Derby County 2 - West Bromwich Albion 1

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Ratings submitted so far: 10

Brendan Clegg:

A quite frantic and difficult few days for the club with Corberan leaving… on more of which later… but the timing of it given our run of games, lack of prep time and the transfer window coming up really couldn’t have been any worse. Massive credit to Brunty for stepping in and Abella for staying and providing some continuity but it felt to me like this was going to be a tough one.

The team looked okay, other than Molumby being rested for Racic and, to a lesser extent, Holgate over Styles and shuffling Heggem to the centre. I’m not just saying these things with hindsight but it came to pass that they were the wrong choices.

First half we were rubbish for too much of it. We sat off Derby too much, didn’t put a tackle in anywhere, and I’m afraid to say Racic was the worst of the lot… his first touch was an aimless give the ball away and he went on to have a dire 45 mins being weak, slow, off the pace and hiding. Everyone around me in the stand were saying the same and it felt like the final start he should make for us.

Others didn’t do much better with sloppy passing or a lack of tempo but crikey Derby were poor. On the few occasions we did pass it well we got through them easily, Furlong hitting the post with one example.

Their opener was so soft… there was a spell in the moments prior where their loose passing should have been pressed but we didn’t lay a glove - Racic especially - and then on the edge of our box we were static. As it was played in we looked to have 2 players covering but Holgate especially, and not for the first time, showed no aggression or desire to close the ball and it was put away accurately off the post.

We finished the half a bit stronger and Swift was unlucky with a free kick that went close, and HT came with changes needed.

In fairness to our coaches they made the change that was needed with Molumby coming on and we were immediately much better, dominating the ball and getting through them. Both Fellows and Johnston were more direct, MJ looking much more dangerous after a poor first half and constantly demanding the ball. Big chances came but first Fellows was blocked from close range and then Furlong really should have done better but went for a bizarre outside of the boot finish instead of powering it home.

A bit typical for us, Derby did threaten on the break although we largely dealt with it. However, having won the ball back we played ourselves into trouble, gave it away and Derby got the kind of luck we just didn’t have… thumping it in the general direction of goal and getting a couple of deflections.

That was harsh on us but we kept going, still looked better and the fresh legs of Grady, Grant and Styles had an impact. Another carbon copy Fellows run and cross was headed in by Grady and we had a grandstand finish of half chances and free kicks… but couldn’t find a way to get the point we easily deserved.

The size of the task for the incoming coach laid bare. Whatever Ajayi’s limitations he is a big miss, we really needed Dike to come back and stay fit and the reality is bar Heggem and Styles our summer signings haven’t worked. It will take a hell of a lot to salvage a season from here and have a tilt at the play-offs, but we’ve got to try and go for it because the league is so poor… it’s difficult to imagine it being this weak again for a while. I don’t know the rules or finances but if we can spend the Corberan money on a forward we should.

• Palmer - 7 Made a couple of great saves.
• Furlong - 6 Good and bad. Kept going.
• Holgate - 5 Just isn’t strong enough for CB… gets bullied
• Bartley- 6 held it together, won’t be able to play all of these games which is a massive problem for us
• Heggem - 6 solid enough but should’ve got rid for their second
• Fellows - 7 another assist and was a threat all game
• Racic - 4 really poor, no fight or energy which are the basics we ask for
• Mowatt - 6 kept playing
• Swift - 6 honestly I’d play him in CM over Racic if we were desperate…
• MJ - 6 Was weak and didn’t get involved enough first half but really had a go. I’d honestly try him as a number 10.
• Maja - 7 Every touch was classy. Very reliable but looked tired towards the end.

• Molumby - 6 Gave us grit and energy but, not for the first time, lack of composure in the box is frightening
• Grady - 7 Good goal and caused problems out on the left.
• Grant - 6 I think his courage to try and come and get the ball and make things happen was commendable but he’s not that player. At least tried.
• Styles - 5 A couple of weak moments but tried.

A few words on Corberan.

Like many others I was frustrated at times by the caution and tempo in our play and the tinkering.

But I’m absolutely gutted.

The opportunity is definitely too good for him to turn down and I think he’s got every chance of being successful there because I fell his qualities are probably best suited to a huge club with no money that needs rescuing where expectations are low and survival via not losing games will be a platform to build on.

For us I thought he was the leader we needed in a period of crisis. I can’t think of many - if any - games where the team didn’t give absolutely everything for him, even if results were poor. He also improved individuals or created environments, systems or the psychology for them to perform above their previous level - Bartley, Furlong, Kipre, Mowatt, Townsend, Molumby, BTA, Grant … and there are plenty of others. And he also came across as just a thoroughly decent guy who was honest, passionate and who clearly worked as hard as anyone can for the club.

I think he was very close to greatness here… a bit of luck with injuries (imagine having a fit Dike and or Maja in the last few months of last season and for the playoffs) or signing one more forward this season and we’d have been right up there.

I think he’s got a chance of getting to elite level in Spain or Italy where his cerebral approach and style of play will be less vulnerable to the 46 game juggernaut of British Autumn-Winter-Spring chaos in the Championship.

He’s left us in a much stronger position than he inherited and whoever comes in next has some very big shoes to fill.

Thanks for everything Carlos!

Kev Buckley:

Albion out-Albion-ed?

First game of the post-Corberan era was very much a Corberan era reprise, in that Albion struggled to create all that much in the first half, whilst not really allowing their opponents to do all that much either.

The "perm any two from three" defensive-centre-mid pools coupon had Mowatt and Racic written on it, although what midfield creativity Swift, in the middle of the three behind the lone striker, might have brought to precedings was negated by the sight of the nominal playmaker playing up alongside Maja rather than trying to feed something into our number nine, resulting in Maja's first shot at goal not actually arriving until the hour, and even then it was as as a result of the "starved of setup" striker making the shooting chance for himself with some quick feet.

Before the third minute had passed we had seen Fellows cut inside and shoot over, as well as Palmer having to save as a ball was played in behind and across the Albion backline - think Diangana's ball that Grant failed to convert in the last game - by an ex-Albion player, Wilson, now plying his trade at full-back for the Rams.

Neither side were really getting the ball into the box all that often and so, when Furlong drove one from twenty-five yards or so, the effort cannoning back out off the far post, it was looking as though long range strikes might be the only attempts likely to trouble either of the keepers but sadly not.

A nice move down our right saw an attacker able to cushion the ball goalwards, inside our box, and even though he had Furlong and Holgate looking to thwart him, the shot he was able to get off flew across Palmer and went in off the inside of the left post.

Holgate went down injured as the half-hour passed but returned to the fray: a fray which saw Palmer tip over from a free-kick before Swift hit the post from a free-kick that probably had the keeper beaten.

Molumby came on for Racic at half-time and it did seem to have the effect of getting Albion going forwards with a bit more purpose, although it would still be wide-man Fellows looking the biggest threat, with a chance just three minutes requring the type of block that you would have liked one of our defenders to have made when Derby had scored their goal.

Albion were certainly looking a lot better in the first fifteen of the second period, with a Mowatt shot, after some good build-up play, requiring a save before Furlong, at the top of the box, tried to stab a loose ball goalwards but stabbed it over.

Despite looking in the ascendancy, the Albion brains trust were just about to make Corberan's formulaic "double-subs-on-seventy" changes when Derby scored their second, a cross from the left side of our box going in off Holgate, with the reuslt that Grant came on for Johnston and Diangana came on for Swift with us two-down.

Holgate went down injured again with fifteen to go, this time leaving the field to be replaced by Styles, as Heggem moved into the centre.

With ten to go, Fellows got off one of his delightful crosses and Diangana, of all people, was there to head home from six-yards out, before he turned provider, dribbling through a few defenders and setting up Grant, but his effort was blocked.

In many ways then, Derby out-Albion-ed the Albion, in making it hard for us to play through them, whilst not creating all that much, the difference being that the Rams got good blocks in and we didn't for one goal, whilst another block went into out net.

For me: one to file alongside a number of other, "why couldn't we have played the way we did, after going behind, from the start" games, and perhaps that will be seen to be the real legacy of the Corberan era?