[Archived] Derby County @ Ewood Park, 21/10/15

[joey_big_nose]

I agree, but it's the games we should be winning that we fall short. Hull away, QPR away, Derby at home, they're not bad results at all. It's the Cardff at home, Bolton at home, Huddlesfield away and MK Dons away that I'm sorry, he should be managing us to a win in those games

Well said, this is the crux of it. We're in a bit of a weird situation because we started the season terribly, then improved but have not improved sufficiently to get major points on the board to make up the lost ground. 1 point against Derby is theoretically good, but in the context of our start we needed all three. Exactly the same situation tomorrow.

Essentially we have suffered hugely from the side taking so long to settle. Akpan, Guthrie, Koita and Evans took ages to get fit (then Koita and Guthrie got injured) and Laurence didn't arrive till late. Plus we messed around with a 4231 formation with Marshall in thr hole that wasn't working at all until we landed on the pressing 442.

This finding our feet lost us a lot of points. Recognise Gary has issues with FFP etc but surely we could have got the signings in earlier and the best team and tactics sorted earlier?

[windymiller7]

Windy - whilst on the whole I agree with your analysis of last night's game these two sentences don't make sense. Who do you think took the majority of the set pieces? I think it's fine when you've got some good men in the air to hit on set pieces that you occasionally put a hard low cross in to catch the defenders unaware. It doesn't work if you keep trying it all night.

What particularly pleased me last night was the defensive performance from the whole team. Derby were never allowed to settle and I'm inclined to think that was what caused a disjointed performance from them. Think back to about this time last year when Derby played us off the pitch - they were probably the best team I saw last season. This time we probably had slightly the better of a much tighter game, despite the fact that derby have spent heavily in the interim.

My point about Lawrence was more in reference to his overall play, pressing defenders, attacking at pace, not frightened to take players on etc. I agree though, his delivery at set pieces, particularly corners, was nothing short of shocking.

[Blue blood]

Well said, this is the crux of it. We're in a bit of a weird situation because we started the season terribly, then improved but have not improved sufficiently to get major points on the board to make up the lost ground. 1 point against Derby is theoretically good, but in the context of our start we needed all three. Exactly the same situation tomorrow.

Essentially we have suffered hugely from the side taking so long to settle. Akpan, Guthrie, Koita and Evans took ages to get fit (then Koita and Guthrie got injured) and Laurence didn't arrive till late. Plus we messed around with a 4231 formation with Marshall in thr hole that wasn't working at all until we landed on the pressing 442.

This finding our feet lost us a lot of points. Recognise Gary has issues with FFP etc but surely we could have got the signings in earlier and the best team and tactics sorted earlier?

Great post.

One thing I will say is that Bowyer constantly does this. A good team comes, plays in an underwhelming fashion and the 3 points are there for the taking, and we end up with a draw. A couple of instances I can think of off-hand are Reading at home in his first season and Cardiff at home at the start of last season. Each time I'd have taken a point before the game, but seeing/hearing how the opposition played felt we should have had more. Bit bemusing really as even when I should be pleased with a result for Rovers they contrive to take that away! Anyhow, to me it shows Bowyer isn't learning and can't take advantage of favourable situations.

[tomphil]

I don't think it's a lack of learning more a serious lack of bottle. We've seen that approach all through his time apart from odd exceptions every 3 months when the pressure is really on, very frustrating. It's got us enough points to keep our heads above water and keep him in a job so I doubt it'll ever really change, just enough IS enough at Ewood these days.

[bullyboyz]

Thought this game was a case of Derby coming with a bit of respect for us and defending tirelessly in numbers. There’s a reason for their good away form after all…

I thought we did the same and did it just as effectively, which prevented them nicking the odd goal to get the away win/draw score that they manage to do quite a lot. Unfortunately they did the same to prevent us doing the same.

A mutually muted war of attrition if you will. A perpetual closing down fest…

We had more attacking impotence, chances and developing opportunities, which unfortunately didn’t come off, given the opposition… That, and the fact they got away with breaking up play through persistent, unpunished fouls on the half way line.

For that matter I was impressed with the team spirit/togetherness. Chris Taylor chiming in the ref’s ear all game. Grant Hanley took on a good captain’s role for once. Every time there was a break in play he went to the ref, as captain, as is allowed, remained calm and hopefully reminded the weak ass ref of the laws of the game. It looked like the players are sick of being nice and being arguably done over by dodgy/inconsistent ref decisions. This was as close to Bullyboys as we have been in a good 5 years. Long may it continue!

Can’t understand people saying we settled for a draw, had no attacking intent etc. Thought our priority was to keep it tight but tried to attack. Not all teams will turn up at Ewood with the defending philosophy and energy of Derby (ie: 8/9 men behind the ball) and if we play like this against such teams I can see us starting to pick up more wins.

As far as I saw every man took responsibility to defend and cover each other, no man shied away from receiving a ball, in fact they all showed to receive and try to move forwards, constantly throughout the game. Ultimately it didn’t come off on the night, but good signs of an all round, committed team performance were shown and we managed to cut out the mistakes that have hampered us for the last season and a half, maybe more….

A similar performance could see us do well against Burnley. We'll see eh...

[den]

It all depends on context. If Derby were on top of their game and we managed to grind out a point, then fair enough, but from the sounds of it they weren't at the races and the game was ours for the taking.

Derby aren't in the top six and haven't been all season - as far as I'm aware. They finished last season in desperately poor form and have only won 5 games themselves this season. The other night I saw nothing from them that suggested they're anything special at all.

Therefore, why on earth was a 0-0 home draw, where neither side created hardly anything - (and the odd chances that came our way only gave opportunity to exhibit such poor technique) - such an "impressive" performance for the manager and some/most fans? I can only speculate that Bowyer has set his sights so low, for so long, some fans are losing sight that we should be doing so much better. There's not much to beat in this league, yet we over exaggerate the performance and celebrate 0-0 draws. Not good enough to my mind.

[Mike Graham]

I agree Den. We are sh!te. And GB looks down rather than up.

[USABlue]

With due respect Parson, I hate the money excuse. Hughesy assembled a brilliant side for under £10m while many PL sides spend £50m in a single summer on @#/?.

Money is not a barometer for quality at any level.

Apparently it was when we won (bought) the title.