Back from the game - a foo thoughts

Firstly any comments on this game must be read against the context that Derby side is the worst team we will play all season by a country mile. They were there for the taking, their fans were booing them after about 15 mins and were ready to turn. So in that context it’s a particularly appalling result.

Manning needs to go. He should have gone yesterday. Had he done so i think we would have won this game. He needs to go tomorrow. We just need to change it, okay differently and try and get more from these players.

That said, tonight I don’t think it can all be pinned on him. We did play pretty well first half, the players were certainly putting a shift in and the selection broadly worked. Makama has got it and gives us physical presence and pace down the right. We could snd should have scored two or three. When we didn’t, you knew what was coming. It’s an unfortunate product of Manning ball that our best moves often end up with Stacey on the end of them though. Good player but final third decision making not his best attribute.

Derbys only threat, pretty much throughout came from long balls, usually over or in behind medic. Clearly something they targeted and it brought a bit of joy at times although we generally held them at arms length.

And then the second half which more or less summed up the failings this season. Once again we came out of the blocks slowly. Once again we didn’t respond to a tactical change by the opposition. Once again we had two or three players who looked utterly exhausted after 50 minutes. The otherwise excellent Makama was one, as was Topic. I feel one of them was probably at fault for the amount of space their man found in the box for their goal. He was unmarked for an eternity before he got the ball and took advantage. Why, 3 months into the season, are some of our players still so lacking stamina?

After that we huffed and puffed and hit the post. We probably shaded it again but once again we come away from an away game having to thank Vlad for a couple of wonder saves keeping us in it. You looked around at the bench for options to change it and it dawned on you what a f**k up knapper has made in basically assembling a squad with only one quick winger. But surely there is some quick kid in the U21s we can chuck on just to give us a bit of pace out wide?

Anyway Kenny was good at left back, Stacey played well, Makama very good til he tired, Vlad excellent and I thought Wright back made us look better as well. Other than that the journey was good but the result was sh*t!

Posted By: Jim on October 22nd 2025 at 00:20:03

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