sts

I don''t think we will have a problem with Probert.  He has already refereed this season and caused us no problems.  1-0 Norwich. 

completely agree nutty,  how quickly fozzy has become the crucial central midfielder

Poor tactics and a midfield of andy hughes''  full of endeavour but rarely doing anything positive with the ball :-(      Marshall - 7  Did well generally and tried to play the ball from the back Otsemobor 7  One of hi better games,  able to get forward well but rarely exposed at the back despite Thomas''pace. Camara 7 Solid, and got forward well too. Shax - 6 defended well but poor passing Doc 7 Defended well. Hux 5  Nothing came off for him oday,  too many crosses hit the first man. Rusty 6 overall,   7 fr ball winning and defending, although Holland gave both him and Patty too many problems,  4 for use of ball,  movement to collect the ball and movement off the ball in any attacking sense. Pattison 6 7 for defensive side,  but 5 for use off ball,  creatively better than rusty,  with a couple of bursts forward,  but not enough to cause charlton any problems. Smith 5 Either play him in the middle or not at all,  Superb movement and best link up play from any offensive player,  but too peripheral overall.  Narrowed the pitch b coming in when we needed width and depth. Evans 5 Looking lightweight and one good chance from a free header not even make the keeper work.  Did not look like scoring. Cureton 5  Worked so hard but nothing came off;  did not look like scoring,  but did provide movement. Subs Croft 6;  actually kept two consecutive crosses the right side of the by line!!!  Still not good enough but better today Dion 4 - poor link up play,  weak in the air and immobile,  why did we want him on again?   Made us play the long ball even more than we should have done.   Roeder - 5  should have gone 3-5-2 in the second half;   choices from the bench show how shallow the quality of the squad is.   ZLF                

I was disappointed with the subs today,  for me they lacked the creativity or understanding of where we were struggling on the pitch during the game.  Charlton were happy to sit deep once ahead and a man short,  so we had frsutrating amount of time to move the ball along the back four with no desire or ability to create a chance. For me the game was there for the taking with Charlton average at best.    Our main problem was the midfield where the zone marked well restricting space and neither Rusty nor pttison having the wherewithall to make nay creative passes or movement to put tehir defence under pressure. The only player offering movement was smith who was subbed too early.   For me the sub needed was the introduction of Croft wide right,  which would have stretched the charlton midfield across the pitch.   However Smith should have stayed on to sit in the hole behind the front two.  It would have over run their midfield,  either creating a gap in midfield or sucking a defender out,  either way creating them a problem.   With only 1 up front we could have sacrificed a defender,  given Thomas'' pace I would have kept Ots,  so would have probbably sacrificed the worst passer, being shax, leaving Doc in the middle with Ots and Camara wide to cover 1 striker. By taking off Smith we had no inventive presence and left it easy for charlton to defend,  exacerbated by the introduction of Dion,  who encouraged a long ball which again played into Charltons hands as they knew what was coming so easy to defend;  that Dions effort was so poor was disappointing.     

Cureton was poor today,  never looked like scoring and the link up play simply did not come off.  I dont think he was any worse than evans though,  and dion had no impact at all despite us hoicking the long ball towards him. But our real problem today was the midfield.  The central pair worked well to win the ball but that was it.   In possession that hd not cutting edge.  When a colleague had the ball there was no real movement off the ball to either take the ball from the back 4 and to to create a pass(they are the ball players not Shax or Doc) or to get beyond the charlton defence and cause them problems.  On the contrary the hid themselves by ensuring they stayed in proximity to a charlton midfielder, meaning they were not available for a pass hat would keep possession.  Boy did we see the difference between Russell/Pattision and Fozzy today,  who craves the ball and gives his defence an option.  Smith is clearly a central midfielder,  his movement was excellent,  with numerous good runs off the ball into space that were not exploited. He comes inside but at least can keep possession.   Croft is a wide player,  who I now call Talking Head,  he is always ona  raod to nowhere. To be fair he did actually get a couple of crosses to a yellow shirt in the box today which is a rarity so it was one of his better games,  but he is not good enough to start.   Hux has a game where he simply made no head way.    This left our only creative option being a long hopeful ball from the back 4.  Pattison and Smith in central midfield unless fozzy is fit will give us tackling and movement and passing from the middle,   Hux on the left and Croft on the right me. We do need a striker - the ones we have do not added enough in respect of defending from the front,  team build up play, creativity or even simple goal scoring. However without better strength in depth in midfield we will continue to struggle.         

Why?  The midfield wanted to win the ball but were not interested and/or able to use it creatively.   But more impertantly the movement from midfield was poor,  and got worse with the introduction o fcroft and dion.   Cureton did not have a peach of a game but his movement was the only the only bits we saw once smith went off. Smith was the only midfielder making runs,  only to be overlooked by his midfield colleagues who either could not se the runs or lacked the ability to pick him out.   Smithin central midfield suits me fine. Dion is too lacking in movement and even his link up play has been poor. And that is the realt problem - our midfield never really looked like creating a goal from open play today but even if we had we didnt look to have any striking option that would have taken any chance that would come along - all three had decent headed chances today andonly Cureton got one on target and that was painfully weak.       

I too was at that Sheffield United game.  My very first away game.  Great keeper - RIP Ken. 

Reply from the media team to a similar thread on the official site:  "Evening all from rainy Holland! I''m more than happy to put this one to bed. Darren Huckerby is not in talks with Derby and it is very much hoped he will be fit for the first game of the season with Preston. Check the lead story on First News for more details. James"

Whops!  I see I forgot to change my signature, a little out of date!

Ah yes, I remember it well.    I was there with my dad and granddad, on the half way line half way up the south stand.  With my wooden rattle.  Queued for hours for tickets. 

[quote user="ZippersLeftFoot"] Over-rated ZLF - a far higher opinion of himself than anyone else and simply drones on incessantly. [/quote] Over-rated?  Never!!!  Drones on maybe.   

[quote user="DIZNAZZA HIZLOMEZ"] I hope there is a minutes silence on saturday. [/quote] There is going to be a 1 minute applause for Alan on Saturday.   

Zipper wrote: Quite clearly your free seat in the jarrold meant you were watching a differentgame to me,  mum!?!?      No, I really did think he played well.  I am not a Hughes fan, but did think he played very well yesterday.  Iwill admit he fell apart a little in the second half, but so did most of them.  Really good seat though.  The same place I used to stand when I first went many years ago.     

I thought Hughes had a really good game today.  I couldn''t see anything wrong with him and thought he should have got a 7. 

Did any of you know that Roy McCrohan used to teach dancing during the summer - he and his wife taught my friends and me at our local youth centre.