The better side for the opening 5 minutes of each half and then........ nothing.

Just about all of us have said at one time or another that we don't have enough bite in midfield. Last night was yet another glaring example. Every loose ball was closer to one of theirs than one of ours. Every ricochet seemed to go in their favour. They had more movement all over the pitch. When you look at the teams' League position you could be excused for thinking they had swapped kits for the evening. They say you need some luck to win. Blackburn had it in spades last night and that was mainly down to their work rate aand physicality.

It was back to the old system of standing off, not pressing and not harrying and when we did not doing it anywhere near enough. On the other hand, when we got the ball they were biting at our ankles to get the ball back. In our faces and forcing us into mistakes............ and it worked. They got away with quite a lot IMO and the ref let them. Having said that, in the opening 15 he was very pro Derby in his decision making. Then the crowd and their players got on to him and he seemed to flip "allegiance". I will give one glaring example of not cracking down. The ball was lofted towards the D of their area. Mount goes for it and gets hit from behind by one of their CD's. The defender is running forwrads, jumps and leads with his left forearm which hits Mount on the border of head and neck. That in itself is painful enough and then Mason injures his upper arm and/or shoulder in the resulting fall. The ref played advantage which was fair enough but, at the first opportunity after that, he should have booked the defender.

As a unit, we had way too much space between the lines which made passing more difficult and interceptions by them much easier and it showed. When we did get forward, 99% of the time we tried to go through the middle where it was as crowded as the M25 in rush hour. Why?

Basically we got muscled out of it again.

Roos - not at fault for either goal but did flap at a couple of balls he should have caught.
Bogle - good game
Keogh - good game
Tomori - good game
Cole - OK. Complains too much for me. The worst example was the waist high tackle about 20 minutes from the end. Linesman flagged and got a veral broadside from Cole. Not the forst time in the game he had a go at an official for getting it right. That needs to stop.
Bryson - huffed and puffed but that was about it. Lucky not to get booked on 2 occasions. He has a special place in many Rams fans' hearts but I think Kilmarnock is calling him and he should heed the call
Johnson - Conspicuous by his absence. Invisible for long periods in the game
Mount - Not a good game for him but he did take a lot of clattering. Head//shoulder/arm injury then the leg injury.
Lawrence - a couple of flashes but that was it
Waghorn - ran about a lot but to no great effect
Wilson - put himself about to no avail and showed yet again that, in a physical game, he is way too easily nudged off the ball and that will stop him becoming a top player IMO. Unless of course he beefs up

Nuge had no time to make a difference and the jury is out on whether he still can make a difference.
Holmes came on but didn't get into the game
Bennett did OK but couldn't make the difference last night

I reckon we had two good chances last night. First half Wilson got a chance, played the ball with his left and then pulled a left foot shot wide. His huge preference for his left was the problem. IMO he ought to have done one of two things. Either hit it first time with his left or take it on his left and hit it with his right. In both situations aiming towards the left hand post.

The other was a great chest down from Bennett to Lawrence whose shot forced the keeper into conceding a corner.

On to Saturday. FL will ring the changes IMO. He should. Why? Because Bolton will play the same physical game that Blackburn did. That Millwall did twice. That Rotherham did at their place. etc etc.