Derby V Hull Q's & A's

Are you nervous?

Hell yeah! Who isn't?

Who has the edge?

Neither team! Past meetings count for nothing! You start from scratch!

Do you enjoy the play offs?

Only if we win!

Who should replace the injured Thorne?

Bradley Johnson, he and Hughes can both attack and can swap about if need. 

What Should the starting line up be?

Carson, Christie, Keogh, Shackell, Olssin, Bryson, Johnson, Hughes, Ince, Martin, Shackell. 

How will the tie go?

Tight narrow victory for either side. I could even see two away wins. No one will be out of it realistically unless they get a tanking tomorrow. 

Key Hull players to watch. 

Hernandez, Clucas, Huddlestone

Final thought. 

Another successful season whatever happens. Eight weeks ago I had my doubts that we would make the play offs. 

We now have an opportunity to hit the big time again. Let's grab it with both hands. 

To Hull and back

I have gotten rather lazy these last few weeks with the blog. In that time we have played three games, two of those against play off contenders. 

The home game with Sheffield Wednesday demonstrated that although I thought that we had the edge over ninety minutes, they are a very dangerous side to play. 

They may not have carried the biggest threat going forward, but they were more than capable of containing an attack. They will very difficult to beat at Wembley should they progress against Brighton. 

We went to the Amex and came away with a draw. Brighton were the busier of the two sides in the opening period, but failed to create any clear cut chances. In a way they reminded me of us a few games back. 

We got into stride in the second half and after the interval, we were looking the most likely of the two teams to go on and claim the three points on offer. 

Darren Bent had come off the bench to score for us against the owls and thus time it was another substitute who provided our goal. A great through ball from the brilliant Will Hughes saw Andreas Weimann score at the second attempt. 

Both Bent and Weimann are useful weapons to bring off the bench. 

What has been noticeable in recent games is the importance of having Craig Bryson in the starting eleven. His determination and non stop running is a very valuable asset to the team. 

I don't know about anyone else, but after I heard the half time score on Saturday from the KC stadium, I lost interest in what became a meaningless match with Ipswich. It was obvious that we were going to finish fifth and have our home leg of the play off semi final with Hull next Saturday. 

Remember too that we only beat Ipswich away! 

I spent the second half praying that key players didn't get injured. We looked like getting away without injuries until George Thorne failed to get up from a challenge by Jonathon Douglas. It was bad news too! A double break in the lower leg is a horrible injury. 

The play offs will now present a chance for one of two players to really win the fans over. Both Bradley Johnson and Chris Baird have been on the receiving end of fans frustrations this season. Whoever gets the nod to deputise for Thorne has a golden opportunity to to get the supporters back onside!

We beat Hull twice in the league, but that counts for nothing now! Let's get behind the lads and play our part as the twelfth man in our quest for a fourth play off final. 

It Could be us!

The mood has now changed a little after a run of victories has seen us clinch a place in the end of season lottery that is the Play-offs. 

Following up from the 4-1 thumping of Bolton we have recorded two victories on the road against struggling teams. Not that I am going to sneer at that!

We have now shown a bit of fight and saw off a determined effort from Charlton and an equally determined Bristol City who had beaten Sheffield Wednesday in such convincing fashion. 

We are now left with three matches and two of those against possible play-off opponents Brighton and Wednesday. 

What has been evident in the last few games is the importance of an on form Craig Bryson. His influence has been very valuable. This with an in form George Thorne will, in my opinion be vital to us as we enter the post season knock out tournament. 

The third midfielder will obviously be between Butterfield, Johnson (If fit) and the returning Will Hughes. Giving Hughes a few minutes here and there in the run in should determine if he will be ready to make an impact to help us reach the promised land. 

We need all players on form and giving it 100%. Nothing less! 

There has been a distinct upturn in form during the last few games, but where does the credit go? Is Darren Wassall finally finding his feet in soccer management or has Harry Redknapp been a positive addition to the back room staff. 

On to Saturday! Come on you Rams! 

Keep on Running

Well what a nice change to be able to fill a post with positive comments. 

Last nights match v Hull City saw arguably our best performance of the season. The whole team played their part and we were treated to four goals. 

Hull are acknowledged as one of the better teams in the division yet somehow we have had our two best games whilst playing them. 

It is so good to see Bradley Johnson at long last having a good game and chipping in with a couple of goals too. It's fair to say that he has been off firm for a while. Get him playing like he did for Norwich last season and we could be in for a treat. 

Craig Bryson for me was the man of the match. Never stopped running all night and demonstrated why he is still one of the most important players at the club. 

Chris Martin scored his 15th goal of the season and that is very impressive after his run of games without a goal. 

What we need now is to see more of this. Often teams who enter the play offs in form find the momentum to get them through them. 

On Saturday we host bottom of the table Bolton. We need to use this game to keep the form going and help us gather pace for the final few games. Nothing short of a comfortable victory will be accepted by the fans!

Meanwhile season tickets continue to be selling well. Over the 19,000 mark already. A good end to the season could see the sold out signs up at the ticket office. 29,000 on a Tuesday night versus Hull City is once again testament to the fantastic support the public is giving the club. 

Loyalty from the Fans

This morning it was announced that so far 19,000 fans have renewed their season tickets! That's just 5,000 short on this seasons figure of 24,000 and we have the summer break ahead of us. 

Of course some fans won't renew for work or personal reasons. Some will be reluctant to part with their cash after a season of poor football. Then again there is always a batch of new applicants too. 

Derby isn't a massive city and our support is fantastic. We attract higher crowds than Forest and Notts Vounty combined. Indeed we had higher attendances than Leicester before they gained promotion to the Premier League. 

The Derby County faithful are still turning out in their thousands despite a season that has seen some dreadful football. 

Yes will are still in the top six, however one must wonder how we are there! Another pitiful performance at Cardiff on Saturday sees us ever closer to dropping out of the play off zone. That could happen tomorrow night as we host a very good Hull City side. 

Unless we see some sort of miraculous turn of firm then I'm afraid we could see ourselves languishing down in around tenth place at the end. 

It is difficult to pinpoint just exactly where the points will be coming from in our final few games. 

For me it is time for a final gamble. Let Darren Wassall return to continue the excellent job he was doing at the academy and let Harry Redknapp take charge for the run in. 

If we don't go down this avenue it really does beg the question 'what exactly is Harry doing?'

Leicester City have this season shown what clubs of our size can achieve, however we are now no closer to promotion than two years ago. 

In fact I will go as far to say that firm wise we have gone backwards three years. Add the large wage bill and we are looking like a club during the Paul Jewell tenure!

It really is time for Mr Morris to make some serious decisions! He bought the club and it is his responsibility to sort it out!

Slugfest at the iPro

So the Brian Clough Trophy is back at the iPro Stadium after a scrappy shootout on Saturday. 

A first half saw our visitors with the better of the play, but they failed to test Scott Carson.  The second half saw us move up a gear and despite this being a dull dour affair we were the only team that looked like scoring the much needed goal. 

Not a great performance, but when it's the East Midlands Derby the games are hardly ever classics. 

Both sides looked very poor, yet under the right management both could do very well. 

There's no doubting that our lads can rise and we have seen that in the very recent past. Forest lacked anything in he final third of the field, but defensively didn't look bad at all. 

Anyway on the day itself, all that counts is the final score and that saw our fans go away the happy ones. 

Big shout outs first of all for Darren Wassall/Harry Redknapp whoever decided to start Jamie Hanson over Cyrus Christie. Many, myself included thought that it was going to prove to be a costly tactical error, but Hanson had a very good game. He kept Osborn very quiet. 

George Thorne and Markus Olsson also had a good game and Tom Ince put in a shift. 

I suppose what we all want to know is how much influence Harry Redknapp is having on the team? If it's very little, what exactly is he doing?

Hopefully we can anchor ourselves in the top six and I suppose play offs is better than no chance of promotion at all. Obviously we won't be fancied by a lot of people to make progress in them, but it'll give us a good chance to shut up those who call us chokers. Some of those support teams who have either choked every time or indeed having had enough going to even cough. 

Not a lotta Bottle

The past eight days have seen us win at home to Huddersfield. A scrappy performance but three valuable points nevertheless, a gutless loss away at QPR, and finally a draw that should have been a good win at Rotherham. 

We had shown some signs of playing well and coming back from the New York Stadium with all three points. The fact is we should have! No excuses whatsoever for such a calamitous collapse! None whatsoever! Any decent side who are three goals to the good in the closing minutes does not concede three goals. 

For me this season the club has gone backwards by three seasons. It's resembling Nigel Cloughs last few weeks as manager. 

As I have said before I think that the error was made in the summer. Mel Morris had two big decisions to make. First of all he had to deal with want away manager Steve McClaren. He took the right decision in sacking him in my opinion. 

The second big decision was appointing a replacement. Instead of going for an experienced head and Safeish pair of hands he gambled on a rookie to the number one role in Paul Clement. 

Clement was on a shortlist of one! He was headhunted! It was a big gamble to appoint him and it simply didn't work out! Forget the so called Derby way, bar a few matches the performances were simply dreadful. 

He is yet to make the decision who to replace Clement with but it surely won't be Academy Manager Darren Wassall. 

Wassall hasn't been a great caretaker and he is in serious danger of doing irreparable damage to the reputation he has built at the club with his success at the academy. 

Morris needs to act sooner rather than later! This team is desperately needed leadership and guidance! It needs an experienced boss!

We face the rivals from down the road on Saturday and despite their lack of success this season we will have a very tough job on Saturday.  

Their defence isn't breached easily and they can score 

Update

Forest have relieved Dougie Freedman of his managerial duties and former Ram Paul Williams takes over til the end of the season..

Derby appoint Harry Redknapp to a role advising Darren Wassall. We live in changing times!