Derby County versus Northampton Town (H) Match Thread

[Srg]

8 minutes ago, The Last Post said:

OK folks...why was it so different, Did the fact that Cashin didn't play, That we what looked to be a 4-2-3-1, That PW gave the midfield carte blanche to play, That we had a forward midfield that was actually...forward, FWIW I'll tell you, There's been words by both the players and owner, I don't fall for this "the meeting was called ages ago" DC knew there were rumblings of discontent and pretty heavy talks were had, Also Hourihane being the captain would be duty bound to talk to PW with the players concerns...abuse/uncomfortable playing.

Whatever the meeting...last night shows what can be done if the minds of the players and the manager merge into one, We all are aware that we have talent in this squad...it's getting the best out of them that's the hard part, I'm not going to piss on any ones chips as there's still 31 league games to go, Rome wasn't built in a day...remember Blackpool away, So take note DCFC...fans do have a say in how things go on the pitch 😉

 

Whether it was Cashin not playing or not, it's undeniable Sonny Bradley, particularly first half, strode 3 or 4 paces forward when he received it and not only hit it sideways with pace, also fired it to feet through the middle. This hadn't happened all season.

[LoadofCobblers]

Well that was absolutely dreadful, pathetic, embarrassing etc etc from us. The worst performance we have put in for a long time which is pretty much the thoughts of the entire fanbase.

We set the team up with players playing out of position, despite that the lack of clear plan or seemingly effort was staggering and something I am not used to under our manager. We usually try and press high, but today we didnt do that or sit back with any sort of organisation. We did nothing but allow your players unbelievable amounts of space to just waltz through and around our team time and time again. As for Tyreece Simpson the less said the better, if you are not going to try at least try and buy a foul or something, but alas to no avail. The whole squad and manager come away with zero credit from that shambles.

I do remember this is a Derby forum though, not a Northampton one! You can only play who is in front of you and you took us to pieces, it could and probably should have been 6 or 7. We didnt handle your pace well, you had players on the half turn which we were unable to intercept or get near. Also all the finishes were tidy finishes which I felt our no keeper had any chance. Realistically we looked like a poor L2 side there, let alone a L1 side.

Anyways, all the best for the rest of the season, see you back here for the reverse fixture. I hope you pick up some form and get up the table, hopefully we get some players back from injury and can scrape enough wins to survive.

[On the Ram Page]

8 hours ago, Ramslad1992 said:

Some lovely goals there, Bird’s 2nd was sublime! 
 

need to kick on now, feck the hoofball crap off and play like that every game and we will be alright! 

“Hoofball” is fiction, the long ball is played usually when a defender is under pressure to clear, or there is no one available to pass to. No different to any other team. The goals were good last night, just like the previous home game if you look at them again.

[DavesaRam]

There have been loads of comments and threads about whether this squad is good enough for promotion. Some have said no, citing the awful performances so far, and others, myself included, have said yes, but we rarely see it. Until last night! 
 

As The Last Post has just said, I suspect that there was a lot more to the meeting between owner and manager than we were led to believe, such that the undying support fir Warne from the club was conditional. 
 

So was last night the result of Warne putting his hands up and just letting the boys “do their stuff” instead of imposing his “masterplan” on them. In fact the only bit of Paul Warne influence we saw last night was bringing Collins on when it should have been Browne.

Admittedly Northampton were the worst side to appear at Derby, although I didn’t get to see Finn Harps all those years ago. But as someone said earlier, Northampton haven’t lost by more than a goal or two till last night, emphasising just what our team can do if allowed.

A big shout out to Smith for his tackles and interceptions, and to Barkhuisen, who was the catalyst for so much last night, including a superb interception in our own area early doors. He could have been man of the match if Bird hadn't been so good, although has anyone else wondered if he had strayed slightly offside for the first goal?

And all four goals were superbly made, with the last one being absolutely ruthless - they made a mistake just outside our area and in a flash we had put it in the net at the other end. Marvellous!

The guy stood next to me last night described the match as “ a bit like clubbing a seal”! And we could do that to most teams in this league, so pray that we don’t revert to form and go “hoof it long to no-one” again. All the fans have wanted is for the team to play to it’s strengths. Who knows what might happen if we play like that against the Stevenages of this world!

[Srg]

2 minutes ago, On the Ram Page said:

“Hoofball” is fiction, the long ball is played usually when a defender is under pressure to clear, or there is no one available to pass to. No different to any other team. The goals were good last night, just like the previous home game if you look at them again.

Last night's performance was still night and day compared to last week. I know a lot felt last week was better, and I guess it was, but I didn't come away from that game thinking we'd turned a corner or found something, whereas last night, there's definitely a blueprint there. Just see if we can capitalise.

[Guest]

8 minutes ago, LoadofCobblers said:

Well that was absolutely dreadful, pathetic, embarrassing etc etc from us. The worst performance we have put in for a long time which is pretty much the thoughts of the entire fanbase.

I read that first bit without having noticed your username, and thought "Seriously? Even I'm cautiously and carefully enjoying that win and performance and I've been as grumpy as anyone! What more do some people want?!"

That's interesting though that your performance was so out of character. I did wonder on the strength of those 90 minutes how it wasn't your team rather than Cheltenham's who'd gone 10-odd games without a goal/win until we gifted them the former.

So you're saying you're not going to roll over and have your tummies tickled when we come over to Northampton? Oh well, was probably too much to hope for...

Good luck for the rest of the season (save for that one match anyway) because you might have done some terrible things in your life but you wouldn't deserve performances like that all season 😜

[angieram]

16 minutes ago, Srg said:

Last night's performance was still night and day compared to last week. I know a lot felt last week was better, and I guess it was, but I didn't come away from that game thinking we'd turned a corner or found something, whereas last night, there's definitely a blueprint there. Just see if we can capitalise.

Who felt last week was better? I hadn't read that, at least on here.

For me, we had eleven players out there last night with good control,  both when playing and receiving the ball. Made all the difference. 

Edited November 1, 2023 by angieram

[Donegal Ram]

Just a quick question. How many of the chances we scored from last night would Collins have scored if he had started? 

1st maybe

2nd no way

3rd no

4th should be

Washington offers so much more up front with the same amount of work rate but better control and linking up than Collins. Not here to bash Collins because I have stuck up for him in the past but, them early goals killed that game last night. Collins is a sub for us at best. 

Great overall performance from Derby last night and a nice shape and balance. Same team next week please Warne. 

[Srg]

15 minutes ago, angieram said:

Who felt last week was better? I hadn't read that, at least on here.

For me, we had eleven players out there last night with good control,  both when playing and receiving the ball. Made all the difference. 

The sentiment after the Exeter game definitely seemed positive on here to me.

[May Contain Nuts]

19 minutes ago, Srg said:

The sentiment after the Exeter game definitely seemed positive on here to me.

I think that's maybe down to 2 things.

While Exeter were poor, Northampton were out of this world bad. As their fan representative posted on here, they looked like a poor League Two team, didn't press us, didn't defend, literally did nothing to oppose us. It didn't feel like an 'earned' victory, pretty as it was.

The Exeter game didn't come on the back of the 'vote of confidence', which has emboldened some of the absolute weapons we have on this forum to gob off at anyone who who's been negative about Warne, so we had a lot more posts goading others last night than we had last week which inevitable leads to the discussion about our performance getting lost to bickering.

Not denying I'll take part in the bickering 😆 but genuinely I come on after a match like last night's with every intention of spreading the positivity, but when the first thing I read is people weaponising the result (hence my earlier descriptor) it makes it difficult.

Edited November 1, 2023 by Kokosnuss

[On the Ram Page]

1 hour ago, RoyMac5 said:

They've been booting the ball wide and then into the box, ad nauseum, is where they've been. 

Not true, watch the goals we have scored

[Alty_Ram]

23 minutes ago, LoadofCobblers said:

Well that was absolutely dreadful, pathetic, embarrassing etc etc from us. The worst performance we have put in for a long time which is pretty much the thoughts of the entire fanbase.

We set the team up with players playing out of position, despite that the lack of clear plan or seemingly effort was staggering and something I am not used to under our manager. We usually try and press high, but today we didnt do that or sit back with any sort of organisation. We did nothing but allow your players unbelievable amounts of space to just waltz through and around our team time and time again. As for Tyreece Simpson the less said the better, if you are not going to try at least try and buy a foul or something, but alas to no avail. The whole squad and manager come away with zero credit from that shambles.

I do remember this is a Derby forum though, not a Northampton one! You can only play who is in front of you and you took us to pieces, it could and probably should have been 6 or 7. We didnt handle your pace well, you had players on the half turn which we were unable to intercept or get near. Also all the finishes were tidy finishes which I felt our no keeper had any chance. Realistically we looked like a poor L2 side there, let alone a L1 side.

Anyways, all the best for the rest of the season, see you back here for the reverse fixture. I hope you pick up some form and get up the table, hopefully we get some players back from injury and can scrape enough wins to survive.

Cheers for that, it's always good to have an outside perspective. You did seem to have a collectively have a poor day at the office and I think for your guys it's just one of those performances that you have to just write off and get it out your system. Last night may have been rather one-sided but the margins seem really small in the majority of games and a slice of luck or a couple of players back can make a big difference to the mood. We've been moping around since a poor effort on Saturday and then we get a big lift like last night. Football eh ? 

We've had a few absolute stinkers recently and have had to do the classic 'Show a reaction' which we often do and then have a 'mare in the next one. It's just so inconsistent - we lost 3-1 at the weekend and win 4-0 tonight. Our problem so far has been following up on a win with another one but that just seems to be the same for a lot of teams in the division. It's frustrating because there's not a lot in it between the majority of teams (bar Portsmouth) and they are all taking points off each other. If you can just put any kind of run together then you can climb the table rapidly, but that remains our challenge.

See you at your place.

[angieram]

10 minutes ago, Srg said:

The sentiment after the Exeter game definitely seemed positive on here to me.

Oh, I see what you mean. 

I thought you meant people thought we had played better against Exeter. 

I do know that people thought they were the worst team to come to Pride Park all season - until last night, that is!

[DiggerB]

6 minutes ago, angieram said:

Oh, I see what you mean. 

I thought you meant people thought we had played better against Exeter. 

I do know that people thought they were the worst team to come to Pride Park all season - until last night, that is!

I honestly thought Exeter were worse. They gave the ball away for fun. At least Northampton attempted a bit of football, Exeter were woeful from start to finish!

[MadAmster]

Where did that come from? 4-0 and with a bit of luck we could have had more. That 2nd minute tackle on Barks had me thinking the Cobblers would be putting the boot in as their sole tactic and that we would struggle but they started to play the ball about. We beat teams that do that and we did. Loved the game, the last 30 was a bit scrappy but umpt-een changes can cause a side to become disjointed.

JW didn't touch the ball until the 19th minute. The oppo managed 3 shots, one of which, a 40 yard slow paced grubber counted as their one and only effort on target. Conversely, we put 4 well worked chances away, saw half a dozen balls miss the attacker in place by an inch or so. Goals, goalmouth action, fighting to get the ball back when we lost it. Pass and move, making yourself available for a pass, closing the oppo down. All the things that have been done well sporadically over the season all came together at once. Let's hope we can recreate that over the coming weeks and months on a consistent basis.

Nyambe played well again. I hope we're looking to give him an extension to his contract come January. However, the level of his performances might see him get offers from Championship sides in which case I think he'll go.
Nelson was a rock again.
Bradley showed us why not only PW but also the fans wanted him in the summer. Solid defensively. Some cracking passes, on the ground putting teammates into great attacking positions. If PW sticks to his "play well and you'll keep the shirt" mantra, Cash is due a spell on the bench at that rate.
Fozzy played well defensively and going forward.
Hourihane just in front of the back 4 was excellent. That gave Smith and Bird more leeway to get forward. Time to put my hands up, I got it wrong posting CH shouldn't play that role in the starting XI. I may have had a point at the time but last night he did it very well.
Smith had a good game
Bird was excellent. Will the club take a million for him in January or will they gamble on going up and keeping him? I hope they gamble.
NML very good again.
Barks put in a very good all round performance.
Wash showed what it was that made PW sign him. Excellent.

Now, lads, more of the same please.

Not sure what went awry with the Cobblers last night. They had only conceded 17 goals in 14 League games this season. That increased by 23.529% last night. One of their 4 victories was against the Posh so they can't be that bad..... We played well, that is part of the reason. They didn't, but why? Did they succumb to crowd pressure as they're not used to gates even half that size? No idea.

[Ram-Alf]

1 hour ago, angieram said:

For me, we had eleven players out there last night with good control,  both when playing and receiving the ball. Made all the difference. 

The $60k question Angie...how so?, This is not a slight on Cashin but the only change from the regular personnel was Bradley, Has this squad decided to turn up?, Has the manager ditched his Warne ball(noticed he didn't do the interview after the game)how many fans walking back to their cars/homes after the game said...where did that performance come from, Last nights result will only come to bear fruit if DCFC can do the same on Sunday, The same the following game and so on and so on.

The players have the ability, How have we changed in 4 days? from the ridiculous to sublime, I have my suspicions with what I posted earlier...it just makes one wonder ☺️ 

[SKRam]

3 hours ago, Raich Carter said:

Connor Washington came across really, really well in his interview. Smart, sensible comments and came across as a bit brighter than the average footballer. Seemed to talk, albeit briefly, about aspects of the game that PW just doesn't but perhaps that's just a style thing - i.e. PW says it in a more... layman's fashion whereas I think as fans, we actually want to understand more about the tactical side in detail.

Anyway, CW - gone up in my estimation.

Collins however - missed some sitters.

Agreed, he spoke really well… till the Keogh in him……. ‘Like asay’ followed by two ‘like you say’ just to throw a couple of spanner’s in the works. 
But yes he was impressive in interview….. tv punditry awaits methinks 

[DavesaRam]

39 minutes ago, The Last Post said:

The $60k question Angie...how so?, This is not a slight on Cashin but the only change from the regular personnel was Bradley, Has this squad decided to turn up?, Has the manager ditched his Warne ball(noticed he didn't do the interview after the game)how many fans walking back to their cars/homes after the game said...where did that performance come from, Last nights result will only come to bear fruit if DCFC can do the same on Sunday, The same the following game and so on and so on.

The players have the ability, How have we changed in 4 days? from the ridiculous to sublime, I have my suspicions with what I posted earlier...it just makes one wonder ☺️ 

I am pretty sure that Warne has really suffered from the reaction from the fans, and maybe Clowes wagged his finger at the manager, and his reaction is to step back and let the players get on with it.

A telling sign was the number of skids in and around the 6-yard box at the end of the match, which tells is that there were loads of nearly moments as well as the goals we did score.

And a shout out to the Northampton fans who were chanting “We want 5” towards the end! Good on yer, lads!

[Guest]

2 hours ago, Donegal Ram said:

Just a quick question. How many of the chances we scored from last night would Collins have scored if he had started? 

1st maybe

2nd no way

3rd no

4th should be

Washington offers so much more up front with the same amount of work rate but better control and linking up than Collins. Not here to bash Collins because I have stuck up for him in the past but, them early goals killed that game last night. Collins is a sub for us at best. 

Great overall performance from Derby last night and a nice shape and balance. Same team next week please Warne. 

I agree and it's Washington's place to lose for the time being (although I would love TJJ to get back to fitness and show us what he's got).

To put in a word or two for Collins though: he has scored the odd goal which few others would score (including him if he tried it again, probably)*. The header at Burton last year is the first that comes to mind. He is also a reliable and convincing penalty-taker. He's about 50:50 on taking decent chances. Has looked clinical on occasion (Cambridge away last season, Carlisle away this season) and was on a decent mini-run earlier (Portsmouth, Carlisle, Blackpool) but then came Cheltenham and Shrewsbury and poor performances individually and collectively. He can count himself a bit unlucky as he always works hard.

* To be clear in agreement: I couldn't imagine Collins scoring the one Washington got last night!

[Guest]

2 hours ago, On the Ram Page said:

“Hoofball” is fiction, the long ball is played usually when a defender is under pressure to clear, or there is no one available to pass to. No different to any other team. The goals were good last night, just like the previous home game if you look at them again.

Can't go along with that. It's a tactic which Cashin uses repeatedly (presumably under instruction) and Bradley used last night, and definitely not only when under pressure or no shorter pass available. It's a tactic either to stretch the play, or to play the percentages. Cashin used to have some success with it and it didn't work out too badly for Bradley yesterday (partly because Northampton didn't wake up until after the final whistle).

In the point you made later, are you saying that watching our 23-24 goals to date shows we don't just play down the wings ad nauseum as @RoyMac5 had claimed? If so, on the one hand you're logically correct, but on the other it doesn't prove that we haven't been playing down the wings ad nauseum because there could be loads of examples of doing that which haven't resulted in goals - right? Or did I misunderstand your point?

Edited November 1, 2023 by jameso
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