Derby County (H) - We couldn't make it four... could we?

[CD_93]

Our next two games are set up beautifully...

[JacknOry]

Just now, Preben said:

Surely promotion would be a disaster, we are nowhere near ready

Who cares? Bank the money - go back down. Dont like saying it - but the Bumly way.

[Mashed Potatoes]

5 wins from 6 now - and every reason to think this can continue. Credit to Tony Mowbray for sticking to his guns.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

Just now, Mashed Potatoes said:

5 wins from 6 now - and every reason to think this can continue. Credit to Tony Mowbray for sticking to his guns.

The fans take more credit for putting the pressure on and making Mowbray listen.

[Exiled in Toronto]

Apart from a few Hail Mary balls into our box at the end I thought we were much better than them throughout. I’m not sure where the notion that the subs nearly cost us came from, I thought we were more dangerous after Gallagher came on and Bennett stiffened up a left side where Downing had been doing the work of two men. Buckley was only on for six minutes.

Rothwell is playing himself back onto the bench  for me, ineffective again today. If there was a stat on running head down into a crowd of players, he’d be top of it. Arma was just as bad in the first half but was unlucky not to get a hat trick second half. Cracking goal that deserved to be a game winner.

Evans has been immense the last three games. Thank God Tony finally bowed to the Evans Must Play thread on here.

[Fraserkirky]

I thought we superb today. Back four all 8/10. Tosin is absolute quality. At times we were unlucky when we won the ball, it took an unfortunate roll here or there. Everyone was good again

Do we dare to dream?

[Bigdoggsteel]

1 minute ago, JacknOry said:

Absolutely, those days seem to be firmly behind us. 

Tough games coming up though, Bristol away in particular, they just did Fulham on their travels.

Couldn't be much tougher. Pick up a few points though and the mood will be pretty good. We were decent away not too long ago. We can pull results off away 

[LDRover]

Just now, Mashed Potatoes said:

5 wins from 6 now - and every reason to think this can continue. Credit to Tony Mowbray for sticking to his guns.

Did you type that with a straight face? He made changes based on fan pressure and at odds with all his previous team selections, then picked an unchanged side for the first time this season!! Hardly 'sticking to his guns', if he had I'd wager the results would be very different.

[Erased Citizen]

Just now, Exiled in Toronto said:

Evans has been immense the last three games

He cleaned up a hell of a lot of Travis' mess today that's for sure. I think apart from Travis and Rothwell everyone had good games with Tosin being the MOTM for me

[Stuart]

Not a vintage performance but we won today because of the edge that having done consistency gave us. Same side again and we managed to earn three more valuable points.

We really looked like a team and were solid particularly at the back - aside from a couple of nervy moments. Maybe we got the luck we deserved today.

Adarabioyo was a rock today and we need to do some kind of deal with City to keep him here for the season. For such a young lad he is so composed and commanding. His range of passing is amongst the best in the team. Fully deserved his man of the match nod.

 Didn’t understand Mowbray’s substitutions. Brought off Graham but Gallagher went out to the right hand side. If that was the plan surely it should have been Bennett on instead?

Bennett at left back gave me kittens for the last 15 minutes. Rothwell was the right player to go off - it wasn’t his greatest game at not a left winger but he is still a good outlet who takes the game to the opposition - but I thought Bennett would replace him like for like. Downing has been solid.

Overall 8/10 for Mowbray today. He seems to have found the right formula but can’t help but tinker about.

We need to hang on to Tosin and Dack in January and add a left back. Minimum.

[Admiral Nelsen]

1 hour ago, Exiled in Toronto said:

Evans has been immense the last three games. Thank God Tony finally bowed to the Evans Must Play thread on here.

I'd be the first to admit to having already written Evans off, but his performances really have been top drawer.

I'd maintain that his big problem has always been being too passive rather than not being good enough, and he needs to carry on to really change my mind, but there's no doubt that he's played a big part in our resurgence.

Easy to forget that he's a member of the squad with experience of promotion to the top flight 

Edited December 7, 2019 by Admiral Nelsen

[Stuart]

11 minutes ago, Gary C said:

He was in a tracksuit near the family stand unless he went into games room like some of the players do

I don’t doubt you for a minute, Gary. He just wasn’t on the bench.

He must have really upset someone though and surely has to move on in January.

[Gary C]

Yep along with Smallwood to. Downings doing well at fullback but he aint the long term solution. When Williams is back fit we have a good option but would like to see another left back in in January and improve the strength in depth in the defensive areas. 

[Bigdoggsteel]

I see Wigan are regularly collapsing and conceding late on with Mulgrew in the team 

[Mercer]

Wow - four on the bounce and just 2 points off 6th place - my Christmas bonus pot is building very nicely!

Confidence and momentum is everything in this league.

8 points from the next 4 fixtures - very doable - will do nicely.

Now we'll see how serious Mowbray and Venky's are and just what they are made of.  Will they bottle it or go for it!?!?  

 

Edited December 7, 2019 by Mercer

[Alejandro Tapia]

What a great weekend I'll have 4 wins in raw!!! and we show a great performance i know we lost some chances and the moaners will say we should score more or what ever ...let me tell you somethih blody rams are a tough rival even at this moment with quality and experience enoguh inside this tier in almoust their players they needed those points as much as  us so in my opinion to play better and to defeat a rival like this is a very good and positive result...
We'll still growing in confidence and if we still like this how knows Maybe we'll finish inside the top 10 and im thinking moreb like a 9th or even 8th place wich would be just awesome to me.
My favorite Rovers players this match were Travis and Leninham our midfielder still showing quality and mature skills and i felt so secure this match with our ireland international in the back of our pitch i knew some how they wouldn't score since first time he cut derby game...
Feeling happy and i know im not the only one I'm specting another 9 more points this december and i would be happy enough with that buuut i know we can have even more than that sooo....let's still celebrating all weekend along and after that lets support very hard cause our boys bwill need it very important matches are approaching this days.
#COYBB 
#ImRoversTillIDie 
#Top10season 
#TheMexicanRover

[joey_big_nose]

10 minutes ago, LDRover said:

Did you type that with a straight face? He made changes based on fan pressure and at odds with all his previous team selections, then picked an unchanged side for the first time this season!! Hardly 'sticking to his guns', if he had I'd wager the results would be very different.

I don't buy this at all. No one wanted Evans back in the side, no one was saying Downing at left back. Yes some people wanted Rothwell, Nyambe and Graham to play. But it's hardly the XI that "the fans wanted".

For another thing a lot of people have been wanting Arma dropped. He scored again today.

[OldEwoodBlue]

2 minutes ago, Gary C said:

Yep along with Smallwood to. Downings doing well at fullback but he aint the long term solution. When Williams is back fit we have a good option but would like to see another left back in in January and improve the strength in depth in the defensive areas. 

Put your playstation controller away and please explain why not ?

[LDRover]

Just now, joey_big_nose said:

I don't buy this at all. No one wanted Evans back in the side, no one was saying Downing at left back. Yes some people wanted Rothwell, Nyambe and Graham to play. But it's hardly the XI that "the fans wanted".

For another thing a lot of people have been wanting Arma dropped. He scored again today.

I never stated it was the side 'the fans wanted' you'd get hundreds of permutations for that one, it's who he left out in Bennett and Gallagher and that both were shoehorned into positions to accommodate their selections.

 You're right though, I'd have dropped Armstrong, I look at him as a head down merchant, but he was the match winner today so well done to him.

 

[roversfan99]

Not a particularly good performance attacking wise against a woeful Derby whose manager must be living on borrowed time but a very satisfying win built on grit and determination. The team is really well balanced and built on key partnerships at centre back, in central midfield and up top.

Walton had precious little to do but came up with a crucial albeit not overly challenging save at the end to confirm the win. Nyambe is a huge upgrade at right back, once he gets so far up the pitch he is rendered useless as he lacks the confidence and/or ability to create chances but defensively, athletically and up to a certain point technically he shows that he should be first choice there. The centre backs were goliaths again, great partnership developing. And Downing was by far the best player on the pitch and should have been man of the match, on the ball he was a class above, some absolutely ridicilious passes, so calm and he reads danger so well to say hes a makeshift left back, never allows himself to be isolated with a wide player running at him.

The central midfield may not be the best on the ball but again they were dogged in their work, especially the revitalised Evans. The front 4 is definitely our best bet and provides the most balance but wasnt quite their day today. Dack took a few whacks, there were a few real moments of quality from him. Rothwell I would of course persist with but he was awful today, decision making really poor, kept losing the ball trying to take too much on, end product non existent, bad day at the office. Graham wasnt his sharpest again but still critical in terms of our balance and shape. Armstrong is a strange one, so many runs he made where his team mates let him down with bad passes, often behind him. Missed a sitter but scored a worldie.

Mowbray got his subs wrong in my opinion. His obsession with giving Buckley minutes has to stop, hes nowhere near the standard required. Get him in the under 23s until January and get him playing in League 1 or 2. Gallagher looked more confident but it will only sap his confidence to stick him where he is like a fish up a tree, hes so clumsy and ungainly, technically poor and kept stumbling on the ball, but went on a couple of very useful runs which caused trouble and killed time. Downing was absolutely outstanding both going forward and more importantly reading the game defensively, there was no need to mess about with a very effective back 4, just surely put Bennett wide. The subs were ultimately not harmful in terms of result but they brought on additional pressure.

[West Yorks Rover]

42 minutes ago, JacknOry said:

Absolutely, those days seem to be firmly behind us. 

Tough games coming up though, Bristol away in particular, they just did Fulham on their travels.

Last 4 home games :

Bristol C  W 2  D 2  L 0     F 9  A 5

Swansea W 1 D 0  L 3     F 2   A 6

Yeah we'll be lucky to get anything from Bristol, but Swansea not good home form at present, maybe a point or 3 if we can keep it tight at the back.

Although our away form this season is pretty dire.

[DE.]

9 minutes ago, joey_big_nose said:

I don't buy this at all. No one wanted Evans back in the side, no one was saying Downing at left back. Yes some people wanted Rothwell, Nyambe and Graham to play. But it's hardly the XI that "the fans wanted".

For another thing a lot of people have been wanting Arma dropped. He scored again today.

In fairness I remember quite a few people saying they'd rather have Downing at LB than Bell or Williams. 

Agreed that no one wanted Evans back in the side, and it's nice he's going through one of his purple patches at the moment. I wouldn't bank on it lasting but whilst it lasts it certainly helps us out. On the other hand it also begs the question of why he hasn't played like this more often during his 7 year spell at the club. I think Tony's comments about having to leave Evans out to motivate him were very telling and I don't consider Evans a long term solution to any of our problems.

Armstrong's worst performances came when the manager repeatedly played him up top where he is completely unsuited to our style of play. No surprise that when he's put out on the wing and Graham put in the striker position then Arma starts performing better. A lot of people were asking for that at the very least if Armstrong had to be in the team. 

All people have really wanted is players playing in their best positions, rather than nonsense like Gallagher on the wing, Armstrong up top, Bennett at right back, etc. Now that this is finally happening the team is showing what it can do. 

Edited December 7, 2019 by DE.

[Exiled in Toronto]

Just now, Roverinbelfast said:

Totally agree. It's absolutely insane that someone would even think that the manager has made changes to his team based on the mumbles of a few melty supporters. 

Its his squad, he has assembled it, things weren't working so he changed it about. Not one supporter would have Evans back in the starting 11 and not many would have had Armstrong in the squad. 

 

Agree 100%. The catalyst for change was the manner of the Barnsley game IMO.

[Stuart]

1 hour ago, bluebruce said:

Eh, it's not his position and he is still learning the ropes with his first taste of men's football. I'm not writing him off yet. But I absolutely don't want to see him wide.

Agreed. He played Gallagher and then Buckley out wide while played Bennett at left back.

It’s still a cause for concern.

[Amo]

34 minutes ago, joey_big_nose said:

I don't buy this at all. No one wanted Evans back in the side, no one was saying Downing at left back. Yes some people wanted Rothwell, Nyambe and Graham to play. But it's hardly the XI that "the fans wanted".

For another thing a lot of people have been wanting Arma dropped. He scored again today.

With the exception of recalling Evans, every decision he's made has been called for by the fans.  

No one said it's the "XI that the fans wanted" btw. Strawman.