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The Club At The Moment

Alex W

By Alex W
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Alex W

Alex W

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This is my take on it all, on why we've slumped and whats gone wrong, and the team/club at the moment.

A large portion of the loss of form, I presonally attribute to the loss of Frank Fielding. I was crying out for Frank (in very much a non gay way) as I have never had any real faith in Bywater. Fielding came in and was absoloutely fantastic, the confidence you get from a goalkeeper like him is huge for defenders.

Full backs feel they can commit, centre backs become more relaxed, and they can all thrive without being nervous of a goalkeeping error. Now, Bywater has returned and he does not fill them with confidence. Mistakes begin to be made, the defence in whole gets nervy and confidence drains from them all.

Bywaters first good game for us this season IMO was against Forest, and he was still dodgy. The other week Barker had to head a ball away five yards off of the goal-line as he had no faith in Bywater. Stephen just doesn't command the defence. Fielding back, or a goalkeeper of his quality and importantly, a commanding nature.

A clear problem that had arisen was the loss of Brayford at right back. Now, Leacock had been doing well for us, even outshining Barker in some games who himself has been playing injured (thankfully he is slowly turning into the Shaun Barker of last season once again). But he lost form quickly.

He cost us against Norwich, he was then very poor against Reading before getting injured, and his performance at Forest was absoloutely diabolical. I see no other option than Nigel had to drop him. People say "Oh, you played him in the wrong position" but he had played right back many times before, infact Fulham were considering converting him to one when he first broke onto the scene with them.

So having been dropped, Green reverts to right back and Brayford moves across. This loses one of our main threats, as Brayfords bombing down the wing has been huge for us this season. Infact, Cywka only shines so much because of Brayfords link up play with him. Without the attacking full back behind him, Cywka isn't nearly as dangerous. The one piece of real attacking threat hes made was when linking with one of Greens rare overlaps against Millwall.

Brayford is a decent centre back, we've seen far worse than him, but we cannot rely on him there. We lose too much. I think Clough must know this, but was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Do you lose an attacking threat all down the right side of your team, or do you keep that but play a centre back who is gifting opposing teams goals? He went with the battling option, and in my eyes the correct option. Far better to keep goals out than have the threat but be letting more in at your own end.

This clearly affected us and the fluidity stopped. It really affected Cywka, his form has dipped hugely since Brayford has moved to centre back and I think for him to thrive Cywka needs that overlapping full back with him.

Both of these things attribute to a series of losses, which affected confidence. When confidence in your defence slowly drains, then clearly your attackers begin to lose confidence as you lose games. A few things go against you, such as the Norwich and Reading games where we really deserved something from each game, and the whole team begins to suffer. The Forest game absoloutely shattered the confidence built up before it.

Since then we've been battling, battling to get anything. We managed a great win away at Preston, who despite the loss of their manager had a team full of players trying to prove their worth and they certainly weren't pushovers. Battled against Millwall, earned a point and got a little lucky but we didn't concede and so well done us.

An unfortunate fact that can be mentioned now is how, some more cynical fans may brush this off, we've managed to face teams hitting top form. I believe davenportram posted a list showing it somewhere else, but we've managed to play all of these teams while they're flying high. A team low with confidence against teams at the top of their games are always going to find it tough.

Watford came at us and walked through us, and it was their self confidence that had run through our players and given us the result against them at our place. Now we lack it and they have it in abundance. It's funny how a few months can change everything isn't it....

The last match against Forest wasn't that bad, we bossed the second half and them the first. They took their best chance, we didn't. And that's that. Everyone feels terrible after it and makes it all out to be alot worse than it is. Don't get me wrong, we're in a bad spot at the moment, but it's not terminal. This talk of relegation to me is frankly ridiculous.

We're in a decent position right now. Ben Davies has come in and looks very useful. We have reportedly Waghorn on the way, Ayala too, and we're talking about signing Conor Sammon. All of these would re-invigorate the side. A great centre back means Brayford can move back to right back and combine with Ben Davies or Cywka. Bueno looks like slowly getting back to form, and in general the side looked more 'up for it' than recently.

The return of Addison is huge, as when we need a battler in midfield I can think of not many better in this league. The bloke is built like a brick wall, and a huge threat from set pieces which Ben Davies will no doubt be landing right onto his head from now on.

Commons is gone, but there's nothing we can do about that. He didn't want to stay, and as we saw against Forest, a Commons without heart is nigh on useless. He can be replaced, but not in this window. Perhaps Ben Davies can play that role, who knows. If not, we need to look at a playmaker this summer.

Anyway, this is a long and rambling explanation of what I think has caused the bad form. The future is not all razor blades and suicide notes as many would have you believe. I genuinely think we can still make that top half finish that Clough wanted at the start of the season. 10th to 12th was my original guess for where we'd finish, we can still manage that.

Rams fans, just be patient. We've seen what this squad can do. This is a bad run, but every team has them. Chelsea had one that took them from pushing for double figures every home game to being beaten by teams like Sunderland 3-0.

Good things come to those who wait. We've improved every season with Nigel in charge, and we will do so again. Mark my words.......

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Boycie

Boycie

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This is my take on it all, on why we've slumped and whats gone wrong, and the team/club at the moment.

A large portion of the loss of form, I presonally attribute to the loss of Frank Fielding. I was crying out for Frank (in very much a non gay way) as I have never had any real faith in Bywater. Fielding came in and was absoloutely fantastic, the confidence you get from a goalkeeper like him is huge for defenders.

Full backs feel they can commit, centre backs become more relaxed, and they can all thrive without being nervous of a goalkeeping error. Now, Bywater has returned and he does not fill them with confidence. Mistakes begin to be made, the defence in whole gets nervy and confidence drains from them all.

Bywaters first good game for us this season IMO was against Forest, and he was still dodgy. The other week Barker had to head a ball away five yards off of the goal-line as he had no faith in Bywater. Stephen just doesn't command the defence. Fielding back, or a goalkeeper of his quality and importantly, a commanding nature.

A clear problem that had arisen was the loss of Brayford at right back. Now, Leacock had been doing well for us, even outshining Barker in some games who himself has been playing injured (thankfully he is slowly turning into the Shaun Barker of last season once again). But he lost form quickly.

He cost us against Norwich, he was then very poor against Reading before getting injured, and his performance at Forest was absoloutely diabolical. I see no other option than Nigel had to drop him. People say "Oh, you played him in the wrong position" but he had played right back many times before, infact Fulham were considering converting him to one when he first broke onto the scene with them.

So having been dropped, Green reverts to right back and Brayford moves across. This loses one of our main threats, as Brayfords bombing down the wing has been huge for us this season. Infact, Cywka only shines so much because of Brayfords link up play with him. Without the attacking full back behind him, Cywka isn't nearly as dangerous. The one piece of real attacking threat hes made was when linking with one of Greens rare overlaps against Millwall.

Brayford is a decent centre back, we've seen far worse than him, but we cannot rely on him there. We lose too much. I think Clough must know this, but was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Do you lose an attacking threat all down the right side of your team, or do you keep that but play a centre back who is gifting opposing teams goals? He went with the battling option, and in my eyes the correct option. Far better to keep goals out than have the threat but be letting more in at your own end.

This clearly affected us and the fluidity stopped. It really affected Cywka, his form has dipped hugely since Brayford has moved to centre back and I think for him to thrive Cywka needs that overlapping full back with him.

Both of these things attribute to a series of losses, which affected confidence. When confidence in your defence slowly drains, then clearly your attackers begin to lose confidence as you lose games. A few things go against you, such as the Norwich and Reading games where we really deserved something from each game, and the whole team begins to suffer. The Forest game absoloutely shattered the confidence built up before it.

Since then we've been battling, battling to get anything. We managed a great win away at Preston, who despite the loss of their manager had a team full of players trying to prove their worth and they certainly weren't pushovers. Battled against Millwall, earned a point and got a little lucky but we didn't concede and so well done us.

An unfortunate fact that can be mentioned now is how, some more cynical fans may brush this off, we've managed to face teams hitting top form. I believe davenportram posted a list showing it somewhere else, but we've managed to play all of these teams while they're flying high. A team low with confidence against teams at the top of their games are always going to find it tough.

Watford came at us and walked through us, and it was their self confidence that had run through our players and given us the result against them at our place. Now we lack it and they have it in abundance. It's funny how a few months can change everything isn't it....

The last match against Forest wasn't that bad, we bossed the second half and them the first. They took their best chance, we didn't. And that's that. Everyone feels terrible after it and makes it all out to be alot worse than it is. Don't get me wrong, we're in a bad spot at the moment, but it's not terminal. This talk of relegation to me is frankly ridiculous.

We're in a decent position right now. Ben Davies has come in and looks very useful. We have reportedly Waghorn on the way, Ayala too, and we're talking about signing Conor Sammon. All of these would re-invigorate the side. A great centre back means Brayford can move back to right back and combine with Ben Davies or Cywka. Bueno looks like slowly getting back to form, and in general the side looked more 'up for it' than recently.

The return of Addison is huge, as when we need a battler in midfield I can think of not many better in this league. The bloke is built like a brick wall, and a huge threat from set pieces which Ben Davies will no doubt be landing right onto his head from now on.

Commons is gone, but there's nothing we can do about that. He didn't want to stay, and as we saw against Forest, a Commons without heart is nigh on useless. He can be replaced, but not in this window. Perhaps Ben Davies can play that role, who knows. If not, we need to look at a playmaker this summer.

Anyway, this is a long and rambling explanation of what I think has caused the bad form. The future is not all razor blades and suicide notes as many would have you believe. I genuinely think we can still make that top half finish that Clough wanted at the start of the season. 10th to 12th was my original guess for where we'd finish, we can still manage that.

Rams fans, just be patient. We've seen what this squad can do. This is a bad run, but every team has them. Chelsea had one that took them from pushing for double figures every home game to being beaten by teams like Sunderland 3-0.

Good things come to those who wait. We've improved every season with Nigel in charge, and we will do so again. Mark my words.......

Is this one of them Virgina Monologues?

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Fredbear73

Fredbear73

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Mate it was a good post - my only fear is that the talk of players coming in is at this present time ..... just that .... talk ..... Austin and another kid from Swindon whose name escapes me, Salmon, Waghorn, Ayala, Uncle Tom Cobly and all.

Im pro NC and like whats happened thus far with players who dont give a crepe leaving for money before losing them for nowt as we also save on their wages too. I will be patient but i fear most wont - but even my patience will only last until summer.

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