With the enthralling International break over (Bellaz Ball is surely now the blueprint for Bulut Ball?) the return to league football sees our bottom of the table Bluebirds pack their winter gear and fit the bus with the snow plough attachment ready for the tip to the Antarctic, AKA Derby. The Bluebirds steadily make their way up to the frozen wastelands of Derbyshire Who Are You? Pride Park Stadium has been Derby’s home since 1997 following their move from the much more atmospheric and interesting Baseball Ground, however, the club are actually on their 3rd home having started out life playing at Derbyshire Cricket Club's Racecourse Ground and going on to become one of the Football League’s founder members. The Rams nowadays are newly promoted from their 2 year stay in the 3rd tier of league football have made a steady start to life back at Championship level. Under the stewardship of gaffer Paul Warne (ex-Rotherham manager) Derby agonisingly missed out on the play-offs in his first year but gained automatic promotion, finishing as runners up behind Portsmouth. There are many familiar names in their squad with several ex-Bluebirds, ‘keeper Rohan Luthra, Curtis nelson, Nat Phillips, Ebou Adams, James Collins and Nathaniel Mendez-Laing all now plying their trade in the East Midlands. Other notable squad members include forwards Conor Washington and Jack loanee Jerry Yates as well as ex-Preston striker Tom Barkhuizan – some real handful’s there! Last Time Out & Form The last time we played them was of course back in 2022, their relegation season under then gaffer Wayne ‘the drop’ Rooney on the last day of the season with the hosts already doomed to the drop. The only goal of the game came via loan man Jordan Hugill (his 4th since joining) after some neat work by youngster Eli King. The game actually saw Derby have much the better of it with the goal being City’s only strike on target but do we care?? Let’s face it, any result against Derby is now a pleasurable one ever since ‘snowgate’. Form wise as mentioned, Derby have started pretty solidly with 2 wins and 2 defeats so far this season, bounding back well from a disheartening opening day 4-2 beating by Blackburn. Their home form looks exceptionally strong, with the Midlanders not tasting defeat on their own patch since a 2-1 loss to Charlton back in February, so a tough task clearly lies ahead for our misfiring Bluebirds. In, Out Or No Sign Of Them About According to reports, City could have both club captain Joe Ralls and new defender Will Fish available for the squad for this one, however their returns are offset by the disappointing news that Arron Ramsey has picked up a suspected hamstring problem whilst away on international duty. Could Rambo’s absence pave the way for a starting berth for Rubin Colwill who saw no game time with Wales despite being a late call up? I can think of a few folks who may well be praying it does! Silky new centre back Jesper Daland is also missing having picked up a knock in the Middlesbrough game with his injury necessitating the use of a supportive boot. Given his seamless introduction into the team his return can’t come quickly enough, Dimi Goutas is the obvious replacement unless Erol believes Fish can take his pla(i)ce with the minimum of fuss. Thankfully (for us Bluebirds at least) Ireland Internationals Callums O’Dowda & Robinson barely saw any game time whilst away with the ROI and so should both be fit to return to club duties. It’s not unreasonable to anticipate Anwar El Ghazi getting a start for this one having had a few more weeks to get up to fitness. With Yakou Meite struggling for form he could make way for the flying Dutchman. Predicted Starting 11 Horvath Ng Chambers Goutas O’Dowda Colwill Siopis Robertson Willock Robinson El Ghazi The Odds Bods I can’t help but think of this guy whenever I think of games against Derby…. What a goal he scored, still one of the most enjoyable I think I’ve seen with almost the entire Ninian Stand shouting “shooooooooooooooooooooooooot” to him – really glad he duly obliged that day! That goal came during what was a bit of a golden period for us v the Rams, with defeats to our hosts this weekend a rare thing at the time (indeed there have been only 8 such occasions in the last 20 years). Top Boy Top Trumps With there being so many ex-Bluebirds in the opposition squad it would be remiss of me not to take a peek at how one of them is getting on and (as fans do) compare that to one of his replacements so for this one we have Adams v Siopis. Adams may just have the edge over Mano when it comes to the more attacking aspects of the game I suspect. Match Day Melody There’s snow business like show business… I’ve resisted the urge to go for the obvious but hey, it would be daft of me not to refer back once again to our most contentious moment with this weekend’s opponents wouldn’t it??? So, can we finally start reaping what we are snowing (sorry, I meant sowing) and get some reward for our efforts? Will we finally start to climb the table like Edmund Hillary going up a snow capped Everest or will we continue heading downhill at a rate of knots like Franz Klammer? Let’s just hope we don’t slip and slide to another defeat eh? C’mon the City….. Blooooooooooooooooooooooooobirds!!!
No real probs Brizzo - had a difficult summer for a variety of reasons. Am currently chilling out in a cottage in deepest Bucks with the 4 dogs - bloody brilliant place to relax.
Cheers Brizzle, great review as always. Two things live in my memory, one was Mark Hudson's goal just so enjoyable to watch, the other was driving as far as Hopwood Park Services before finding out our game at Derby had been called off! Derby at home, way back when, was also the first City game I ever watched and Derby away, on a number of occasions was always an excuse to visit my aunty and uncle who lived across the border in Nottinghamshire. So, generally happy memories of meetings of the two clubs and while I won't be there tomorrow, I am hoping our form is about to turn and we come away with at least a point against our past bluebirds.
Cheers Brizzle you absolute genius you. A couple of early goals please and then go for the jugular. Bloooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooobirds!
Absolutely worth the wait....not that you actually kept us waiting despite what that miserable old git, William, had to say!!
Team selection is baffling. All that effort to get Robertson signed & he’s benched. Anyway let’s see what happens in second half. Ng replaced by Fish.
I assume Chambers to rb? Did Ng get injured or just hooked? Robertson must get on soon for Ralls and why not Reindorf for Kanga?
Tanner and Willock on for Bagan and El Ghazi. O'Dowda to lb I guess. Okay, forward players but really should have given the youngsters a go. Reindorf in particular is an unknown quantity to Derby.
Unlucky today City. Didn't sound like we deserved to lose that. Hey ho onwards and upwards. It'll come. Now for an evening of Strictly followed by Liverpool losing at home. Enjoy your Bulut bash. Bloooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooobirds!
Last 20 minutes we had virtually all the possession but couldn’t create a thing. Last season we relied on set pieces and injury time goals to somehow survive. Something has to change and change quickly. Look at stats today: 68% possession and twice as many passes as Derby but most of them were along the line of defenders and onto the midfielders and then back to the defenders.
