Reply With QuoteOh dear! Where to start? I'll go back to the most recent away defeat. Pretty abysmal at best. Then there's a tete a tete before training on Monday in which everybody was encouraged to have their say. It is said that the training session that followed was full of more passion and effort than normal.
1st half last night it looked like all the passion and energy was still on Monday's training pitch. Did SW grasp the initiative or did we give it to them? Whatever, they came out of the blocks pressing us high up and forcing errors which led to us giving the ball away. They gave us no time to control the ball, never mind do anything constructive with it. When they had the ball, we backed off, gave them time, gave them space, all of which was used to put us under the pressure of an aerial bombardment which, in any other game this season, would have seen us crumble. That we only conceded 1 in the 1st half and that that was due to an uncharacteristically awful pass from Fozzy is a welcome surprise. More by luck than good judgment we went in at HT with only 0-1 on the scoreboard. That was ana woeful 45 minutes from Derby. Seemed to wake up for the last 5 minutes of the half and had 2 "shots" both of which were high, wide and not very mighty. I feared the worst and expected more of the same in the 2nd half.
I was somewhat surprised by the 2nd half. Opening seconds Martin heads over (we still don't have a headed goal this season....). 1st half they ruled the roost. 1st half of the 2nd half was pretty much even stevens with SW possibly just in the ascendancy. From 65/70 minutes on we started to get the better of the game and went more direct ourselves and on 68, Marriott and Waggy replaced Knight and Whittaker. We were going to go for it. Why we didn't from the off is anybody's guess. I am still undecided as to whether they put one over on us or that we simply didn't compete for the first 35 to 40 minutes. We got the upper hand and, on 82 minutes, got a penalty which Martin buried. Even if their keeper had gone the right way he would never have got to it. After that we had enough (half) chances to grab all 3 points. I would have loved to have seen that happen but, in all fairness, over the 90 we just about did enough to earn a draw.
All in all, not a game of 2 halves but of 1 half and 2 quarters. All SW, even stevens, All Derby.
Next up is Millwall on Saturday. They will do, from the off, exactly what Wendy did. Press, harry, clog and not give us any time to play any pretty stuff. We should play the XI and the tactics of the closing 25 minutes against SW and meet fire with fire.
I often close my little tomes with my views on the ref. Today is no different. WTF!!! He seemed not to notice, or chose to ignore, SW's blatant gamesmanship from the off. Especially after their 23rd minute goal. Their keeper started time wasting from that moment on and it was only around 80 minutes that he had a word with him about it. Once Derby started to get the intiative, SW players suffered a rash of "injuries", designed to do no more than take the momentum out of our game. He fell for it hook, line and sinker. Right throughout the game they were taking free kicks 5 to 10 yards further forward than where the offence occurred. Early 2nd half we took a quick on about 2 yards forward of where the offence took place...... we had to go back and take it again. Late 2nd half we took a quick throw in, he blew to allow SW to make a substitution. No signal from an assistant that a sub was ready. The 4th official didn't even have the board ready........ SW got 5 yellows, 2 of them going to Odubajo which saw him walk on 90. He was 3 yards from the East Stand touchline. That is where he should have left the pitch. He did, in fact, do so but then decided to re-enter the field of play and exit vis the West Stand touchline. A long slow journey taking over a 30 seconds. Again trying to run the clock down, allowing his teammates time to reorganise and take the momentum out of Derby's play. IMO they ought to have had more yellows than they got. At first sight, I thought Knight was unlucky to get a yellow. No argument on Evans' and then Lawrence....... yet another unnecessary card. I think that's 8 for the season, just 2 shy of a 2 match ban. Almost all of them avoidable as well. Received for petulance towards the ref or an assistant, bad tackles caused by petulance or fouls conceded because he simply doesn't know HOW to tackle........ back to the ref...... he was pretty damned awful IMO.
Originally Posted by ramAnag
