The Opposition/Rival Watch

New weekly thread for anyone interested in the teams we face in the Championship this season. A place for gossip and rumors and little known facts, betting odds, managers likely to succeed/fail/laughed at/sacked.

I'll start this weeks effort on Derby County as they are our next match and on paper should be one of the teams contending again. So far this club have thrown loads of cash at trying to get promoted, but its failed 3 seasons on the bounce. Yes they reach play offs but cant close it out, so this time they are in financial difficulty and need to offload all their high earners. They have managed to offload 4 of them so far in Vydra, Bent, Weinemann and Sheckell. They still have a shed load of high earners who need to be sold off, but who wants the likes of Chris Martin and Dave Nugent etc. The first team squad is bloated and yet Frank Lampard the new manager has brought in 9 new faces who are on normal wages and some of these players are also from lower leagues so will be pleased to have a pay rise but not to the levels of the millionaire team mates.

Players in are all decent on paper:
Wilson
Jozefzoon
Evans
Marriot
Tomori
Waghorn
Malone
Holmes
Mount

If Frank lampard can keep this huge squad happy and integrate the new faces properly, he may mount an attack on the league. My own view is that there are too many players willing to pick up huge wages and not bust a gut for the club. I think the new faces may struggle to gel unless Lampard does a Bielsa and segregates the high earners he doesn't want to keep

Will Lampard make it as a manager? Bielsa says Lampard has been a big player and he will have the respect of his dressing room. I agree but if results dont go his way that respect can ebb away. I think Derby are no more than a mid table side this season and the team and staff are under huge pressure to win because of the financial situation in the background.

Over to you

 

I feel if they go on a losing/bad performance streak the dressing room will be lost and the club will sink down. The high earners wont care - they get their paycheck.

Im hoping we get the win come saturday to kick start their demise. The whole club is under pressure, including their wages and expectations.

 

A great well researched thread Doc

 

Excellent post Doc, not much to add on Derby that yourself and Brendan haven’t covered. With Lampard he has come from Chelsea, huge squad, lots of players they could rotate, if he thinks rotation works in this division with less abled players he might get a shock.

On another front I was hoping Grealish from Villa was going to be sold, they held on to him but have they now got an unhappy player likely to cause dressing room unrest? Will an overseas team come in and snap him up?

 

Villa are in real trouble and this new gazillionaire doesn't like Bruce? Bruce may well be the first managerial casualty because he is under real pressure to get promotion and balance the books. Bruce doesn't do balance of anything well as he loves to spend. Grealish is a sulker and a bad attitude player and not worth anywhere near the money Villa want for him. Remember this is a kid who goes out on the lash flaunting his wealth, not good. Dressing room unrest guaranteed.

Agree mate and if you go on their webpage you see a bunch of quotes from Lampard which are really quotes from some of the top managers Lampard has played under. One that he said yesterday is about making Pride Park a fortress and winning every home game. You can see from this he is trying to get his team up for our visit. If we batter them heads will drop and some of the millionaire players will be sniggering and telling lamps they should play and not the cheapies? Trouble at mill. lets hope we force problems on them

 

Hey Lamps, which 11 are you going with mate?

1. Keogh
2. Martin
3. Wilson
4. Nugent
5. Carson
6. Bryson
7. Lawrence
8. Johnson
9. Thorne
10. Ollson
11. Anya
12. Pearce
13. Huddlestone
14. Butterfield
15. Forsyth
16. Marriot
17. Hanson
18. Ledley
19. Wisdom
20. Bennett
21. Davies
22. Blackman
23. Jerome
24. Lowe
25. Mitchell
26. Jozefzoon
27. Elsnik
28. Mount
29. Roos
30. Waghorn
31. Tomori
32. Evans
33. Bogle
34. Bird
35. Thomas
36. Sibley
37. Macdonald

 

Think your post summed them up completely. They've taken a chance on lower league players and up and coming prospects from premier league academies. It can work but a real test of Lampard's coaching / management abilities. As we saw with CBJ, these academy boys can look good in the non contact tippy-tappy U23 league but can't cope with physical nature of the championship. Those making the step up you van argue will be hungry but you just don't know if the quality is really there or they are simply league 1 level.

 

I may be wrong but I think the Rams are doomed to fail with their appointment of
such an inexperienced manager. Great British players rarely make great managers!

 

Well I think Lampard is now up against it. Plenty of sulking on the bench and that was a battering that could have been a lot worse. His dad doesnt talk to his uncle still so Frank will have to hope his uncle rings him and gives him some advice. This could go one of two ways, Frank could be gone by Xmas or he iwll sort it, get rid of those high earners and finish mid table, but cannot see them top the table now

 

A great win for Rotherham today but

 

Our next opponents are Bolton on Tuesday night and a club with plenty of similarities as Leeds had 15 years ago and still trying to get out of trouble. Bolton under the ownership of Phil Gartside built the Reebok Stadium and set up an academy all at the behest of Big Sam. Allerdyce brought much success to this small provincial Lancashire town and much pride too. Sam took Bolton into the Prem and managed to keep them there for years and with a tight budget. Bolton always hard to beat and they pulled off plenty of giant killing feats and in Europe too. Big Sam needed a change and his friend and owner Gartside agreed to let him go to a big club Newcastle. From there it was all downhill and the club under various managers slid down the leagues and into obscurity. Gartside stayed as Chairman but sold the club to Eddie Davies and managers like Neil Lennon and Dougie Freedman couldn't stop the rot. Early 2015 our old mate Trevor Birch was called in to help sort out the loss of £173m, but not much chance. Today they have Phil Parkinson as manager and Phil is a steady no nonsense Yorkshireman who worked miracles at Bradford City. he won promotion from League 1 and has a team of journeymen and kids doing well. So far results have been good so this will not be a walkover.

Leeds will be fielding a majority of players who haven't started yet, so expect some rust and some fast attacking football again where players like Bamford, Harrison, Baker, Blackman, Roberts etc try and force their way into the starting 11 for Rotherham next weekend.

When we visit the Reebok later in the season its not called the Reebok any more as De Vere who owned the hotel complex were having trouble too so sold it and the clubs revenue dropped so they have done a deal with the University of Bolton and now its the University of Bolton Stadium?

 

Usually when you have an ex player facing you I start to fear what they might do to us but when I see Murphy in the centre of their midfield I feel like rubbing my hands together on what fun our own midfield is going to have.

I am wondering if we might see a couple of players rested, is Roofe on fire too much to drop? Will it be a chance to introduce Pontus and Harrsion? I don't think we should dare change it too much, I think if it were my decision I would rest Hernandez and one of either Klich, Alioski or Roofe, just two changes for me.

 

'Fraid Bielsa has already stated that it'll be mostly players that haven't featured yet. Not quite sure why I'm afraid - we'll still cuff 'em.

Btw, on a different subject, I'm sure I heard them say that Bielsa had announced our Derby team on Friday! I must have missed that. Anyone else catch it?

 

Yes Bielsa said yesterday that many changes for Tuesday and I get why. I think he wants his starting 11 in league games be under pressure from the bench, a mistake could mean being replaced. He wants all the squad to be match fit and match ready to step in at any time. It makes sense to me so I see Bamford, Blackman Harrison, Roberts. Think you may see a look at the fabled 3-3-1-3 with Bamford and Roberts and Harrison?

 

I've got a sneaking suspicion that Phillips will get a rest, and in contradiction, will be replaced by Klich! Reason? Klich played the Phillips role in pre season. (Edit: that's what I thought at the time, but wasn't too familiar with the system them , so may be quite wrong). Think he's Phillips backup, so although he's covering for Forshaw atm, he'll need a wee refresher in the deep DM role. Can't think of anyone else to do it. Anyone obvious I've missed (apart from Vieira)?

 

Jock was going to say exactly that but couldnt remember which games he did it in. I remember he had one game where he played first half as CB and looked good bringing the ball out and in the second half he was pushed forward with Forshaw and hit the bar with a goal coming from the rebound?
Also Bielsa last week said Klich has a lot more to do to be as good as he is capable of being. I thought that must mean he is also going to cover CB role

 

I assumed as Phillips had been practicing defending it was his role, then I got thinking, who is Philips replacement, I think Klich is a one man cover for both positions, Forshaw or Philips, Forshaw is going to have to do something special to dislodge Klich. Before the sale I wonder if Vieira was Forshaws cover, Klich as you pointed out Philips cover?

 

Lots is sense there mate but that would mean Viera was No2 in that position? Yet Bielsa told Radz he was down the pecking order so No3 at best? We still have to think that there will be one or two loanees too and to be fair one may be the Phillips role with Phillips being the No2 so until we see the final 22 its all to play for and knowing Bielsa Blackman may be up front

 

Yes he said in a press conference before Derby that there would be no changes - I was not sure if he meant ‘not many’ as there’s always the language problem, but it turned out he did mean it.

He has said it will mainly be players who have not yet started for Bolton, with maybe a few not being changed.

 

Perhaps he should've paid more attention during his UEFA Pro-Licence course ?


Sorry, I have a bit of a bug-bear about that stupid course.


No amount of classroom talk can substitute for experience. Frank should have started as a youth team coach, then moved over-seas coaching to get some experience...then when he was ready for the hot seat, go manage a small, provincial team in League 2.

England players don't seem to succeed in management - Lampard is, I think, the only ex-England international managing in the top two flights.