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Steve McClaren

Dave

by Dave
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Lenny

Lenny

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Posted

Though it was a much improved performance, this was a 'free match' in that we were expected to lose. And despite playing really well, we still couldn't win. Even Pardew was able to motivate the players against these at SJP, so it's not exactly unprecedented.

 

I sincerely hope the coaching staff can use the positives from this game to help us win the matches against the lesser teams to come, because s*** teams that get relegated often put in surprisingly good performances against the leading clubs and the 'if we can just play like that every week...' rhetoric never comes to fruition.

 

We're still in big trouble IMO.

 

Game of two half's for me very good in the first, playing exactly how you should against the better teas but second we played exactly how you shouldn't and allowed Chelsea onto us and too much space. We need a manager who will when winning actually continue to try and win the match and not just hold on if we do actually score first - we had nearly five year of it under Pardew and it certainly won't change under this bloke either.

 

Why won't it change under "this bloke"? I've heard more to the contrary from people that have seen his teams play over the last few years.

 

Have you seen his teams play over the years are you kidding me he is one of the most negative managers going lol

 

I call bullshit. My best mate is a Derby fan, and whilst McClaren may not have achieved what was expected of them, he's been anything but negative.

 

Biggest s*** I've read on here and that's saying something - I don't need an alleged best mate to tell me what I can see with my own eyes.

 

Other than that it being clear you've made your mind up about McClaren based on an initial desire to not like him, the use of 'alleged' really cracked me up. What a f***ing fraud I am - Lenny is isn't even my real name.

 

Ask yourself why I made my mind up about McClaren it's not rocket science - the fact that you need a so called friend to try and establish a point makes you pretty sad when anyone watching could see over the years he has and always will be a negative manager. You carry on believing though.

So you're telling me your opinion on "the bloke" is more valid then someone who watched Derby play for 2 years before he came here?

 

Oh and btw Lennys "so-called" friend is actually a very knowledgable football fan.

 

My point was that because I have a mate that supports them it's meant that I've seen a fair bit of Derby for myself over the last couple of years, not that I'm blindly accepting the opinion of someone else as fact.

 

Based on other people's comments above it looks like I'm not in the minority, so I'll leave him to 'carry on believing' and get back to my 'so called' mate.

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Altamullan

Altamullan

Posted
Posted

Getting back to yesterday's game but we were set up well. I thought Fabregas looked back to form and Chelsea were much better with Oscar last week against Arsenal, even before the sending off, but we handled them easily for the first 60 odd minutes. Once we tired, McClaren could have been a bit more proactive in trying to keep the ball at the other end, but I'll give him a pass given the s**** we've had in the past four or five games. He has to build on this result though. I though Ayoze looked comfortable at #10 against Man U and it was a bad move not to keep him there against Arsenal and West Ham.

Great post: voice of reason.

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Guest ElCid

Guest ElCid

Posted
Posted

Though it was a much improved performance, this was a 'free match' in that we were expected to lose. And despite playing really well, we still couldn't win. Even Pardew was able to motivate the players against these at SJP, so it's not exactly unprecedented.

 

I sincerely hope the coaching staff can use the positives from this game to help us win the matches against the lesser teams to come, because s*** teams that get relegated often put in surprisingly good performances against the leading clubs and the 'if we can just play like that every week...' rhetoric never comes to fruition.

 

We're still in big trouble IMO.

 

Game of two half's for me very good in the first, playing exactly how you should against the better teas but second we played exactly how you shouldn't and allowed Chelsea onto us and too much space. We need a manager who will when winning actually continue to try and win the match and not just hold on if we do actually score first - we had nearly five year of it under Pardew and it certainly won't change under this bloke either.

 

Why won't it change under "this bloke"? I've heard more to the contrary from people that have seen his teams play over the last few years.

 

Have you seen his teams play over the years are you kidding me he is one of the most negative managers going lol

 

I call bullshit. My best mate is a Derby fan, and whilst McClaren may not have achieved what was expected of them, he's been anything but negative.

 

Biggest s*** I've read on here and that's saying something - I don't need an alleged best mate to tell me what I can see with my own eyes.

 

Other than that it being clear you've made your mind up about McClaren based on an initial desire to not like him, the use of 'alleged' really cracked me up. What a f***ing fraud I am - Lenny is isn't even my real name.

 

Ask yourself why I made my mind up about McClaren it's not rocket science - the fact that you need a so called friend to try and establish a point makes you pretty sad when anyone watching could see over the years he has and always will be a negative manager. You carry on believing though.

So you're telling me your opinion on "the bloke" is more valid then someone who watched Derby play for 2 years before he came here?

 

Oh and btw Lennys "so-called" friend is actually a very knowledgable football fan.

I'm saying I will go on my opinion and I'm quite happy to do that and let's see who is proven right.

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Guest ElCid

Guest ElCid

Posted
Posted

Though it was a much improved performance, this was a 'free match' in that we were expected to lose. And despite playing really well, we still couldn't win. Even Pardew was able to motivate the players against these at SJP, so it's not exactly unprecedented.

 

I sincerely hope the coaching staff can use the positives from this game to help us win the matches against the lesser teams to come, because s*** teams that get relegated often put in surprisingly good performances against the leading clubs and the 'if we can just play like that every week...' rhetoric never comes to fruition.

 

We're still in big trouble IMO.

 

Game of two half's for me very good in the first, playing exactly how you should against the better teas but second we played exactly how you shouldn't and allowed Chelsea onto us and too much space. We need a manager who will when winning actually continue to try and win the match and not just hold on if we do actually score first - we had nearly five year of it under Pardew and it certainly won't change under this bloke either.

 

Why won't it change under "this bloke"? I've heard more to the contrary from people that have seen his teams play over the last few years.

 

Have you seen his teams play over the years are you kidding me he is one of the most negative managers going lol

 

I call bullshit. My best mate is a Derby fan, and whilst McClaren may not have achieved what was expected of them, he's been anything but negative.

 

Biggest s*** I've read on here and that's saying something - I don't need an alleged best mate to tell me what I can see with my own eyes.

 

Other than that it being clear you've made your mind up about McClaren based on an initial desire to not like him, the use of 'alleged' really cracked me up. What a f***ing fraud I am - Lenny is isn't even my real name.

 

Ask yourself why I made my mind up about McClaren it's not rocket science - the fact that you need a so called friend to try and establish a point makes you pretty sad when anyone watching could see over the years he has and always will be a negative manager. You carry on believing though.

So you're telling me your opinion on "the bloke" is more valid then someone who watched Derby play for 2 years before he came here?

 

Oh and btw Lennys "so-called" friend is actually a very knowledgable football fan.

 

My point was that because I have a mate that supports them it's meant that I've seen a fair bit of Derby for myself over the last couple of years, not that I'm blindly accepting the opinion of someone else as fact.

 

Based on other people's comments above it looks like I'm not in the minority, so I'll leave him to 'carry on believing' and get back to my 'so called' mate.

 

I'm saying I will go on my opinion and I'm quite happy to do that and let's see who is proven right. As for the majority are you kidding - unreal but as I said crack on.

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Guest chicken little

Guest chicken little

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Oh and btw Lennys "so-called" friend is actually a very knowledgable football fan.

 

never would have had carl carlson pegged as derby tho like

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AyeDubbleYoo

AyeDubbleYoo

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I thought the performance confirmed that McClaren has little influence over the team. As much as we played well and put a shift in, it brought even more focus on the dire performances we've had.

 

Strange conclusion, why not that he had loads of influence and got them performing?

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Elliottman

Elliottman

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I thought the performance confirmed that McClaren has little influence over the team. As much as we played well and put a shift in, it brought even more focus on the dire performances we've had.

 

Strange conclusion, why not that he had loads of influence and got them performing?

 

Very strange.

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Dave

Dave

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Posted

I thought the performance confirmed that McClaren has little influence over the team. As much as we played well and put a shift in, it brought even more focus on the dire performances we've had.

 

Strange conclusion, why not that he had loads of influence and got them performing?

 

Probably because with the exception of Northampton Town at SJP(!), the decent performances we've put in have all been against 'top teams'. Every winnable match we've been utterly pathetic.

 

It's substantially easier to motivate footballers against better teams, that's why the FA Cup retains its interest.

 

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Gallowgate Toon

Gallowgate Toon

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Southampton was decent as well, tbf. Although, to be fair to McClaren, even good motivational managers need the right blend of characters. Don't think Mitrovic's effort can be underestimated, his desire made sure everyone else had to play the same way. It's not like we've exclusively played well with this core of players against big sides, either, plenty of times they've just not shown up (Liverpool, Man U and Spurs home games all come to mind as being utterly abject)

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Guest neesy111

Guest neesy111

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Swansea are a good side. Not that we shouldn't be looking to win everywhere but it was never going to be easy.

 

It was never going to be easy, but starting off like we did was almost criminal.  Took us around 12 minutes to even string 4-5 passes together.

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TRon

TRon

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I meant I don't know what the change in attitude first half yesterday was down too. The same happened under Pardew as well, although never under Carver.

I think the front pairing made a massive difference. I've stuck up for Cisse previously but having two front men who can hold the ball up and just as importantly, will run their legs off really does make a huge difference.

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Yorkie

Yorkie

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Our worst performance of the season was Swansea imo. Don't know what it's down too tbh.

 

 

We were nowt flash against Swansea but West Ham and especially Watford were absolutely horrible performances.

We literally gave Swansea the ball and allowed them to continually rape our best player.

 

There was literally nothing redeeming about the Watford game, though. It was one of the most disinterested league performances I can remember. At least against Swansea we put some kind of gameplan into practise having gone down to ten men.

 

Anyway, I thought yesterday was good and a terrific reaction from the players. As I said at half time, it remains to be seen whether or not the 'tide has changed'; it could easily have been one of those gallant performances against a better side, before we ultimately fall on our arses in the next winnable game. That being said, I do have a bit of hope in it being the former, simply because of just how bad we were against Watford and Sheff Wed compared to how well we came out yesterday.

 

I felt positive after the Arsenal game. I thought we'd come through the opening four fixtures having picked up a couple of decent results; and thought we were difficult to judge given the fact we'd played almost two games with ten men.

 

I was prepared to call West Ham a bit of a brainfart. Just a bad performance that come around as they do. But then Watford was pitiful and there was clearly problems. Then Sheff Wed suggested there was something seriously, seriously wrong with the squad at a very fundamental level. I'd been relatively glass-half-full up to that point but that result and performance was, by all accounts, absolutely disgusting and - coupled with the two bad league defeats - you had to worry.

 

Onto yesterday, and I didn't expect to see us come out fighting in the way that we did. We looked really up for it and actually played some really nice stuff in the first half. Mitrovic played a key role, Anita and Colback both had good games, Mbabu looked very efficient and Perez was at his very best. The whole thing was worlds apart from the Watford fiasco and left me thinking that things might not be as hopeless as they seemed. For them to have made such an incline in both attitude and performance has reignited a bit of hope in me.

 

I'm not going to lavish the players with praise for upping their game because it's the least you expect. I know times are changing and I know the club is a heap of shit, but they owe it to everyone to actually try to play well and get a positive result.

 

McClaren, whose task I don't envy in the slightest, does deserve credit. He obviously managed to galvanise them in the latter part of the week, made some good tactical changes and I think his gameplan was pretty much spot-on. I don't even have any real problems with the corner at the end. It's a pretty huge point in the circumstances and I feel that losing the game from that position would have had a catastrophic effect on the squad which is undoubtedly mentally fragile. Sometimes you've just got to play it conservative. It doesn't mean he's Alan Pardew, who simply had a negative agenda.

 

I said this after the West Ham/Watford games:

 

'Everything is terrible and shit forever and we are relegation fodder' is not the reason for those two results imo.

 

I thought he just needed to get them motivated and then we'd start seeing the rewards pretty sharpish. But after the cup defeat that followed, I was starting to doubt that. Things looked pretty hopeless.

 

The performance against Chelsea has reignited a bit of hope for me. I'm not blind to the fact it could've been a flash in the pan. We could get trounced off Man City and then lose the Mackem game. It could happen because they are mentally weak.

 

But yesterday at least proved that the players are capable of playing well when they are motivated. That's a huge relief to me.

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