Please log in or register. Registered visitors get fewer ads.
The Weston Report: Rams Playing Out Of Toon But Need Time
Monday, 12th Sep 2016 06:00 by Ryan Weston

Two long weeks had passed since that Burton debacle. A game which felt at the time like a watershed moment-a chance to ship out the deadwood and bring in fresh blood. And a time to get blind drunk and pretend it never happened.

So bad was that defeat that the very next day, Uncle Mel dipped deep to break our transfer record.

If that wasn’t enough, the fact that football is now officially mad was highlighted a few days later, with the sale of Jeff Hendrick for 10.5 million pounds. 10…. point five…. million pounds…..!!??

Laughing to the bank an understatement.

What was no laughing matter was the loan move of our best striker to a direct rival. Something I will never quite understand, but the fee received for our Christopher allowed us to bring us another player from Watford’s bench. I think I preferred it when we were quiet in the window!

No matter, Saturday saw a perfect opportunity for the (sort of) new look Rams to show us a statement of intent on the box against the bookies favourite for the title. All three of our recent recruits were given a starting berth, with Messer’s Vydra, Anya and Wilson charged with being the ruthless Rams to make us put the ball in between those stick things.

If the revolving door at Pride Park had been busy, up at St James’, it was bedlam, with more ins and outs than a morning at Heathrow Airport. When our visitors had finally settled on eleven to start, we were ready for our season, hopefully, to begin.

The early signs were certainly good. Inside two minutes, Russell played in Anya, who cut back for Vydra to turn and score. Sadly, the linesman’s flag was up a good five seconds before.

Anya though had started positively. What he lacks in size he makes up for in speed and it was nice to see an out and out winger, looking to beat a man and whip balls into the box. What wasn’t so good was, when he did deliver two great balls, there was no-one there. It was hard not to think that a certain Scottish international striker would have thrived on such service…

Still, it was a good start, with high-pressure, high intensity football causing the Geordies problems. Despite little in the way of goalmouth action, you felt a compelling game of football was on the cards. Well, until twenty minutes in that is...

On their first real foray forwards, Newcastle, through Gayle, won a corner after his shot skimmed off Keogh and trickled wide. From the subsequent delivery, the ball evaded everyone but Gouffran at the far post, who smashed an impressive volley past Carson, through Russell and into the net. One terrible bit of marking and we were behind.

All of a sudden, it had changed. 3,000 plus Geordies piped up. We fell silent, perhaps already fearing the worst. Still, it was the Rams dictating most of the play. Russell’s clever slide rule pass through to Olsson saw him get goal side of his man and hit the deck. Penalty claims came but were at best optimistic.

So were thoughts of goal, as despite our good work in midfield, our creativity and attacking momentum was again lacking. Too many balls were clipped into space instead of feet. Our strike partnership looked exactly what it was, new.

Still, we were only one behind at the break, with our slack marking punished in what was an industrious half if not unspectacular half. Industrious however does not score goals, with another 0 in the shots on target column. We had to do better.

And for ten minutes, we threatened to be, through a trio of attempts from Olsson. First, good play down the left between the Swede and Anya saw the former cross to the far post and almost see his attempted assist drop in. Next, good hold up play from Vydra saw him lay back to Marcus, who blasted well over.

A cross from the right was then only half cleared before Olsson tried a looping header which dropped harmlessly wide. Perhaps the fact that our left back was the one trying his luck spoke volumes!

There followed an infuriating passage of play where our visitors cleverly kept possession and began to stifle both Rams players and fans. Worse almost followed, as Diame surged through the middle and tried to chip Carson. Thankfully, it was the sort of chip that I produce when trying to play golf - wide, wayward and nowhere near where he planned.

On a side note, Diame underlines all what is curious and downright bizarre about the beautiful game. Scored the winner for Hull, had the chance to play in the Prem and came back down. Perhaps he likes going to Blackburn. Or perhaps there were a few more ‘0’s in his pay pack…

Talking of curious, Pearson made an extremely questionable decision to replace Wilson with Blackman. This said, we soon saw wild scenes of celebration as the Rams actually had a shot on target.

A more Derby-like interchange on the edge of the box saw Bryson with space to shoot. So he did, with his swerving effort too hot to handle for Sels but still managing to punch it away.

From the next attack, Anya once again beat his man and delivered a cross which left Sels scrambling before clipping the top of the bar. You sensed that the opposition stopper was susceptible to anything challenging, so shooting on sight could be the way to go.

Sadly, someone told Blackman, whose shot threatened the family stand near the corner flag more than the actual goal.

Anya’s race was run, cramp seeing his positive debut ended prematurely. Ince entered, but time was against us. With precious little going forwards, Shackell was sacrificed for Bent, to a chorus of sarcastic cheers.

Yes, it was far from the centre back’s best display, but the reaction was unjustified. For the most part though, it was frustration at another collectively uninspiring display.

Diame robbed Bryson with two to play and this time found the target, but Carson saved well low to his left. Try as we might, Newcastle were seeing out the game well. In time added on, they added the cream on top of their perfect away display.

A corner would surely mean they would keep the ball? Not so, as Shelvey, arguably their best player (well he should be for 10 million) picked out Perez, the only player in the box. His cushioned volley set up the onrushing Yedlin, who managed to poke home under Carson.

Mass exodus. Geordie delight. Game over.

An all too familiar feeling, just six games in. Yes, 2-0 was harsh and we could have arguably been good value for a point but the simple fact is, if you don’t score goals, you don’t win football matches.

My worry is that 4-4-2 is not the way forwards and is not the best fit for this team. Opposition defences can easily mark it, our players don’t seem suited to playing it and one shot on target speaks volumes.

Yes, our new signings need time, something that our manager also deserves.

One thing is for sure though, one of those goal things would be very welcome soon!


Weston’s Player Rating:

Scott Carson - 6: Not overly worked but distribution could have been better.

Cyrus Christie - 6: A typical Cyrus display. Did the hard well, the easy not so…

Richard Keogh - Weston’s Star Man 9: Fantastic. Led by example - a shame others didn’t follow.

Jason Shackell - 4: Easily the worst I’ve seen him play. Awful in possession, shaky when usually calm. Morons ironically cheering him off won’t help though!

Marcus Olsson - 7: Decent going forwards and did defence work well.

Will Hughes - 6: Showed glimpses but not convinced in a 4-4-2.

Craig Bryson - 6: See above! Worked hard but ineffective.

Ikechi Anya - 7: A few flashes which bode well.

Johnny Russell - 5: Very poor. Played far too narrow.

Matej Vydra - 6: Couple of decent passages of play but needs game time.

James Wilson - 6: Another who needs time.

Subs:

Nick Blackman - 5: The usual. One horrific shot that scared the corner flag to death.

Tom Ince - 6: Couldn’t have a late impact.

Darren Bent - 6: Not sure he touched it.


Match Highlights:


Post Match Reaction:




Photo: Action Images



Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.


You need to login in order to post your comments

Derby County Polls

About Us Contact Us Terms & Conditions Privacy Cookies Advertising
© FansNetwork 2024