Who will lead the line against Watford?

[eddy779h34]

Not much in it possession wise. 9 shots to their 8. Both had 1 on target. The difference being theirs went in and ours (from Lawro) was straight at their keeper.

Davies was solid in defence but is a total liability when in possession.

Evans. Not a centre half on his last 2 showings. Gave a needless penalty away last time out. Got a yellow for a stupid tackle this time and got away with giving a penalty away this time thanks to the referee's interpretation of the revised handball Law. Another day, another ref and it would have been given and he might have had a 2nd yellow for it. The ref was consistent as he used the same interpretation later on in their box. Evans is also not much better with his distribution than Davies. He was the man closest to Pedro for their goal and should have been closer to him before he got the pass and closd him down earlier IMO. Not sure why he got a contract extension.

Marshall. Not at fault for the goal. He was where he should have been and it was great placing from the young lad.

Both full backs had good games and ought to keep their places. Buchanan was my MOTM.

Shinnie is, I believe, supposed to be the breaker up of play but does it rarely.

Bird isn't the player of last season. Virtually invisible for the opening 30 and when he's on the ball I expect more creativity but don't see it.

Holmes is off his game.

Knight was a proper Duracell bunny but needs to have end product.

Clarke was, well, Clarke. Must be wondering if he'd have been better off going to Boro after all...

Rooney. One chance put wide and one free kick just over the bar. Played better than I'd expected but I'd have subbed him on the hour mark.

Despite all of the faults we were as good as a team currently in the top 6.........

No faulting the effort.

Is it worth playing Rooney for a odd free kick or corner. The rest of his game he is like a forty year old at 34 he should be fitter than he looks

[Geoff Parkstone]

If we don't play him we will never appear on TV, so won't get appearance money.... After all, what neutrals want to watch Derby County Nil play

[macstheman]

Don't worry, I understand Wayne's ordered a mobility scooter for the next game so he'll be much quicker!
I agree with MA's assessment but did think they were much better. Why?? Because it was obvious they had a plan, knew what they were doing and did it well, we spent the whole game wondering what the plan was whilst hoping for divine inspiration!
Never mind Cocu's future, as things are our future is on the line. My only hope is that the return of some on the injured list will give us a much needed lift. Otherwise, a long and difficult season ahead!

[Andy_Faber]

I worry about how easy Byrne got skinned by their winger a couple of times, especially as it was obvious it was going to happen as he was just ill balanced for the challenge. That might cost half a dozen goals a season which with our scoring record might mean six defeats. But overall it was depressing. much as MA tries to offer some positives. Rooney is becoming the John Robertson of the new millenium in my view, a luxury you can afford when on the up. not when slugging it out

[MadAmster]

We got £12M from the sales of Bogle, Lowe and Bennett. That will cover about 9 weeks of the squad wages at a guess.

No crowds so no gate income so we have no money to buy the players we might want.

Then there was the FA charges of which we were found not guilty. The result took far too long and would have discouraged possible signings.... even if we had the wherewithall to buy them. There has also been talk of us having been under a partial or virtual embargo, the detail of which I haven't seen but if there was one, we can't slate Cocu for that.

We are still on the limits of FFP so, unless Mel buys, or gets someone else to buy, Moor Farm and lease it back to the club, that will also be the situation in January.

Might the reason for the lack of spending, the inability to match Martin's wants, the lack of real quality coming in, be simply down to the club only having 2 and 6 in the kitty? If lack of cash is the reason, I don't see how anyone could reasonably criticise Cocu for not getting better in.

As per usual, we fans see what we see, read what we read and come to conclusions based on that, knowing that there is a lot we don't know......

Before anyone decides to get on to me for being a "Cocu lover", I was not all that positive about him when he arrived. Describing his football as being "business like". As close a translation as I can get to the Dutch word "zakelijk". What we are seeing is the personification of zakelijk football as described by me in the summer of 2019.

I love the way he has brought the young uns on. He has done it in the past but the majority of his successes on that score were young uns he bought from other clubs and only 1 or 2 "of their own". At Derby we have seen a succession of young uns making their way into the first team squad on merit.

[swaledale]

We got £12M from the sales of Bogle, Lowe and Bennett. That will cover about 9 weeks of the squad wages at a guess.

No crowds so no gate income so we have no money to buy the players we might want.

Then there was the FA charges of which we were found not guilty. The result took far too long and would have discouraged possible signings.... even if we had the wherewithall to buy them. There has also been talk of us having been under a partial or virtual embargo, the detail of which I haven't seen but if there was one, we can't slate Cocu for that.

We are still on the limits of FFP so, unless Mel buys, or gets someone else to buy, Moor Farm and lease it back to the club, that will also be the situation in January.

Might the reason for the lack of spending, the inability to match Martin's wants, the lack of real quality coming in, be simply down to the club only having 2 and 6 in the kitty? If lack of cash is the reason, I don't see how anyone could reasonably criticise Cocu for not getting better in.

As per usual, we fans see what we see, read what we read and come to conclusions based on that, knowing that there is a lot we don't know......

Before anyone decides to get on to me for being a "Cocu lover", I was not all that positive about him when he arrived. Describing his football as being "business like". As close a translation as I can get to the Dutch word "zakelijk". What we are seeing is the personification of zakelijk football as described by me in the summer of 2019.

I love the way he has brought the young uns on. He has done it in the past but the majority of his successes on that score were young uns he bought from other clubs and only 1 or 2 "of their own". At Derby we have seen a succession of young uns making their way into the first team squad on merit.

Whilst Covid does have a bearing, on the situation, surely its the same for all clubs in this league? Except of course for those enjoying their parachute payments, but then they do have a larger wage bill unless they have relegation clauses in player contracts or have offloaded the expensive players.

So in effect what your saying is Mel has perhaps mismanaged the financial situation and Ccou is doing as well as any other manager? Sorry but I don't agree, look at the league there are teams with far less resources than us doing better. We will soon be overtaken by Weds who we had a 12 pt margin over!

By the way it was the EFL not FA that brought the charges and frankly whilst it should have been resolved sooner, there has been plenty of time to sort transfers or loans out given the domestic window has only just closed!

I'm scratching my head as to how much coaching input Rooney has? He is both inexperienced and to date theres no evidence that he is a tactical genius, can't help feeling its more of a Morris ego trip than a sensible move.

Your right Cocu certainly doesn't seem to set up teams to play fast attacking football, but I could accept that if he managed to get the team sound defensively. Unfortunately over his tenure he hasn't managed to do that.

Given we have signed new players, I don't see the failure to keep Martin as anything other than Cocu didn't fancy him but then he clearly doesn't rate Marriott either. It isn't as if we haven't spent money on players, my query is are they the right players? Having let a striker go, one might have thought getting one in would be a priority, rather than a desperate move for a "has been". I may be proven wrong but can't see Richards being the answer to our lack of goals.

But finance aside, its the evidence of how Cocu sets a team up that is most depressing, can't see that changing and while I will wait for a final judgement until we have a team with most players fit I'm not overly hopeful.

[Geoff Parkstone]

Even if we did, we'd sell them cheap - it's the derby way

[Ram59]

Hopefully, our style of play will change when the match squad is made up from the likes of Lawrence, Jozwiak, Waghorn and Ibe. I'd like to think that a more match fit Rooney with those 4 playing around him at different times during each game, should give opposition defences something to think about.

[ramAnag]

I really don’t have a ‘beef’ with Lampard, Swale and I accept everything you’ve written in your first two paragraphs.

Beyond that I don’t understand your comment about ‘splitting hairs’ and being ‘disingenuous’.
Under Rowett we finished 6th with 75 points and under Lampard we finished 6th with 74 points. Those are just facts. We played one more game, admittedly at Wembley, and we lost.

The difference is that Lampard borrowed three players to get us to Wembley. If it had worked things may well be different, fact is it didn’t. Lampard left, the three loanees left and in effect there had been no team/squad building during his tenure and I can’t think of one of his actual signings that has subsequently worked out well for us.

In comparison Cocu arrived at short notice having lost the player of the previous season and the next best two as well. In addition to that, within a month, he’d also lost captain Keogh and had to deal with all the mess that went with it so...’same set of circumstances’...I hardly think so.

As I say...I have no ‘beef’ with Lampard. I just feel that some look at his season in charge through rose coloured glasses. Of the deals that have been made by any of the last three, possibly four, managers I’d argue that, although it’s early days, Cocu has made the best and that Lampard was the least successful - eg. signing FloJo and selling Pearce.

I’ve never actually tried to blame Lampard for the mess we’re in. Just suggested that he didn’t leave us in the great shape that some make out and now that he appears to have unlimited wealth to spend it’s really no easier to truly assess his genuine managerial ability.
Whether Cocu has the opportunity to demonstrate his, beyond the end of this week, remains to be seen.

[swaledale]

I really don’t have a ‘beef’ with Lampard, Swale and I accept everything you’ve written in your first two paragraphs.

Beyond that I don’t understand your comment about ‘splitting hairs’ and being ‘disingenuous’.
Under Rowett we finished 6th with 75 points and under Lampard we finished 6th with 74 points. Those are just facts. We played one more game, admittedly at Wembley, and we lost.

The difference is that Lampard borrowed three players to get us to Wembley. If it had worked things may well be different, fact is it didn’t. Lampard left, the three loanees left and in effect there had been no team/squad building during his tenure and I can’t think of one of his actual signings that has subsequently worked out well for us.

In comparison Cocu arrived at short notice having lost the player of the previous season and the next best two as well. In addition to that, within a month, he’d also lost captain Keogh and had to deal with all the mess that went with it so...’same set of circumstances’...I hardly think so.

As I say...I have no ‘beef’ with Lampard. I just feel that some look at his season in charge through rose coloured glasses. Of the deals that have been made by any of the last three, possibly four, managers I’d argue that, although it’s early days, Cocu has made the best and that Lampard was the least successful - eg. signing FloJo and selling Pearce.

I’ve never actually tried to blame Lampard for the mess we’re in. Just suggested that he didn’t leave us in the great shape that some make out and now that he appears to have unlimited wealth to spend it’s really no easier to truly assess his genuine managerial ability.
Whether Cocu has the opportunity to demonstrate his, beyond the end of this week, remains to be seen.

Yes we lost to Aston Villa 1-0, a club significantly richer than us benefitting from parachute payments in the final. Not saying Rowatt did a bad job, but he walked out on us and thought the grass was greener at Stoke.

Who knows what Lampard would ahve done in his second season? Pure conjecture. You say you have no beef with Lampard, but then said at least Rowatt walked out on us as if that behaviour was better than Lampard's? Your original post seemed to blame Lampard for where we are now.

Anyway Cocu isn't an improvement on either and we certainly aren't kicking on this season!