wigan tried to play football so credit to them.