Tom Carroll

[ariotofmyown]

Our passing is above average in the middle, it's been absolutely fine and more consistent than ever. I guess Carroll will act as a catalyst and get the flair going - so often Hendrick and Bailey nearly pull off wonder passes. A bit of guidance will surely help them.

We don't really play with wingers or even wide players. We have 3 central players with an outside forward who cuts in. The role Green or Davies on the right is to stop full backs bombing down that flank. That allows us to play more centrally and gives Ward more license to cut in. With Brayford and Green together, there's not a world of creativity there but teams don't have a lot of joy down that flank. Part of the reason Cywka was done for Derby was when, at Reading, he didn't stay behind his fullback, leaving us exposed down that flank.

This current team is very, very different to other Derby teams. We've had a history of wide players and 4-4-2 formations which rely on decent crossers of the ball. This team looks to break down clubs through the central channel.

A player of Carroll's talent should really help the squad improve our offensive game.

Excellent post, interesting to read what you said about Cywka. Presumabley, this absence of width that also prevents oppo's full backs attacking contributes to our low scoring matches of late and also results in lots of possesion for us without little penetration? Did anything change massively for the Barnsley game to end up with 5 goals?

[Duracell]

Excellent post, interesting to read what you said about Cywka. Presumabley, this absence of width that also prevents oppo's full backs attacking contributes to our low scoring matches of late and also results in lots of possesion for us without little penetration?

That was my thinking, yes. I think having Carroll in there now is a plus. He looks to be an even better passer than anyone else we have in the centre, but the crucial thing is he's always available for the pass. If you have time to watch the game, or can watch the game on Ramsplayer, watch the second half and that's more like how we're going to look for the rest of the season. Carroll was absolutely everywhere, and like Tottenham's present centre mids, he was going right to the back four to receive the ball. I think Bailey, Hendrick and Bryson could learn a thing or two from him in that regard - how often have we seen those three drift in and out of games?

Did anything change massively for the Barnsley game to end up with 5 goals?

We went to a more traditional 4-4-2, with an inexperienced centre mid at right midfield who didn't really seem to know what he was doing. Brayford looked lost without Green ahead of him and had a torrid second half with lots of balls played inside him, and he gave away a penalty.

Second half, Carroll seemed to settle a little bit. We dropped back Noble and shortly afterwards took him off for Tyson, with Ward on the other side and that gave us far better balance and we looked very dangerous. We won that second half 2-0.

We lost last Tuesday because we got the team selection wrong, by the manager's own admission. The other reason though - and there's no technical football mumbo-jumbo for this - we just weren't very good in the second half! That happens and to deal with that it's more of a case of man-management than tactical prowess.