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 12th 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 94th
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!
