$h€l$ vs Derry City Match Thread

[brandyball]

With us in badly need of a goal scorer it's good to hear Sam Todd will be signing when the window opens.

[fergal]

Well the 8-1-1 formation works that well. Be good to switch to a 9-1-0 formation

[davybhoy]

Everyone around me in the brandywell says the same thing- the football is brutal. At this stage of the three year project we expected to see a big improvement but it isn't there. The cup win last year covered over the massive cracks. How many times this year can you say you walked away from the brandywell happy- not many.

I'll call it now Higgins isn't the answer.

[brandyball]

Here comes plan B.Coll on for McGonigle.

[Keyser Soze]

Everyone around me in the brandywell says the same thing- the football is brutal. At this stage of the three year project we expected to see a big improvement but it isn't there. The cup win last year covered over the massive cracks. How many times this year can you say you walked away from the brandywell happy- not many.

I'll call it now Higgins isn't the answer.

100%.
We are getting worse.

And Rovers losing too. Lowest standard in the league for a few years and we simply can't capitalise.

[jimd]

another poor performance where is this team going ? to the doges i think

[Paddydcfc2010]

No chances again against a poor enough shels team, same old story. Dundalk beating rovers 2-0. The league was there for the taking this year but unfortunately derry have been dire.

[brandyball]

I think Higgins is dilusional, claiming to the Journal " nothings going to stop him". Except a call from Big Phil, obviously.

[TenaciousDee]

At this stage of the three year project we expected to see a big improvement but it isn't there.

Davy I am not targeting you with this post, only taking your point from a general sense so please don't feel offended. I hate hearing this nonsense about "3 year plans" in football. Until Billy Davies first opened his mouth as Derby manager I had never heard anyone talk about a x amount of time project or plan. It always seems like a buzz term for an excuse when the shit hits the fan. Yes, you need to build a foundation over time because overnight success is a rarity and if it happens, you pay for it on the other side. Using Derby and "King Billy" again as reference, look what happened there. He over delivered in year one, crapped himself and performed horrendously after blowing a wad of cash on the worst team the Premier League has ever seen (added upon by Paul Jewell).

Playing devil's advocate here, what happens when we have a performance like tonight, or a run of results such as our last 5 games during that third year? Will we be allowed to criticise then, or do we have to see the end of that year for the plan to manifest? Do we continue to bury our heads and use excuses such as the pitch, the ref and the injuries? These excuses are tiresome because, as I mentioned before, we train on that pitch and should be outperforming every team on it as we put in more minutes practicing and competing on that surface. The referees are brutal to both sides in every game, just like Rob Harvey tonight. As for the injuries and as unfortunate as they are, the bottom line is Higgins has spend a fortune on players and wages in the last 2 and bit years. Little of our investment in the Youth Academy is coming to fruition. Other than Patton and McGinty's cameos this season, I can't think of any other players outside Evan McLaughlin, Caoimhin Porter and Daithi McCallion who had been introduced by Higgins to feature from the Youth team.

We are 6 points behind Rovers but realistically can any of you see us getting above them? On half the budget I reckon in the current state of play we could still land a European Spot this season but no matter what the gap says we are nowhere near close to overtaken Rovers in terms of tactics, infrastructure, marketing, resources and value for money.

[fergal]

If we persist on the team set up and tactics. This team will be luckey to finish 3rd. St pats will pull away from us soon as well. We shouldnt even be thinking about rovers

[brandyball]

At this stage of the three year project we expected to see a big improvement but it isn't there.

Davy I am not targeting you with this post, only taking your point from a general sense so please don't feel offended. I hate hearing this nonsense about "3 year plans" in football. Until Billy Davies first opened his mouth as Derby manager I had never heard anyone talk about a x amount of time project or plan. It always seems like a buzz term for an excuse when the shit hits the fan. Yes, you need to build a foundation over time because overnight success is a rarity and if it happens, you pay for it on the other side. Using Derby and "King Billy" again as reference, look what happened there. He over delivered in year one, crapped himself and performed horrendously after blowing a wad of cash on the worst team the Premier League has ever seen (added upon by Paul Jewell).

Playing devil's advocate here, what happens when we have a performance like tonight, or a run of results such as our last 5 games during that third year? Will we be allowed to criticise then, or do we have to see the end of that year for the plan to manifest? Do we continue to bury our heads and use excuses such as the pitch, the ref and the injuries? These excuses are tiresome because, as I mentioned before, we train on that pitch and should be outperforming every team on it as we put in more minutes practicing and competing on that surface. The referees are brutal to both sides in every game, just like Rob Harvey tonight. As for the injuries and as unfortunate as they are, the bottom line is Higgins has spend a fortune on players and wages in the last 2 and bit years. Little of our investment in the Youth Academy is coming to fruition. Other than Patton and McGinty's cameos this season, I can't think of any other players outside Evan McLaughlin, Caoimhin Porter and Daithi McCallion who had been introduced by Higgins to feature from the Youth team.

We are 6 points behind Rovers but realistically can any of you see us getting above them? On half the budget I reckon in the current state of play we could still land a European Spot this season but no matter what the gap says we are nowhere near close to overtaken Rovers in terms of tactics, infrastructure, marketing, resources and value for money.

Did Higgins and Big Phil not talk about a 3 year project when appointment was made?

[eugenio]

Reluctant to,post but if this is modern football God Help us
Behind the goal I got 45 mins of watching Mc Gonigle Close up I’m going to be fair. Not 1 ball played in to his feet with a follow up run The most basic effective ploy in football But tbh he should not be playing anyhow . Anyone .myself included, could pass a ball all night sideways under no,pressure at all .So if the players are bullied into this by the manager God Help us It’s so negative that its criminal to ask us to pay to watch it. But the manager.
1 He allows NOBODY to play wide at corners or frees so we will never score from then
2 He took the most solid defence ever and. Even allowing for injury he’s chopped it and changed it so much its so vulnerable to the most basic punts up at them now
3 We foul so much ,it’s disgusting . We lost a goal to Dalio again the “foul king “. O Reilly caught the bug and was rightly sent off and a series of lunatic fouls late on which should have gifted Shels the winner are unbelievable in their stupidity. Remember we have fouled incessantly all season
1 Win in 7 Boring inept stuff saved by a Doherty wonder strike ,,,, not coached I assure you
Forecast o o in Faro Isles And home lose on pens And the season whimpers to a close as I don’t expect the Cup draw might throw us up easy ties like last season so Pods money ,like the amount I spend travelling from Belfast weekly , for boredom stuff goes right down the tubes As The line from Spock would go “it’s football Captain but not as we know it “

[Keyser Soze]

Totally correct Eugene.

It's muck, and the manager can waffle all he wants in his pre and post match interviews.

We are a disaster, considering how much money we are spending. 7 defeats halfway through the season, 1 win in 7, and this in the worst quality league in years.

There is no structure to our play, except keeping it slow and negative. We are playing a forward who is getting poor supply and no support. We have a poor bench, with no game changers. Our midfield has zero creativity.

I'm wondering at what point we have to start asking difficult questions? I know some will say, "we're 3rd, what are you chatting about". But this has been a terrible season, and it's getting worse. I don't see anything changing under the current manager, as he has shown he can't change things.

The Euro game will tell us a lot. It brings in decent money, but the way we are playing, I don't have high hopes. Just getting Euro football next season will now be a challenge, as Pats and Bohs are playing better football than us.

[rodgers]

Fought well to dig in at the end but poor game. Second half excitement improved when both teams went two up and the rain made conditions more hazardous.

Thought the ref was poor.

Derry were bad overall. Both last night and Monday we passed the ball straight back to the keeper from second half kick off.

We've stopped the only tactic we had which was those cross field balls from the centre half. Now there doesn't seem to be anything going forward. Play is too slow as well.

Doherty my man of the match.

[YorbaLinda]

Disappointing performance again especially an instantly forgettable 1st half. Yeah we have injuries but the shape and tactics of the team are poor. We are not playing 3 at the back, we are playing 5 and although others point at the final 3rd as the problem I think the middle 3rd is just as big an issue. There is a lack of creativity and desire to get forward to support the forwards. Diallo offers very little in terms of creativity and energy and gets passed very easily when trying to defend. Would like to see us play 2 up front as Mc Gonigle is not a target man but could benefit from flick Ons from a big CF. Sending off was really harsh you can see he slipped as he went in for the challenge. Yellow at most.

[joe3576]

I said a few weeks ago that by the end of June, we would know either way if we were a decent team or bluffers, and it has come home to roost; we are a very average team with good players but no leadership at all.

The performances are the worst I have seen in 20 years, it is so dull it is beyond belief. From kick-offs we are going back to our own keeper, a free kick to us in the second half 15 yards in their half, ends up back with Maher within 3 seconds.

This one up front has not worked for well over a year now, and the manager refuses to change it.

I see no structure to how we play, we play one striker who doesn't want to link up, and we have midfielders conditioned to just keep the ball, no matter what and at the expense of playing forward, we have good defenders, but that alone will not win us the league.

We started last season well, and then faded badly after the first phase of games - if the manager then in one complete calendar year cannot sort out the forward line for the team then I give up. MvGonigle's record over one complete year is shocking, yet there is no attempt to resolve the situation.

We have the biggest budget and squad in our history, and yet serving up the worst most boring football I have ever seen.

The team is riddled with fear, the manager doesn't want to lose and to be frank it is fairly disgusting to watch our team play with so much fear and negativity.

With 20 minutes to go last night, Dundalk were two up, we were on top and playing actually okay with two up front, and looking like we could maybe get a win and get back into the title picture - but then no, sending off immediately McGonigle off for Coll - the immediate Do Not Lose mantra kicks in.

A point is no use to us at this stage, we need 3 - we are Derry City after all, why not just ignore the 10 men and go and win the game - but oh no, we cannot lose. We could have won the game and clawed back the defeat on Monday night in one go.

In the pissing rain last night amongst the true fans,when Coll came on for Jamie and the resignation set in that he was not going to win the game, the fans were very angry, very annoyed, very disappointed. A lot of money has been spent this week by real true fans, 3 games in a week, 2 trips to Dublin - and all they ask is passion, desire and a Derry City traditional of trying to win.

If he had tried to win the game last night and went for it, even with 10 men, and say ended up losing the game - trust me but last night the true fans soaked to their skins would have accepted it, they would have appreciated the desire to go and try and win it with ten men - they would have related to his comments earlier in the week that he had not conceded the league to rovers just yet and applauded their efforts - but to shut up shop and take a point against a very average Shels team was simply just saying - here Rovers go and have the league now by the end of June.

This was not on show last night - we are Derry City and can win games with 10 men, we have a culture of attacking football, trying to win games of football, not settling for dull points against poor bottom half sides. We have brilliant loyal fans who travel more than any other club in Ireland and these fans are getting ZERO back at present (in the last month, trips to Sligo, Pats, Rovers and Shels) - have been disgraceful in terms of what has been served up to these fans paying huge money to support our club.

If the manager cannot produce a team playing attacking football in keeping with our name and tradition - then stand aside, as it is not fair on the fans and to be honest not fair on the very good players he has at his disposal, who to me and many others look disillusioned with this style of play and one up front.

Lesser teams than us - Sligo beat Bohs, we could not beat Bohs 2 weeks ago
Dundalk beat Rovers, we cannot beat Rovers

So other teams are having a good and getting results, but we have the life sucked right out of us at present.

It is very sad at present to see us falling back in the league with no real attempt to either change or improve the situation.

What influence Paddy McLaughlin seems to have, appears to be ZERO. If Higgins goes, it is obvious Paddy will be the next manager, but if he cannot effect any change or influence now (and he also doesn't look very interested either, if his body language is taken into account) - then how will he suddenly motivate a changing room is very debatable.

At the end of every game Higgins and Reynolds walked over to the fans together, and they were clearly a team - this never happens now, Higgins and Paddy seem very distant and Higgins does all his chats with Loughrey - so what is ~~Paddy's role ? Is he really wanted ? Does he really want to be there ? It is all very strange.

[Keyser Soze]

A lot of questions raised for sure in that post Joe, and hard to argue with any of it.

What Higgins is inflicting on us now is the true definition of modern football. The stuff that's taught to all new coaches.

Keep it tight, try to go a goal up, then defend. Keep possession at all costs, don't take chances. Manage the game. Entertain? Ha, you've got to be kidding.

Our manager and No2 don't seem to talk to each other during matches, what's that about? Did Higgins not want Paddy as No2?

It's harder to accept this debacle of a season when it was there for us to grasp. Rovers are well below the high standards they have set lately. Most of us assumed we'd nearly be guaranteed 2nd spot, and with a bit of luck we could push Rovers all the way. But playing like this we are more likely to be chasing 4th than 2nd.

We need things to change, and fast. Before it's too late. This transfer window is huge for us. We need to find goals. And allow the midfield to attack a bit more, be that with our current personnel or new signings.

[brandyball]

Higgins unfazed by online criticism

https://www.derryjournal.com/sport/foot ... od-4201324

[Keyser Soze]

Thats good then. Stick your head in the sand and tell yourself everything is going well.

[derry_bhoy17]

Higgins sacked apparently