It's time to see how good this kid is

[Rapid]

either way I don't think we'll change a winning team. as a few others I think hendrick did 'ok'. that physical presence in central midfield makes sure we don't get bullied.

I said hughes before the match and I still think he's the better option.

to be fair to mac, it was another tactical masterclass and hendrick was part of that plan.

[RamFromCornwall]

He was probably the best of the three midfielders. Was strong on the ball and more direct when running which is ***** for counter attacking football. I expect we will have an awful lot of counter attacks on Sunday, they have no option but to go for it. Get an early goal and we could trounce them with a player like Hendrick starting off the counter attack.

I felt Thorne had a poor game by his standards. Made a couple of good tackles although some reckless ones that gave them good shooting opportunities from free kicks. He also misplaced a lot of his passes and wasn't as composed as usual. I felt Bryson was quiet too and didn't do a lot. Would have swapped him for Hughes 10 minutes earlier than we did.

Nothing drastic enough to change things for the second leg though. Unless any of them are 100%. We need a fully fit raring to go squad to finish these off and not make things difficult for ourselves.

[Addisons_a_monster]

I think Brighton did a job on us last night, and still lost. The referee drove me spare - even though I think he had a good game.

Every fast break by Derby was stopped by a player being fouled around the halfway line - this was quite clearly a plan as they shared the fouls around - at some point he had to start booking players for it but no he manages to book Chris Martin for allowing their defender to fall over.

[triz]

I was pretty annoyed with the ref. In the first 5 minutes someone took out forsyth (i think) on the touchline with a filthy challenge and the ref did nothing. The commentators said he was being sensible as it's the first few minutes. I'm sorry but thats ********, a yellow is a yellow no matter what minute it is. Ward got booked in the same spot on the pitch for comparatively nothing. If i was manager and we had this ref, id be telling my players to kick the **** out of the opposition in the first 10 minutes as you have a free pass and will get away with it.


Upsons assault for the pen, definite yellow. Lindgards dive that the ref knew was a dive, definite yellow. I mean he could've done a worse job but he was so inconsistent.

[Rapid]

I was pretty annoyed with the ref. In the first 5 minutes someone took out forsyth (i think) on the touchline with a filthy challenge and the ref did nothing.

I think it's JR you're thinking of. scathing challenge. we said exactly the same - if it's wasn't the first few minutes of the game he's of got booked.

to be fair to brighton they worked the system. they made several 'clever' fouls. one in the second half in particular that was cynical but had to be done.

as for AaM's assessment, I respectfully disagree mate. I thought apart from the first 20 minutes we were in control. we let them have the ball in areas that weren't particularly dangerous and they ran out of ideas for most of the second half. they didn't have a single clear cut chance apart from their goal which was fortunate that bucko's block landed on lingaards foot.

classic away performance for me.

[roger_ramjet]

I think our midfield was largely anonymous, mostly due to the way Brighton tried to negate it by "going round it". Hendrick was the more effective of the two attacking MF but Thorne sat way too deep in the second half.

This had the effect of attracting Bryson and Hendrick further deep as well, leaving Martin isolated. This was most obvious when Russell went off, as he had linked to Martin, which Dawkins was insufficiently direct to do. The insertion of Sammon did not help this either until the last 5 minutes when we seemed to step up as a unit and not encourage Brighton to advance as much.

I was not convinced by the substitutions really. I guess Russell went off to keep him fresh for the 2nd leg, but he had a far better game than Ward. Bringing Sammon on puzzled me. If it was a move to lock the game up, then bring on another DM in Eustace seems to make more sense, as long as SM was comfortable sitting deep. Having Sammon as an extra outlet valve didn't seem to work.

Still the

[Rapid]

the sammon sub was bizarre. only conor sammon could be racing through towards goal on a 1-on-1 counter attack...and end up giving them a free kick! the poor bloke's useless.

I can only imagine mac has seen in training that he can do a bit of defending now and again and was probably a better option that someone like bamford.

personally I'd of brought hughes on in central midfield and got hendrick to do that job.

[RamFromCornwall]

the sammon sub was bizarre. only conor sammon could be racing through towards goal on a 1-on-1 counter attack...and end up giving them a free kick! the poor bloke's useless.

I can only imagine mac has seen in training that he can do a bit of defending now and again and was probably a better option that someone like bamford.

personally I'd of brought hughes on in central midfield and got hendrick to do that job.

I was hoping we'd discover Sammon actually has an extraordinary talent as a left winger and his blistering pace and fast feet would put the Brighton defenders on their backsides and grab the team two late goals to all but book our place in the final.

Then I woke up.

Seriously though, he was a much better option that Bamford at least, he's a luxury player who's lazy and not the sort of player you'd rely on to help see the game out.

[ellafella]

[quote="roger_ramjet". Hendrick was the more effective of the two attacking MF but Thorne sat way too deep in the second half.

This had the effect of attracting Bryson and Hendrick further deep as well, leaving Martin isolated. This was most obvious when Russell went off, as he had linked to Martin, which Dawkins was insufficiently direct to do. The insertion of Sammon did not help this either until the last 5 minutes when we seemed to step up as a unit and not encourage Brighton to advance as much.

I was not convinced by the substitutions really. I guess Russell went off to keep him fresh for the 2nd leg, but he had a far better game than Ward. Bringing Sammon on puzzled me. If it was a move to lock the game up, then bring on another DM in Eustace seems to make more sense, as long as SM was comfortable sitting deep. Having Sammon as an

[KingCharlieGeorge]

How anyone can think Hendrick didn't have a good game is beyond me, only Grant was better. Russell and Buxton played well and that was about it. We sat back far too deep and had to rely on Grant making 3-4 great saves. Only time we were on top was first half, but they bossed the first 20 mins.

Agree with Rapid about Sammon and Hughes. Hopefully we will be on the front foot on Sunday and will not give Brighton so much of the ball. We look so much better going forward and their defence is poor when they don't park the bus.