Derby County Preview

[rebelmswar]

MOTM?

Bentley he was very good today, Santa would be a close second. Have to say at least Benny looked hungry today and good help with Santa's goal. I also agree that Nelson was unlucky with both decisions but he seemed shaky again today. The Axe scared the hell out of me, I was begging Hughes to bring him off and when that second tackle came in from him I turned off the screen just knowing that he was off. I was much surprised when I turned it back on and he was still there. Please please please Mark Hughes don't play him again.

[mjs]

No, he has to replace Nelsen.

I agree Nelsen hasn' been up to his best, but I think his positional sense is far better than Samba's.

As a pairing I would prefer Nelsen and Zurab.

[rebelmswar]

I agree Nelsen hasn' been up to his best, but I think his positional sense is far better than Samba's.

As a pairing I would prefer Nelsen and Zurab.

[mattyboy6000]

i thought samba was a right back when we signed him?

[thenodrog]

Bloody difficult MoM. I'm struggling to pick between two class acts....RSM and Bentley.

btw Derby were awful and we should have killed em off with a 3rd goal.

btw 2 I'm doing my best to ignore page 4 of this thread.

[den]

loody difficult MoM. I'm struggling to pick between two class acts....RSM and Bentley.

btw Derby were awful and we should have killed em off with a 3rd goal.

Regimental Sergeant Major?

[waggy]

thought it was agreat game to win today,we,ve had a stinking month or so since we played at manure,we are 3 pts of 6th place.in the bookies before the game i was saying what a great price derby were,as we are usually slip up at poor teams,but we did the biz today.i would like to see a few off the younger players get a game against coventry,zurab must stay in defense

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Not the greatest away performance ever, Derby realised that ale house football would cause us problems and launched it at us every chance they got. First half every time they got into our box they looked like scoring, did we field two defensive midfield players ? You could have fooled me. Fortunately we managed to play more of the game in their half, 2nd half we came to terms with the up and unders and defended with more conviction.

We took a major gamble with resting players and just about got away with it, it needs to be better for Sunderland.

Scores

Freidel 6 Good save from the pen and the shot a bit later.

Emerton 5 Not great today, he's absolutely no sense of where he should be when defending.

Zurab 7 Steady performance, the best of the back four.

Nelsen 5 Got fouled for the goal, never a penalty in a million years, the ref was having a laugh.

Warnock 5 Poor today, needs to cut out the rash challenges, having said that the booking was his first foul.

Bentley 8* A class act through out, looked really dangerous everytime he got the ball, can be greedy but would you pass to Benni or Gamst ?

Mokoena 4 Really poor, luckily for him the only decision we got off the referee all match went his way.

Tugay 6 The usual tugs, shouldn't have had to play all the game.

Pedersen 5 Confidence must be at rock bottom, every attempt at goal he had hit the nearest man, he's gone for the moment, we need a replacement ASAP. He did however win a vital 50/50 ball in the first half- that's the first time I've seen him win a tackle he shouldn't have since he came to Rovers.

Santa 7 Typical Santa performance, always in the right place, does the simple things, doesn't overplay the position, unlucky with the header.

McCarthy 5 Same as Pedersen , he's gone at the moment, should have burst the net with one Santa eventually put away, thing is with Benni one goal and he'll be away again. Thought his work rate was ok.

Subs Olsen ? looked very nervous

Dunn ?

Derbyshire ? both brought on to run down the clock.

One final word. Apart from the axe's second foul when he should have gone ( the ref made a rod for his own back when he failed to give Lewis a second yellow minutes earlier ) this guy gave us NOTHING all the game , the biggest homer I've seen in a long, long while.

[modes98]

Did we lose at Derby? Did Newcastle and Liverpool have easy peasy walkovers against Derby?

Incidentally I don't say Nelsen wasn't at fault for the goal or the penalty but I am saying Nelsen was fouled prior to the goal and Miller took an almighty dive for the penalty.

Early in the second half going away from goal on the edge of the area Miller stuck a leg out looking for the Rovers player who had thankfully backed off him and took a dive again.

Nelsen has been average since he came back. Being caught out time after time.

The first goal was a mixture of things. Ped was pulled infield, mokoena allowed the ball to be played through him and finally Nelsen let himself be pushed off the ball and didn't fight back or appeal for a free kick.

The penalty was entirely his fault IMO. He played him onside by stepping out of the defensive line and then hung his leg out. I don't think he made contact but he still gave him the chance to dive.

I say match up Zura and Samba for a game or 2 and see if the rest helps Nelsen, but i don't think it will. I fear the injuries have done for poor ryan.

[JAL]

Well done Mr.E good assessment but tyrone shoelace, Nelsen has cost us at Fulham for a penalty which we all gave him the benefit of the doubt, then the home game against Villa, then the last game against Chelsea an own goal at City now Derby the overwhelming eveidence is stacking up against Ryan soon to be demoted admiral Nelsen his sperformances along with a few others simply arent up to the standard required.

Wake up open your eyes you might not like the reality but Ryan Nelsen is currently just not good enough and he must shoulder some of the criticism then we'll see what hes made of.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

I gave him 5/10, it's not exactly a glowing endorsment is it ? I was stating my views on the two significant incidents he was involved in.

[rebelmswar]

I see Gamst got his obligatory vote.

[thenodrog]

I see Gamst got his obligatory vote.

From Jan no doubt.

[revolutionrock!]

Gamst, again , was very poor for me today.

He just shows no Urgency at all, at times today Warnock was looking for some one on the left wing, and Gamst, was just trotting around next to him. Compare him to Petrov on Thurs, there is no comparison. HE HAS TO GO IN JAN. Give Treacy a go in the cup, if he looks good try him out for a spell , 3/4 games.

[Tim Southampton Rover]

I'm not sure if i'm just in a good mood because we won but I feel that Mokoena performed better than the comments he's receiving on here.

Mokoena was always giving 100% and he helped our midfield boss theirs off the park. He was exactly what we needed after a couple of games where are midfield was second best in matches. He was strong, got stuck in and apart from a silly challenge where he raised his foot and got booked, he didn't do much else wrong. I think him and Tugay must have covered every inch of that pitch today. Well done to the pair of them.

We won't go to many teams away from home and boss them like we did today. Last season we struggled against all the clubs in the relegation zone so to come away with 3 points, especially after our recent form, should be a huge confidence boost for the squad.

[herbergeehh]

What do you think about McEveley today? I've seen Derby's last three games now, and McEveley's been one of very few bright points in those three in my opinion. Did well coming forward, started a few attacks and actually defended okay against in-form David Bentley. He's not better than Warnock, but in a poor Derby side he's one of the better.

[revolutionrock!]

What do you think about McEveley today? I've seen Derby's last three games now, and McEveley's been one of very few bright points in those three in my opinion. Did well coming forward, started a few attacks and actually defended okay against in-form David Bentley. He's not better than Warnock, but in a poor Derby side he's one of the better.

Ye i thought that, looks like a tidy little player now.

[LeChuck]

HE HAS TO GO IN JAN

I always thought she had a thing for him...

[S15]

Nice work.

[JAL]

I gave him 5/10, it's not exactly a glowing endorsment is it ? I was stating my views on the two significant incidents he was involved in.

Appreciate it.

Thought Nelsen got rolled far too easily for the first, then he stood still having been totally had as Oakley finished off a simple chance, he (Nelsen)made his decision to commit for the ball seems as hes lost that vital split second of pace he was done easily by a very average footballer.

For the penalty Ryan knows and the coaching staff that he should have been side on to the attacker and guiding that player to were he wanted him to go to Nelsens right because hes too slow he allowed the Derby player too easily turn him onto his other side and then as the Sky pundits pointed out he then got himself square on to the forward and ended up putting out a lazy leg and conceding a penalty.

How he didnt end up with another yellow card to go with his first i'll never know becasue he looked like he was the last defender maybe he wassnt but it must have been dammed close.

The frequency of Nelsens mistakes are alarming and Hughes needs to address them as we cant continue like this, i know Ryan has a new born in the household which could be a factor but it has to stop if Rovers are to progress .

[tchocky]

I'm not sure if i'm just in a good mood because we won but I feel that Mokoena performed better than the comments he's receiving on here.

*snip*

I have to agree with that. He did rather well today. All in all I thought the whole team performed well. Nelsen, Gamst and Benni lack confidence. It's so obvious. But they were all better than in recent games. I was surprised to see Tugay and Mokoena start in the middle of the park, but they did a good job. I don't think we should underestimate the result today. Yes, Derby are crap, but have been a little less crap recently and we could have beaten them thoroughly when we finally woke up and started playing. It's all very well saying Derby are crap and should be an automatic 3 pts but I don't see it that way. No game in the PL is easy. We were away against a struggling team in the bottom 3, traditionally a but tricky for us, and also, we have been struggling for a while ourselves, so it's a great result for us.

[Fife Rover]

For me we were lucky to not have both Nelsen anf Mokoena sent off. Generally speaking I think everybody had a decent enough game apart from Nelsen who absolutely has to be dropped. Soemthing is very very wrong with hm at the moment, maybe his confidence has suffered as well as his pace. THere has to be no doubt that going into the New Year the centreback partnership is Samba and Zurab. Hopefully the Kiwi can sort hinself out.

Pedersen had great movement and control causing their right side lots of problems but his crossing and passing were absolutely woeful. Good free kick.

Mokoena should of got sent off, somehow didn't. Was decent in the first 60 mins but after that scare completely faded.

I thought Warnock and Emerton were good enough- not sure why Tugay4England thought the Aussie was poor.

Friedle- caught out for the goal but good otherwise, great block lowdown with his right hand.

Tugay- very good, authoratative in the middle spreading the ball.

Cruz- class as always.

Bentley- MOTM. Everything threatening we did came through him.

Benni- Good first half, impressed with his running, control and his movement- he made Cruz's goal. Come the seond half he was lethargic, poor control, poor finishing. How did he last 85 minutes?

Zurab- amazingly we have gone to the ludicrous positon of him being substantially better than Nelsen. Who would of thought that three months ago? Unless we bring someone in January he is going to play regularly. I am impressed with his application and focus.

Hughes- What was going on with the substitutions? To use a Drogism a blind man sitting backwards on a galloping horse could see that Benni needed to come off after about an hour and that Mokoena was a liability after the red card that wasn't. Over the Christmas period you would think that the players should be rotated a bit too. So why not use Derbyshire and Dunn before c. 90th minute? Also Savage and Roberts are clearly off in the window. Two left backs on the bench? Major reorganisation coming up.

Well,well! I can only assume that Sky shows a special (and completely different) version of the match to the Eastern Central Belt of Scotland Joey. Why do I think this? The answer is because every single letter of your post confirms and agrees with what I saw on my TV screen. Yes all of it in it's entirety. Therefore, and going on what virtually every other poster says that can be the only possible explanation.

Granted there have been isolated instances of people mentioning MGP having played somewhat better, and Nelsen having a 'mare. Also Benni playing reasonably well in the first half but completely useless in the second, and the Axe having a half reasonable game until he got booked. Also Santa and Bents both being different class and both having great games, to say nothing of Zurab being a rock and Brad just being Brad; need I say more?

Oh how differently we all see the same things! Except of course Joey and myself that is.

As the French say: Vive la difference!!

[Fife Rover]

No.

Seconded.

[John]

He may be slightly over the hill, but I still look forward to watching us play when Tugay is in the team. He can be a creative influence and some of his passing is sublime.

Overall, it was a decent performance and result today. It is important to remember that we have also been on a dire run of late.

It would be unrealistic to expect our players, who've been struggling for form and results, would suddenly play like world beaters. We looked a bit nervous at points, but I think confidence in the camp is on the up again, which is obviously a good sign.

[herbergeehh]

We were all over the place in defense still though, and not only because of Nelsen's drop in form.

To Derby's credit, on the 1st goal they had five players inside the box. But our midfield was nowhere to be seen, and our left hand side was wide open for Mears. This happened more than once, and against a better team we would've been punished. We had possession and we played the ball smartly around Derby's box, only for someone to break and suddenly Derby's strikers found themselves 2 on 2.

I think both Tugay and Mokoena did okay today, and Tugay's awareness and passing is still an enormous resource in our squad. Question is if they're capable of defending well enough though, not that it's anything new. My point is that our midfield wasn't good enough in the defensive areas today, there's too much space between them and our back four.