It is preferable Malteser. Experience from other clubs has shown when rotating that rotating midfields and the strikeforce generally is not a problem. But keeping a defensive unit unchanged to build up familiarity and work in synchronicity, adapt their game to each others weaknesses and adopt defined roles in the defence is another thing entirely. You've mentioned this previously and I made mention of it in the match preview as well. This is something Zola needs to consider although in a back five changing the wingbacks is less of an issue as the core of the team is the back two/three. There still seem to be communication problems, and individuals still a little uncertain of each others roles.
This.I'm at the front of the section but seemed like majority of people there just wanted to stand and talk all game.Baffles me.
Its a quarter of the season gone and we are handily placed but not firing as we expected. Yesterday it seemed inevitable that Derby would score the winner after having drawn level we were in the middle of a good 15/20 minute spell but we were unable to really test their goalie and go in front. Of course we are missing Abdi but these things happen and ideally with a large squad we should be able to field an adequate replacement but I feel we lack a physical presence in the middle. Last year Chalobah was a class act-he had height/ skill and only lacked that physicality. This year in terms of offensive play we have skillful players-Faraoni/Murray (yesterday looked sharp)/McGoo/Batty but we have tendancy to play it around the middle with Fessi/Fabbrini dropping deep to begin their play. This is fine except like yesterday when all 3 goals came from being hussled off the ball when a pass was not 100% accurate in the middle of the park. All these players lack physicality so maybe Thorne-if he to sign- is a signal that we need a 6 ft+ midfielder with a physical presence-upfront if Fessi/Fabbrini or Deeney lose the ball around the area its not as dangerous. GFZ said last year he liked Trotter at Millwall who seems similar to Thorne. Its not just yesterday but in all the home games bar maybe Bournemouth it looks to me like we lack physicality in an offensive capacity. If we are to gain promotion you would imagine you would have a squad, that with a few additions, could hold its own in the PL. When I look at the physicality of the majority of the PL sides we are some way off that. We have bulked up at the back and despite none of them having a good game yesterday we have enough in that area with players coming back from injury. Up front the skill is good but being hussled off the ball in the middle of the park is asking for trouble. I am not sure rotation is a problem because it has been used to good effect by GFZ but as he said yesterday if you are sloppy then no matter if you have the best back line or best attack giving the ball away will give you problems
Words cant describe how bad the ref was yesterday. Watching the highlights derby should have had a player sent off for two yellows but the ref actually managed to book eustace instead of the player who committed the foul. He managed to give us a goal kick after a watford player had put the ball out instead of a corner to derby. Absolutely clueless. Cant blame the ref for yesterdays loss, but having someone half competant officiating would make a nice change
Much criticism of Belkalem here. I'll reserve judgement on him as a defender until I've seen more of him. My comment about him involves him at the other end of the pitch. Sadly he missed a sitter at 0-0. Two minutes later, Derby scored. If only....
An entertaining match- just another we should have won comfortably because we could have scored even more when we were on top. Belkalem made plenty of missed placed passes at Blackburn and seemed to be yet to catch onto the pace of The Championship. Same against Derby and as he kept missing Zak Whitebread at set pieces, it was lucky Whitbread had to go off Our crowd seem to expect perfection in passing and their groans and moans when one or two go astray or get intercepted must drain our players confidence. I'd bet the Pozzos are spending a lot of money on this loss making club and I'm by grateful that they are -and as this squad look far from promotion certainties, I hope that keep the faith. As should the crowd, as we can play some mesmerizing stuff at times - we just need to keep that up for longer and concentrate. Almunia is immense and "saves" at least two certain goals each match. So grateful to him Mceachran, hwo has so much quality, looks a better player when Iriney is off the pitch. I'm hoping for a complete Nyron Nosworthy recovery ASAP to beef up our defence and allow Angella to sparkle.
So does Iriney tbf. We can then concentrate on his pass completion stats rather than his dismal play.
Can I just add that I think Pudil is the most under praised player in the whole team. I think he is absolutely solid and barely puts a foot wrong every time he plays. Shows a bit of fight as well which is what we lack throughout the team.
Derby fan here. Signed up because I took exception to this "cannon fodder" comment. To be honest, I can't think of many "cannon fodder" teams that go to a team's ground (where said team is unbeaten) and beats them. Not to mention the 5-1 demolition last season. I can see why your fans have a reputation of arrogance now. Yes, you probably shaded the game on the whole but I'd say it was way off a domination. We were the better team in the first half and, whilst you may have had lots of possession in the second, I can't remember Grant having to do too much apart from pick the ball out of his net from McGugan's wondergoal. All in all, grazie for the three points. Peace out.
Yes because that's a perfect assumption to make after seeing ONE comment disrespecting Derby. Bore off
Yes, because I definitely didn't read the rest of this thread It's littered with people saying "we should be beating these", "Derby are/were ****", etc. You've made an assumption that I've made an assumption.
Well if our aim is to get promoted we should be beating you, along with every team in this league. That should be the aim for every team wanting to get promoted. Whether it works out that way is a different matter (and is usually not the case). More to the point, you're basing a whole assumption of a set of fans due to the opinions of an Internet forum that doesn't represent the opinion of the whole fan base. As for "Derby were ****" etc, quote it. I've read this thread like you and I've not seen anything of the sort apart from people who are the standard forum wums.
I'm not convinced an unbeaten record consisting of 5 home games is that noteworthy really. You're right though that we certainly didn't dominate you and nor did we get enough shots on target. You definitely deserved to win. Assuming you were there can I ask if your team are always that prone to falling over or was it just a game plan? Your number 9 in particular seemed to struggle with keeping his balance on the massively uneaven surface and it was bloody frustrating. It seems to be a regular tactic opponents pull out against us as dead ball time is obviously great for stopping our flow and momentum. It must be a bit embarrassing to watch though if it's a regular thing.
Wasn't there, watched a stream. Number 9's Chris Martin. Despite being a brick s**thouse, he likes to draw contact and then go over very easily. Not quite diving but very dishonest. It happens all the time and it's a bit of a shame because he's one of our best players.
A draw would've been fair but we lost because our defence is a shambles not because Derby are better than us so we only have ourselves to blame.
I think Bounemouth offered more than Derby, and we just happened to destroy them. The best thing about this league is also the most frastrating for a fan, anyone can beat anyone by pretty much any score line. I think the main annoyance on here is that we played fantastic football whenever we conceded and pinned you in, scored a great goal, then would play some terrible passes and gift you a goal almost to apologise. Three at the back is not working in my opinion. Nothing to do with the results, I just don't think it makes sense for us right now. Iriney is great at intercepting the ball and the defensive part of the game, but when we play him we seem too defensive in the middle but exposed on the wings, and make fewer chances. Take him off and we create more chances and look more likely to score but teams cut through the middle with ease, as well as still being exposed on the wings. We do not need another centre back with Ekstrand and Angella, and I see plenty of wingbacks get forward with back fours, especially those who play an anchor man like Iriney. Push Anya up on one wing with Fabbrini/Fessi on the other. We have one of the best attacks in the league, we definitely don't have a terrible defence, but we leak a crazy amount of goals and look very inconsistent with our threat, and that's because both wingbacks and midfielders don't know whether to attack or defend and just end up in tactical no mans land. Why do we need to go blow to blow, when we can be patient, controlled and clever in our play?
It's a fair point DerbyRam has made. I remember us being similarly upset last year when the Huddersfield forum said "Watford are a team we should be beating" and yet we are doing it ourselves now. There are no easy games in the Championship, least not Derby who I would class in the top 12 of the division. We were abysmal in defence, and that is why we lost a close game.
Martin was a disgrace for such a 'substantial' player; your albino wonderkid was, ahem, easily knocked over too. He'll do well when a premier club picks him up.
Fair play to Derby. I've always had a soft spot for them as they're a decent little club. Obviously it was a shame to lose to them, but you could see they were up for it, whilst our players clearly weren't expecting a side full of jobbing, journeyman pros to be able to score goals. Fair play and I hope Derby do stay up for another year, but we won't be playing you much in the next decade, unless we draw you in the cup.
I don't, if they hadn't been such a bunch of scabs, they'd be at work rather than at home on Citalopram trolling on other team's forums.
Absolutely and we also complained when Leicester and Charlton fans said the same thing, 'we should be beating little clubs like Watford'. I thought Derby were one of the better teams I've seen at the Vic so far this season! I don't totally agree about the defence though! Yes they weren't great on Saturday but they are not totally to blame, the mid field had its part to play in our downfall. 2-2 would have been the fair result as neither side deserved the win in my opinion
Just managed to watch the highlights on the FLS and can come out with some more clarity over thought on this match. They didn't show the early Belkalem missed header from the corner, but that was a very good chance to have taken the lead. They started at the move for Derby's first goal. Now it looks as though we were doing our job trying to close down space, but Derby engineered a position in which to cross the ball. Belkalem was there but was too slow get to Bryson and block the cross from coming in. Pudil made no attempt to challenge for the ball in the air either, but I would have to say that was an excellent header from Ward to have taken that chance. We should have defended better, but you have to give Derby some credit for a clinical finish. Derby should have scored another straight after this. Ekstrand was unlucky to give away a foul, midway in our half as I think he took the ball cleanly from Hughes, but the subsequent defending from the free kick was appalling. We got the line all wrong. I freeze framed as the ball was coming in. We had two defenders deep but wide on the left marking just one player, which left two Watford players in a central position slightly further forward marking three Derby players who were slightly ahead of them because our other two wide defenders were keeping them onside. Ward then just clips the ball into the middle where it becomes 2 v 1 in Derby's favour with only Cassetti in there who was actually behind Whitbread and Eustace. Luckily Whitbread mistimes his header right in front of goal with only Almunia to beat. I think this particular incident really is quite alarming. We set up to defend this free kick all wrong and that is a basic thing. In open play you can be a little more excused for being out of position, but from a free kick it's not acceptable. Our goal was a lovely piece of interplay from McEachran and McGugan who slips the ball through to Fessi and he chips the ball expertly over Grant. Fabbrini then goes close with an opportunist effort just after. They then show a pull back on Cassetti's shirt in the penalty area from a corner, but really for me the referee got that one right. I don't believe it was worthy of a penalty as Cassetti fell forward when being pulled back, so for me he was looking for it, although I've seen them given. The second Derby goal was terrible. McEachran gives the ball to Iriney and runs forward. Instead of Iriney coming to meet the ball, he elects to stand and receive it but is beaten to it by an on rushing player from behind. This leave us 2 v 1 for Derby with only Belkalem there as the last man. Iriney is trailing behind and McEachran is still up the pitch. A simple one-two with Martin gives Bryson a simple option of a cross the goal pass to the unmarked Ward and it's 1-2. The second half continues in the same vein. We're passing the ball across the back line and Belkalem passes it forward but directly to Dawkins. He runs towards Iriney and the ball breaks to Bryson within shooting distance and it just fizzes wide of the goal with Almunia beaten. The next attack is one I would say is down to good Derby play, rather than poor Watford passing. Ward does well to skip past Angella and fires in an angled shot which Almunia does well to save with his legs. At the other end good inter passing from Iriney and Fessi present Murray with the ball well outside the box and he does extremely well to fire in a shot that produces a good save from Grant. We're attack again with Fabbrini passing across the line to McGugan then to Pudil and back to McGugan, who curls in the goal of the match. Beckalem is caught out after he allows Sammon to cut across him when a routine high ball is played forward. He tries to stick out a leg to stop the ball but misses which allows Sammon a clear run at goal. He only has Almunia to beat, but the keeper once again keeps Watford in the game with an excellent save with his legs. The final goal is probably the worst of the lot. A simple throw on to Fessi, he turns and probably gets the slightest of touches from the player behind him, but it's enough for him to lose control. Instead of challenging for the ball, he stops and starts complaining to the referee allowing Hughes free possession. Hughes runs at and past Angella before sliding in Sammon once more with only Almunia to beat and this time he succeeds. So you can see on Saturday it was the best and worst exposed all in one day. We are a joy to watch in advanced positions and I think it's fair to say this part of our game is not the real problem. The issue lies with the pace and positioning of players in defence. The decision making is not always the best either. The unfortunate Belkalem was at fault for a lot of it, but wasn't the only culprit. Iriney I thought was excellent, but he didn't see the danger of coming towards the ball when he was in such a deep area. A player of his experience should have this type of awareness built in, so it's a worry he can lose possession is such a vulnerable area, and this is not the first time he's done this. Fessi has just managed to find some very good form and I think his last few performances are very encouraging, but he has to learn he cannot just switch off if something doesn't go his way. This is a professional sport, you play to the whistle at all times. Finally the way we mark at free kicks has to be sorted out. That is something that has to be drilled on the training ground. The defence has always been relatively poor under Zola, but watching the Derby match closely on FLS really highlighted quite a few things and I can understand why we tend to struggle. We could do with some pace at the back and a unit that doesn't have a problem throwing their bodies on the line in order to block an effort. I do not see that enough.
I know....I got a bit carried away watching the match and typing as I went along. Surprised me as well....:]]
