Hatters v Rams thoughts

[Ramfantastic]

Look at my comments, I qualified them all with "not up to their usual standard". It's not like I said any of them had a worldy, now, is it?

Their first? Probably wouldn't have stood if there was VAR last night. You say Wiz was slow. He was on his man who turned and pushed him away to get the advantage.

Bogle and Lowe not stopping crosses. They may not have stopped many (any is an exaggeration) but ask yourself why. The point being, they are told to play inside, up to 20 yards from the touchline, in oredr to condense the space in the middle of the pitch. That means that they are not in a position to intercept the pass, tackle the player receiving or even put him under pressure quickly. I remember 2 crosses Lua Lua tried 1st half that Bogle put out for a corner. Lowe gave away at least 2 corners intercepting crosses.

As for Lowe's red card: I never said it was a push. The ref had his arm up telling Hamer to go away, Lowe pulled the ref's arm downwards using force that, as it's the ref, is excessive. Disssent and physical contact with the referee. It's a sending off. I too have seenfar worse contact with a ref and NO action has been taken. The point being, which you seem to miss, that you can't criticise this ref for getting it right just because others got it wrong.

Their 3rd goal, Bogle might have cleared the ball but didn't. Moving sideways he found himself in a position where it was hard to do with either foot and he got his positioning wrong and we all know what that led to. Where I agree with Nicholson is that full backs should stop more crosses, however, until such time that the Manager lets them stay closer to the opposition wide players, taking into account the angle and distance to the player, so that they can intercept/tackle/harry the wide man, they will continue to get criticised for not doing something the Manager's tactics don't allow them to do.

You might say the same about not having a player on each post at corners. A player on the near post from the corner may well have kept the shot out for their equaliser.

As you will now have deduced, it's about opinions and all are valid. We will probably agree to differ but that's OK. In this instance, I agree partially with Bogle and their 3rd goal (might have rather than should have). Disagree with them being at fault not cutting out any crosses as they do cut some out but, I agree, should stop more but don't because of the tactics they are told to adopt. Wisdom was pushed away for their first so blameless IMO. Clarke? Double teamed for the lead up to their 3rd. Ended up being the one to face off the man in possession and then, when the (very good) pass was made, he was also the one who had to chase the reciever. Where were the rest of the defence?

Not upto the usual standard ? Well yes they were, weren't they? Comparing to the usual standard away from home it was probably a better performance than many games.

Take another look at Wisdom definitely could of done better, he was very slow to his man and almost gave up on the challenge, believing that because the player went away from goal that he had done his job.
When the opposition have the ball the full backs will mark the wide man and try to dispossess or stop the pass/cross and they are not doing this, tactics may or may not make this difficult and I disagree with you, it is nothing to do with the tactics. Basically both full backs gave away possession far to often and sometimes almost instantly after the ball was won back, which puts everyone on the back foot and out of position. IMO they both had very poor games and Bogle is no where near the player he was last season.

I did not criticize Clarke as it was the lack of protection that made him available to be ran at and consequently we saw the speed of his turn, LOL. (Titanic)

As for Bogle's own goal, not sure how you can defend his error? It was a mistake I'm sure even the player would admit to that? A mistake.

Really disappointing that any fan can begin to justify that performance as even average, it was very poor against a team with little to offer and low on confidence.

More kids introduced and we may end up going the same way as when Kevin Keegan's Newcastle sent us down to league 1.

[swaledale]

In that first half I can only describe the players as 'lost'!! They seemed totally bewildered by what they were trying to do and I am sorry but such a situation, coupled with Rooney's and the teams general lack of pace, leaves us totally vulnerable to any half decent pressure from the opposition. Chuck in the fact that Coco seems to believe that squeezing everything into the middle of the park inevitably only produces these stagnant performances. As MA says any width by the opposition leaves us completely boxed in with half the team immediately taken out of the equation.
Time will tell if it will work in the long term but I don't hold out too many hopes!!

I've long since given up trying to figure out what Cocu's game plan is! Whatever he thinks it ain't working in the championship thats for sure.

[MadAmster]

We'll have to agree to disagree Ramfantastic. Yes, Bogle's o.g. was a mistake. They all make them. Wisdom WAS pushed by their player which was the only reason he got the jump on Wiz. ref should have given Derby a foul for it.

Luton little to offer? High press forcing Derby to play it around among the defenders and giving the Luton defence time to get back and set up their bus park. The right tactics implemented well enough almost always work. Fast on the break. Lua Lua a problem until subbed around the hour mark.

It's all about opinions and ours differ in this instance. No problem there as far as I'm concerned.