Deja vu at Derby
2 months ago, Derby had just put in a promising away performance at Fulham. We were bottom of the league but there appeared to be a glimmer of hope. A new chairman was about to buy into the club and the words "the season starts here" could be heard muttered around Pride Park. This was followed by the dampist of damp squib home performances- a 2-0 defeat to Everton.
Last weekend, Derby put in a credible performance at Old Trafford (forget the scoreline), we had a new manager and are on the verge of a takeover by an American consortium. The words "the season starts here" could be heard muttered around Pride Park. This was followed by a completely demoralising 1-0 home defeat to Middlesbrough. Deja vu? Absolutely, week after week.
To be honest, the defeat didn't particularly sink in at the time; another game, another defeat, we'll start winning sooner or later. (It was possible I was anaesthetised by a pre-match combination of strawberry lager and pear cider. How else do you get your 5-a-day on match day?).
It was only watching Match of the Day on Sunday morning that reality really hit home. Watching Wigan put 5 past Blackburn (remember the Rams have only scored 6 all season) and then seeing Bolton look almost unplayable for spells against Man City (ok they lost but did so in style). If the Rams were to survive, we would be looking to overtake either or both of the aforementioned. Not scrape a result in 90 minutes but out-perform them for half a season. It really is not looking good. The same could be said for Middlesbrough, another team in our sights. We weren't particularly outclassed but neither did we deserve much, if anything, from the game. Could we have got a draw? If we were lucky. Are we likely to score more points than them over 10 or 20 games? I'm usually an optimist but I can't think of any basis to say "yes".
S Spaceram
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