| Not Quite There Yet. 18:54 - Jan 20 with 962 views | owderrammy |
I would love to think the Rams were a top 6 side, but in my heart of hearts I do not Nigel demands 110 percent from every player on the field and that always shows, however even in the Championship workrate and honest endeavour are not enough. We need a mix of players that include the odd experienced guy who has the ball skills and knowhow to deliver a decisive pass forward or hold the ball when the team are under pressure. As we saw against Forest when our backs were to the wall most of our defence just booted the ball in the air without thought to were it landed (mostly Forest) then panicked as the ball inevitably returned. As for poor Will Hughes please, the lad is only 17 and in his first season. He needs a break from 90 minute matches. Please Nigel, drop him before you work him to death. Surely he could be brought on as an impact player during the final 20 minutes or so.
Finally I return to my initial point. I think mid-table is as good as it gets with our current players, so unless the owners are prepared to speculate, I see Derby County as the only 33,000 paupers in the Championship.
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| Not Quite There Yet. on 00:43 - Jan 21 with 946 views | pkay_brum |
I agree with your sentiments, owder.
It was disappointing how little penetration Derby managed through most of the game, hardly any crosses yet I was expecting the Rams to bombard the young Forest 'keeper with low or fast or hard or high crosses all over the penalty area....you might as well have set water-cress in the 6 yard box for all the danger we saw.
Our lack of quality and penetration after the sprightly start gave Forest confidence and they could set out their stall; stronger, organised and with a bit more guile and experience - had their shooting been decent, they might have won by a couple of goals.
As expected, Jamie and Sammon clicked when they were allowed to play off one another but there is not the goal power and accuracy in the final third for us to progress far.
Deby's team is built on functional players - especially defenders and utility players; apart from the signing of Sammon (and despite his shortcomings, we'd be a bottom 6 team without him IMHO), defensive or utility signings have prevailed.
Tyson was a flop, Robinson's a wayward, untutored gamble. He can get goals (sometimes) but his brains aren't in his head or his boots. I doubt he has any; he's instinctive and occasionally his pace and athleticism have paid off with goals.
He's a plodder, not a winner, mercurial, unreliable, frustrating - probably happy to be at Derby where he has fallen on his feet.
Fans want goal power and tangible progress soon - or Mr Rush could be disregarded as a hapless GSE puppet by this time next year. You can only spin the spin for so long and the baton has been passed from Glick to Rush. Run, run!
The whole tone of the club has reflected only the value of safety for years, with the salvation of a 60-point finish viewed as an exciting effort; meanwhile 10 or more other clubs will fight it out for the real spoils of the campaign as usual.
As for the fitness of Bryson, Ward, Hughes, Coutts...yes we need some quality back-up or squad improvement, as beyond Jacobs and Davies (both given several jobs to do in the squad of course, as demands arise) there is precious little experience or quality evident in reserve.
There are 24 players listed in The RAM line-up but look through the names past the first 18....we are quite weak, and we can't add Bucko or Shaun Barker to the fray yet.
Attitude, honesty, workrate, commitment, endeavour - we have it in buckets but so do all the top 15 teams and it will take more that that to succeed in real terms. |  | | |
| Not Quite There Yet. on 20:21 - Jan 21 with 921 views | davram |
"Not Quite There Yet" is avery good summary, and seems to suit the eternal GSE mantra of "all in good time". We were a long way off being a promotion team on Saturday.
I think Clough IS getting 100% out of his squad ("110%" is a meaningless and impossible fantasy phrase, my friend) but he is aware of its limitations, both in quality and numbers, so will seemingly always choose a more defensive set-up rather than set out to attack & win.
It was so pitiful on Saturday to watch Ward just standing on the touchline whilst balls were pumped upfield in the general direction of Sammon, who had two Red thugs on him throughout. Arguably our best attacker, after missing a big chunk of the season already, is now being wasted in a wide midfield role.
Few players, especially Sammon, can aspire to emulate a player with the skill of John O'Hare as an attacking fulcrum with craft & control, but he will be much more effective with support!!
Surely the clue for playing a genuine 4-4-2 with two complementary central strikers - Sammon & Ward - was surely there even for the manager & his men in the home dugout, when the Rams equalised with direct simplicity.
In one of the very few moments of attacking penetration, Jamie ran through in close support of Sammon and rapped in a true shot. For that brief moment, exhilaration displaced frustration for Rams fans, but overall the performance lacked real fizz & bite.
Check the disastrous away record for further evidence of how this squad fails with a 4-5-1 formation.
Meanwhile, as the Rams trundle through January again, with the usual aversion to speculate from any genuine ambition, Dirty Leeds might just be thinking of whether to snap up a proven promotion expert (also named Nigel) to take the club well past the also rans that always include Derby:
http://www.fansnetwork.co.uk/football/leedsunited/fb_news.php?storyid=19161&titl
Make your mark, Mr. Rush - NOW! |  | | |
| Not Quite There Yet. on 09:24 - Jan 22 with 912 views | Rabbram10 |
Sam Rush dosent pick the team or decides the tactics? | | | |
| Not Quite There Yet. on 20:08 - Jan 22 with 901 views | davram |
| Not Quite There Yet. on 09:24 - Jan 22 by Rabbram10 |
Sam Rush dosent pick the team or decides the tactics? |
Correct, but he is the CEO and is currently insisting that GSE remain fully committed to DCFC and are ambitious in their desire for top-flight football.
It is up to Sam Rush to facilitate promotion by maximising support for Clough's team development, and he is on record of declaring that he wants Derby to win promotion "ASAP".
He can now make his mark & win back the missing thousands of Rams fans by overturning the now-entrenched perception of many supporters that GSE don't have either the nous or the bottle to take DCFC to a respectable Prem League position.
He has to fully back his manager. Glick reinforced many times their support for him, especially when the team kept flirting with relegation. Rush can now reward Clough with extra funds, with the prospect of a play-off place still being talked of as realistic for THIS season.
It ain't if we don't buy in January or invest in a couple of decent loan players. Bit-part journeyman Tyson's also been shipped out, so what are we waiting for?
Give Clough enough funds to overcome the need to keep shuffling around the players of a small squad to fix a hole for a game or two (Brayford for Bryson, Ward on the wing, etc), setting up defensive formations and so on, and allow him to bring in the two or three players he's already said he needs to get us into the promotion frame.
Don't you think that much of the poor football in recent seasons and the clear limits of the present team remain largely conditional upon the relative level of investment that NC is allowed to make in players, especially if you compare us to similarly sized clubs?
Or is the Rams' lack of consistency solely due to Clough's alleged ineptitude? Do you want crackpot "promotion specialist" Warnock or someone else instead?
If done properly, a share of the big pay-out money, the return of regularly sold-out games and true progress toward moving the club back into the top dozen or so clubs in England can become a reality.
But in my heart, I still strongly doubt that GSE will make any of that happen. So that's my challenge to Mr. Rush. | | | |
| Not Quite There Yet. on 13:39 - Jan 23 with 891 views | Rabbram10 |
I take your point Dav, but there are no ambitions at this club anymore?
The ambition/Plan going forward is keep the wages down, use academy players when needed, stay between 7th &21st in the Championship & get the odd cup run if u can?
That's it for the foreseeable future!
That's my opinion! | | | |
| Not Quite There Yet. on 19:22 - Jan 23 with 884 views | davram |
| Not Quite There Yet. on 13:39 - Jan 23 by Rabbram10 |
I take your point Dav, but there are no ambitions at this club anymore?
The ambition/Plan going forward is keep the wages down, use academy players when needed, stay between 7th &21st in the Championship & get the odd cup run if u can?
That's it for the foreseeable future!
That's my opinion! |
In a nutshell, Rabb, your "semi-ambition" theory of Derby's "just-competent-enough for survival" holds up when we check their recent Championship campaigns under GSE. Many fans have the same view as time rolls on.
Don't underestimate how badly GSE got their fingers burnt as complete novices in UK football when they took over the Rams, courtesy of the rabble left by Wee Billy & the subsequent panic buying of rabble by Jewell - ££ millions down the drain, quite quickly, primarily in payoffs to managers and duff players.
The club almost went back to square one in 2008. The 5-year plan was quietly abandoned, only to be regurgitated by Glick last year. At present, new CEO Sam Rush is trying out his positive spin on the fans. Only results and progress on the pitch will win the cynics round. "Won't Get Fooled Again" plays constantly in many Derby homes! Meet the new boss...etc.
The Americans told us that "they do it better" - well, they clearly haven't so far, and several other competing clubs are now in the Prem instead of us, or a damn sight closer to getting there. As I said before, I strongly doubt that we will catch them up during GSE's ownership.
Let's pitch in a parallel theory that NC will get a 10-year crack at getting Derby promoted, on the basis that his slow-build low-cost plan worked at non-league level for Burton Albion. He has proven to be (so far) a safe pair of hands at Derby in turning over the whole sorry squad and repairing its traumatised mentality after the disastrous Prem season.
The Rams Academy is doing a brilliant job with bringing through young players - only fools would abandon the progressive approach it displays in developing talent, especially if FFP ever proves to have teeth.
Not many clubs can yet claim to have proven the "Hare" promotion policy over the "Tortoise" approach that characterises Derby - perhaps WBA and Swansea are fair examples, but others like Cardiff & Leicester have been trying to buy promotion for years without success, and Ipswich blew up in the fast lane (courtesy of Jewell).
We know that GSE will absolutely back Clough for the forseeable future, and (whatever faults NC has in tactics) they trust him to work within the financial constrictions that are decreed.
Perhaps my sentiments for the Clough dynasty will always give NC the benefit of doubt, and his loyalty to the club is absolute. So, I don't rule out entirely the chances of him getting the Rams promoted in the long term -safely this time - but I will suggest that there won't be many months left of present decade if he achieves that.
Can I get me tea now? | | | |
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