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On a noticeably chilly August day, we headed back to the Macron wrapped up in our winter coats.
The Doombar deliberations were quite upbeat after our reasonably successful mini-tour of Crewe, Millwall and Birmingham.
A cup win and two valuable points were picked up, giving us hope of a first win to confirm a decent start.
Phil Parkinson started with the same team that did well at Birmingham. Yet all our hopes of getting anything from this match disappeared within 20 minutes as veteran David Nugent knocked in a couple of well-taken goals.
Derby County could have been out of sight by half time as they fluffed another three good chances.
Wanderers’ wide-open defence and lack of mobility and creativity was alarming. There was an improvement in the second half but it was too little, too late when Gary Madine fired one in during added time.
No-one doubted this season was going to be tough. The lack of money, the transfer embargo, the injuries and the move up in class have all seen to that. We are not the bookies’ favourites to go down for nothing. It will be a long, hard fight and finishing 21st has got to be the realistic target.
The management and team need time to adjust to the Championship, but the early evidence is most teams will not give us that time. While our away form has been acceptable, “Fortress Macron” remains an alien concept as we have struggled to match better teams. Giving the opposition a two-goal start has never worked in the past and is unlikely to in the future.
Away from home, we can concentrate more on our defence and that seems to be working. At home, the onus is on us to do more attacking and we can’t get the balance right.
There are no easy answers but the manager has to find them quickly or we are going to be playing catch-up all season. Already, fans are questioning formations and team selections, which is natural when things are not going well. We are all managers in our heads as well as fans in our hearts, but let’s leave it to the man in charge and give Parky the time he needs to put things right.
Source
The Doombar deliberations were quite upbeat after our reasonably successful mini-tour of Crewe, Millwall and Birmingham.
A cup win and two valuable points were picked up, giving us hope of a first win to confirm a decent start.
Phil Parkinson started with the same team that did well at Birmingham. Yet all our hopes of getting anything from this match disappeared within 20 minutes as veteran David Nugent knocked in a couple of well-taken goals.
Derby County could have been out of sight by half time as they fluffed another three good chances.
Wanderers’ wide-open defence and lack of mobility and creativity was alarming. There was an improvement in the second half but it was too little, too late when Gary Madine fired one in during added time.
No-one doubted this season was going to be tough. The lack of money, the transfer embargo, the injuries and the move up in class have all seen to that. We are not the bookies’ favourites to go down for nothing. It will be a long, hard fight and finishing 21st has got to be the realistic target.
The management and team need time to adjust to the Championship, but the early evidence is most teams will not give us that time. While our away form has been acceptable, “Fortress Macron” remains an alien concept as we have struggled to match better teams. Giving the opposition a two-goal start has never worked in the past and is unlikely to in the future.
Away from home, we can concentrate more on our defence and that seems to be working. At home, the onus is on us to do more attacking and we can’t get the balance right.
There are no easy answers but the manager has to find them quickly or we are going to be playing catch-up all season. Already, fans are questioning formations and team selections, which is natural when things are not going well. We are all managers in our heads as well as fans in our hearts, but let’s leave it to the man in charge and give Parky the time he needs to put things right.
Source
