[Archived] Derby County vs Blackburn Rovers Sunday 04/08 4pm kick off (Live on Sky)

[Salgado Is A Hero]

Was impressed with Spurr today. Comfortable in possession, strong, pretty quick, looks to have a good cross on him. Not a fan of long throws but there'll be certain games where I'm sure they'll come in handy.

Hanley and Dann were solid in the main, Dann needs to cut out those fancy lofted passes.

Rhodes anonymous, Marrow even more anonymous barring the penalty, Best done alright in the second half.

I doubt Rochina will leave now. (Hopefully I didn't just jinx that).

PS - What is that clown in the studio wearing???

[thenodrog]

Happy to take a draw out of this one tbh. There are some glaring problems in the team though which badly need to be addressed.

We've said it every year for about 8 years but now it's worse than ever, CENTRAL MIDFIELD. If Lowe and Marrow is our first choice pairing we are screwed. Neither are good enough for the first team and together they are atrocious. We need far far better than they have to offer on a regular basis. King was also terrible and cannot be played in the first team week in week out if we're going to progress.

Fairly impressed with Spurr, very disappointing that Ruben got injured. Rhodes was mostly anonymous today but should have gained us a penalty and was unlucky not to score with a header from a corner. Judge had a decent overall performance, nothing spectacular but did a job and had good enthusiasm.

There isn't a massive amount wrong with the team, but unless we sort the middle out we're going to struggle. Kane also needs to be told to reign it in and play it simple. Our defence as a whole would do well to remember this. They aren't good enough to play fancy out from the back.

There is a strong link between those two statements DE. Any defender looking to play the ball out does need some decent talent in midfield to work with.

I didn't watch this match but to anybody who did .......Lowe and Marrow have had some stick for their play but that is only half the game of a midfielder. How did they do defensively in denying Derby time and space? We did have some decent possession stats so that must be down to somebody.

[Waggy76]

Good point for us, great goal by Best and cross from Taylor, makes my earlier comments about Best look a bit stupid but it gets a bit like that when we're losing.

You are not on your own CR

I made similar comments about Best at half time !

[Ricky]

Best said something about being disappointed about not starting and then said something about it being the managers first season and he's right behind him.

[Boylerhaus]

Nice to be scoring late goals instead of giving them away

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Really pleased with a point there. At least we kept going at the end. I haven't seen the game but reading the board most of us are of the mind that Lowe and Marrow should never play in central midfield as a combo again, Rochina should have been replaced by a similar attacking midfield player, not Best and Kane is becoming a worry plus King shouldn't be starting.

[Stuart]

Who was it who said Taylor was rubbish after a meaningless friendly? And Judge was a crap signing?

Hindsight. Everything keeps looking alright.

Don't be too uick to hail them as the answer after one game though. They can just as easily let you down. We struggled badly after Rochina went off for about half an hour.

Early days. On the back of that performance you could just as easily write off Marrow. When we get a bit of consistency it's time to crow.

Well done to Bowyer though. He made the right substitutions and it paid off. Long may it continue.

[rovers11]

Thought we were OUTSTANDING today. Controlled the game from start to finish which is not easy at pride park.

Judge or Spurr man of the match.

[davulsukur]

Deserved that.

Positives are that we have the 2 ex hull lads to come into cm.

King, marrow and Lowe all just played their way out of contention for the next game.

We looked good at times and up until Marrows mad moment, we were the better team.

Rochina injury is unfortunate but Best came on and did the business.

[Salgado Is A Hero]

Who was it who said Taylor was rubbish after a meaningless friendly? And Judge was a crap signing?

Probably the guy who formulates his opinions on players through reading Wikipedia.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Good point for us, great goal by Best and cross from Taylor, makes my earlier comments about Best look a bit stupid but it gets a bit like that when we're losing.

I still think Best is a waste of space, we'll soon see who's right.

[AdamRochina]

well from that I can do our ratings haha I like doing them

kean - 8 kept us in the game at the end of the first half, couldent do anything about the pen, some decent stops and overall good game

kane - 6 average from him today, lost the ball at times and was rash in tackles ..rightly booked

dann - 7 solid performance from him, stupid long balls still there though but overall decent tackles and clearances

hanley - 8 one of our best defenders today was brilliant won almost every header and was like a midfielder at times

spurr - 10 man of the match, played brilliant, defensively solid and attacking threat and crossing was good, made blocks

marrow - 4 didn't notice him until he gave away a penalty and he wasent noticeable bad game from him

lowe - 5 a bit better then marrow but not by much, passing is awfull , lost possession and couldent control, awful player

judge - 9 ran his socks off, decent crossing at times paired up with spurr really well and gave his all will be a vital player for us

king - 6 poor, he cant keep the ball he cant cross he runs into blind alleys and overall a poor player only has pace

rochina - 8 dictated everything before he got injured was a delight to watch at times when he wasent greedy

Rhodes - 6 should of won a penalty and almost scored one but other then that didn't do much

best - 8 the first half I was fuming at him but the second he was linking up play winning headers and the goal was brilliant

taylor - 8 changed the game in a way because it gave us more of a threat down his wing and he tracks back and gets the ball , brill assist

crainey - 7 did more the lowe did in the full game in his ten minute stint, looks like a good passer

[Dunnfc]

Good solid point there, but boy did we deserve all 3. We look allot better as a group these days under Bowyer and allot fitter. We didn't give in and that service from Taylor was epic. We need to take one game at a time this season but it was an encouraging display bar the last ten mins of the 1st half and the first 10 mins of the 2nd half. Marrow was okay bar the hand ball but boy is Lowe @#/?.

Kean 7 - Great saves especially in the first half from Martin. Couldn't do anything about the goal.

Kane 5 - That's generous, he defiantly had an off day, he looks slower than last year.

Hanley 8 - Dominating, always a mistake in him but hes going to be a great player.

Dann 5 - Never wins a header and positionally poor.

Spurr 8 - Always giving an outlet outwide and so solid defensiveley, puts himself about like a good version of Olsson. MOTM

King 5 - Pace but what else? Did track back allot better than he has done previously though.

Marrow 5 - Neat and tidy in possession but what a horror in the first half, if he never gave a pen away you would never have noticed him playing.

Lowe 4 - Shocking. Can't pass, Can't shoot hes a bundle of energy without doing the right things like closing down.

Judge 7 - Always willing, great peg on him and he's very similar to Dunny.

Rochina 6 - Great first 30 mins, hope he gets well soon.

Rhodes 5 - Anonymous, his touch let him down today.

Subs;

Besty 7 - Great hold up play and flicking on, should have got another though.

Taylor 7 - Superb delivery, bundle of energy is this lad.

Cairney 5 - Neat and tidy but he balances the midfield with his left foot.

[Tom]

Good point all things considered and a very encouraging start and we learnt a few things today

Positives

Rochina - dynamic and wants to make things happen

Spurr - great debut never looked under pressure

Judge - can pick out a pass

Taylor - brilliant cross

Best- linked up play well and took his goal superbly

Negatives

Rochina injury and decision making suspect

Rhodes and Kane looked off the pace but we know they are more than good enough

Lowe and marrow were shockingly poor IMO

[Mike E]

Happy with the draw tbh. Would like to see Taylor starting next week. I'd go with:

Kean

Kane, Hanley, Dann, Spurr

Taylor, Evans, Cairney, Judge

Best, Rhodes

[Jeru tha Damaja]

Judge wasn't brilliant for me, lost the ball far too often.

Kane, Lowe and Marrow were awful. Rhodes might as well have taken a seat and watched, Best wasn't much better until the goal.

I'm just grateful to Clough for taking mercy on us and subbing Will Hughes because I didn't think we even looked like scoring until he went off.

[Veevs]

Draw.. happy enough given loosing Rochina like we did..

Can't play with Lowe and Marrow ever again though, King needs to be dropped asap, feel sorry for Kane who had no cover until Taylor came on, gutted Rochina is out for such a long while we needed him out there.

New signings excluding Marrow (and Kane who had a bit of a mare) all looked good, Judge arguably our best player, Taylor changed it for us, Cairney did well, Spurr was a breath of fresh air.. first time we have had a proper left back since hmm Warnock I guess.

Roll on getting Evans in there and fingers crossed loosing Rochina pushes us to getting McClean or another winger... got to clutch at straws for positives loosing him at least he won't be leaving any time soon.. may also force GB to look at other formation and dropping that Lowe/Marrow combination who can only be paired to cater for Rochina (can't think of any other reason.. and even that's a bad one)

Another area of worry has to be GBs reaction when Rochina was injured, did not change the shape seen it a few times when the opposition have changed formation or we are forced into a sub.. seems to be slow to react.

[The Rover of Finland]

After that post Best scored beauty like that! Could be huge goal for him. Spurr was very good and Judge also but maybe he isn´t ready to play 90mins? Rovers were really robbed by he ref. It was a stonewall penalty! Let´s change both CM´s and replace King with Taylor for next Sat. Rochina will now defo be here until January. Very unlucky there Ruben.

[perthblue02]

Thought we were OUTSTANDING today. Controlled the game from start to finish which is not easy at pride park.

Judge or Spurr man of the match.

Bit of an over statement, we looked good at the beginning and when pushing for an equalizer, can't really judge on one game but still confident of not being in a relegation battle

Lots of new players to gel yet , and not sure Bowyer knows his starting eleven yet

[DE.]

There is a strong link between those two statements DE. Any defender looking to play the ball out does need some decent talent in midfield to work with.

Fair point Gord, you're right to an extent - but my criticism is more that there was times when the defenders were trying to trick their way out of our half when midfielders were available to pass to. Yes, they were usually Lowe, Marrow or King which admittedly is not a great selection, but better to give it to one of them further up the pitch than lose the ball closer to our goal and potentially concede.

[BRFC1995]

Happy with the draw tbh. Would like to see Taylor starting next week. I'd go with:

Kean

Kane, Hanley, Dann, Spurr

Taylor, Evans, Cairney, Judge

Best, Rhodes

without rochina or henley and picking players made of glass(dunn) that's easily the strongest 11 we could pick to start a match

[The Rover of Finland]

Spurr Man of the match.

[Kie_BRFC]

Absolutely ecstatic with todays performance! What a breath of fresh air it is to see Rovers play with passion again! Lowe and Marrow were truly awful. Kane was a disappointment but he will get back to last seasons form. Spurr was fantastic and attacked and defended well. King was awful and taylor showed him up completely! Rhodes was anonymous but had no service, was unlucky with his header but needs to get involved more. Unlucky with Rochina being injured but I think Cairney can replace him. I was sceptical about best but he proved me wrong by obviously scoring but getting stuck in.

MOTM for me had to be Judge- He was brilliant, never gave up and showed class with some of his shots and his passing!

Overall impressed and hopefully Lowe, Marrow and King will not start on saturday as they were awful!

Looking at it we hit the post, had a great effort cleared off the line, 1 stone wall penalty turned down. So if we continue like that we will get some luck and we will be in for a good season! COYB!

[Butty]

Judge and Spurr outstanding performances. And a bit of class from Leon Best with the goal. I think with Cairney and Evans in the middle of the park we'll be right in the mix this season.

[LDRover]

There is a strong link between those two statements DE. Any defender looking to play the ball out does need some decent talent in midfield to work with.

I didn't watch this match but to anybody who did .......Lowe and Marrow have had some stick for their play but that is only half the game of a midfielder. How did they do defensively in denying Derby time and space? We did have some decent possession stats so that must be down to somebody.

We don't play a pressing game drog, just drop in and get behind the ball and squeeze in the last third.

Lowe and Marrow were both terrible in possessiin but I can never fault their workrate. The problem is that Marrow and especially Lowe are caught wrong side of their opposing numbers far too often. A quick couple of passes and they're chasing the game, it's at those times that you notice Lowe's defensive work. The problem is that it's all fire fighting by then rather than fire prevention.