7 Noteworthy Things in the Chesterfield Game

[ellafella]

1. Jeff Hendrick
Is in the form of his life at the moment. We all see how well equipped he is (skill, power, speed, a good shot) but for me he’s been a “33-and-a-third” player turning in a good performance 1 game in every 3; but now he’s added a new dimension to his game – he’s started to pick the precision pass that has defence-splitting finesse. He did it at Walsall last Saturday and he did it again last night, threading the ball through a tight angle to put Bent through, who actually fluffed the easy part and allowed the keeper to gather. Can Jeff keep this going? £3 million Ginger?! Youre having a giraffe pal!

2. Farrend Rawson
Wow! Came on after 62 minutes replacing Pearce (I think!) and boy he looks the part. A big, powerful defender, very at ease on the ball and a lovely, firm header back across the goal for Rams’ second and decisive. I predict that Rawson may get his first team chance this season as soon as we have an injured centre half and I think he will be hard to dislodge. The guy has class.

3. Alex Pearce
Much improved from last season; gone is the quivering autumn leaf of a player. Gave a very assured display. Good feet and quick ball out of defence and some nicely-timed tackles on a certain Ched Evans (who looked a threat). Not sure if he has enough aerial poise as we didn’t really see any high ball, but Pearce read the game very well, included a goal-line headed clearance when O’Shea of the Spireites should have scored.

4. Craig Forsyth
Great to see him back. He is the best left-full back we’ve got and we missed him last season. Olson is good but doesn’t match the physicality of Craig, nor the presence going forward.

5. Jon Mitchell
Looks very good. Powerful stature...has he bulked up a tad? Not really tested last night but very commanding of his box and tells defenders what to do and organises well. Also a very strong kicker...Kelle Roos is probably behind Mitchell now in the pecking order and we might see Mitchell overtake Granty this season to become no 2 behind big Frank.

6. Max Lowe
To be honest I said to young Edward “Blackman has shaved his beard off and looks twice the player he was last season”. Skill, speed and a shot which cannoned off the underside of the bar. A nice deft Cruyff turn first half had the crowd “oo-ing”. Turns out it was Max Lowe, and not Blackman. Lowe is another one who looks very equipped to step up.

7. Darren Bent
Seems fitter and a lot more mobile than last season. Ran the channels well and could/Should have had at least one other goal. Also cleared off Derby’s line to prevent a certain goal. Perhaps Pearson’s “every player has a clean slate” has added a bit of an edge to Benty...I wonder how Martin will respond. I gather Martin is 2 stone lighter this year and started pre-season 2 weeks earlier than anybody else.

[AdiSalisbury]

Good write up Ella. I'd like to see Benty used more this year, hopefully Pearson is more astute as to how to use him. Really excited to see how we line up next week, I will disappointed if we see the same old formation / faces.

Good to hear about Farrend, can't be easy getting quality centre backs in as cover so hopefully he can be that guy / pushing the others on.

[ramAnag]

Really encouraging report Ella. Thanks. The reports on Pearce and Rawson particularly suggest that Pearson is wise to check everyone out before reaching for Mel's cheque book. Early days but it seems to make some of the decisions made this time last year look rather confused in comparison.

[ellafella]

Good write up Ella. I'd like to see Benty used more this year, hopefully Pearson is more astute as to how to use him. Really excited to see how we line up next week, I will disappointed if we see the same old formation / faces.

Good to hear about Farrend, can't be easy getting quality centre backs in as cover so hopefully he can be that guy / pushing the others on.

Cheers Adi,

Pearson's selection for the opening league match will be interesting. It's hard not to select Hendrick at the moment so midfield will be interesting...but Thorne is out so maybe less of an issue. Max Lowe looks good to me. I suspect he may be in and around the bench for a while or possibly a starter in a cup match. Baird also looked tidy and efficient but surely can't displace any of our current centre-backs...

[ellafella]

Really encouraging report Ella. Thanks. The reports on Pearce and Rawson particularly suggest that Pearson is wise to check everyone out before reaching for Mel's cheque book. Early days but it seems to make some of the decisions made this time last year look rather confused in comparison.

Thanks ramAnag...I suspect we will be a solid unit under Pearson; more solid than hitherto but perhaps at a cost of creativity so maybe we need an injection of a player who may open up teams...Johnny Russell looked ultra-mobile last night but still lacks that final cutting edge but he had a very good shot well-saved late on last night.

[swaledale]

Yeah good report, seems encouraging, I think Pearson will bring that winning spirit to the team , it may not be pretty at times but then he is paid to bring success and when thats been established, then one can work on the finer points of the game.

[ellafella]

Yeah good report, seems encouraging, I think Pearson will bring that winning spirit to the team , it may not be pretty at times but then he is paid to bring success and when thats been established, then one can work on the finer points of the game.

Thanks Swales. We seem to have a few young players with promise coming through now. Interesting that a number of names that I am not familiar with have been included in pre-season...Lowe, Vernam, Cover, et al.

[swaledale]

Yes that is encouraging as well, though I thought Lowe was a left back or am mixing him up with someone else?

We certainly dont seem to be chasing players or at least not publicly so maybe Pearson is happy with the overall squad, again a good sign as new managers often want to rip apart a team, rather than fashion something from the existing squad.

[ellafella]

Yes that is encouraging as well, though I thought Lowe was a left back or am mixing him up with someone else?

We certainly dont seem to be chasing players or at least not publicly so maybe Pearson is happy with the overall squad, again a good sign as new managers often want to rip apart a team, rather than fashion something from the existing squad.

Yes, I thought Lowe was a left-back too which is why I thought "Lowe" was Blackman; but he definitely played left midfield at Chesterfield and looked sharp, especially during the first 30 minutes. I never got to see him so close up as Chesterfield didn't really press into our box for any real length of time (we were in the North stand behind the goal) but I'd be surprised if Pearson was after the Welsh left-back as we clearly have 3 at the Club who all look more than adequate.