Matchday Thread: Bristol Rovers V Rams

[ramAnag]

IMO they weren't deliberately hanging on. Rovers were the better side on the day. A reverse mirror image of the MKD game. This time it was us put in trouble by the opposition playing better but failing to score. We limited them to 2 shots on target, one of which was the penalty. They had more energy, more aggression, a greater will. "Social media" platforms are full of folk shouting it was never a penalty. Reverse the situation and I would be disappointed if we hadn't been given a penalty for that. Considering how late the penalty happened, did we pay the price for "taking the sting" out of several situations in the 2nd half? Wildsmith was "treated" something like 4 times. To me, it looked like 1 was genuine. He got a booking for timewasting. We utilised "sh1thousery" and, IMO, it bit us on the arse. I dislike "sh1thousery" and would like to see us dump it as a "tactic".

Bristol deserved something out of the game and I can't help but feel that we, eventually, gifted them that due to our dubious "sh1thousery".

Reasonable 1st half, poorer 2nd half, again. Is this the proof that our older players have run out of steam? If so, let's start the young uns and have them get "stuck in". Barks wasn't effective. NML, I'd love to see him come on and cause havoc in the last 25 to 30 minutes. I don't think he currently has a full 90 at full speed in him. Quite feasibly due to a lack of a proper pre season.

Many fair points there, imo, MA...but I’m not buying the ‘lack of a proper pre season’ where NML is concerned.
I think I’m right in saying both Barkhuizen and NML were signed on the same day in very early July. Tbh Barks has, odd flashes apart, still to win me over, but in NML I though we had a genuine player.
His second half performance against MKD last week was woeful and I thought his laziness was actually to blame for their equaliser.
Our considerable ‘dip’ since January seems to have coincided with NML, for whatever reason, being less able or willing to become as involved as he was earlier in the season.
He’s only thirty (sorry...31 yesterday) and potentially a vi tal and talented part of this Derby side, but I’ve been disappointed in him over the last few months and I’d really like to see the same sort of commitment from him next season as we get from the likes of Cashin week in week out.

[Andy_Faber]

Many fair points there, imo, MA...but I’m not buying the ‘lack of a proper pre season’ where NML is concerned.
I think I’m right in saying both Barkhuizen and NML were signed on the same day in very early July. Tbh Barks has, odd flashes apart, still to win me over, but in NML I though we had a genuine player.
His second half performance against MKD last week was woeful and I thought his laziness was actually to blame for their equaliser.
Our considerable ‘dip’ since January seems to have coincided with NML, for whatever reason, being less able or willing to become as involved as he was earlier in the season.
He’s only thirty and potentially a vi tal and talented part of this Derby side, but I’ve been disappointed in him over the last few months and I’d really like to see the same sort of commitment from him next season as we get from the likes of Cashin week in week out.

He seems to have lost his touch AND his drive, not sure which impacted on which. Credit to him for chasing that pass that gave us the pen against FGR last week, but that was in the first minute so maybe it is a fitness issue

[MadAmster]

I think another reason might be his not wanting to play as a wing back. He decided against signing a new contract at Wendy because they wanted to persist with him there. LR got him in to play as a winger. PW has turned him back into a WB. He's being asked to play a role that he hates.

It's this time of the season when the hard miles of pre season training pay dividends. Neither Barks not NML have those. IIRC, both signed a little over 3 weeks before the opening game. Lack of numbers in the following week and a half, saw an ever growing number of players arriving until we got to roughly where we are now in numbers. Much of the "pre season" will have been ball based rather than the hard miles due to the lack of time leading up to the opening game. You usually look at 6 weeks. Much of our squad had half, or less, than that. The dip shouldn't be a mystery. Having said that, I still blame the EFL for giving Warne the January MOTM award