Another draw snatched from the jaws of victory!

[MadAmster]

2 games undefeated. The first of them saw a more attacking formation, based on what we expected from the opposition.. This one was slightly more conservative, again, slightly tailored to the oppo. IMO, if we played as "gung ho" against Coventry as we had against Wycombe we'd have been well and truly stuffed. Even with a more safety first attitude they exploited the space behind our back 4 well and created some good chances and had a goal chalked off for offside. Playing the back 4 more forward, as we did against Wycombe, would have given them oceans of space to exploit.

Now, I'm still not convinced Rooney is the man for the job but, as I am, and always have been, a horses for courses guy when it comes to football, I must admit to being pleased with how he's set the side up with a combination of "playing our on game" (or rather the one he wants) and making some adjustments based on the strengths of the opposition. Less pleased with the way it worked out but it's a start.

The lad can convince me even more by dropping Lawrence who, following his 1 in 10 against Wycombe, was back to his ineffectual best last night.

Both halves saw both teams have periods in the ascendancy Derby possibly slightly the better 1st half, Cov in the 2nd.

How did the tactics work out? A more conservative approach saw us have 1 (or 2 depending on whose stats you use) shot more than against Wyombe but 2 less on target. In end product the 2 approaches were pretty much even steven. Defensively Cov had 1 more shot and 1 more on target than Wycombe had. Again a similar outcome, as were the final scores.

Couldn't fault Marshall. Two good full back performances. Good to see Bielik in what is possibly his best position. Holmes had a good one as did the duracell bunny, Knight. Kazim, though, was best of the bunch for me, despite his totally unnecessary yellow card in the 11th minute.

7 changes for Wycombe. 5 changes for Coventry. What to expect for Millwall? I'll have a go at what I think he'll do.

Back 4 of Wis, Davies, Clarke, Forsyth
Bielik and Shinnie
Waghorn, Holmes, Lawrence
Kazim

Personally I'd drop Lawro and put Jozzy in there. Waggy on the bench as Knight does not deserve dropping. Clarke had a sloppy game well below his usual standards. I wouldn't drop him for one poor performance but a repeat would certainly see him rested. I'd be happy with that back 4 as it's Millwall and it's Rowett and we probably need more beef for that game although the same back 4 as against Cov would be acceptable.

Marshall did nowt wrong
Byrne was back to the levels of his first couple of games for us
Wisdom was solid
Clarke had too many iffy moments
Buchanan had another good game. Had a period of being less attack minded while he was running off the knock he got
Bielik had a strong performance
Bird did well but ignored too many good runs into space by teammates
Knight was a bundle of energy
Holmes had another good un
Lawrence was poor
Kazim was pick of the bunch

Ref. Accepted much less from us than he did from Cov. Might have given them a penalty but he could also have booked the guy who went down. In the end he did neither. On another day, a different ref would have given it and sent Buchanan off. I think he got it right in ignoring it. You could say the same for Lawro's shout, I sawe it as good play by the defender. The Stretton shout was never a penalty. We got 4 yellows, Cov 1. I'm not saying the ref was harsh on us with the 4 cards, all of which were, IMO, justified. However, there was 3 or 4 incidents where they committed the same sort of foul and either nothing was given or the player merely got a "talking to".

[Geoff Parkstone]

7 changes for Wycombe. 5 changes for Coventry. What to expect for Millwall? I'll have a go at what I think he'll do.

Back 4 of Wis, Davies, Clarke, Forsyth
Bielik and Shinnie
Waghorn, Holmes, Lawrence
Kazim

I'd have thought, given you love of the 1-4-3-2 type formation definitions, that you might have picked a goalkeeper for the game against Millwall?

[MadAmster]

I'd have thought, given you love of the 1-4-3-2 type formation definitions, that you might have picked a goalkeeper for the game against Millwall?

The post was about changes....... suppose I should have left the striker out as well as that "line" hasn't changed either.

[swaledale]

The post was about changes....... suppose I should have left the striker out as well as that "line" hasn't changed either.

Lack of consistency in thinking here!