BFTG . Derby

[AndoverRam]

Hi Guys

Just posting from the opposition...

Thought the game finished with the right scoreline, though without the sending off the 2nd half might have been very different. Thought you guys put some nice moves together without having a decent final ball.

The Derby side you saw last night is a team with a few new faces, and it will be a slow start for us. We are missing our 2 best passing central midfielders, which showed heavily last night as the passing was a bit pedestrian. I don't expect us to start kicking on for a month or so, so at the moment we are relying on individuals to get us over the line. Last night, the goal was a lovely touch from Martin into Ince, who did the only god thing he did all night when poking home.

Felt the game was mostly boring as there were few clear-cut chances, was never going to be more than a 1 goal affair, think this made the atmosphere a bit flat from both fans as I've experienced better at the Madjeski. In the end I'm happy we got the points and we'll need to scrape a few more results over the coming weeks whilst the newbies settle and players return from injuries.

Expect to see your boys in a playoff spot. Danger teams are Boro & Burnley for me.

[teignmouth hoops]

I'll probably regret saying this, but I don't think Derby will be challenging at the end of the season. They didn't look as good as last year imho. Their style of play reminded me a lot of most of our football last season. Quite slow, not a great deal up front and Chris Martin makes Pogrebnyak look quick and mobile, and falls over more. Very unimpressed. Ipswich looked a much greater threat until the third goal went in.

Don't agree at all , they had a good away win at Preston on saturday and did a job on us last night. Also you don't rate Chris Martin , i'd swop him for sa anyday he works his arse off, is a constant threat, puts himself about, and holds the ball up very well and scores pretty regularly.

[Winchester Royal]

I'll probably regret saying this, but I don't think Derby will be challenging at the end of the season. They didn't look as good as last year imho. Their style of play reminded me a lot of most of our football last season. Quite slow, not a great deal up front and Chris Martin makes Pogrebnyak look quick and mobile, and falls over more. Very unimpressed. Ipswich looked a much greater threat until the third goal went in.

Don't agree at all , they had a good away win at Preston on saturday and did a job on us last night. Also you don't rate Chris Martin , i'd swop him for sa anyday he works his arse off, is a constant threat, puts himself about, and holds the ball up very well and scores pretty regularly.

What's impressed me most about Chris Martin is how he manages to split his time between writing and performing music for Coldplay, and being a championship footballer. Whilst shagging the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow and Jennifer Lawrence.

[melonhead]

thought we looked excellent last night. brilliant on the ball with some excellent passing football that's up there with the best we've seen at the madejski, and tigerish without it, pressing really well and bullying them off the ball on numerous occasions.
even after the sending off I thought we were still the better team.

very positive stuff, apart from the sending off.
Sa is a div and ruined the game.

MOM Mcshane.
Tish excellent
Obita had another good game.
Hector was back to his best.
Blackman again very good.
HRK did well when he came on.

all in all very positive.

[Nameless]

Agree that Derby were nothing special.
Lol at the Derby fan pointing out they have a few new faces ! Funny, one or two teams are like that at the start of the season !
Derby look to have gone backwards since this time last year but improved a bit on the spineless bunch that threw away promotion last season. They'll possibly scrap for the playoffs but had very little quality on show.

As everyone agrees we were good until Sa got suckered into a cheap but inevitable red card. He need to spot when players are trying to light his fuse and just not fall for it.
Second half we simply got it wrong tactically. To me it looked like the players were not sure how to approach the game and even against Derby going for the 45 minute bus parking approach was probably higher risk than trying to get the first goal. I think if we had been more positive we'd have won that , especially as there were Derby players almost asking for second yellows had we put them under more pressure.

Finally the Derby fans. It gets so boring getting a bunch of carbon copy away fans every week. Exactly the same songs, no wit, no variety, no originality. That could have been almost any set of fans sat in the South Stand. I don't like Leeds, but at least they are a bit different.

[CountryRoyal]

Well that was annoying. As I said in the prediction thread I felt it would be either a high-scoring end to end affair, or a 0-0 with most of the play in front of the defence. The latter was being played out with both defences standing strong.

Derby got off to a flyer and within 5 minutes had got in behind us twice with nothing serious amounting from them, we then had chances with a couple of long range shots from Blackman and co, which although saved, were never really too challenging. We played some decent stuff in the buildup and retaining possession to keep the pressure on only for it to be alleviated by the occasional silly mistake, Derby feigning injury and then ultimately the kicker of Sa being sent off. I felt we were attacking too centrally and trying to pass it in but getting cut out, and when we did cross it into the box Derby's defenders dealt with everything - they were superb.

I didn't see the whole incident but was surprised when I heard someone said "he'd punched him" as I only saw what I thought was one of those standard modern day coming together of heads. Which even so if true, there can be no complaints. Hero to zero in a few days for Sa and he needs to learn very quickly to cut that shit out, cost us at least a draw, hard to say if we would have won had the game progressed with 11 v 11 but nobody knows and it's all academic anyway. Bottom line is Sa for me is accountable tonight.

2nd half Derby started brightly and as you'd expect built up some pressure early on but didn't look consistently threatening but you always had the feeling that if Derby was to get a goal, with the quality they had, it would be game over and so it proved. I thought the substitutions were strange and definitely contributed to our loss so Clarke is not without blame here. The first 20 minutes or so of the second half made it painfully obvious that Vydra cannot play the lone striker role, although he did well to control a lot of the balls to him he was too isolated and was smothered by the Derby defence - it just isn't his game. We were starting to impose ourselves more on the ball our buildup play was again threatening. I thought 63 minutes was far too early to bring on Williams and try and defend a 0-0, I'm not sure why he took of Quinn as he was one of the better players for us, and as someone suggested it was no suprise that's HRK didn't get as close to their man for the goal. For long periods of the second half we still looked the better team and you couldn't tell we only had 10, but despite this it was all a bit ddsperate and we never truly looked like scoring.

Ratings

Bond 4 - had f all to do most of the game, one easy header straight at him, couldn't see clearly but felt he could have done better for their goal. You shouldn't be allowing a full-stretched toe poke to be getting passed you near post. No wonder our defence has been pretty solid this season, it has to be playing in front of him, absolutely no confidence in him, I know he's young but so was McCarthy and he was getting MOTM against Liverpool in the prem. Bond has done nothing for me. His distribution was marginally better than the normal shite that comes off his boots.

Gunter 6 - was alright tbh, defended quite well for the most part but still allowed one or two balls into the box, some nice link up play to get forward, but poor crossing.

McShane 7 - our best defender, couldn't work out his role in their goal but on the whole was pretty good.

Hector 6 - standard Hector. Good and bad. I liked when he embarrassed Russel, I didn't like it when he passed it to Johnson. Wasn't as bad as I thought he'd be, but we missed Ferdinand.

Obita 6 - frustrating evening, defended alright, got forward well in the first half, some decent deliveries but all headed away

Tsh 6 - definitely don't agree with Tish for MOTM calls. Pushed off the ball too easily on occasions and made a few mistakes. Wasn't a bad performance by any means, just wasn't as good as against Ipswich and certainly not the best today. Still impressed with him.

Norwood 7 - MOTM, strong in the challenge and smart with the pass.

Quinn 6 - played very well in the first half and unfortunate be subbed off for HRK - who did oxf*rd all.

Blackman 6 - looked our most dangerous attacking player but let down by a few moments, notably falling over the ball and the worst free kick I've seen in a long time

Sa 3 - I didn't think he was anything special in his first half display which can be summed by him falling over the ball on the edge of the D and then getting sent off costing as the game.

Vydra 6 - nowhere near as bad as some on here were saying. One or two layoffs didn't come off but Derby were all over him

Subs

Williams 6 - was ok

HRK 4 - did nothing, didn't get close enough to Derby for the goal I think

McCleary 5 - didn't influence the game really

Just a point on the officials. Truly, truly incompetent. All of them. Absolutely the worst display of officiating in time. The linos didn't call shit, knew the offside rule worse than my gf, and couldn't tell when the ball went out. So incompetent and blind that had they not heart Derby cheer they probably wouldn't have given them a goal. The referee was useless, the sticking point being the inconsistency. We got a couple of soft, but probably fair yellows for bringing them down around the box and stopping the attack, but we had an occasion in either half which the exact same thing happened - except it was a more dangerous attack and we were in better positions and they didn't get booked once. Not to mention the late challenge on Tish which never saw a card. A display summed up by McShane shouting "give us a chance".

Derby werent great but they defended very well, they were organised and won ever single header. Truth is we never had a sniff in the second half, and they would have taken some breaking down even if we had a full compliment of players on the pitch in the second half. I'd be amazed if they finish outside the top 4, and I just felt that we didn't look out of place, and certainly no worse even with 10 men.

Unfortunate to lose, and in a frustrating manner, but plenty of signs for optimism. Roll on Bristol and hopefully back to winning ways.

[AndoverRam]

I'll bite Nameless...

New faces, including a new coaching set up and new captain, mean things are very different, and take a little while to gel.

Sorry we only beat you by one goal rather than three, we must've gone backwards.

I resisted any childish comments about your fans, and felt that it was a bit flat all round. There is no rivalry between our 2 clubs, current or historically. The game was boring and thus affects the atmos. I don't remember the Royals being particularly innovative with chants during recent visits to Derby, or do you not travel away so don't know? If you want to have a discussion about fans, you are very welcome, though I'd suggest you picked on a club more similar to yours.

You lost to a team that didn't have to do anything special, that's more a reflection of your own progress rather than ours.

[CountryRoyal]

I'll bite Nameless...

New faces, including a new coaching set up and new captain, mean things are very different, and take a little while to gel.

Sorry we only beat you by one goal rather than three, we must've gone backwards.

I resisted any childish comments about your fans, and felt that it was a bit flat all round. There is no rivalry between our 2 clubs, current or historically. The game was boring and thus affects the atmos. I don't remember the Royals being particularly innovative with chants during recent visits to Derby, or do you not travel away so don't know? If you want to have a discussion about fans, you are very welcome, though I'd suggest you picked on a club more similar to yours.

You lost to a team that didn't have to do anything special, that's more a reflection of your own progress rather than ours.

I always find fans taking time and effort out of their lives to sign up to another team's forum rather fascinating.

And by fascinating I mean sad.

[Rainham Dagger]

*shakes fist*

[AndoverRam]

That's ok, I don't. Lots of opposition fans post on our boards and are welcome, makes for better and more balanced discussion. Suppose nobody usually cares enough to pay you a visit? I only bothered because I'm local and was interested in your fans thoughts.

[PeterReadingborn59]

That's ok, I don't. Lots of opposition fans post on our boards and are welcome, makes for better and more balanced discussion. Suppose nobody usually cares enough to pay you a visit? I only bothered because I'm local and was interested in your fans thoughts.

Clearly loves Derby so much he/she moved to Andover - local team supporter - not

[Green]

That's ok, I don't. Lots of opposition fans post on our boards and are welcome, makes for better and more balanced discussion. Suppose nobody usually cares enough to pay you a visit? I only bothered because I'm local and was interested in your fans thoughts.

I hear Andover is lovely at this time of year.

No seriously, I've just came back from Beirut.

[PeterReadingborn59]

Andover is nice - Derby is rather bleak - Nottingham is better that's why people move away from Derby

[CountryRoyal]

Andover is nice - Derby is rather bleak - Nottingham is better that's why people move away from Derby

It's true, Nottingham is better, and by some distance too. It's still a shit hole.

[RoyalBlue]

So Tshibola gets, perhaps rightly, booked but then several Derby players got away with equally bad challenges before and after that. Worse still was the way that Blackman was cynically bundled over from behind when he was racing through the middle, in possession of the ball and about 30 yards from goal. Incredibly no yellow card. In contrast, later in the game, Gunter tries a soft pull back on their player just inside our half, which didn't even stop the run, and when play breaks down a bit later gets called over for a yellow! Shocking inconsistency which should be punished by the assessor!

I agree the referee was poor in stopping Derby kick Sa around the pitch, particularly on one occasion when the player just went straight through Sa from the back.

Just one thing to bear in mind is that a referee can caution a player for persistent fouls, so when a player does receive a caution it might be that he has come to the referee's attention before rather than just for the most recent foul committed.
.

I know, and most refs make a point (perhaps they are instructed to?) of clearly indicating that it is persistent fouling by pointing to different areas of the pitch before issuing the card. Indeed that pratt last night issued a grovelling apology to a Derby player and pointed to several areas of the pitch before reluctantly issuing a yellow to him!

[Green]

Andover is nice - Derby is rather bleak - Nottingham is better that's why people move away from Derby

Good for pubs I hear, and knife crime.

[tidus_mi2]

I lived in Derby for a few years while I was at University and I must agree that Nottingham is better.

[Maguire]

I've never been to Andover

[MoorgateRoyal]

I scored a lovely side-footed goal in Andover when I was about 15.

We also played a very bad-tempered cup semi-final there, where I set up two goals for us to win 2-1 late on. We lost the final.

[melonhead]

I'll bite Nameless...

New faces, including a new coaching set up and new captain, mean things are very different, and take a little while to gel.

Sorry we only beat you by one goal rather than three, we must've gone backwards.

I resisted any childish comments about your fans, and felt that it was a bit flat all round. There is no rivalry between our 2 clubs, current or historically. The game was boring and thus affects the atmos. I don't remember the Royals being particularly innovative with chants during recent visits to Derby, or do you not travel away so don't know? If you want to have a discussion about fans, you are very welcome, though I'd suggest you picked on a club more similar to yours.

You lost to a team that didn't have to do anything special, that's more a reflection of your own progress rather than ours.

more of a reflection on the sending off for me.

but massive agreement on our fans. we are in no position to have ago at anyone for the quality/volume of our singing, in front of a half empty and very quiet stadium.
us singing your support is oxf*rd shit was lolworthy and a bit embarrassing.

gunter hector (only playing due to injury) and obita from last night were the only real regulars in our side last year. blackman and norwood were pretty peripheral after Clarke took over. other than that it was pretty much all change for us, so im not sure that saying you weren't very good because of all the new players is much of a comparison, since we had just as many and looked decent.