My Views on Today…

On The Bob

Well-known member
I thought we dominated against a side who are probably one of the worst sides I’ve watched since playing Rotherham last season (the irony!). A lot of possession but we struggled to break down their defensive lines after the goal.

The obvious turning point is Izzy’s error. I obviously put the mockers on him after praising him a few days ago (my apologies). Way too casual and just an awful error.

These things happen in football, but he looked like a shadow of his usual self after that mistake. I probably would have subbed him at half time.

After going 1 down, we huffed and puffed and made some decent openings but the final ball / finish was lacking. The longer the game went on and panic set it in, I felt we lost a bit of belief that it was going to happen today. Too many hit and hope crosses towards the end.

Burgzorg looked threatening but I felt the balance of the side was slightly off against a side sitting deep. Manu was ineffective with no room to get in behind. Engel had a load of space but no support going forward (particularly first half) as Burgzorg was making similar runs to ELL rather than showing for it. McGree could have made a big difference given the game situation, although Burgzorg was still our biggest threat.

The new lads that were brought on were obviously up against it, playing against a side camped outside their own box.

Burgzorgs off side and deflected effort off the post kind of summed up the day. Once the latter happened it really felt like it just wasn’t going to be our day.

Still very early days and there’s a lot more to come from us, especially once the new signings get settled in.

Similar to last season, an individual error has cost us the game. I don’t want to vilify Izzy as he’s generally consistent. The same very nearly happened to Morris v Swansea. However, we’ve got to cut those errors out of our game as much as possible. Especially against sides like Derby who are happy to park the bus.

Had it remained 0-0, I think we would have won today. As soon as Derby went a goal up, their only interest was sitting back, being niggly and time wasting at every opportunity. Something the referee never got to grips with, unsurprisingly!

But we must be better, and I’m sure that will come with time. Carrick has got a lot more options in the final 3rd now and it’s going to take a bit of time to fine tune and work out his best combinations.

Let’s bounce back next Saturday v Pompey. UTB!
 
Hope Carrick has realized that Hakney & morris dont work well together as they tend to chase the same ball .
These on field links and relationships can take time to develop.

Like I said, we’re nowhere near our best yet. It will take time and fine tuning in certain areas of the pitch. There’s more to come. I don’t think the issues sat in our midfield today. Barlaser wasn’t that great, but I understood Morris coming off since he’d played 2 full games prior.
 
Carrick did see it wasnt working & pulled morris for Barlaser which worked straight off so next match line up will be interesting.
 
Carrick likely pulled Morris as he's just played 2 x 90 minutes back to back, inside a week.

And Barlaser was hardly great when he came on....Although he only got 20/25 minutes.

It should be Morris & Hackney in the middle again, v Pompey, providing they're both fit and I think it will be too.
 
Carrick spent a few years watching a series of England managers pick Gerrard and Lampard ahead of him, for it not to work. I’m sure he’ll know when to drop the axe on that Hackney/Morris partnership if it’s definitely not working and I’d be surprised if that happens before the schools go back.
 
Carrick spent a few years watching a series of England managers pick Gerrard and Lampard ahead of him, for it not to work. I’m sure he’ll know when to drop the axe on that Hackney/Morris partnership if it’s definitely not working and I’d be surprised if that happens before the schools go back.
Seems to me Barlaser and morris complement each other more so far. Hackney and morris needs a bit more work
 
Poss put Hackney on the left (no stranger to that position) for Burg/McGree to come on around 70 mins, then play Morris/Barlasser in centre. Take one of those off then bring Hackney in and th replacement on the left to see the game out.

We hardly use the left at the mo, so at least Hackney is still on the field and can all swarm and swap where needed.
 
Poss put Hackney on the left (no stranger to that position) for Burg/McGree to come on around 70 mins, then play Morris/Barlasser in centre. Take one of those off then bring Hackney in and th replacement on the left to see the game out.

We hardly use the left at the mo, so at least Hackney is still on the field and can all swarm and swap where needed.
The last line there sums up the desperate need for an alternative to Engel. He is petrified (or incapable) of going forward. There is no point in the CB's passing out to him from the edge of our area when the ball is passed straight back to them. Engel has the odd tackle in him but he's almost the polar opposite to Giles who was a poor defender but a revelation going forward. I thought McCormick looked to go forward in his 20 minutes against Leeds and quite composed though Leeds were hardly a threat that night.
 
The last line there sums up the desperate need for an alternative to Engel. He is petrified (or incapable) of going forward. There is no point in the CB's passing out to him from the edge of our area when the ball is passed straight back to them. Engel has the odd tackle in him but he's almost the polar opposite to Giles who was a poor defender but a revelation going forward. I thought McCormick looked to go forward in his 20 minutes against Leeds and quite composed though Leeds were hardly a threat that night.
There seems to be almost a reluctance to pass to engel even when in space from his teammates. Add the unpredictable Burgzorg in front and you have an ineffective left side. Defensively yes engel has got better but his quality with the ball in forward areas is mediocre it isnt good enough if we are serious about promotion
 
The last line there sums up the desperate need for an alternative to Engel. He is petrified (or incapable) of going forward. There is no point in the CB's passing out to him from the edge of our area when the ball is passed straight back to them.
Even Giles wouldn’t be able to do it on his own.

Yesterday in the first half, the ball would be given to Engel with acres of room in front of him. Once he got so far his only option was a pass back to the CB or into a congested midfield.

Burgzorg was repeatedly making runs central towards the box 30-40 yards away. So the whole left hand side didn’t have a Boro player in sight.

If that was intentional, then somebody else needs to pull across to the left to give another option.

If you think of how Ayling / Jones and a midfielder usually combine in triangles, that was nowhere to be seen yesterday. I don’t think it was all Engels fault. He was no better or worse than the majority of players on the pitch.

That said, I still want another quality left back brought in as it’s still an area we can improve.
 
Even Giles wouldn’t be able to do it on his own.

Yesterday in the first half, the ball would be given to Engel with acres of room in front of him. Once he got so far his only option was a pass back to the CB or into a congested midfield.

Burgzorg was repeatedly making runs central towards the box 30-40 yards away. So the whole left hand side didn’t have a Boro player in sight.

If that was intentional, then somebody else needs to pull across to the left to give another option.

If you think of how Ayling / Jones and a midfielder usually combine in triangles, that was nowhere to be seen yesterday. I don’t think it was all Engels fault. He was no better or worse than the majority of players on the pitch.

That said, I still want another quality left back brought in as it’s still an area we can improve.
Agree we had a huge hole on the left if burgzorg wants to play that centrally he will have to get in the queue behind latte coburn and conway. I also think engel is incapable of playing triangles in the same way as ayling does on the right
 
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Agree we had a huge hole on the left if burgzorg wants to play that centrally he will have to get in the queue behind latte coburn and conway. I also dont think engel is incapable of playing triangles in the same way as ayling does on the right
Carrick failed to spot the same problem England had, nobody on the left willing to get outwide and give Engel an option ffs
 
I think Carrick could and should have managed that game a lot better.

Obviously losing McGree can't be helped, and Jones' error is beyond his control.

However his response to this was typical Carrick - slow.

It was obvious very early that Derby were sitting in a low block, so it's difficult for the players who rely on pace to influence the game. Barlaser coming on was correct as he's our best midfielder at picking out a pass / threading the ball and Jones should have been hooked much earlier as his whole game is getting in behind (which there was no space to do) his crossing has always been poor.

These changes should have been made before the hour, but he always seems to wait until near to 70 before starting to make changes.

Giving Josh Coburn stoppage time was ridiculous. We needed his aerial presence to just give us a different option.

We need to learn lessons from this, it happened too often last season and cost us a play-off place. No excuses this season.
 
I think Carrick could and should have managed that game a lot better.

Obviously losing McGree can't be helped, and Jones' error is beyond his control.

However his response to this was typical Carrick - slow.

It was obvious very early that Derby were sitting in a low block, so it's difficult for the players who rely on pace to influence the game. Barlaser coming on was correct as he's our best midfielder at picking out a pass / threading the ball and Jones should have been hooked much earlier as his whole game is getting in behind (which there was no space to do) his crossing has always been poor.

These changes should have been made before the hour, but he always seems to wait until near to 70 before starting to make changes.

Giving Josh Coburn stoppage time was ridiculous. We needed his aerial presence to just give us a different option.

We need to learn lessons from this, it happened too often last season and cost us a play-off place. No excuses this season.
Great post and what I’ve been trying to say all weekend but you’ll be labelled a bet wetter because the raras won’t want anyone to upset Carrick
Apparently, we are sooooo lucky to have him.

He’s fcuking lucky to have us to learn and iron out all his mistakes - that keep on happening btw.
 
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