Sent Off From The Bench

This was a bad result - Mark Bowen said so himself. Seriously though, backing yourself to that extent, away at a team who are unbeaten at home in 2020 (whatever the circumstances) is ridiculous and only sets you up to fail. But either way, we were still rubbish and I preferred it when I was watching German clubs I don't care about. Rooney and Bird pull the central midfielders wide enough for Wisdom to run straight through the middle of them (something Derby didn't capitalise on enough). There was a clear plan, so clear that even BBCRB picked up on it, to allow Andre Wisdom to carry the ball. We did allow Clarke time on the ball too but gave him the pass across to his centre back partner, and then cut off the return. I think it can be argued that Wisdom is the weakest of Derby's players on the ball, but to allow him complete freedom to bring the ball out from the back was bizarre. He's not that bad. Yes, a couple of his long balls out to the left were overhit, but more o...

It almost feels superfluous to write about a Brentford team who have already been covered so extensively. Famed for their player recruitment the core of their side is a young, attack-minded group of players who seemingly love to play together. They tend to play 4-3-3, with Watkins as the main striker, and Benrahma and Mbeumo attempting to find space to either side of him. The midfield three is given stability by Christian Norgaard in the holding role, while Dasilva and Jensen are free to push on. Even goalkeeper David Raya Martin is crucial to the team's attacking intent. His quick distribution reminiscent of Marcus Hahnemann bowling out to Bobby Convey to set the winger away. That said defensively the Spaniard can occasionally be caught out, infamously allowing Ryan Tafazolli to pass the ball from the halfway line into the Brentford net. That's not the only mistake he's made this year - a missed punch condemned Brentford to a loss at Kenilworth Road, and similarly lead to ...

There may have been three-and-a-half months since Reading last took to the pitch, but there were few surprises amongst the first starting line up of the restart. Yiadom's injury saw Gunter take part, Moore came back into the side for Miazga, Obita replaced Rinomhota, and Joao played his first game in six months as Puscas dropped to the bench. 1st Half Shape Interestingly it did seem as though the shape was slightly tweaked, moving to a 4-2-3-1 from the usual 4-1-4-1. Ejaria and Swift made up the double pivot, while Olise played in front of them - although it must be said that they weren't tied to those positions, and did rotate if needed. Obita offered the width that twitter was calling out for on the left-wing, and Meite started from a wider position than he had been doing with Puscas up front. I really wouldn't sleep on Michael Olise #readingfc pic.twitter.com/sZfIYvTYhQ — Matthew Williamson (@Photomattic) June 22, 2020 In terms of the midfield trio, I'm not convin...

Derby County have had a mediocre season so far. Sitting 12th in the table, a recovery in the early part of 2020 has stalled, with no win in four. In the home form table, they sit second and haven't lost since mid-December, and they're in the same position in an overall table since 1st January. Rooney's arrival in January was a catalyst, but they still haven't been able to rectify problems away from home, almost typified by the dismal 3-0 defeat at The Madejski. It must be said that the teams they've played at home since the turn of the year are mostly struggling themselves - Barnsley, Hull City, Stoke City, Huddersfield, Fulham, and Blackburn. While their most famous player may be 34 they have an incredibly promising group of youngsters that should see them in good stead for the future. Matt Clarke (23), Max Lowe (23), Jayden Bogle (19), Krystian Bielik (22), Jason Knight (19), and Max Bird (19) all have over 1000 minutes (and in fact, the initial three have double ...