3 of us came back from the game and spent 20 minutes moaning and groaning how/where/why it had gone wrong, to a mate in the pub. The lad in the pub then said it didnt come across nowhere near as bad as that in the pub. Which is weird as he knows football pretty well. Anyway. While sticking Dave at LB wasnt great it really wasnt a catastrophe. That was all in front of him. Bruce said it was 4-3-3 i think. Eh??? I hate all fancy ****ing about tweaking and slight shifting. Keep it ****ing simple. Clucas has been excellent for weeks at LM. The whole complection of the game would have been different with just that. Maloney or Diame could have been at RM. What we got was a **** up. We learned Maloney is a neat and tidy footballer who cant play out wide and has no pace or defensive capability, so play Diame RM. Saying that Maloney actually won a few 50/50's. Yes we created chances but the heart the guts the tempo just wasnt there. Maybe that doesnt come across on TV. The whole second half was played at a snails pace, just going through the motions. On 50 Mins, I'm thinking, get a sub on, its as flat as a fart. 60 mind, get a sub on. 65 mins. FFS get Elmo off he's stinking the place out and take Hernandez with him. Get Diame off too as he looked to be limping most of the second half. But no sub until 75!!! WTF Even with 85 mins to go I'm thinking if we really have a go and nick a goal, we can throw the kitchen sink at them and get a draw. No, **** all. Akpom strolls on, walks about a bit and does **** all. Was Davies injured? He was poor but its a waste of a sub. Greegsy. Not at fault for the goals and made some good saves. But that lazy scooped ball on about 84 mins to Maguire that went straight into touch summed it up. It looked like we had no heart to battle back. Odubajo. Not comfortable at LB. Subbed last week and this. His confidence has gone. Playing behind Elmo at the moment will do that to you. Maguire. Showed guts and heart in abundance and actually tried to carry the ball forward and make something happen. Jake and Hudd take note. Davies. Very poor. Looked disinterested. Was he injured? Did he want the armband and sulked? We've seen that before. Elmo. Should have been hooked on 50 mins. Didnt look interested. Never won a header. Never took Warnock on once. No driving runs. Piss poor crosses. Faced inside constantly. And the **** tried to handball it twice. Disgraceful performance, worst of the night for me. Clucas. Seemed to start Cm on the left of 3. Put in one good cross. Felt sorry for him at LB as he was left on his own with no support. His head went down i thought and mistakes kept happening. At fault for the first. Jake. Woeful passing. But was trying to make things happen. Unfortunately we went back to Jake to Tom, Tom to Jake. No matter what I got to pass to Tom, to the detriment of the team. Hudd. They played lots of little triangles round him. Has to pass to Jake. One good effort in the first half. Then when Diame teed him up for a shot. He bottled it again and played a **** pass. To make him Skipper was an error. If Bruce carries on picking him it will cost him his job. I've never said that before but he will. Maloney. Not a wide player. Clever footballer. No pace, no inclination to go down the line. Should have definitely scored one, good save the other. Left Clucas with a lot to do. Diame. Thought he was injured all the second half and only touched the ball a couple of times. Tried to walk it in in the first half when he should have shot with his left. Hernandez. We were supposed to see why he was rested. We didnt. They had Coldplay up front on wheels, who made a nuisance of himself and held the ball up. Challenged Davies and Maguire every time. Abel backs up crouched over to the CB and doesnt jump at all, he never won a single ball. Its ****ing pathetic Aluko slipped a few times, twisted and turned, and hit his usual shot/cross skittering across the floor. Mr Consistency. Akpom strolled about. Hayden. Nearly gave Ince a goal after Elmo had given him a **** throw in. The team didnt know where each other were in the new formation. Changing it just showed we're a team of show pony's with no fight when the chips are down. Lastly. I've gone right off Derby. Did you see their full bench all jumping in the air celebrating for the goals. Bunch of ****s.
What did you expect them to do when they scored? Show the enthusiasm of our West Stand fans? Though it was good to see the Derby bench wasn't as intimidated at being sat in close proximity to opposition fans as some of ours allegedly are.
We looked the same as every other game I've seen this season, just crap in attack. Regardless of shapes and formations we don't have a player who can beat a man. Aluko is the closest thing but he does nothing whenever he comes in. Our wide men are all slow tippy tippy types which sometimes works but when we need a goal against a half decent defence you know we won't get one. It was game over at 1-0 yesterday. We've seen that exact same performance loads of times over the last couple of years. It's not effort it's just a lack of certain types of players. No pace and no penetration. Elmo, Clucas and Odubajo are all great at receiving the ball out wide and then passing it back but they're never gonna beat a man are they?
I watched the game again today and I think it's interesting, because I knew the result, I don't feel the emotions we have in a live game and it becomes far easier to be subjective. As a result I've had to go back and change my motm choices. Try rewatching games if you find the time, you see things you missed and your opinion can alter from what you first thought.
Should Elmo be treated with the same contempt that posters on here show for Maradona and Henry for doing what he did though with a more successful outcome than his attempt?
I don't think he is being treated with contempt. Maybe I missed something? He's certainly out of form.
I never cheated when I played, but then I wasn't playing for such high stakes. Stuart Elliott was shocking cheat at times. He was asked about a particularly obvious one and just shrugged, laughed and said "yeah man of God eh".
I'd say watching on TV, hearing the pundits and commentary team's opinions throughout will have an effect on your opinion of the game. When you're there live, it's solely your opinion plus the comments of those sat around you. There's also the difference in viewing angle. All little things but I imagine it does subconsciously have an effect on what you think, without you even realising it.
Fair enough. We probably don't even realise it but when the co-commentator says "that's a penalty", we sometimes agree when it perhaps wasn't, for example.
Like yesterday's linesman! Two corners should have been given & possible penalty on Maloney, I saw the replay & he was pushed which made him have the heavy touch, he didn't appeal but the look he gave was annoyance!
I was fuming last night. Ranting away. Then a mate sent us these pics and i cheered up. Ye I know I'm childish please log in to view this image please log in to view this image Jihadiwaddywaddy
Yep, spot on! This also raises the question, 'should Maloney have gone down'? Would he be cheating if he did, or does he have the right to?
