Tickle Tackle - Always Look On The Bright Side...
I certainly wouldn't number myself among the "blind faith brigade" but I will admit to being an eternal optimist. It really wasn't like me then, to be so completely downhearted after Saturday's home defeat to Sheff. Utd.
Certainly I always try to remain upbeat in this column but on Saturday, I just couldn't see where we were heading. For one thing, I hate losing at home... to anybody. And then while I trust Nigel's judgement on transfers those incoming during late August are hardly inspiring. That's not to say they won't be successes of course.
The transfer window format irritates me as well. While no-one wants Rob Hulse to leave, £4.5m is actually darned good price for him. The irritating thing is that the system allows clubs with money to spend to leave their "too good to refuse" offers right until the end of the window and it surely must be a tactic to do so, knowing full well that the selling club is almost certainly not going to be able to spend that money to replace their player during that window. All credit to Rob for staying with the Rams and screwing Middlesbrough's plans up.
So all in all, I was a bit disenchanted at the weekend. It was a surprise then to read on www.therams.co.uk that the Rams have made the best start to a season for two seasons (mind you, that wouldn't have been difficult). Of course, there are lies, damned lies and statistics as Benjamin Disraeli is reputed to have said but one statistic that hasn't escaped my attention is that so far, we're still waiting for one of our strikers to score (at the right end).
Part of that is no doubt due to the loss of Chris Porter through injury. With him available, Nigel Clough might well play a different formation with more support for Hulse. Nevertheless, it's goals which win matches and currently we're not scoring enough and conceding too many. Maybe if we can start scoring more, a side effect of that might be that we start to concede fewer.
But as I say though, the stats say we are an improving team so maybe I should just lighten up a little. Tonight's game is a big one though.
Catch you soon.
© Steve Tickle 2009
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