Tags
0 pts, Andreas Weimann, Chris Martin, Chris Wood, Darren Bent, Derby County Football Club, Jeff Hendrick, Leeds Utd, Rams, Uwe Rosler
29th August
Derby County 1 Chris Martin 48
Leeds United 2 Tom Adeyemi 43, Chris Wood 88
Uwe Rosler seems to be a nice bloke but I’m taking a dislike to the way that every time he rocks up to the iPro, with whichever team he is in charge of, he waltzes away with the three points.
It is never fun losing, even more so when Leeds United are the opponents.
I wrote in the Birmingham blog that we look so much better when we move the ball at pace and for the first twenty minutes or so of the second half of this game we looked a good team.
Starting out 1-0 down the Rams came at Leeds with urgency and fire, in stark contrast to the performance in the first 45 minutes.
We could have won the game in that first part of the second half. Chris Martin equalised within three minutes with a very well taken goal.
Leeds looked on the ropes as wave after wave of attacks came from the Rams and the crowd, energised by the display, roared them on.
Jeff Hendrick missed a straightforward chance when presented with an opportunity from 12 yards out and we also looked to have been denied a penalty when Andreas Weimann’s attempt to play the ball across the six yard line, when released into the penalty area, was diverted by a sliding defender’s arm.
We didn’t cash in when we had the upper hand and paid for it as close to the end of the match Chris Wood picked up the ball outside of the area, pulled across to the right, turned and fired in a shot off Scott Carson’s left hand post to take the points and deliver Leeds’ first win at Derby for thirteen years.
It was very disappointing to not win, never mind lose, especially as we now go into the international break still looking for those first three points of the season.
It is still early days in this season though and those of us with a few years under our belts will remember that the promotions of 2006/7 and 1995/6 did not see us roaring out of the blocks.
The only concern I have is about whether Paul Clement is finding the transition to top job not as straightforward as he would have hoped.
Watching how we have played so far this season I’m not clear about what our approach is, it makes me wonder if Clement has found his managerial “voice” yet?
We are mostly less urgent going forward and only seem to wake up when we have gone a goal down (as we have done now in every game so far apart from Bolton)
Our defence does looks more secure than it did in those chaotic end of season games and the huge loss of Will Hughes after 30 minutes of the season cannot be overestimated for the scale of its impact on any new manager’s plans.
There were two changes for this game with previously injured midfielders Jeff Hendrick & Jamie Hanson returning with Darren Bent dropping to the bench and Cyrus Christie, not for the first time this season, dropping out of the match day squad completely.
Leeds started on the front foot and had fashioned a decent chance within a couple of minutes. We lacked creativity and struggled to get our key players into the game.
Both Johnny Russell and Tom Ince briefly threatened when given the ball in dangerous areas but we were effectively shut down by the visitors who looked sharp and lively across the park.
It looked like we might get to the half time break even-stevens when we fell asleep at a corner, it was taken short and from the subsequent cross Tom Adeyemi had plentiful time and space to plant a header past Scott Carson.
The Rams barrage at the start of the second half seemed to bode well but the air started to go out of the game with about 20 minutes to go.
George Thorne left the field midway through the half with what looked like a knock to his thigh and though Andi Weimann scampered about energetically a position either wide left or on the left of a three behind the striker does not seem to be suiting him.
Darren Bent replaced Johnny Russell with about 10 minutes to go and looked a little lost, sometimes looking for space where Chris Martin already was, sometimes being on a slightly different wavelength to his team mates.
Chris Wood had missed a decent headed chance to give us fair warning, and send Rosler into a rage of frustration on the sidelines, but with three minutes to go he made no mistake with a much harder chance and the game, and the points were lost.
| Played | GD | Pts | ||
| 17 | Preston North End | 5 | -2 | 5 |
| 18 | Brentford | 4 | -1 | 4 |
| 19 | Derby County | 5 | -1 | 4 |
| 20 | Bristol City | 5 | -4 | 4 |
| 21 | Blackburn Rovers | 5 | -2 | 3 |
| 22 | Huddersfield Town | 5 | -3 | 3 |
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