Archive for the ‘match’ tag
Forest Vs Derby Media Round-Up
We love him because he's mental
As usual Ramballs has scoured the internet for the match reports and coverage of the weekends game. Having seen the highlights on The Football League Show, I now think Connolly’s reaction to Tyson’s run for the third goal were poor. He steps up with his arm in the air when Tyson was already on the ball. Also, I still have no idea what Hulse’s goal was disallowed for given the ease with which Morgan (I think) went down.
If you missed it, check out Bywater laughing amongst the post-match nonsense. It’s on the Iplayer around the 15m 16s mark and it’s just another reason to love Bywater.
If you haven’t done so already, check out the RamBalls report here.
Here are the match reports from around the net.
Blackpool Vs Derby County: View from the forums
It would be unfair of me to give a full opinion of the draw at Blackpool when I wasn’t there. I’m quite happy with the result because every point away from home is valuable but it’s the game on Saturday that will tell us if it was a decent point or not. There are a lot of fans around the messageboards who still appear to need 24hr suicide watch despite is picking up four points from the possible nine.
I’ve been browsing some of the messageboards and I’d like to share some of the more considered write-ups from yesterdays game.
First off, Milton_Keynes Ram from popside.com shared their post-match thoughts. MKR knows football and I think if you want a decent report of the rams performance, head over to popside.com and read MKRs comments after each match.
A clean sheet is always welcome but god that was a boring and crap game of football. In patches on Saturday at Scunthorpe we played better than we did last night, but the difference was a lot more solid against what was admittedly a very very poor Blackpool team who will probably struggle all season.
The first ten minutes we looked the more controlled and composed team and look to me like we would assert control and dominate the game but a few almost casual moments at the back, players trying to do too much on the ball, or no conviction when passing itl got the crowd into it for them and seemed to give their players the boost they needed and after that we never seemed in total control.
Addison and Buxton in particular looked more solid than at the weekend…..though given the type of forward Buxton was up against I’m not surprised. Moxey and Connolly on numerous occassions played their entire attack onside when they should be able to look across the line or/and take the lead from the centre backs and a better attack would have taken advantage. Savage too played them onside a few times when tracking back. To me I think the individual awareness of a number of players in these instances was poor, couple with poor communication from Addison/Buxton almost caused us problems that should never have occurred.
Green was missed tonight. Pearson started reasonably well in the first 5-10 minutes but rapidly faded out of the game and Savage never really took control of the midfield. Croft was exceptionally poor and should have been dragged off plenty earlier whilst Teale seemed frightened to take the full back on either side on. For the majority of the game Teale was up against Eardley the ex-Oldham right back we were linked with over the summer - looked a very good player albeit the first time I’d seen him.
Commons started well but then drifted more and more out of the game as it went on; surprised reading Clough’s comments about him post-match whilst Hulse was clearly not match fit. Although only on briefly Varney probably contributed more in the time he was on the pitch than in any other game for us besides the second half of his debut at Burnley last season.
Whilst we had problems with the offside rule whilst defending the amount of times Croft, teale and Hulse managed to get themselves offside at innocuous times was criminal.
Very poor and flat atmosphere from the travelling fans although the home fans made up for it. Did well to keep the noise in the ground given one temporary uncovered stand and one half built one. Never intimidating as some grounds can be but full marks for getting behind their team.
Finally if the rumours were to be believed about us being in for Charlie Adam over the summer I’m glad they weren’t true. Rotten rotten footballer.
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Over on the DET forums, ratpackramwrote:
Bywater 6 - nothing to do , one save in second half , dodgy ball control nearly let in their forward
Connolly 6 - poor first half , improved a lot in the second
Moxey 9 - outstanding , class class class , great buy
Addison 8 - never gave them a sniff
Buxton 9 - won every header, small but so is cannavaro, another great buy
Croft 5 - unfit , poor crossing, might do better if he lost a few pounds
Teale 6 - tried but no end product
Savage 6 - did what he does , kept it simple
Pearson 7 - just shaded Sav, had a
bit more going forward
Commons 8 - involved in anything we created which was not a lot to be fair but has our x factor
Hulse 7 - no service , kept battling away trying to flick ball on to himself as no one gambled for the flick on
Might get slaughtered for this but I was impressed with Varney when he came on for Hulse
what about playing him in home games alongside Hulse with Commons on the left linking with Moxey , push Teale on the right , get Croft on a diet and bring Barker in for Connolly.
Derby County vs Peterborough: Match Preview
I hate waiting for things; Christmas, holidays, buses, 5pm Monday to Friday etc. That’s why I am so excited about tomorrows Championship opener at Pride Park against Peterborough. At the end of last season I was relieved when safety was confirmed and the season was finally brought to an end because my ticker couldn’t cope with the pressure. Now, after a couple of months off from it, I can’t wait for it to kick off again. It’s as if I am suffering from amnesia as the memories of last years battle for survival has been entirely replaced by giddy excitement as I wait for Saturday 3pm.
As fun as pre-season has been, we haven’t come out of it unscathed as the injury worries continue to mount up: we’ve collected more injuries than an A&E department on a Saturday night during the same weekend as a narcoleptic sufferers superbike championship and “free Stella Artois” event at Zanzibar.
Having beaten Svens men, failed to win the Bass vase, drawn to Dirty Stoke and toured the South West, all eyes now turn to the visit of Championship news boys, Peterborough United, for the 2009/10 season opener.
With Darren Ferguson at the helm, the Posh have won back to back promotions having secured second place in League 1 last season. As they begin a stint in the second tier of English football for only the second time, you can guarantee Darren Ferguson will have his boys fired up for this one as his new look squad takes shape. Back in May, Ferguson announced he was making 12 players available to transfer, including Sergio Torres, a winger signed from Wycombe for £150,000 only 12 months before.
It has been a case of out with the old & in with the new as Ferguson has brought in fresh faces to the London Road residents. Tommy Rowe, 20, signed from Stockport after the club were put into Administration at the end of last season. During Stockports 2007/08 promotion season, Rowe won the accolade of young player of the year and could well be one to watch this coming season.
Another of Peterborough’s new boys is Toumani Diagouraga who signed a four year deal with the club having moved from Hereford Town. The French 22 year old plays in central midfield and had long been admired by Darren Ferguson who unsuccessfully tried to sign him last season. Diagouraga says he joined Peterborough because of Darren Ferguson’s ambition which, if previous seasons are anything to go by, are sky high.
Of course, it isn’t all new faces at London Road. Last seasons stars are still there too as they look to prove themselves as Championship quality players.
Craig Mackail-Smith: A proper posh un'
Aaron Mclean is the other Posh striker who the Rams defence need to be careful of. He scored 18 goals last season and, along with Mackail-Smith, is believed to have been a target of Celtics. In fact, back in January Celtic were said to be interested in both Posh strikers and George Boyd, although they could not afford the £15m asking price demanded by Peterborough.
George Boyd scored a brace in the recent friendly against Fulham and, at the time of signing for Posh, he was the most expensive player brought from a non-league team (£260,000) back in 2007.
The Rams go into the game with a heavily depleted strike force as Rob Hulse has missed most of the pre-season, Chris Porter may be out until Christmas with hip problems, Kris Commons has missed a bit of pre-season and has been looking to build match fitness recently in the games against Stoke, Burton Albion and Solihull, and Luke Varney is recovering from illness which leaves us with Steve Davies as the lone striker meaning we are reliant on Green and Pearson pushing up and supporting the attacks.
Derby will be looking for a good start but so will The Posh. Ferguson’s boys will be looking to pick up where they left off where as Derby will be hoping to forget last seasons showing and start afresh. Derby lost four of their final five league games last term. The Posh lost only three of their 23 league matches away from home last season.
It’s worth nothing that Derby have only won once in their last four league encounters with the Posh. However, in all competitions, Peterborough have only managed to win two of their previous six meetings.
I predict a tough game. Some people might think The Rams should easily turn the new boys over but as Savage said in his interview with RamBalls, we got battered by Doncaster on the opening day last season and battered against Southampton’s kids. We can’t take anything for granted, Ferguson’s lads will be looking to make an immediate impact at Pride Park and show they are competitive in the CCC. One area where they won’t be competing with The Rams is match day attendances; last season Peterborough’s highest attendance was 14,000 against Leicester and 4000 of those were foxes fans.
So after weeks of training and transfer activity, it’s now up The Rams to show some working class resolve against The Posh young upstarts.
RamBalls Prediction: 2 - 1 to the Rams
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Solihull vs Derby County XI
Following last Tuesday’s slightly damp outing to Meadow Lane, RamBalls decided to have another soggy evening out of the house watching The Rams. Peter Kay would say the rain was “that fine rain that soaks you through”.
Finding the ground was a bit of a mystery; google maps sent us to a housing estate and the sat nav parked us at a chip shop. Eventually we found the ground, paid the £5 admission and found a seat amongst the few other Derby fans (around 25 of us) who were strange enough to make the 40 mile journey.
The match kicked off with former Stoke striker, Mark Grocutt, playing as a lone striker. Kris Commons played down the right with Ben Pringle on the opposite flank. Arnaud Mendy, the last minute goalscorer against Stoke, played in midfield alongside the trialist David Toukam, a young Cameroonian who plays for the Juventus youth team.
Kris Commons was the creative outlet for much of the first half and the Scottish international danced past a the Solihull defence on the right and shot just wide from outside the box on 20 minutes.
Arnaud Mendy used his power well in the middle and showed some neat control and some good exchanges with Toukam. Toukam also looked lively, showing for the ball and generally looking composed when on the ball.
The next attack came as Jordan Stewart picked up a loose ball, brought it out towards the left and crossed low to Commons who set himself up for a volley. He struck the ball on the turn and it was always going wide.
Minutes later and Commons was beating the Solihull defence again. He skirted across the 18yrd box, took a shot which was parried by the keeper back to Commons who then tried to chip the keeper only to see the ball cleared off the line.
The Rams took the lead through a penalty on 33 minutes. Mark Grocutt had the ball in the box only to be fouled and brought to the deck, right in front of the ref. Kris Commons was the man to step up to the plate and he slotted the ball away with ease, sending the keeper the wrong way in the process.
That was the first half. The second half was less eventful.
I could probably write more about the strange odours that my nose kept on being introduced to than I could the second 45 minutes. Honestly, whoever it was that kept on producing those less than delightful aromas should seek urgent medical advice.
I can’t remember us troubling the keeper in the second half. Commons was frequently on the ball although he didn’t have much to aim for in the middle. Pringle was subbed off for Ojamaa early in the half but his first half performance was good.
The closest Derby came to scoring in the second half was when Solihull defender and ex-ram, Theo Streete, nearly put the ball in his own net from a low cross.
The home side managed to grab a goal around 75 and a good one it was too. The ball found it’s way to John Pugh around the penalty spot and he struck it with a sweet volley beyond the helpless Atkins.
Full time score 1 - 1
RamBalls little camera struggled to get any decent pictures but you can see the gallery here.
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