Cock Up by Cocu?

[sixtiesram]

We should be taking all competitions seriously and not be fielding a team that had no chance of winning. To do so is cheating the fans and denying them of any hope of winning a trophy this season.

Spot on. I don't expect to win every game but I do expect us to compete. On Tuesday we didn't.

[AngryRam]

Lol...says our resident Brentford based cocky, cockney courier ...and your connection with Derby is?

Nowt wrong with my ‘competitive spirit’, Angry...but I’ll hazard a guess that the managers of Burnley, Norwich and Crystal Palace are none too disappointed at no longer having the distraction of the Carabao Cup taking attention away from their prime target of top flight survival.

Suppose a trip to Arsenal would have been quite handy for you.

I travel the country watching my team, thousands of miles a season. Forgive me for expecting Derby to complete in EVERY game. That’s a minimum in my books. If we lose, so be it but don’t lie down and die. If your happy with that, I feel sorry for you.

Just what exactly were the high points of last season? Man U and Chelsea? What the hell Burnley, Norwich and Palace have to do with Derby I have no idea. However I bet the true fans of those clubs have a few issues over a whimper of a defeat.

[Manofpride]

Suppose I’d better get my tin hat but, imo, there’s a huge overreaction here from people who should know better.
Never nice to lose against one’s biggest rivals I know, but it’s the Carabao Cup...that’s all.
Okay we won’t have our lovely little adventures at Old Trafford and Stamford Bridge to look forward to this season, but then didn’t the Chelsea escapade last season cost us Mount - and probably quite a number of much needed league points and form - last season?
Far from being ‘disgusting’ or ‘going down in my estimation’ I think Cocu has acted like a professional and a grown up.
He picked the kids in the previous round and he stuck with them last night...that’s the way the likes of Klopp goes about things - selecting and targeting the season’s priorities - and he knows a thing or two.
As for suggesting ‘Cocu will be gone before the season end as we drift into mid table obscurity’ on the back of our reserves and youngsters coming unstuck at Forest in August...you’re much more sensible than that Swale.

Agree with you on all of that apart from the bit about Swale being sensible!

[ramAnag]

I travel the country watching my team, thousands of miles a season. Forgive me for expecting Derby to complete in EVERY game. That’s a minimum in my books. If we lose, so be it but don’t lie down and die. If your happy with that, I feel sorry for you.

Just what exactly were the high points of last season? Man U and Chelsea? What the hell Burnley, Norwich and Palace have to do with Derby I have no idea. However I bet the true fans of those clubs have a few issues over a whimper of a defeat.

Tbf, Angry...it was you who accused me of being ‘not a Derby fan then’ because I suggested there was some sense behind Cocu’s decision to stick with the youngsters and rest players who would otherwise have played six games in a fortnight.

I don’t and have never doubted your commitment to supporting DCFC...slightly puzzled by why a sixty year old Londoner should show such ‘dedication’ in terms of travel, time and expense to a team you obviously have no geographical connection with but that’s your business not mine.

I just feel that managers these days all have to prioritise. To say we didn’t compete isn’t necessarily true. We played a weakened team of youngsters and we were second best by all accounts but I’ll save any criticism of Cocu until we’re rather more than a month into a new season. On the evidence of what I’ve seen so far - three matches - I’ve been very impressed at times and disappointed at others. About par for the course with new management and a number of new players.

What have Burnley, Norwich and Palace got to do with it? They too played ‘weakened’ sides against ‘lesser’ opposition and came unstuck, but at the end of this marathon long season all the fans will really care about is league position.

[Trickytreesreds]

I hadn't dived into this, as folks would take the normal stance.
As a Forest fan, I always enjoy beating DCFC.
However I do feel cheated. Coco the clown made too many changes. We also made a lot of changes, yet our depth of squad of better players was more understandable for us to do it.

Why didn't he give the fringe players a half each? It would have made more sense.
As a spectable, you was dire and should have got tonked. Be grateful Grabbon wasn't on the pitch.

[swaledale]

Agree with you on all of that apart from the bit about Swale being sensible!

Something I've never been accused of, so thanks for sticking up for me MOP!

[swaledale]

Tbf, Angry...it was you who accused me of being ‘not a Derby fan then’ because I suggested there was some sense behind Cocu’s decision to stick with the youngsters and rest players who would otherwise have played six games in a fortnight.

I don’t and have never doubted your commitment to supporting DCFC...slightly puzzled by why a sixty year old Londoner should show such ‘dedication’ in terms of travel, time and expense to a team you obviously have no geographical connection with but that’s your business not mine.

I just feel that managers these days all have to prioritise. To say we didn’t compete isn’t necessarily true. We played a weakened team of youngsters and we were second best by all accounts but I’ll save any criticism of Cocu until we’re rather more than a month into a new season. On the evidence of what I’ve seen so far - three matches - I’ve been very impressed at times and disappointed at others. About par for the course with new management and a number of new players.

What have Burnley, Norwich and Palace got to do with it? They too played ‘weakened’ sides against ‘lesser’ opposition and came unstuck, but at the end of this marathon long season all the fans will really care about is league position.

Yes Anag. managers have to manage their team, though **** knows how they would have managed in the 60's when most teams only used 16 to 18 players on muddy strength sapping pitches!

IMO managing players is called rotation, where the manager makes a few changes to rest key players and can rest 3 more through subs as the game progresses. GIven that we haven't exactly been firing on all cylinders, you might have thought that Cocu would use the game to tweak the system, give fringe players an opportunity to shine within a strong team as it was he did nothing other than bung a team of kids together who he must have known werent up to the job.

What is currently happening is a bringing football and cup competitions especially into disrepute, to the extent that there is literally no point in having them, may as well call it the Under 21 cup or the reserves cup, at least that way fans would know what they were paying for and avoid the current charade.

As for Cocu, well IMO he is another foreign manager that has shown no respect for the British game, cup competitions are nothing on the continent, they used to be taken seriously over here, sadly thats no longer the case and all most fans can look forward to is another season of dreary league football, with the faint possibility of being involved in the play offs.

Yes the fans of the clubs you mentioned will hope they stay in the prem league, but most would have relished a cup run, and had a realistic chance of going to a wembley cup final. Derby fans could now be making plans to go to the Emirates, if we'd taken the game seriously.

[mistaram]

I was politely correcting Mister about his strange scripture about "it's only the Carabau Cup" boo hoo!
COYR!!

It wasn't me Es*** must have been somebody else I've spent hundreds of pounds and many hours watching Carabou cup matches I would never say anything bad about any cup match

[AngryRam]

Tbf, Angry...it was you who accused me of being ‘not a Derby fan then’ because I suggested there was some sense behind Cocu’s decision to stick with the youngsters and rest players who would otherwise have played six games in a fortnight.

I don’t and have never doubted your commitment to supporting DCFC...slightly puzzled by why a sixty year old Londoner should show such ‘dedication’ in terms of travel, time and expense to a team you obviously have no geographical connection with but that’s your business not mine.

I just feel that managers these days all have to prioritise. To say we didn’t compete isn’t necessarily true. We played a weakened team of youngsters and we were second best by all accounts but I’ll save any criticism of Cocu until we’re rather more than a month into a new season. On the evidence of what I’ve seen so far - three matches - I’ve been very impressed at times and disappointed at others. About par for the course with new management and a number of new players.

What have Burnley, Norwich and Palace got to do with it? They too played ‘weakened’ sides against ‘lesser’ opposition and came unstuck, but at the end of this marathon long season all the fans will really care about is league position.

I just don't get the pick and choose situation.. Why? There is no need to rest players at this stage, in fact the opposite is probably true in this case. We have no cohesion in the first 11, we have not played well and are bumbling through. Surely every minute these guys get playing together should be relished, especially given the poor preseason as well.

Someone tell me just what those 10 changes achieved. Please, I would love to understand WTF it achieved, apart from sullying the relationship with the fans and heaping pressure on himself. Does Brentford now become a must win? Surly it does seeing his midweek antics. It rarely works this 'resting' thing. Mac did it and it blew up in his face every time.
As it happens we could have had Arsenal away.. I have never seen Derby have never play at the Emirates and it would have been a great day out and a money spinner for the club. Are we in a position to throw away revenue streams? Morris will be bleating on about money later syaing 2 and 2 don't make 4 in The Championship.

Ask Wigan fans and Pompey fans what their highlights have been over the last 10 years. Finishing 6th and losing in the play offs? Or those special days?

Now we have a trip to Brentford a difficult place to go at the best of times. Pressure is on for a result and that pressure now comes off a bad defeat against Forest. Brilliant, well done Cocu..

If he's going to do this and I fear he will in the FA Cup as well, at least be honest with the fans and we can all stay at home and not waste valuable time off and a couple of hundred quid. Sadly, the club won't have the balls to do this.

Changes for niggles etc are acceptable. A few changes are almost acceptable but 10 !!! Feck off.

[ramAnag]

Fair enough...you have your opinion and I have mine.
I think the season will be four weeks old by the time the Brentford match finishes and we’ll have played eight competitive matches in that time.
You and I don’t actually know how many knocks and niggles there were and old legs like Huddlestone would have needed a rest in any circumstances.
Swale makes a very fair point when he speaks of how squads managed forty or fifty years ago on strength sapping muddy pitches with smaller squads, but times have changed and Cocu is part of a new breed of manager who is more inclined to protect his players from early season injury.

That’s how it is nowadays and Cocu is far from an exception...as far as the money is concerned, understand your frustration but it’s only in our hands if we’re at home and the precedent for lower prices has been set in the early rounds of the Carabao/Milk/League Cup before.