Match Thread Coventry City v Derby County (19 Viewers)

[luwalla]

I thought he looked very strong for a little bloke, great close control with the ball too. That one where he had it in the corner and took one on but then got dragged down by his neck. Will be exciting to see him I think.

The officials weren't up to much at all, watched Grimmer get smashed by their player that lampard laughed at. Soon as Grimmer gets chance he puts the ball out and the player as well and no foul.

Can't believe they missed Davies take out their player in the box, he kicked his legs away.

yep Allasani on one wing & Jones on the other would frighten the bejussus out of me as a defender! Just hope jones is gonna be there or thereabouts for start of the season, cant see it if he isnt playing in matches now though

officials were pretty poor, That run Shipley made into the box from a cross ball looked well onside & linesman gave offside.

 

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[Nick]

yep Allasani on one wing & Jones on the other would frighten the bejussus out of me as a defender! Just hope jones is gonna be there or thereabouts for start of the season, cant see it if he isnt playing in matches now though

officials were pretty poor, That run Shipley made into the box from a cross ball looked well onside & linesman gave offside.

Yeah, he made the run from behind their players diagonally into the box and was miles onside.

I think Jones is due back September / October, no point risking him too early.

 

[better days]

Ogogo will be ready for the first game of the season apparently
Add Bayliss and Sterling and it doesn't look bad at all
Kelly and Jones to come too
We're not far away from an exciting side
An attractive proposition for Robins and Viveash to sell to an experienced L1 goal scorer or top young England player on loan

 

[Esoterica]

Ogogo will be ready for the first game of the season apparently
Add Bayliss and Sterling and it doesn't look bad at all
Kelly and Jones to come too
We're not far away from an exiting side
An attractive proposition for Robins and Viveash to sell to an experienced L1 goal scorer or top young England player on loan

But the real question is which end of the division will this side be exiting?

 

[better days]

But the real question is which end of the division will this side be exiting?

Haha what a cock up
Posting from a phone has it's drawbacks
Well I've had an EW bet on us winning L1
Mind you I have an appalling record with gambling

 

[sw88]

Allasani has amazing hair!

 

[TheDube]

Same with through balls, I saw a few nice through balls but our strikers were no where to be seen.

If the strikers were nowhere to be seen, are they really nice through balls?! Sounds like wasted possession

 

[Mucca Mad Boys]

Anyone remember our record last pre season? I think I recall it not being a great one results or goal wise? But could be wrong

By contrast, didn’t we have a ‘good’ preseason the year we got relegated? I remember having this chat with a good friend of mine.

Either way, the results in preseason are not important. It’s about match fitness, trying new things and getting new signings integrated into the system and team.

 

[Nick]

It really looked like we were playing deep strikers again.

We started with Andreu on the right with Ponticelli playing behind Biamou but they seemed to be miles apart (especially from goal kicks and headers etc). It wasn't working because they had 2 decent players down that side who were tearing Grimmer a new arsehole pretty much every time they got it. Andreu was getting outpaced as well.

Then Andreu went central with Ponticelli on the right and we did seem to get a bit more time on the ball. When Andreu went off for Allisani (cant be bothered to check spelling) he started out on the left with shipley on the right but then swapped and went more central when Mason came on. At points Allisani was back in central midfield rather than standing by JCH hoping to get the second ball or a flick on.

One thing I noticed is that when they got the ball and were on the attack they would have about 4 or 5 in the box and 1 lurking just outside for the second ball, if one of our wide players got to the byline it was just either Biamou or JCH in there on their own with about 4 defenders. If we play like that in the League we aren't going to get too many from midfield.

I noticed we seemed a lot better with throw ins too, Brown didn't seem to mess about and just took them.

 

[covcity4life]

trying not to panic but do hope robins is aiming for a new striker in this window rather than wait till xmass

 

[luwalla]

If the strikers were nowhere to be seen, are they really nice through balls?! Sounds like wasted possession

you missed my point... or maybe I didnt word it/ describe it clearly enough ( it was early so always that possibility so ill give an example, max is on edge of the area 5 yards outside box... shipley plays ball right through middle of defence , where McNulty would have seen the gap & normally have been making run in behind the defence last season onto the through ball & slotting into the far corner of the net... ball goes through, max is still facing the opposite way on edge of the box.

The through ball was good, the striker wasn't on the same wavelength as Shipley, nor on the same wavelength of McNulty last season

I get your point... and to be fair maybe their were a few balls that weren't quite on the money too, but there was a few that were & a sharper striker would have taken

 

[fernandopartridge]

Ogogo will be ready for the first game of the season apparently
Add Bayliss and Sterling and it doesn't look bad at all
Kelly and Jones to come too
We're not far away from an exciting side
An attractive proposition for Robins and Viveash to sell to an experienced L1 goal scorer or top young England player on loan

Ooh i like it when you drop hints

 

[Mcbean]

Good night in tinsel town last night despite the result - parked the car for free , had a pint in the club and walked and watched where we wanted - said hello to Jordan Willis and told him his playoff goal made a lot of people happy !! new players have some promise - Huddlestone is gigantic and had Doyler in his pocket - O Brien did fine ( but it was a shit penalty - did they learn nuthin from the world cup - their goal was a rocket - i liked Brown thought he did ok and is a chaser - as said before the strike partnership or lack service was missing and needs resolving - before Sparky - Jones scored the majority of the goals will be interesting to see if Andrieu and him can make a partnership - Sparky could score anyway he liked and Max took advantage of the space he created !

 

[Nick]

Yeah I didn't realise Huddlestone was that big either. Bradley Johnson looked like he loves a beer and a pie but was still everywhere.

 

[TheDube]

shipley plays ball right through middle of defence , where McNulty would have seen the gap & normally have been making run in behind the defence last season onto the through ball & slotting into the far corner of the net... ball goes through, max is still facing the opposite way on edge of the box.

The through ball was good, the striker wasn't on the same wavelength as Shipley, nor on the same wavelength of McNulty last season

Personally I'd say as a professional footballer you should know what your strikers are capable and I hope this doesn't end up becoming a regular excuse, that people are used to playing with McNulty and are playing in to empty space. It's pre-season so it could well change, but Max isn't going ever going to be a run in behind striker and Shipley should know.

 

[Nick]

I don't think McNulty scored that many runs into the box with balls slotted in from wingers with a box full of defenders did he? He scored a couple of one on ones where he was put clean through one on one.

Most of his goals were him getting it outside the area and cutting in and then putting it far corner, there was the one where JCH squared it to him for an open goal tap in though!

Not many were like the one where Shipley put the ball in. When we have a single player in the box and about 4 defender the chances of a goal are very slim when a ball comes in.

 

[luwalla]

Personally I'd say as a professional footballer you should know what your strikers are capable and I hope this doesn't end up becoming a regular excuse, that people are used to playing with McNulty and are playing in to empty space. It's pre-season so it could well change, but Max isn't going ever going to be a run in behind striker and Shipley should know.

The ball through was good for a sharp striker... the fact we don’t have that is exactly the point I’m trying to make

 

[Nick]

The ball through was good for a sharp striker... the fact we don’t have that is exactly the point I’m trying to make

Which one was it?

This is the same as I have said about not committing men forward like we didn't loads of times last season. We had Biamou / JCH stood on their own with about 3 defenders most of the time.

It is the same as when Biamou held the ball up and took a player on by the Right Touchline. He put in a great cross at head height that the goalie couldnt come for but there wasnt actually a single player in the box because he had been forced out wide.

When Derby got the ball there, they had players running into the box to attack those crosses.

 

[luwalla]

Which one was it?

It is the same as when Biamou held the ball up and took a player on by the Right Touchline. He put in a great cross at head height that the goalie couldnt come for but there wasnt actually a single player in the box because he had been forced out wide.

Which one was what ?

Not sure about that cross from max, i remember thinking at the time it was well over hit! A striker on stilts would have struggled to get a head on that !

I agree on derby though, they looked a real threat in the air, and the header for the goal was a bullit

 

[Nick]

Which one was what ?

Not sure about that cross from max, i remember thinking at the time it was well over hit! A striker on stilts would have struggled to get a head on that !

I agree on derby though, they looked a real threat in the air, and the header for the goal was a bullit

It was about head height and no different to the one they scored from when it was whipped across. There wasn't a single player in the box.

 

[luwalla]

It was about head height and no different to the one they scored from when it was whipped across. There wasn't a single player in the box.

agree to disagree.. I was sat right in line with it in main stand. if it was head height id have expected one of their defenders to have cleared it ( there were two of them stood either side of one of our players in the box - cant remember who it was but presume thats who max spotted ) ... it flew straight over everyones head & finished up other side of the pitch

 

[Nick]

agree to disagree.. I was sat right in line with it in main stand. if it was head height id have expected one of their defenders to have cleared it ( there were two of them stood either side of one of our players in the box - cant remember who it was but presume thats who max spotted ) ... it flew straight over everyones head & finished up other side of the pitch

They left it because they got a shout as the was none of our players even close to being near it.

The was none of our players attacking from the other side either at the far post

 

[luwalla]

They left it because they got a shout as the was none of our players even close to being near it.

The was none of our players attacking from the other side either at the far post

as I say, we'll have to agree to disagree. but I do get the general point, as its same one I was making... that even with supply of through balls or over hit crosses there wasnt enough of a threat in the box

 

[Nick]

as I say, we'll have to agree to disagree. but I do get the general point, as its same one I was making... that even with supply of through balls or over hit crosses there wasnt enough of a threat in the box

It is the same as last season when it was the strikers stranded on their own with nobody busting a gut to get in there.

When a Derby player got the ball you could see most of their midfield sprinting to get into the box, when we did there was none of that.

 

[luwalla]

It is the same as last season when it was the strikers stranded on their own with nobody busting a gut to get in there.

When a Derby player got the ball you could see most of their midfield sprinting to get into the box, when we did there was none of that.

Is it s fitness thing... is it a desire thing... or is it simply an instruction from the manager ?

 

[Nick]

Here's what I mean, this is Derby going forward







Plenty waiting in and around the box

 

[Nick]

Biamou does make a run behind here but he shoots, it shows what support we had though



Look at this massive gap on the outside of the box. 3 Players round him.

 

[Nick]

Is it s fitness thing... is it a desire thing... or is it simply an instruction from the manager ?

Im not sure, some of it does seem tactical as we did it last season too even with different players.

 

[stupot07]

That was Allassani, he looked lively when he came on...

My Thoughts on last night... we generally held our own in defence & midfield in first half, against a side competing at top end of championship. Junior brown prob looked best player, strong defensively & good in air - as some others have said though he didnt get forward much in first half & it was him that didnt stop the cross from their right back which led to the goal - to be fair it was tight though & great cross / great header!

Second half they made wholesale changes & I thought we had the better of the half, I actually think the strikers did have a bit of service second half, we were playing some decent balls over the top & max took a couple of them down lovely in the area, but then no end product. Same with through balls, I saw a few nice through balls but our strikers were no where to be seen. max was out wide right & Pontecelli had just gone missing second half. he was back midfield, certainly no where near the goal! so the balls we did play through ( where a McNulty would be running on to them last season ) were just running straight through to the keeper. As I say strikers playing too deep... or just not on it enough. Pontecelli should have been right up on shoulder of last man for those through balls as he is the supposed goal poacher & Max should have been the one playing the deeper number 10 role to feed him , I think it was clear what we were missing last night

Allassani looked skilful & strong on the ball he was only on for 10 mins though, so hard to tell if that would last a match / half , or if it was just a 10 minute burst. like to see more of him

We were always in there last night id say, and they didnt take us apart or anything like that, but conversely we never really looked like scoring. Missing a lot of key players last night too - Jones, Oggogo, Willis, Dujon Sterling and Tom Bayliss. Stick them in any side and its instantly lifted up a few levels right ?

It looked clear to me that robins had switched Ponticelli and Andreu in the second half and Ponti was playing on the right hand side of the 3 attacking midfielders behind Biamou, with Andrei playing on the hole. You can't blame Ponti for being too deep, when it was a tactical love by Robins.

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[Nick]

It looked clear to me that robins had switched Ponticelli and Andreu in the second half and Ponti was playing on the right hand side of the 3 attacking midfielders behind Biamou, with Andrei playing on the hole. You can't blame Ponti for being too deep, when it was a tactical love by Robins.

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Yeah he had moved him out wide as he had swapped with Andreu.

Thing was then Ponticelli barely got anywhere close to their box.

 

[luwalla]

It looked clear to me that robins had switched Ponticelli and Andreu in the second half and Ponti was playing on the right hand side of the 3 attacking midfielders behind Biamou, with Andrei playing on the hole. You can't blame Ponti for being too deep, when it was a tactical love by Robins.

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not blaming pontecelli. just pointing out where he was.. .or rather wasnt, which was in front of goal! Which you re-confirming, I think ?

As you say its the managers job to tell the striker to get up there... if thats where he has been instructed to be

 

[torchomatic]

Five minute highlights.

Coventry City 01 Derby County

 

[ceetee]

I wasn't there last night so can't comment on any actual moves but it sounds like a tactic from last season.
In most teams the midfield supports the strikers. Our midfield is set up to support the defence

 

[Nick]

not blaming pontecelli. just pointing out where he was.. .or rather wasnt, which was in front of goal! Which you re-confirming, I think ?

As you say its the managers job to tell the striker to get up there... if thats where he has been instructed to be

He wasn't playing as a striker then though, he was right midfield.

He wasn't a striker in the first half, he was more a number 10 sat deeper than Biamou.

 

[luwalla]

He wasn't playing as a striker then though, he was right midfield.

He wasn't a striker in the first half, he was more a number 10 sat deeper than Biamou.

correct, so your just confirming what I said earlier then... am I missing something here ? LOL

"Pontecelli should have been right up on shoulder of last man for those through balls as he is the supposed goal poacher & Max should have been the one playing the deeper number 10 role to feed him"