Monthly Archives: January 2015

27th January – Rams up to 2nd as Bent double downs Blackburn

28 Wednesday Jan 2015

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27th January

Derby County                         2                 Darren Bent 68, 90+2      

Blackburn Rovers                 0

This day may, in retrospect, turn out to be a pivotal one for the Rams in this important season.

Not only did we gather a crucial three points from this hard fought win over Blackburn to lift ourselves back up to 2nd, but George Thorne made his competitive comeback with 45 minutes for the U-21 side who thrashed Stoke City 7-1.

The continued return to fitness of the midfielder, who is so important to the way we play, is a boost to everyone involved with the club and while there is some way to go before he is orchestrating our play it is a relief to see him playing again after the crushing blow of that pre-season injury.

Compared to the team that started against Forest Ryan Shotton replaced Cyrus Christie, Simon Dawkins replaced the injured Johnny Russell and Jeff Hendrick replaced Craig Bryson.

After the experimentation against Chesterfield in the FA Cup it was back to plan A formation wise with the 4-3-3 facing up to Blackburn’s well organised and drilled two banks of four with Tom Cairney playing behind the nippy Josh King.

It was a surprise, though not a disappointment, to see Rovers lining up without either Jordan Rhodes or Rudy Gestede, both of them on the bench. Was this a bit of asset protection in advance of a sale by the Venky’s – difficult to say and unsuccessful, if so, as Gestede appeared before half time to replace the injured Tom Cairney but he himself had to be replaced when injured in the second half.

This was a gritty win for the Rams featuring some good performances from a number of players. Will Hughes was again excellent, always looking for the ball, always providing a threat with his skill and there were two particularly impressive examples of twinkle toed skill from him in the first half as he manoeuvred the ball away from defenders snapping around his heels.

Omar Mascarell had his best game of the season combining his usual ease on the ball with more bite and disruption of Blackburn’s play and looking the part as the defensive midfield pivot.

Richard Keogh was closer to his best than has been the case for a while, some excellent positioning and interceptions allied to a number of shuddering blocks with a few barnstorming charges forward thrown in for good measure. It has been suggested that he was benefitting from a more disciplined right back performance from Ryan Shotton and I think there is merit in that. Shotts was composed on his return to the team and exhibited more positional awareness than Cyrus Christie has done in recent games. And that long throw of his is quite an option for us.

We held the ball well in the first half without ever really carving out a clear chance. The good work of that first half was nearly lost when a misplaced pass from Jeff Hendrick just before the break almost led to a goal with Josh King, fortunately, blazing over.

While never in the brutal class of the Mark Hughes era Blackeye Rovers this generation of Rovers were physical and, more than any team I have seen for a while, looked to hit the long ball to try and exploit their pace up front.

The second half was proving to be more of the same, Jamie Ward and Simon Dawkins labouring on the flanks, both appearing to lack some sharpness and inevitably generating a few what might have beens were it not for the absence of Johnny Russell and Jordan Ibe.

The signing of Darren Bent, though, has given us another option and he had only been on the pitch for five minutes before bundling the ball into the net after another of Ryan Shotton’s long throws

The win was not seen out with ease. Blackburn threw Jordan Rhodes on and started launching the ball into our box and one superb tackle from Omar Mascarell and one even more superb save from Lee Grant were needed to keep us in front.

 It was good to see Mason Bennett appearing as a substitute late on and he was instrumental in the second goal that took the pressure off – breaking down the left wing and putting in an excellent cross for Chris Martin who saw his shot well saved by Jason Steele but there in the right place, at the right time was our new penalty area predator Darren Bent to put the game away.

 This was such an important three points against a good Championship side.

To be back up to second with 19 games to go means our fate is in our hands and if we can ensure that remains the case as the number of games dwindle away this season may yet have a very happy ending.

24th January – Formation rotation as Rams prevail in Derbyshire Derby

25 Sunday Jan 2015

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24th January

Derby County 2    Darren Bent 20, Will Hughes 82

Chesterfield 0

The FA Cup provided some relief for the Rams after last Saturday’s disappointments though this game was never as straightforward as the 2-0 scoreline may suggest.

It was not so much as rotation of players that Steve McClaren employed as a rotation of formations. We set up in a 3-5-2 arrangement in the first half, changed to a 4-4-2 diamond in the second half initially and then reverted to a 4-3-3 later in the game.

The Boss explained after the game that the experimentation was very much part of the game plan to see how we performed away from our normal 4-3-3 structure.

When you think about it this was quite a risk to our involvement in the FA Cup considering that Chesterfield proved themselves to be a very capable side, but the chance to work on that much demanded “Plan B” proved to be both useful and successful.

Personnel wise Raul Albentosa came in for his debut, Kelle Roos was in goal, Jeff Hendrick started and Darren Bent made his first start with Johnny Russell, Lee Grant, Jamie Ward & Craig Bryson missing out.

The prospect of using Albentosa, Keogh & Buxton in a back three had been suggested by a number of fans in forums and social media and it was interesting to see it being put into practice – it felt very late 1990’s and Jim Smith all over again.

The new system almost came unstuck immediately though with only a good block from Cyrus Christie preventing Armand Gnanduillet getting a shot on target from inside the six yard box in the first couple of minutes.

Chesterfield were composed and impressive opponents, looking comfortable on the ball and pressing us when had possession.

The right side of our defence with Christie and Richard Keogh in place looked shaky and Chesterfield obviously thought so too as their attack tended to focus on that flank.

Keogh missed a routine header on the quarter hour that almost let in the troublesome Gnanduillet who could not take advantage and that let off was compounded shortly afterwards when we took the lead.

Jake Buxton won a towering header from an Omar Mascarell corner and there poaching from inside the six yard box Darren Bent planted a header into the net for his first Rams goal.

The Rams created little else in the first half and did not look totally secure at the back. Having said that I was impressed with our first look at Raul Albentosa, the big centre half winning a number of defensive headers and looking composed on the ball.

Early days I know, but he looks powerful and skilled and I think he will be challenging for a start very soon.

More experimenting after the break with Johnny Russell replacing Albentosa and the team shuffling into a 4-4-2 diamond shape with Russell partnering Darren Bent up top with Chris Martin at the advanced point of the diamond.

For me this set up worked well. It showed that Darren Bent provides a different threat for us, playing on the edge of the defence and looking to break on a through ball. As well as his first half goal the Villa loanee could have, and should have, bagged two more.

A superb through ball from Chris Martin sprang Bent and although Tommy Lee in the Spirites goal made a fine save he should have scored. 

A similar chance later for Bent in the half was again saved by Lee and while it was disappointing not to see him score more than his first goal it was promising to see his eye for position that puts him in the right place.

Chris Martin is an intelligent footballer and playing in a different position in the second half gave him the chance to show this in a different way. His through ball for the missed Darren Bent chance was superb and while I would not want him playing in that position on a more permanent basis ( Will Hughes since you ask ) he fitted in smoothly and created space and opportunities for Bent and Russell to feed upon.

Will Hughes was our best player throughout the game, creative, bright and hard working and it was him that put the game beyond doubt, stealing the ball just outside the Spireite area, gliding on and smoothly firing home.

Our young midfield talent is on a good run of form at the moment and with others injured or off form we are very reliant upon him.

Talking of injuries it was worrying to see Johnny Russell only last 19 minutes before being replaced in some distress. It was a surprise to many to see him appear considering the tight hamstring Simmo confirmed he was suffering from and if he is out for a few weeks we will miss him badly.

Next up is Blackburn on Tuesday and will we revert to 4-3-3 with the two wingers left standing (and not training with Burton or on loan to Notts County) Jamie Ward and Simon Dawkins ? – or will we be tempted to polish the diamond with Martin & Bent upfront and Will Hughes pulling the strings?

My money is on the diamond….

 

 

 

17th January – Second half slump sees Rams give it away in East Midlands clash

18 Sunday Jan 2015

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17th January

Derby County           1                         Nottingham Forest     2

Henri Lansbury (o.g.) 16                      Britt Assombalonga 75

                                                             Ben Osborn 90+2

 

A disjointed and confused second half performance from the Rams saw us lose from a position of dominance to not only give Forest an unexpected boost but also undo all of the benefit gained from the impressive win at Ipswich Town a week earlier.

Disappointment at this performance is compounded by it being against “them” as well as seeing Bournemouth, Ipswich, Middlesbrough, Brentford and Watford all win later in the day to tighten up the top six yet again just when it looked like we might be able to ease away from some of those teams.

Watching the increasingly poor second half performance this was a failure on our part of what is known as “game management”. From a position of 1-0 up against a low in confidence Forest with the clock winding down we did not have the nouse, the know how, the experience to take the heat out of the game even if we were not playing particularly well.

This has happened to us before and speaks to the naivety in our team, a lack of ruthlessness and nasty. It is not too late to put this right, but it may cost us promotion if not solved soon.

I think about two other games in particular – the game against Wigan where we were 1-0 up with 20 minutes to go but ended up losing 1-2 to a poor team…..sounds terribly familiar from yesterday doesn’t it?.

Also leading Norwich City 2-1 as the game reached its end and giving up an equaliser (and nearly a winner to the Canaries also).

Just the losses from yesterday and those two games would put us five points clear of this crazy division now instead of being third. It is not worth dwelling on what has been lost but we do need to show a more ruthless streak in such situations.

Three changes for the Rams for this game, Jamie Ward replacing the now returned to Anfield Jordan Ibe, Omar Mascarell replacing the injured and suspended John Eustace and Craig Bryson switching his place on the bench with Jeff Hendrick.

With Simon Dawkins being away for personal reasons, newly signed players Stephen Warnock missing through fitness concerns and Raul Albentosa awaiting international clearance our bench had a light look to it for the first time in a while.

Forest started energetically looking to prevent us playing out from the back but that only lasted for ten minutes or so and we started to take control from then on in the first half.

One of a host of Rams corners gave us the lead after 16 minutes, Henri Lansbury neatly heading Johnny Russell’s cross into his own net to give us the lead. Forest looked shocked and there for the taking and while it was not a vintage first half performance we carved out a number of half chances, Will Hughes going very close with a curving shot from the edge of the area, Jamie Ward having a deflected shot well saved by Doris de Vries and a number of corners causing panic in the Forest back line. There was a palpable sense of disappointment at the score being only 1-0 at the break.

Forest had little to offer in that first half, only Michail Antonio providing any kind of consistent threat but a hint of problems ahead for us was Will Hughes coming over to the sidelines to have a chat with Neil Sullivan and (from my viewpoint) indicating a problem with his hip / thigh.

In due course our creative midfielder did not reappear for the second half, Jeff Hendrick taking his place as the second half commenced.

As has been the case on a couple of occasions we seemed slow out of the blocks in the second period, but more worryingly our midfield melted away and it was a common site to see Forest players striding into space, outnumbering the white shirts and winning second balls time and time again.

Chris Martin became increasingly isolated and despite his fine efforts to keep control of the game – he provided a number of fine examples of “game management” winning free kicks in dangerous areas when outnumbered and wresting a bit of initiative for us – we resorted to long balls to him which were fruitless because of the lack of midfield support around him.

As the chap sat near me said “what do you expect him to do? – head it to himself?”

Both Jeff Hendrick & Craig Bryson had poor second halves leaving us outnumbered and exposing our defence. I honestly still thought we would see it out but a scrambled goal from Britt Assombalonga with 15 minutes to go changed the game.

As Steve McClaren indicated after the game a point would still have been an ok , if not ideal outcome, but we lost our shape again at the death and Derby born and bred ( and Rams fan ) Ben Osborn beat Lee Grant from the edge of the area after another Forest break found us outnumbered and out of position.

A missed opportunity and plenty of food for thought for us then, but to lose in such a way to them…..is so so annoying.

 

10th January – Resilient Rams topple the Tractor Boys and move up to 2nd

10 Saturday Jan 2015

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10th January 2015

Ipswich Town               0                 Derby County    1

                                                            Chris Martin 57

                                                            John Eustace sent off 90

A committed and impressive performance saw the Rams win this crucial Championship match against Ipswich Town, replacing the home team in 2nd place and inflicting upon the Tractor Boys their first defeat in twelve matches.

This felt like a vital and possibly pivotal game in the build up and so it may well prove.

Ipswich were two points ahead of the Rams at kick off. The statement we made in winning at Portman Road sends a message out about our intentions for the rest of the season and was very encouraging following the defeats against Middlesbrough and Leeds United in away games before Christmas.

Being involved in yet another lunch time kick off meant that we could sit back and enjoy the afternoon results which pretty much all fell in our favour as Bournemouth lost for the first time since we beat them in September, Middlesbrough drew and Watford lost making our win even more valuable.

The Rams were unchanged from the last league game, the 2-0 win over Leeds United with Darren Bent taking the place of the now returned to Blackburn Leon Best on the bench.

There were few chances in the whole game but Derby started nervously and presented Ipswich with an opportunity within five minutes as the offside trap broke down but fortunately, for us, Jay Tabb missed.

Our first hint of a chance came on the quarter hour as Jeff Hendrick had a shot blocked and Cyrus Christie fired over. A few minutes later Johnny Russell came close with a free kick he had himself won through his own efforts.

The game settled down after the early nervousness and the Rams showed admirable composure and control for much of the rest of the match with the back four well lead and marshalled by Richard Keogh and Craig Forsyth also having a good game. Cyrus Christie struggled at times though and was put under some pressure defensively.

John Eustace received an early yellow card but continued to discharge his defensive duties well and his presence in the team has a good balancing effect on our midfield with Will Hughes particularly having a good game influencing our play and prompting creatively.

Eustace got away with a sly barge on David McGoldrick just before the break however, which if the referee had seen otherwise might have lead to big trouble for the veteran midfielder and us. McGoldrick was booked for his responding foul and the half soon came to an end with Mick McCarthy doing his usual angry bullying act towards the officials as they left the pitch.

Having seen McCarthy pull off this trick before there were a few murmurs of concern about whether Ipswich would subsequently get every decision in the second half, but due credit to referee Kevin Wright who had a good game, including not awarding a penalty to Ipswich when the ball struck Keogh on the chest early in the second half despite howls of protest from the home players and crowd.

Shortly afterwards came the key moment of the game, Cyrus Christie cleared the ball and Ipswich centre half Tommy Smith misjudged the ball allowing Chris Martin to nip in and clinically put away his 18th goal of the season, and also the 100th goal of his career in his 303rd game. (Interesting to note that in the last season and a half our number 9 has scored 43 goals in 82 games underlining his importance to us yet again)

After our goal we continued on the front foot and carved out a number of half chances. Jordan Ibe worked hard and showed a pleasing appetite for tracking back and Johnny Russell gave his all as ever for the cause.

Despite the high stakes involved Ipswich never really upped the ante and threatened after we scored. Inevitably as the clock wore down there was an element of increased pressure on our goal but few if any clear chances were carved out and Lee Grant was calm and in control of his area.

This reflects well on the professional job that we did in winning this game, Steve McClaren spoke after the game of our “maturity” in seeing the game out and that seemed spot on.

Because of a clash of heads that took Jeff Hendrick out of the game we had 6 minutes of injury time to navigate and navigate with ten men after John Eustace received his marching orders for pulling back McGoldrick as he threatened to break clear. But the 6 minutes passed without further alarm and an important away win was banked.

As well as all the positive points already mentioned it is great to see the return of the clean sheets that so underpinned our best run earlier in the season – today was our fourth in a row and is another reason to be optimistic as we prepare to face the noisy neighbours in a week.

 

 

 

3rd January – Subs sink valiant Southport as Rams leave it late

04 Sunday Jan 2015

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3rd January 2015

Derby County               1                                        Southport            0   

 Chris Martin (pen) 90+2  

A much changed Rams side struggled to put away a well organised and committed Southport side in this third round FA Cup tie but, as good teams do, eventually found a way and went through thanks to Chris Martin’s cool conversion of a late late penalty.

Easier to say which players remained from the team that eased past Leeds United – those being only Richard Keogh and Jake Buxton.

Otherwise in came Kelle Roos, Ryan Shotton ( at right back ) , Lee Naylor, Omar Mascarell, Craig Bryson, Paul Coutts, Jamie Ward (a welcome return from a lengthy injury), Simon Dawkins and, most surprisingly, Leon Best.

The arrival this week of Darren Bent on loan was taken by many as a signal that Best’s disappointing time at the Rams was coming to an end. It may still be coming to an end listening to Steve McClaren’s comments after the game (more on post match interviews later) but it was still a surprise to see him start today.

The Rams dominated possession as would be expected against a team from three divisions down but Southport never made it easy for us, were well organised and committed.

We struggled with the final killer touch but having said that, in the first half Craig Bryson hit the post ; from the rebound Leon Best missed (at which point I instinctively thought “Bent would have scored that”) Ryan Shotton missed the target with a free header and Southport keeper David Raya Martin made a fine save from a long range Paul Coutts strike.

As well as the Rams lack of killer instinct in front of goal the outstanding performance of the Sandgrounders on loan keeper was instrumental in almost winning them a replay. Raya Martin continued in the same vein in the second half saving a Jake Buxton header, another Craig Bryson goal bound effort and managing to intercept, block and catch any number of crosses into his area.

Of those Rams that had an opportunity to shine in this game few can be happy with how the game played out. Craig Bryson was busy and flickered around the penalty area and it was great to see Jamie Ward back who looked threatening at times but also a little rusty which was only to be expected.

Leon Best’s game summed up his loan spell with us, disappointing on the fringes of play and he did not take his one clear chance. Simon Dawkins’ quick feet got him into some good positions but he either neglected to shoot or was unable to play a telling pass.

Lee Naylor worked hard and was did all that was asked of him defensively but showed that he will never be a threat to Craig Forsyth as he misplaced too many passes when going forward.

The triple substitution that we made on the hour was illustrative of our frustration at the game still being goalless. On came Chris Martin, Johnny Russell and Jordan Ibe, three players I am sure that Steve McClaren would have preferred to have sat this one out.

They replaced Leon Best, Jamie Ward and Ryan Shotton in what was a change to a 4-2-4 / 4-4-2 formation with Paul Coutts dropping back into defence.

It was interesting to see Johnny Russell playing up top in a more central role and perhaps it was a glimpse of future plans and maybe even the Plan B often wished for when things are not going our way.

It was a combination of the substitutes that won it for us, Jordan Ibe looking lively and dangerous played a good ball into Johnny Russell in the area and as he turned and ran he was fouled by Luke Foster. With almost the last kick of the game Chris Martin put away his 17th goal of the season.

Southport deserved the applause they received from the Rams fans at the close of the game for their approach and their performance & they deserved a replay.

It was a cruel way for them to lose but credit to a Derby team that kept going and the win was the most important part of this game avoiding the extra game a replay would have required or the embarrassment of being a killed giant.

Much continued discussion and debate after the game, both in person and on social media over Steve McClaren’s intentions.

In the post match interview he again used the phrase “Pure speculation” when asked what his response would be to an approach from Newcastle United about their Head Coach vacancy.

He did also say that “I want to finish the job here” so there was something for everyone there whatever their point of view.

 It says something for the responsiveness of our club that later on Saturday night Sam Rush was giving interviews stating that our manager was “going nowhere” and that Steve McClaren had reiterated his commitment to the club.

 Whatever went on – and I do believe that something was going on – it is to be hoped this distraction from trying to win promotion is now dealt with and all we need to focus on is what happens on the pitch – starting with the huge clash at Portman Road against 2nd place Ipswich Town on Saturday