1st leg reports and thoughts | Vital Football

1st leg reports and thoughts

MadAmster

Vital Squad Member
In the opening few sentences of my UEFA 'B' coaching course, the chief instructor said "after this course you will never enjoy a game again from a spectator's viewpoint". He was right to an extent. I find myself looking through 3 different pairs of glasses. The fan, the ref and the coach. When in attendance at a Rams game, the fan takes over but the other two are still there, lurking in the background and popping in every now and again. When at a live game when Derby aren't playing, the coach comes to the foreground with the ref in close attendance, the fan spends most of the game in the catacombs having a pie and a pint. TV games? Derby or not, it is indeed the coach and ref in the foreground. The fan is still very much there bubbling in the background only to erupt at poor challenges made on our players, oohs and aaahs at near misses at both ends and, of course, the outburst of joy when we score. That's the background dealt with.

All 3 of me had expected the team to emulate Brum's tactics of last weekend. Get into 'em from the off and not let them play their passing game. Something Fulham are very good and effective at. We also know from personal experience that "get into 'em" puts footballing sides off their game. I was surprised that we gave them space and time and didn't play the pressing game. It's a dangerous ploy when playing a side as good as Fulham. Despite their huge amount of possession, I think Carson was called into serious action twice and they hit the bar on a 3rd occasion. We managed only one on target but it did go in. Beautiful cross from Fozzy and........what a an absolute cracker of a header from Jerome. Power and precision aplomb in that split second proved to be the difference on the day, as far as the scoreline was concerned.

I sincerely hope we don't back off ond off and off all the way to inside our area on Monday. Their shooting can't be as poor as it was yesterday again IMO. At least in our defensive third and, preferably, in our half with the occasional "full court press" on them will reduce their chances and increase ours.

16 shots in total and only 3 of those were ours. They "won" 2-1 on shots on target. They will be bitterly disappointed with what they did with their 74% possession. For much of the game we still looked the most likely to score as they streggled to get into good positions to even shoot. I say again, we need to close them down earlier on Monday as they won't be that poor in that area of the game again.

Pleased with the overall performance and we can go in to the 2nd leg with some confidence and a good idea of the things we need to do better/different come Monday to increase our chances of progression. That is a nice place to be.

In the last 20 minutes I was imploring Big Tom to shoot from 70 yards out. The longer the game wore on, the further and further their keeper moved up towards the halfway line. The perfect opportunity for Hudds to plant one of those exquisite 70 yard passes in the back of the net. Maybe he'll have a go at Craven Cottage.

The offside talking point in the first half. Was CJ on of off? I agree with the referee. CJ was lurking in an offside position. We got the ball and he saw the opportunity of the ball coming so he sprinted all of 5 yards to get back a yard onside and then took the pass. When in an offside position, their defenders would have been ignoring him to an extent. His brief sojourn back onside was something to cause the assistant to flag and the ref to do that one armed waving bit above his head. Getting an advantage from having been in an offside position. The ref in me says well done to the officials.

Monday will probably see me in the St James's gate on Rembrandtplein, Amsterdam with a dozen or so of the Amsterdam Rams. If not, I will be watching at home. In either case I will be praying that I have to spend a lot of money going to Wembley in 2 weeks time.
 
Excellent resume MA. I agree that we will need toilet higher up the pitch at their place (if possible!!) otherwise we will be ground down. GR needs to find a way for us to nick a goal (pref 2) and the wide areas seem the best bet. We need to stop Cairney having the run of midfield like in the 2nd half, he's too good to be given the freedom of the park.
The main thing is we are still in it!!
 
Cairney is very good. We need to do what Cloughie used to do whenever we faced Best or Ball. He would sacrifice a man (McGovern) by instructing him to stay a yard and a half off Best/Ball and always in a straight line between the player and the ball. neither player ever did much against Derby under Clough. In this case I would utilise Hanson for the role. He has the added advantage of being mustard at free kicks and corners.
 
The trouble with pressing higher-up the pitch, is that it requiries more energy because there's more space and that it leaves bigger gaps at the back. Also. By encouraging their players forward, this then leaves them more exposed to a counter attack. This worked well against Cardiff and Barnsley.
 
I did edit it but it refused to change so I gave up!
Stay camped in your own box and Mitrovic will love it! Davies needs to be able to intercept through balls when they are delivered not when they are received which happens when the play is compressed in your own 1/3!!
 
Delighted with it. Thought we had the more danger of the 2 sides, despite their dominance. The only time they got behind our defence, he smashed it 20ft over the bar.

The offside? You're only offside when the ball is kicked, so you can go and converse with the keeper if you want, so long as you get back before the ball's released. Linesman got it wrong, but that's the way it goes.

A tough reverse, and I still expect Fulham to beat us, but I couldn't be happier with what has happened so far.
 
Cairney is very good. We need to do what Cloughie used to do whenever we faced Best or Ball. He would sacrifice a man (McGovern) by instructing him to stay a yard and a half off Best/Ball and always in a straight line between the player and the ball. neither player ever did much against Derby under Clough. In this case I would utilise Hanson for the role. He has the added advantage of being mustard at free kicks and corners.
That is ok MA but who do we drop
 
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