Derby County 1 Blues 1 .. Ron's Match Report
Blues were set to field the same side that had won at Cardiff on Saturday, but Seb Larsson's last-minute withdrawal meant that Mehdi Nafti came into the middle of the park with Kemy Agustien switching to the right.
It has to be said that what happened was bound to happen at some point with the way that away games have been going for Blues. As with games at Bristol City and Cardiff City, Blues went ahead, led at half-time, then completely stopped playing, invited the opposition onto them and conceded. The only difference here was that Blues only led by one goal, and not the two goal margin they'd had at Ashton Gate and Ninian Park.
Blues started brightly and looked up for it, but by the same token, Derby were garbage early on. Blues' neat, quick counter-attacking play has been a feature of their away games this season (in patches) and it was on display again here, with the likes of Quincy, James McFadden and Cameron Jerome all causing problems for Derby on the break.
Blues took the lead through Quincy, following a fine, fine move. Quincy broke from his own half and carried the ball forward before laying it off to McFadden down the right. Quincy then continued his run and McFadden expertly clipped the ball back inside for him and Quincy hit the back of the net, via the crossbar, with a super first-time strike. It wa a fantastic goal.
The first goal for Blues had come later than at Bristol and Cardiff, and as such, they almost immediately sat back. McFadden dropped to the right-hand side a little more, with Agustien tucking inside and Blues visibly dropped 20 yards deeper. This then continued into the second half, and led (as it was inevitably going to, and as it did at Bristol and Cardiff, to a goal).
As I say, early on, Derby were awful. They were slipping over, getting in each other's way, slicing the ball in to touch and just looked simply shocking, as they have been for much of the past 12 months. However, naturally, if you sit back and allow them a little more time, they'll begin to compose themselves a little more, begin to be more comfortable on the ball and begin to grow in confidence. Of course, that's what happened (as in those two previous away games) and Blues just invited pressure. It was really, really poor from Blues. Suddenly the likes of Paul Green (formerly of giants, Doncaster Rovers) and the Parasite bloke on loan from Arsenal, and Rob Hulse began to look like Alan Shearer with his hold-up play and ability to win free-kicks. The outcome was inevitable, and the only surprise was how long it took to come. It could have been worse for Blues, had they conceded earlier.
It wasn't just the dropping deep too, it was the complete carelessness in possession. Nafti looked off the pace and was caught out in the middle as he often is, trying to turn in little circles not knowing what was behind him. The free-kick that led to Derby's equaliser was a result of Nafti playing the again excellent Agustien into trouble by turning into trouble, rather than using the space the other way.
One problem (and something I intended to mention after the Cardiff game, but forgot to) is the substitutes that Blues have at their disposal. In the last two games, whilst holding on to leads, Blues have thrown on Garry O'Connor, Marcus Bent and Kevin Phillips - three strikers. The likes of Jerome and McFadden at least have in their locker the capability to drop and play wide to help their team out, like, say, a Wayne Rooney. The other three, however, are more of a Dimitar Berbatov, in that they're just out-and-out centre forwards really. Asking three out-and-out centre forwards to help your team defend, and asking two of them to help out on the flanks, well, it's like asking Bradford & Bingley for a £50,000 interest-free loan. It's just not going to be successful.
The likes of Lee Carsley, Nafti and Agustien all put in a lot of hard work, and there's not an option in sight to give them a helping hand or a breather. Granted, there's no other real options in the squad at the moment (although Brian Howard may be on his way), but even so, the policy of throwing centre forwards on (and those without much of a defensive brain) doesn't assist the tired legs behind them. For all the use Kevin Phillips is in that situation, you may as well thrown Martin Taylor on to play in front of the back four and just act as a shield. In fact, that would have been a far better option last night.
Finally, on the substitution front, was the decision to take McFadden off so early on. He's the one forward that Blues have that can really kill the game off, in that he can take the ball, control it, shield it, beat a man, pick a pass, etc, etc. In replacing him with O'Connor, you removed that, and with the ball coming back at Blues far too easily already, you only added to the problems.
It might sound like I'm being over-critical, so let's look at a few positives. Agustien (aside from a 30 second spell when he made two mistakes) was superb. His defensive work was exceptional, and his ability to spread the play and pick first-time passes is really, really starting to show. Whereas Nafti controls the ball and looks up, allowing people to close him down (and he got caught out a lot last night), Agustien seems to picture it all in his mind and know the pass he's making before he gets the ball. It's a great asset to have, and really helps. Also, Radhi Jaidi and Stuart Parnaby were excellent again. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for their defensive counterparts, with Liam Ridgewell fretting too much about Hulse and giving endless free-kicks away, and David Murphy having a shocker.
But anyway, back to the over-critical part. I realise that to those who weren't at Pride Park that this will look like a reasonable result. I realise that seven points from nine out of away games at Bristol City, Cardiff City and Derby County is a good haul, and that many teams won't achieve that. Sometimes you have to look beyond that though, and look at the match itself.
Blues should have won this. I've been a strong advocate of Derby being a good bet for the play-offs this season, but the truth is, I take that back. On their first half showing, they're the poorest team that I have seen Blues face this season. Blues should have beaten them, and anyone who was there and saw the first 30 minutes or so should agree. However, Blues again dropping deep, becoming careless in possession and generally allowing the opposition back into the game proved risky, and this time Blues got caught out. It could have happened before, and it has happened now.
I have said time and again in these reports that the likes of Manchester United and Arsenal know that the best way to defend a 1-0 lead is to make it 2-0. The best way to defend a 2-0 lead is to make it 3-0. I'm not being arrogant in saying this, but Blues should have been able to do that against Derby, because Derby were poor. However, Blues stopped playing, Derby grew in confidence and they deserved their draw. Credit to them for it - they took the opportunity that Blues presented to them. When I say that they needed to keep attacking too, I don't mean hopelessly throwing on the centre forwards on at the end, as I described above. I mean getting the team to carry on playing as they had done earlier, encouraging them to continue in that vein and not letting them sit back and hold on to tight leads. It's the style of play that dictates how attacking you are, not how many forwards you have on the pitch, and in too many away games, Blues have only "played" in short spells, before attempting to sit on tight leads.
Look at Reading's 3-0 win at Molineux and some of their (and Wolves') results of late, and they're putting teams to the sword. Blues are good enough to do that, but they're not doing it. If they continue failing to do so, points will be dropped and their quest for promotion will be all the tougher. Sorry if it sounds a bit negative, but I suspect those that were there will agree.