A beautiful pitch, 31,000 crowd on a nice autumn day and a new manager. A half-decent referee (at times) and lines-persons. And guess what? The team played 4, 3, 2 -1. And they all played for Mac (and themselves) like they had never played for Nigel Pearson.
So it was a totally different and improved performance by the Derby team against a very efficient and physical Leeds side with very big defenders and fast front men. But Derby did enough to win and had a crucial bit of luck on a couple of occasions and also a great goal disallowed for offside.
The luck derby had was a header in the first half that hit the bar, and a shot in the second half to which someone (Keogh?) just got a slight touch to so that it hit Carson’s far post.
All of Derby’s players played well. Hughes was outstanding and Ince, though he put in a lot of effort at times, was Derby's weakest player. Bradley Johnson, in the defensive mf role, pushed Hughes for MOTM. Keogh made some great interceptions, tackles and blocks as did Pearce. Lowe looks to be of huge promise. He showed his naivety at times but looks a really accomplished left back with lots of time on the ball and good speed covering the ground. Carson was commanding and his distribution was not as bad as usual. Cyrus penetrated well and caused a lot of trouble for Leeds. Anya and Lowe combined well and they will penetrate in future games. I think Olsson will have a job to get back in the side. When Anya was injured in a brutal tackle by a dirty Leeds defender, the ultimate result was a superb goal by the man brought on to replace him. So there was an element of justice in that event, though the ref didn’t appear to notice the Leeds brutality.
The fans and Mac can now see what NP apparently could not. i.e. what our best team might be. It now behooves Mac to pick the right team and coach them in the right tactics and I think we will go up the table, after fears I had that they might slide further. The outcome of this game suggests we could well be alright and that Mel might well have made a good decision at last.
I look forward to Tuesday’s game with interest, anticipation and pleasure.
For Those Who Did Not Attend
posted on 16/10/16
comment by Ruberyram (U7460)
posted 11 hours, 27 minutes ago
I hate iPads
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Anything else Rubery or just iPads?
posted on 16/10/16
Thanks Iwas,
I could not agree more with all you said above. It was a great game to watch and Leeds threw everything at us - and more - and we came through it.
I have reflected since last night. The two players that threatened Leeds most were Anya and Hughes, and they were the ones that brutal tackles injured such that they had to be withdrawn.
It appears to be ongoing Leeds Dirty policy to take such players out. I'm not saying Gary Monk specifically ordered it. Merely - that it's part of Leeds United philosophy to automatically play like that, imbibed with the club tea since Don Revie's days. That's why they will forever be The Dirties. I cannot remember who was the Leeds manager before Revie.
posted on 16/10/16
Chap called Jack Taylor, I seem to recall. From 1959 to 1961, with a win rate of 40.33%. Hope this helps 👍
Rumour has it that they weren't that dirty then.
posted on 16/10/16
Good take on proceedings 3R 👏
I agree, it was a good game. Especially appreciated Pearce who was calm, efficient and unspectacular....just did his job. Pleased also with Carson who seemed just to have gone up with his confidence stakes.
posted on 16/10/16
View from,
I was pleased for all of the players and for Mac. But it was obvious to me that Ince does not deserve to be first choice on the team sheet. Hard to put your finger on why but somehow he doesn't ever succeed at very much.
posted on 16/10/16
Ramdini
posted on 16/10/16
Ince was knackered way before the final whistle. The check back near the end when bombing on into the penalty area was the right choice and the choice I'd normally expect Ince to make said it all. He also stood bent over at the end for about 10 minutes, apparently too tired to move, before Keogh came up to and gave a hug.
Quite how he became so goosed is beyond me as only Carson moved less. Perhaps he was sick or something. But it's got to the stage where his lack of effort doesn't out-weigh the occasional flash of brilliance, in my opinion.
posted on 16/10/16
what a great feeling to to the lads playing with freedom again.they worked very hard for each other.it was also brilliant the way some of the crowd (mostly south stand I think) clapped mcclaren before the game
posted on 16/10/16
The North stand too. It was overall a very happy occasion. Need now to stop bickering and get on with recovering the points deficit
posted on 18/10/16
I thought Hughes was the least effective of our three in midfield (until Bryson apparently came on??).
Butterfield was very effective, and whilst there were a couple of stray passes, he ran things, and threw his shoulder a few times to deceive 3 opponents.
As far as I saw though, Bradley Johnson was man of the match. BY a long way. He won the corner that led to the goal, and swept up a few uncomfortable situations in our own area. His passing seemed much better than usual, but still not brilliant.
As for Lowe, he looked very steady, but I hear he may be out injured tonight.