W7 D1 GD+13 Although impressive on the face of things, look at who they've played: Brighton 6th Leeds 15th Watford 13th Barnsley 23rd Doncaster 22nd Huddersfield 17th Blackpool 20th The average position of their seven opponents is 16.6th. They got the easiest team in the semis too, a Brighton weakened by injuries. Their recent games V top 6 opponents in order of date are: L 2-0 Burnley, W 1-0 QPR, L 4-1 Leicester, L 0-1 Wigan
They are a good side Grifter and in the POF not by chance How that day goes for them will be a massive test IMO If they play up then we are in for a very hard match If they fold to the occasion which I feel they may then its there for us and we can start again because at last we have stepped up ourselves
Grift, I'm not impressed by this attempt to make out Derby aren't on a great run of form. It matters not who they played. They've done really well recently and will be a huge challenge. We can beat them but it'll be very tough.
We beat them at LR and they only beat us due to throwing green into the back of the net. Their fans think they are already there.
I'm convincing myself that they will choke. Even McLaren, whilst obviously proud of them, is surprised by where they finished and has described them as 'naive'. Still he's done a great job there and if they turn up it will be very tough. Our best chance may be to make it into a battle - not dirty but a high tempo chasing, harrying and pressing game. Might be one for Henry, though I think Redknapp will go for a variant of what we had last night.
They're definitely on a great run of form, and I was hugely impressed with their 2nd Leg display Vs Brighton. If I'm honest, I think we'll lose the final- I haven't felt this is "our year" for months now. But after all the raving bout their great run of form, I was definitely a little relieved after sifting through those opponents...!
Leeds were in turmoil, 2 relegated teams, another with 3 wins in 28 matches. More than half should have been a walkover for any top half team,
If we can keep a tight grip on Coldplay's lead singer Chris Martin ( He seems to score every time I watch them ) and if someone can boot Will Hughes high up into the air 'early doors' we may well do it. It's not going to be easy and it will not be a game for the feint hearted.
In a way it doesn't matter much about them...it matters about us. If we turn up as a team...like we did on Monday. If we have a plan and play with heart, we will b ok....
Well said Beth. We will have had a season and two play-off matches to evaluate Derby, but at the end if the day it's all about us! The manager, the team and the fans. We played like a team to win, a great time to bring that cohesiveness together. Just one more match to continue it through!
Interesting post I saw on watrb from Nasser95; "Charlie Austin has started 28 matches in the league this season (not including the playoffs) and we have an average of 2.18 points per game with him in the starting line up, scoring a total of 1.5 goals per game. If he had played every game and assuming the same ppg we would have a total of 100 points and 69 goals scored. From that, I think it is safe to say that even with a correction factor we would still probably have ended up with more points than Derby. Without him in the starting line up, we have a points per game ratio of 1.11, and a goals per game ratio of 1 goal per game. If we went by that, we would have ended up with a points total of 51 placing us in 17th(!) place with a goals scored total of 46"
They will not fancy playing us. We have so many players with big game experience. Wigan are a very strong team who knocked out Man City and gave Arsenal a tough game in the FA semi and we beat them with the experience we have.
Come to think of that it is so true. Just visited one of their forums and most of them are thinking, that they are like Real Madrid but only younger. They were convincing against poor Brighton at home i give them that, but in the first leg brighton were all over them. Only their goalkeepeer and very good luck prevented brighton to win it clearly. They had ONE shot on the goal and scored TWO.....! They seem to think that our team is (still) full of unmotivated players who cant copy with their super young hotshots and they will have an easy afternoon. Sadly McClaren wont think like that.
