COVENTRY CITY v DERBY COUNTY...................……….........................FA Cup #1
The Coventry Building Societ Arena 1230 Saturday 8th January 2022
Preferred bidder this.......preferred bidder that....imminent takeover....bidder dropped out..........I just wanna get back to football which arrives very timely on Saturday from Highfield Road
The game versus Reading showed a spirit and determination that surely cannot be sustainable? Surely? The only sour note was that we should HAVE won but didn't but in a spooky way I feel that pulling level like that was probably, in a motivational way, better than a scrappy 1-0 win "Fack the EFL"
Team selection will be a strange one. Keep the regulars in to continue the winning/no losing run or give a well deserved run out to those squad players who are as committed to the cause as the big boys? After all, more cup games to contend with will only impact on this wafer thin squad and shouldnt the league be our priority? Ahhh, the age old cup v league arguments.....
Second game of the year - should be a big Rams following there tomorrow - including myself and LNSR - so I cannot promise to be unambiguous on the thread.......
Well, I wont deny I'm disappointed....but then again I'm happy. We simply dont need the distraction of the cup at this time. That said it would have been nice to have kept the recent run going I guess. So, mixed emotions.
For me, we were never quite at the races yesterday. Yes, it could have been a different game had Lawrence put away that early chance. But after a bright start we seemed to allow Coventry back into the game without them (Cov) ever being dominant - or really looking anything other than an ordinary Championship side.
So :
1. Goalie - Allsop. Didnt have much to do TBH other than pick the ball out of the back of the net.
2. Defence - Festy, Jags, Curtis, Fozzie. Generally played well although switched off for Coventry goal. Clearly Festy also had a role higher up the pitch. I'd have given him MOM but for his decision making / control higher up the pitch.
3. Midfield - Bird, Knight & Tommo. I'm giving MOM to Tommo for his non - stop work rate seemingly all over the park. Bird did ok and it's very rare these days that he has a bad game. Knight did ok - but for me he's not quite been as effective of late as he's been in previous games.
4. Forwards - CKR, Loz & Ravel. I dont know whether I should have put Ravel in with the midfielders as I couldn't quite figure out where he was playing. His best role (for me) is supporting the attack - which he didnt particularly do yesterday & spent to much time playing deep, picking up the ball where he is simply less effective. Loz, like Knight for me hasn't been as effective of late. He's slipped back into his frustrating way of being a gifted player that doesn't very often have an effective game. As Captain I'd hoped that the extra responsibility would have made him more involved. That said he doesn't pick up all those stupid bookings that he used to. CKR sadly just couldn't get into it could he. So I'm going to say that on current form Ravel and CKR are better as impact subs - when the opposition are tiring.
5. Subs. Didnt realise we were allowed 5 - .Joz, Ploz, Shinnie, Baldock & Stretts. I thought Rooney left it too late to bring them on TBH and they therefore found it difficult to get into the game. I thought Joz had some good moments, but like I said the others just didnt get enough time on the pitch to make much comment. I think Joz and Ploz have the makings of a good partnership and are the pair that should start most games.
So next week promises to be interesting. Will we hear of the preferred bidder, will Rooney make a signing...if so what position ??? ....will there be any outgoings ???? .....will he who always scores against us (no, not Ince) .....Billy Sharp do his usual ???? Hope not eh.....UTR
Re: next week - Sheff Utd, I just hope that Derby fans refrain from those stupid, imbecilic chants about Billy Sharpe. Not funny, not humorous, not true and it just trivialises a very real and pertinent real problem.
I thought our play in the first half was excellent in the way we moved the ball around. Festy was unplayable. From my vantage point it didn't seem that he had too many options on the three or four times he got to the byline in dangerous positions. Perhaps he should just have smashed it across the six yard box and hoped for a ricochet. I think he is showing fantastic promise though and end product will come soon enough. I did think he ought to have shot with his left foot on the occasion he waltzed throught the middle. He was much less effective in the second half, I think he tired.
Thompson really stood out again. He keeps it simple and doesn't try ambitious passes. Maybe with time his range of passing will increase but he is performing way above what we had any right to expect.
We were disappointing in the second half for me. The pace of passing was pedestrian and it didn't seem as though we were all that keen for it to go to extra time. I thought Morrison was back to the ineffective level of a few weeks ago. Both Lawrence and CKR were also too quiet.
But we are more than holding our own against teams in our league. Overall I thought we were the better team and only lacking that bit of final quality. I think the next two games will be extremely difficult against opponents in very good form. It would be nice if we could go into them with a boost from the off the field stuff.
Yes, great summary Terry. Also, great comments from Vidal.
Morrison is so frustrating. With Bird and Tommo in there he does not need to play so deep and could be very effective further forward. Lawrence also frustrating. We have two talented players there who are not delivering consistently.
It certainly does seem that CKR achieves far more as an impact sub. Maybe he's having to pace himself if on from the start so is less effective?
Re preferred bidder Rooney said post-match that he fully expected an announcement before our next game.
Frankly I don't care who it is now. Just want it done.
Re signings, if any, yes please to Jags plus a striker or speedy winger though where they come from I do not know.
Good article in The Sunday Times by Jonathan Northcroft on the genius of Clough. Some fine comments by Rams fans. No link as you have to subscribe but well worth a read to those wot can
comment by 🏴 HebridesRam (U2909)
posted 33 minutes ago
Good article in The Sunday Times by Jonathan Northcroft on the genius of Clough. Some fine comments by Rams fans. No link as you have to subscribe but well worth a read to those wot can
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Copy and paste Heb?
comment by ViewFromCroxteth (U1581)
posted 31 minutes ago
I really didn’t fancy a trip to Southampton
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Good "recent" cup form there too.
