Team v Derby

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Cottager58

Cottager58

Well-Known Member
May 2, 2011
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Mr Khan's visit to Motspur Park today (presumably for January transfer talks rather than his desire to see Derby) put paid to the Gaffer's press conference.

Goes without saying that Derby, with 7 wins on the trot and their defence conceding little, will be a tough game. Will be interesting to see their strategy and whether they go against the grain a bit and play defensively hoping to catch us on the break. McLaren of course has been doing his Fergy impersonation (rather feebly) and trying to get under our skin about the Chris Martin loan situation.

Whatever, who comes in for Martin tomorrow is obviouly the standout selection question. The goal machine Stevie Humphrys - 10 in his last 5 U23 outings - is in everyone's eye. Interetingly he was training with the first team today. A firm favourite of mine, I don't believe he's the finished article .. yet .. and having just recovered from a bout of illness plus a few knocks on Monday night, leading him to be subbed after 70 minutes, this isn't the game to throw him in.

Cauley Woodrow hasn't been anywhere the first team 18 man squad of late and frankly his last few U23 performances have been poor. Rule him out. Big Matt Smith is a candidate, He's been on the bench regularly, we know what he can do (helping the defence at corners being one good attribute) and what he can't do (the mobility factor being uppermost). So is it him? Probably not!

Reckon Jokanovic will go for pace and width. He might also consider bringing back the more rugged Sigurdssson to partner Kalas. I hope not. Siggurdsson's distribution is far from good and the seamless relationship Madl and Kalas had back in August ought to be allowed to recover itself. So, the starting line-up:

............................Button..............
..Fredericks...Kalas....Madl....Malone....
..........................McDonald.........
.................Johansen.......
...Aluko....Cairney...Ayite...Piazon...
 
Think I'd go with that line up too. Jokanovic could fool us and Play Smith up on his own and 5 in midfield with 2 or 3 of them getting forward for second balls.
Tough game with Derby letting in few goals lately, meaning we have to take our chances when they come along. Expect to see our front 3 interchanging with each other to keep their defence on their toes. Johansen could be the key, will he be given the normal free role or a more defensive one to look after the likes of Ince.
Our old foe Darren Bent should be up front for them to annoy us, lets hope he's taken care off.
 
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I know it's a big game but for me if your main striker is unavailable and you have a highly rated youngster who has scored 10 goals in his last 5 reserve games it's an easy choice you give him the chance. It will show him that hard work and good form will pay off and if he was to score his confidence will be sky high. Not giving the nod could have the opposite effect with him thinking what do I need to do to get a chance

I haven't seen him personally but everything I have read and his recent goals I would give him the chance.
 
The man up today is Andy Woolmer.

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Ex-postman Andy used to keep himself fit walking his Nottingham route. Now the 49 year old relies on delivering a different kind of card for his exercise, having become a full time ref last summer. To be fair he's quite modest in his rate of handing them out, with only 45 yellows and 1 red in his 21 games so far this season. Which is par with last season's 109 yellow and 2 red in 37 matches.

An oldie he is but not totally golden in our books. We saw him last back in April when we were a bit embarrassed by the scoreline down at Brighton. If you recall, much of it led from our lads being incenced at him giving them a penalty in the 29th minute for an (alleged) foul on James Wilson - we ended up being fined £5000 by the FA for disorderly conduct. Woolmer went on to book four players that day, one of theirs and O'Hara, Fredericks and LVC for us.
 
This is a test alright. I can't wait to 'take a watch' of the game!
Bairdihno is playing too, hope he gets a good reception, I'm sure he will.
I hope we take it to them and keep a clean sheet. I like the team above and also would like to Humphries played.
 
We made them work hard throughout and fair play to them for their graft. However, there was a 15 minute spell between us going ahead and them equalising when we slowed the game down too much instead of going for the jugular. That equaliser was a bummer as well. Know we'd lost both CBs so were always likely to be vulnerable at a corner but why, oh why didn't Button come for that ball??? It was slap bang in the middle of his six yard box with nobody in front of him!!!

Their first was also from slack play; this time Sigurdsson slicing a clearance. But that was it from them in terms of shots on target. Overall thought we deserved all three points; the ball just didn't break for us on an awful lot of occasions. Ref Andy didn't help either with some poor decisions (not all against us I hasten to add).

A few 'What ifs' seem approriate:

* What if Kalas hadn't been forced off in the first half?

* What if Stevie Humphrys had come on a good 10 minutes sooner?

* What if this hadn't happened?

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PS

Unfortunately Kalas is a hamstring and the Gaffer says he'll miss the Ipswich and Reading games .. at least. Don't think Sigurdsson was injured when he didn't come back out at half time - think it was a tactical change.
 
Two points dropped. Very frustrating, we put together some lovely football interspersed with some dreadful individual errors (Sigurdsson and Button, mainly).

Doubly frustrating that we didn't finalise the Martin deal in time in August and ended up with a loan. I think he would have had a field day today.
 
Definitely two points dropped again. We need to close these games down and who the hell was supposed to be marking at their second goal - it was a gift. Mind you Button nearly gave them a couple of gifts - serious thought needed there. Good game, enjoyed it but disappointed to come away in the end with just a point.
 
I think most Fulham fans are disappointed we didn't take the 3 points.

Kalas going off was a major blow, it sounds like a Hamstring injury which might keep him out for a while. Sigurdsson taken off at half, was that because of his mistake or was he injured ? The substitution was weird Parker came on to try and play as defensive midfield while McDonald slotted in to Center Back. Parker kept playing dangerous balls backwards all the time, so our most effect Player Johansen was eventually put in as DM and Parker pushed up front.

Don't get me started me started on Button, my confidence levels in him are getting worse, we do need a top class keeper.
Think McDonald was the culprit for their second goal as he is marking no one as the bloke runs past him to score, Button needed to come for that ball, there was no one stopping him and he had a clear path to come and get it.

Lots of positives on the attacking side, again like a lot of other fans Derby fans praising us for the way we played, but like Wolves, Brighton and Sheffield Wednesday recently the team failed to take the 3 points and fail to get top 6 spot.
 
Felt like 2 points dropped but Derby fans must've been gutted when the ref didn't play on in last minute when they were about to break and Madl brought his man down, ref should have played on or given him a red, that would have been Bent's chance
 
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