BFTG . Derby

[MoorgateRoyal]

The red card incident was right in front of me.

It was a definite red card for Sa, he put is head into Shackell and to be honest I think that has been coming for a while. He's very hot-headed and needs to sort that part of his game out. To be fair to Shackell, he could have made much more of the headbutt and didn't. A booking was fair for him as he only pushed Sa. Whether pushing players is a red card or not is possibly another discussion to have, but at the moment it doesn't warrant a yelow, so no complaints.

The goal was poor defensively and Bond was left so exposed, he can't really be blamed for letting it in. Ince was crap all night and got a jammy goal. Inter dodged a bullet.

We played well in the first half but ultimately didn't have enough with ten men to win it. I think if we were a little more positive we could have nicked a goal, but we move on.

[winchester_royal]

We played some wonderful stuff in the first half. Probably as good as anything we've seen in the past few years. But we didn't make it count and got slapped by a combination of stupidity and sloppiness.

No major panic or knee jerk response needed - if we keep playing like the first half we'll be top 6 this season.

The key now will be finding a way to get results in two tricky away games without Sa. Won't be easy, especially as we don't have any obvious like for like replacement as a focal point for our attack.

[Four Of Clubs]

Vydra's touch was so bad today. What the hell was up with him?

...from elevated view (back of Norf Stand) Derby played two very tight banks of four/(occasionally five) as close to half-way as they could - then simply pushed both up about 5 yards 2nd half, when we were reduced to 10 and waited for a gap.

.... Vs Ipswich, Vydra had a huge area to run around in between their midfield and back-four and was never tracked (or should that be Tractored ). Indeed they didn't have a clue where he had gone nor where he was coming from, which also meant they 'lost' Sa on a couple of crucial moves - particularly for his 2nd goal.

By contrast the Rams had 'scouts' on Vydra from the word go and he was never far from a covering player - you could see Sa frantically waving Blackman and Vydra further up the field for long periods in the first half, to try and press Derby back and give us more room to run into/from.

(..... retreats quietly to GF to keep RR company and consider relative form in the Combined Counties Premier...... )

[SMF]

Thought we were the better side 11v11, but didn't really create any clear opportunities, the only times i remember Carson making a save was two long range efforts from Blackman and Norwood. I agree with some of the other posters with their goal and think Bond may be disappointed he didn't save it at his near post. I don't think Derby will come near the top 2 this season, before we were reduced to 10 men they were looking for a point.

Orlando Sa - Inexcusable. If he is going to succeed here he needs to control his temperament. He gets himself worked up and plays on the edge at all times, but tonight he went overboard and was deservedly sent off for throwing is head in.

I thought Norwood was our best player tonight, most of our play went through him and he made some great tackles during the game.

Bristol City is a pretty important game to win now, especially if we have ambitions of being at the right end of the table, as the two league games after are tricky ones vs Burnley and then Middlesborough.

[royalp-we]

Is it my view in the north stand; or is Vydra playing far too deep to allow the knock on a from Sa etc.?

I love this new style of play as we look very decent in and around the box, but sometimes Vydra although linking well with our midfielders and bringing them in to attack, Sa & Vydra are far too apart from one another?!

Anyway, back to the game itself and we didn't really know how to function with only 10 on the pitch. The slick passing soon evaporated and by the end I was awaiting the whistle to blow to move on to Saturday.

[harry]

Not sure how much chance Bond had for their goal which seemed well worked & cut through defence
Defence looked solid apart from goal
Gunter should have equalised from our best chance after yet another well worked move
Midfield were awesome in terms of effort. Quinn should have stayed on in my view.
Same for Blackman who looked our main threat
Vydra tired in 2nd half
Sa looked decent until the incident. I didn't see it but someone near us said it was a headbutt. Whether he deserved straight red or not & whether their player deserved to go as well or not, sounds like he gave the ref the option.

Subs
Williams - would have preferred to see him come on in the middle straight away for Tish who had been booked (unfairly in my view) rather than out wide
McCleary - tried a shot that was block, other than that can't remember much of note
HRK - a couple of ok runs and a decent cross with no one in the box. Didn't give anything more going forward that Quinn wasn't already in my view. Plus Quinn is better working back

First half we played some decent passing football without ever managing to penetrate Derby defence. Could have tried pushing on against them more in 2nd. Yes, we were a man down, but it felt like we stopped trying to win the game & Derby were always going to create chances.

[genome]

Nah Tish's yellow was deserved, it was a poor challenge. I think he's been great but rash at times, due to inexperience. I can see him getting sent off at some point.

[genome]

Bond 5
Gunter 6
McShane 7
Hector 6
Obita 6
Norwood 7.5
Tshibola 7.5
Quinn 7
Blackman 7
Vydra 6
Sa 5

[genome]

Favourite moments: Obita throwing the ball at Keogh's head and Blackman putting Johnson on his arse.

[janesdaddy]

Sa hero to vilan and let his team down the stupid twat . I think we could have won the game after such a great first half display,there was five minutes where we won every ball and I've not heard a noise or support of the like for a long time . Future bodes well judged on last few games, we'll finish above Derby end of season no doubt

I thought of the "hero to villain" in one week thing as well. Poor Sa fluffed the penalty against Birmingham and got himself sent off against Derby, but scored a hat-trick against Ipswich. Gunny is correct, the future bodes well for the team and we will finish above Derby, but I don't know that Sa will be there for us at the end, even as good as he is.

[CountryRoyal]

Sa 5

Not sure how Sa, who's nativity cost us the game, can be rated anywhere remotely that high.

Baffling.

[Royal Ginger]

Gutsy performance. I truly believe Sa lost us all three points not just the one. He was the lynch pin and we played some very good stuff.

The officials were a joke. I sit the opposite corner from the red card and wasn't looking that way so couldn't see it anyway, but both teams have a right to feel aggrieved with their performances.

The ref was unbelievably indecisive and continuously let himself be played by the theatrics from both sides, but that pales into insignificance compared to the lino on the east side. Constantly got it wrong, took an age with each decision and missed the offside which luckily the ref caught. His crowning moment was when Obita cleared the ball up-field to Sa and he dragged the game back on the request of number 15 Abentosa (who was an odious diving little creep throughout). I sit in the north stand with a direct view straight down the line, and that ball was at least a foot and a half in play.

Blackman turning two towards the end of the first half was the moment of the match for me, a real 'oooh' moment.

Toss up between McShane or Norwood for MOTM in my mind.

Odd one for the crowd, when we got going we were as loud as we've been any time this season, but there were spells where it was so quiet i could even hear the west stand!

[RoyalBlue]

The red card incident was right in front of me.

It was a definite red card for Sa, he put is head into Shackell and to be honest I think that has been coming for a while. He's very hot-headed and needs to sort that part of his game out. To be fair to Shackell, he could have made much more of the headbutt and didn't. A booking was fair for him as he only pushed Sa. Whether pushing players is a red card or not is possibly another discussion to have, but at the moment it doesn't warrant a yelow, so no complaints.

The goal was poor defensively and Bond was left so exposed, he can't really be blamed for letting it in. Ince was crap all night and got a jammy goal. Inter dodged a bullet.

.

From time to time goalkeepers will be defensively exposed, that's one of the reasons they are in the team as a specialist role! I think he made a poor judgement call (to try to come right the way out, close Ince down and deny him that way). He couldn't get out quick enough and, as a consequence, was some way away and still moving as Ince shot. It's virtually impossible to react to the shot at that point. He would probably have been better off coming part way, setting himself and then attempting to make a save.

The officials were dire, my biggest complaint being the lack of consistency.

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!

[RoyalBlue]

Vydra's touch was so bad today. What the hell was up with him?

...from elevated view (back of Norf Stand) Derby played two very tight banks of four/(occasionally five) as close to half-way as they could - then simply pushed both up about 5 yards 2nd half, when we were reduced to 10 and waited for a gap.

.... Vs Ipswich, Vydra had a huge area to run around in between their midfield and back-four and was never tracked (or should that be Tractored ). Indeed they didn't have a clue where he had gone nor where he was coming from, which also meant they 'lost' Sa on a couple of crucial moves - particularly for his 2nd goal.

By contrast the Rams had 'scouts' on Vydra from the word go and he was never far from a covering player - you could see Sa frantically waving Blackman and Vydra further up the field for long periods in the first half, to try and press Derby back and give us more room to run into/from.

(..... retreats quietly to GF to keep RR company and consider relative form in the Combined Counties Premier...... )

I think that caused Sa an immense amount of frustration. On quite a few occasions I noticed him shouting and waving at his teammates, trying to get them to support him in pressing and closing Derby down. No one, including the bench, appeared to respond to his requests. The coaching staff should either have told Sa to save his energy or made sure he got more support.

[leon]

Sa 5

Not sure how Sa, who's nativity cost us the game, can be rated anywhere remotely that high.

Yes Sa was jumping the gun a bit there.

[Winchester Royal]

Vydra's touch was so bad today. What the hell was up with him?

...from elevated view (back of Norf Stand) Derby played two very tight banks of four/(occasionally five) as close to half-way as they could - then simply pushed both up about 5 yards 2nd half, when we were reduced to 10 and waited for a gap.

.... Vs Ipswich, Vydra had a huge area to run around in between their midfield and back-four and was never tracked (or should that be Tractored ). Indeed they didn't have a clue where he had gone nor where he was coming from, which also meant they 'lost' Sa on a couple of crucial moves - particularly for his 2nd goal.

By contrast the Rams had 'scouts' on Vydra from the word go and he was never far from a covering player - you could see Sa frantically waving Blackman and Vydra further up the field for long periods in the first half, to try and press Derby back and give us more room to run into/from.

(..... retreats quietly to GF to keep RR company and consider relative form in the Combined Counties Premier...... )

I think that caused Sa an immense amount of frustration. On quite a few occasions I noticed him shouting and waving at his teammates, trying to get them to support him in pressing and closing Derby down. No one, including the bench, appeared to respond to his requests. The coaching staff should either have told Sa to save his energy or made sure he got more support.

I noticed his frustration. When Sa, Vydra and Blackman were all chasing them down, early in the first half, we put them under a lot of pressure and often won the ball back in their half. When it was just Sa, they had the time to move it around him which made it quite pointless for him to be putting the effort in. Given that the tactic worked so well at the start of the game, it makes me wonder why it was only Sa that was carrying it on later in the half.

[LWJ]

I saw the incident in full. Shackel(?) held on to Sa's shirt. Sa tries to move away, Shackel (pcunt) doesn't let go so Sa headbuts him. Not even subtle, no holding back. The ref was miles away and didn't see it. However, Sa did this about 4 yards away from the lino who did see it and told the ref to send him off.

Clarke said even Sky didn't catch it so our chances of seeing it again/appealing are minimal.

That isn't how it went at all

Sa left a foot in on the challenge, Shackell pushed him, Sa pushed him back they squared up and went head to head and then it was more pushing their heads into each other and Shackell pulling back what made it look like a headbut.

[Platypuss]

Sa 5

Not sure how Sa, who's nativity cost us the game, can be rated anywhere remotely that high.

He thinks he's the second coming?

[winchester_royal]

I saw the incident in full. Shackel(?) held on to Sa's shirt. Sa tries to move away, Shackel (pcunt) doesn't let go so Sa headbuts him. Not even subtle, no holding back. The ref was miles away and didn't see it. However, Sa did this about 4 yards away from the lino who did see it and told the ref to send him off.

Clarke said even Sky didn't catch it so our chances of seeing it again/appealing are minimal.

That isn't how it went at all

Sa left a foot in on the challenge, Shackell pushed him, Sa pushed him back they squared up and went head to head and then it was more pushing their heads into each other and Shackell pulling back what made it look like a headbut.

Sounds like a typical PL-type attempt to get a guy sent off. Not surprised to see it from a team managed by an ex-Real coach.

Silly mistake by Sa - but he'll learn from it and come back stronger. A shame though, as he was making Chris Martin look League 2 level up until that point.

Will be a big loss for the next 3 games. At least one of them will be taken up by the Everton game..

[Jano]

I think we've seen the best, and worst, of Sa in a week. We saw what we had hoped we were getting with the hattrick on Friday, and I saw what I feared we were getting with the frustration and hot headedness today. It's obviously been an issue in his past as its quite well documented on the web that he can lose his temper, so he's going to have to put up with being targeted and not get suckered into it as easily as he did last night.

That being said, I don't necessarily think he lost us the game. Even down to ten men we looked more than a match for Derby and for me, the subs killed it for us. We went from looking dangerous on the counter with Vydra and Blackman as an out, to going all out defense with no outball once Williams was asked to play on the right wing and HRK doing his usual - nothing. I didn't think Vydra was anywhere near as bad as people are making out, just that Derby kept someone close to him and the little touches and flicks which had worked so well against Ipswich were being cut out against a more organised defense. Probably down to Derby playing that way last season so I would guess they have a bit more experience playing against it. For me the subs should have been Williams on for Tish as the ref was suspect to say the least and no point risking him getting a second yellow, with McCleary on for Vydra, sticking Blackman up top as best of a bad bunch.

Was up the other end for the goal so couldn't really see what happened, looked like poor defending and it did seem to squirm past Bond, but that could have just been how it looked from where we were. It's hard to be too frustrated as we are definitely making steps forward, we look so much better than last season and games like this are going to happen.