19 Jan 2015 11:32:34
Lessons learned from the weekend:

1. 451 looks the way forward, Osborn left Antonio right Tesche central advanced. Gardner & lansbury sitting.

2. Play a higher line & adopt a more positive attacking intent, Second half Saturday proved we have the quality to push the opposition back & either force a mistake or press them into long balls.

3. If the players & manager put it in, then the fans will support regardless.

Questions remaining from the weekend.

1. Will we adopt this more attacking approach prior to going a goal down?

2. If we play a higher line, have we enough pace with Hobbs & Wilson paired together?

3. Assuming we stick with 451 Osborn & Antonio looking mustard out wide & Tesche breaking it up & creating centrally, where does Reidy slot back in?

1.) 19 Jan 2015
Cjay good post, regarding your 3 questions here's my answers.

1. Yes SP has seen that it works needs to keep Osborne on the left Antonio on the right (if fit??).

2. I would play Mancienne and Hobbs.

3. Where do's Reidy Slot in Now that is the 64 Million Dollar question do you drop Lansbury Or Gardner from the midfield would Reidy be effective as a deeper Holding midfielder, probably not. Hell let's just go for it attack attack Reidy still a Few Weeks away yet ain't he. Sort it When he's back.

Flipping heck Who's be a Manager.

2.) 19 Jan 2015
4. Sort out whatever the problem Laschelle's has.

3.) 19 Jan 2015
Lascelles in my humble opinion should get his gear, Empty his locker and do One up to Newcastle.

4.) 19 Jan 2015
Lascelles is a Derby lad and his family are all from Derby. Could this be why he wasn't keen on celebrating with SP at Pride Park?

Tbh, I don't care. Send him packing, he's only ever showed 'potential' and I really can't see what the fuss is about him. Is he a big old, die-hard stopper like John Terry? Nope. Is he a classy rolls-royce defender like Rio Ferdinand? I can't see that either. I'm not actually sure what kind of CB he is and I don't really know what his strongest traits are. He hasn't really showcased them, bar a half-decent stint last season where he was sheperded by Hobbs.

Over-rated, under-performing. Over-priced and on his way. Cheerio.

5.) 19 Jan 2015
It doesn't matter who we play in what position or what formation we employ?

The weekend showed that if we get back to doing the dirty work of football rather than strolling about thinking we won the league already we'll be ok.

Derby played like we have been doing for the last 21 games. They thought it was going to be easy and switched off. We just gave a little bit more and stopped them playing.
That's what teams have done to us!

Lets continue with organisation, hard work and passion. We have the quality but we need to remember to work harder than the other team. Don't give them space, time to receive a ball, turn with a ball or get a pass off unchallenged. Pressure the keeper and cause errors in their play and holes in their confidence, instead of ours.

Billy was a master at it!

If we express ourselves whilst doing it then fine.

Formation comes way way way down the list after hard work.

6.) 19 Jan 2015
I think Llascells has a lot on his mind at the moment with the court case later this year and that's why his form has been eratic

7.) 19 Jan 2015
19 Jan 2015 16:42:58
I don't believe you can ever tie a manager down to ONE formation. All opposition teams are different and have different strengths and weaknesses. We need midfielders that can play multiple roles and it strikes me we have that in Osborn, Tesche and Gardner - it's what SP has been looking for and perhaps why Pato and Vaughan have not been playing. Look at the way chelsea dn Arsenal midfielders play, and how the manager moves people around and changes formations and tactics all the time. SP is learning how the Championship teams play and I'm sure will put this experience into play wherever he can.

8.) 19 Jan 2015
What did Lascelles do for people to be having a go at him?

9.) 19 Jan 2015
In all fairness to the lad he ran on the pitch celebrating our winner. That speaks volumes of where his loyalty sits and how much he cares about being from Derby

10.) 19 Jan 2015
Isn't the whole point of a formation is that you adapt it against other teams formations. The sign of a good team is the ability to play more than one way. Away from home I would expect one up front and look to counter. Currently 4 5 1 formations too easily turn into 4 3 3 and the discipline goes. I thought we stayed disciplined Saturday for the first time in a while

11.) 19 Jan 2015
What did the lad do?

12.) 19 Jan 2015
Bsered/Luke: Agree we need to retain flexibility. The point I was trying to make is we have played a 442, 352 & 433 none have played to the strength of our players more than the 451. Not suggesting we stick rigidly to this, but for the sake of short term stability, roll with it for a couple of games using the same players.

13.) 20 Jan 2015
20 Jan 2015 09:57:39
I agree Cjay with your idea of having a settled group. They are more likely to play for each other. What worries me more is that if any of the team that beat Derby are injured we need a plan to integrate our best players into those slots, and I'm not sure we have enough strength in depth yet to do that. We need a couple of utility players who can play defence or midfield well in any role and who don't dent the confidence of the rest of the present side. Just a thought.