Analysing the Derby Defeat

[Nicolaus_Copernicus]

I guess you have to take your hat off to the man in the sharp suit. Derby were more proactive in the second half and it worked.

After pinning the WB's back, he knew that there was little chance of getting exposed by pushing his team further forward, as there was little/no risk of getting done on the break. That's what a lack of pace/out ball/immobile ball playing midfield causes and a lack of real options on the bench/lack of desire to radically change formation.

 

[IdLiketoRogerMoore]

We were tactically outmanoeuvred second half. The same happened at Bristol City when we made the same substitutions. We didn't give up ground intentionally, credit Derby for pressing our wing backs and turning them with pace in the second half so causing them to run out of steam.

When teams match us further up the pitch we seem devoid of ideas. The plan usually is to move Basham into midfield and if that doesn't work take Duffy off irrespective of whether he is tired or not. The stats confirm when we went 3-5-1-1 after taking Duffy and Sharp off we conceded even more ground to Derby. The formation doesn't work because we don't have the pace to counter attack. Our tactical changes are becoming a bit obvious.

A better option IMO would have been to keep 3-1-4-2 leaving Duffy and Sharp on and replace the wing backs with an injection of pace down the flanks with Johnson. It may not have worked but we would have had fresh legs out wide restricting them from getting early balls into the box.

I certainly think Johnson has a big role to play in these types of games. Even playing centrally his pace would have been more effective than anything Clarke and/or Washington produced.

 

[nopigfansintown]

I certainly think Johnson has a big role to play in these types of games. Even playing centrally his pace would have been more effective than anything Clarke and/or Washington produced.

If only we had somebody to play wide right in a front three. Then you could play Clarke/Sharp with two speed merchants either side, and the flat three in midfield. It'd give us a lot of flexibility tactically. Maybe that could be an option for Woodburn as Liverpool set up similar?

 

[Sheffsteel]

If we can’t play “plan a” then we really need a “plan b” that isn’t just swapping defenders for forwards and bringing Duffy off.

Totally agree that we don’t seem to have a plan B
But ironically that’s one of the factors that has made us so successful.

Other teams have better players then us with a higher pedigree but it seems managers of other teams have a plan A, plan B, plan C and plan D to cover all situations, however it’s unrealistic to expect every single player to take on board instant tactical changes, hence other teams have ups and downs, really good performances and really poor performances.

Where as it seems every United player has Wilders plan A drilled into them every single day in training, so eventually our way of playing becomes second nature and every player knows exactly their role within the team framework.

This style of management sticking to plan A means we have become a very consistent, if predictable well drilled machine.

 

[finlaytheblade]

What a brilliant debate this had been and what pleases me is the positive comments constructive ideas put forward it makes a refreshing change for almost every contributed feels we can kick in this season.
l will add a few of my thoughts ,I viewed the match on sky go from our hotel room near Skipton.
After scoring we fell asleep in the few remaining minutes to halftime recharging for a go in the second half we almost paid the price.I do think Wilder had told the players to expect a reaction from Derby in the second half and setting up as they did gave us more to think about and we went deeper giving them impetus we were unable to wrestle back.We then got pushed back further and I think Wilder was setting up for a point which we may have got on another night.
Lack of pace upfront is a big weakness when playing deep,Swansea are a classic example of pace up top when playing a deep game.It would have given Derby a problem but we don't have it so we can look toothless.can be called plan B but as players get tired it is a weapon that wins games and for me it's the one big thing we lack.
Wilder has commented on this in previous interviews saying it's about timing and pace isn't everything) :I'm a Wilder fan and think he's he's our best manager since Bassett ( and could become our best ever ) but surely pace is the most scary thing defenders come up against and can turn a game,Swansea game at the lane is a classic example.

 

[Bergen Blade]

I think we know that we're not great when we're not able to dominate possession. We started the second half with Duffy advanced, but they had a couple of early attacks that I think scared us. As the analysis said Derby's tweaks effectively turned our backline into a back five, leaving Norwood and Fleck with too much space to cover and they seemed to run straight through us. This has been a vulnerability for us ever since the League One season, but most often we're able to make the game about something we're good at, i.e. dominating possession and forcing the opposition to focus on stopping us.

We did pull Duffy back, but that midfield threesome aren't fabulous defensively and we had to pull the forwards back on some situations, to help us cope. We did have some ok spells, but ended up wasting pretty much everything and we remained uncomfortable when they went forward. A few minutes before they scored Henderson had started to waste a bit of time when he could, suggesting we would be reasonably happy with a point, or realising we had to do what we could to stop their momentum. We made the substitutions, hoping that Coutts would enable us to keep the ball better, as well as hoping the ball would stick more up front with two reasonably strong strikers in Clarke and McGoldrick.

We still struggled to do much meaningful with the ball and then they scored with us looking very passive and unable to get close to them.

 

[Harrisblade]

an evenly contested match played by 2 excellent teams playing good attractive football played at a high tempo in the right spirit. Murphy said it was a great advert for Championship football.

Typical lack of ambition!
The Board and Owners should go now - everybody knows there can only be one excellent team in any match

 

[Patrick Suffaux]

Here’s all anyone needs to know:-

1. We took half a minute to switch on from kick off.

2. We dominated the rest of the first half.

3. Second half was fairly even, they maybe pushed on a bit more than we did without creating very much.

4. They put a slightly better ball into the box than we had done for most of the game. Striker timed his run well and we switched off again. Goal.

5. We look a better all round team, they had a couple of match winners that made a big difference.

There’s the analysis. I’m not at all down about it, I think we’ll beat them at Bramall Lane. Isn’t much else to say.

 

[Topplayersleave]

No we didn't. We were pushed back by a very good team. A home team who were lucky to have gone in at HT level. A team that will have no doubt had a rocket up their arses.

We absolutely went for it in that first half and no team (maybe Man city apart) can play with that intensity for 90mins and on another night, we go in with 3 goals.

Had it not been for their ridiculous start to the game, I'm convinced we win that, or at least draw the game.

Every team in the division will have a spell of pressure in every game, the home team is expected to have more than the away team, especially the home team with aspirations of promotion.

If you turn the tables and we're at Bramall Lane and have just had a 45minutes like Derby had in that 1st half, imagine the meltdown on here if we dont pin the opposition back 2nd half.

Playing with the ball isn't very intense

Running around like cunts when you haven't got it is

We sat back, simple as.
We sat back between the 1st and 19th second as well and got punished so had to change our game plan
Once we got level we reverted back to it, we almost conceded twice in the 4 minutes before half time after we equalised because psychologically they'd got what they set out for........a draw

 

[frechyblade]

As others have said a good mix of sensible debate and ideas. My twopenneth if you saw wilder on sky straight after we conceded in the first minute he was passing instructions on to someone to get forward. He may have recinded that at half time. All in all a good game spoilt by the result. Onward and hopefully upwards.

UTB

 

[mattbianco1]

Playing with the ball isn't very intense

Running around like cunts when you haven't got it is

We sat back, simple as.
We sat back between the 1st and 19th second as well and got punished so had to change our game plan
Once we got level we reverted back to it, we almost conceded twice in the 4 minutes before half time after we equalised because psychologically they'd got what they set out for........a draw

I think I sit behind you. There can't be two of you surely

 

[Rudders]

One thing no-one has mentioned was the truly awful homer ref. He made a difference in slowing or stopping most of our second half moves. Also Huddlestone (who was influential in the second half) should have been red carded for a dreadful elbow.
Notwithstanding this I perhaps would have put Lundstram on with instructions to reduce and niggle Huddlestone at every opportunity...

 

[ekke287]

Some editing issues lol not quite prefect yet are we lol

It wasn't meant in malice, just an observation

A great read as always!

 

[Topplayersleave]

I think I sit behind you. There can't be two of you surely

I suppose We didn't sit back from one second after we scored tonight either

 

[Sothall_Blade]

https://www.coachesvoice.com/tactical-analysis-derby-county-2-sheffield-united-1/

“The right-sided relationship between centre-back Chris Basham and wing-back Freeman became an interesting outlet for the visitors. With the hosts leaving only striker Jack Marriott high in attack, the Blades could send one of their back three forward, as they still had a two-on-one overload should they lose possession. The dropping Norwood formed a triangle around Marriott, who desperately chased the ball, while Freeman maintained attacking width on the right side. Basham’s inside runs from right centre-back penetrated the blindside of Derby’s left-back Craig Forsyth, as Mark Duffy moved across from the central lane to support. This right-sided combination created a number of crossing opportunities.” Etc

 

[Grappler]

Derby leading 1-0 at Boro, looks like they (and QPR) are hitting their stride.

Looking at today's fixtures, I find it hard to predict any of them, some really tight games in that lot.