Oh what a feeling

[Silvio Dante]

9 hours ago, JoeAman08 said:

Bolton played like they were down to 10 men before they were down to 10 men. Was always going to be tough to break them down. We did twice. Was the match a bit dire at times? Yes but the performance was not. Again, a performance where we'd have drew 0-0 or even lost 0-1 last season or season before. Professional performance tonight and the type of win we'll have to produce more of because teams aren't going to let us play this free flowing football all season. They'll be more "Bolton" matches than "Derby" matches in the coming months. 

We are approaching the time we started our fall last season but our performances are much better so I'm hopeful we will retain some form but I don't expect us to be picking up 1.7 ppg through the winter months(I'd take it!!). We seem much steadier this season.

I think this is the rub. We weren't dire, nor were we particular great - we were professional.

The key point is that if we do keep up the 1.7 ppg, more sides will come to us and sit. There will be sides that are far better than that than Bolton are/were, and we probably need a better performance than last night if they do. Notwithstanding the opposition, we didn't create enough, didn't get behind them enough and the stats really don't show the full story. Professional - but definitely room to be better.

[cidered abroad]

35 minutes ago, Silvio Dante said:

I think this is the rub. We weren't dire, nor were we particular great - we were professional.

The key point is that if we do keep up the 1.7 ppg, more sides will come to us and sit. There will be sides that are far better than that than Bolton are/were, and we probably need a better performance than last night if they do. Notwithstanding the opposition, we didn't create enough, didn't get behind them enough and the stats really don't show the full story. Professional - but definitely room to be better.

If the opposition come to AG with only defence in mind, it will begin to highlight our biggest weakness at present.

That we only score a small percentage if chances/shots! We must become seriously more clinical in front of goal..

[ExiledAjax]

3 hours ago, cidered abroad said:

If the opposition come to AG with only defence in mind, it will begin to highlight our biggest weakness at present.

That we only score a small percentage if chances/shots! We must become seriously more clinical in front of goal..

We are clinical. We are one of the most clinical teams in the league (only Leeds and Ipswich above us).  Prior to Norwich we scored a goal every 8 shots. Not shots on target, shots. See the post I made earlier in the Fam thread.

[Mr Popodopolous]

It was not a great game by any stretch. Bolton were very poor, very dirty.

We did what we needed to do, we avoided getting provoked by all the fouling and getting any cheap red cards. Professional win, move forward.

In terms of sides like this and I suspect v Burton maybe similar albeit they are better than Bolton, 3 in midfield to get them moving around, chasing ball open up space... Maybe. Sounds counter intuitive but 4-3-3 maybe a possible solution.

Secondly Hegeler at the back, his technical quality, fact he won't have too much to do- get that ball moving quicker will help stretch a deep lying side better..good plan B for games like this IMO.

[Lanterne Rouge]

It was what I always call a regulation home win. A goal in each half, never in trouble, always looked like we could step it up a gear if we wanted. Another one chalked off without any slip ups.