The Scapegoat

Football’s a funny old game. Derby’s game of two halves defeat at Huddersfield on Saturday proved that there are no easy games at this level (if you forget the really easy game against Watford two weeks prior). Derby had home advantage that day though and made use of the 12^th man. It probably can’t be doubted that the lads put in 110% against the Terriers at the weekend, but at the end of the day, goals win matches, and when you’re only getting one shot on target, you need to be pretty ruthless and successful with that shot. Your first task, as the reader, is to count the number of clichés in this opening paragraph. Apologies, I just fancied it.

How times change. The 5-1 victory over Watford before the international break saw the Rams play fluent attacking football, albeit, against a woeful away team. Paul Coutts was magical that day.  Fast forward two weeks and by the sounds of it, Derby played a pretty uninspired first half, but a more promising second half. Paul Coutts was victim to ‘flu like symptoms’ on this occasion, and his like-for-like replacement was summer transfer acquisition Michael Ja...oh no wait, it was Conor Doyle.

This has been the source for much debate amongst Rams fans. Fingers crossed Conor Doyle or Conor Doyle’s mother were not privy to these debates (broadcast live over the football phone-in last night), because they were not pretty. The u20 American international is paid to play football; he is not going to say “Excuse me Nigel, picking me completely out of the blue is a pretty silly thing to do because in the past I have proved I am not really at first team level yet. You’d be better playing one of your summer signings”.

The fault should not lie with the former Dallas Texans YOUTH player (I have no doubt one day the Texans will have a GREAT academy system...). He was simply doing an honest (but poor) job and hence did not deserved to be booed. If you had a career making Freddo bars, and had found your feet in small scale chocolate manufacturing, and then got a call from your boss who was asking you to play a pivotal part in making a batch Dairy Milk, you’d do it. If you mucked up, someone, somewhere, would have a misshapen Dairy Milk bar. Not quite the same with a footballer. Doyle stepped up from a good DCFC u21 showing, but was ultimately proven to be lacking (again) in the first team squad. So, does the fault lie with the manager for thrusting a player into the limelight who is clearly not good enough?

Clough - who is open about his willingness to criticise his players in public – was quick to defend the young American. “...until we give him that opportunity we are not going to know if he can do it” and “...he deserved a start as much as anybody”. Was this Clough trying to defend his strange tactical decision? Or, considering the lack of scathing words usually reserved for players who put in such a performance, was this Clough feeling guilty about making Doyle a rabbit in the proverbial headlights? Jeff Hendrick, Craig Bryson, Theo Robinson and Michael Jacobs were quadrupled out for criticism, whereas Doyle got off light.

Perhaps worrying for Derby fans is that Michael Jacobs is on the start of the route that Chris Maguire went down. A long chase to get him to the club, followed by an even longer spell out of the side. Time will tell whether Jacobs emulates the Scotsman’s “achievements”, but judging by Clough’s post-game comments v Huddersfield, he is on shaky ground.

Conor Doyle was the scapegoat for Saturday, but even forgetting that, we should have won, because we’re Derby County. We’re much bigger than Huddersfield. Not my views, but the view of a man who rang up 606 to chat to Strictly Come Dancer (I think he played football too at one point), Robbie Savage. The days of the mighty Derby County turning up to grounds to walk over anyone in their way are gone, and have been gone for about 37 years, so was the defeat against Huddersfield so bad? Savage said as much himself.

Huddersfield have a great home record, and have just gained £8million for the sale of their striker. Just accept for a minute that footballers are really worth these stupid fees, and then ask yourself when was the last time Derby had someone who was worth that much? No, not  even the mighty Giles Barnes who is now ripping up the MLS with Houston Dynamo. Will Hughes may be our next prospect to leave for a miserly fee, but let’s save that for a rainy day. The point is that Derby’s history is no reason to be so irate about losing to a newly promoted team who have been used to winning matches the last few seasons.

The wage bill, apparently, is a mid table Championship budget, but one that frustratingly, is still too high. By rights then, a mid table Championship finish is on the cards. It doesn’t always work out like that and some fans find this hard to take. Blackpool’s promotion in 2010 has done more damage than good to fans expectations. They went up despite having one of the lowest budgets in the league. They did however have an inspiring manager, and the league’s best player in Charlie Adam. Add to this the experience of Gary Taylor Fletcher, DJ Campbell and David Vaughan and this created a rare mix that may not see such a situation occur again in the near future.  

At the minute, the simple fact is that Derby have a young and promising squad, but not a squad that is currently capable of winning every match. They don’t have the experience yet to push them towards promotion places. That, however, does not mean they should not be favourites to win home matches, such as tonight against Charlton. I think it is safe to assume Conor Doyle will not start tonight. He may never start again as he looks to be some way off the standard required to play Championship football, particularly when compared to younger players such as Will Hughes. However, one player does not lose a team the match (unless it’s the goalkeeper throwing the ball in the back of the net in the 94^th minute), so it’s up to the whole team to bounce back tonight.  For you betting folk, every time i’ve been to Pride Park in 2012, we have scored 5 goals. So get all your money on a correct score bet. Derby 5-6 Charlton.

Come on you Rams!