Hello Derby, My Old Friend

By: Daryl | April 27th, 2009

The Derby County of 2011/12 are not the Premier League abomination of 2007/8. With Paul Jewell still in charge the Rams are currently in 14th place, well clear of the relegation monster.

They’re also affectionately known as “Newcastle Rejects”. Because former Magpies Daniel Sturridge, Danny Guthrie and Shola Ameobi are all on the payroll.

All are decent, but none were good enough to cut it at St James’. I was just hoping none of them wanted revenge.

The press seemed most interested in Danny Sturridge. In the real world I’m a big fan of this young man, so I snatched him from City on a free with a promise that he’d get more first team football. And he did. Sort of.

In two seasons with me he played precisely one more game than he had at Man City. So it was only fair to sell him on when I ~~needed some quick money~~ had the chance to help his career blossom in January 2011.

The question from the press was something like “Can former Newcastle player Daniel Sturridge make you regret playing him in the reserves for two years and then selling him?” and my feeling was that no, he probably couldn’t. Because he’s decent, but he’s nothing to worry about. And so I said no, probably not.

But I should have figured out that when the journo who asks the question inexplicably hates your guts, it’s probably time to start worrying:

Wonder what I’ve done to upset that guy?

vs Derby (away)

I started with the now classic formation:

But Derby absolutely dominated the midfield, with the so-so talents of Danny Guthrie and Owen Garvan. And in the 55th minute they went 1-0 up through – you guessed it – Danny Sturridge. Only a near post tap-in, but he’d played a blinder with endless dribbles at my defence, so fair play to him.

Dawned on me that the classic attacking formation isn’t always good for playing well-organized teams away from home. So I immediately switched to a more traditional 4-4-2:

This settle things down a bit (and made me realize that 4-4-2 is the future for tough away games) but didn’t cut through Derby’s defence. So on came Arshavin, Camacho and Lewandowksi and I spent the last 20 minutes pummelling Derby with this:

The result was almost immediate with Laurito heading in a Veloso corner at point blank range. All Toon from then until full time, but no goal (although an Arshavin strike hit the post and bounced across the plane of the goal before being cleared).

Danny Sturridge was man of the match, and that journalist spent the whole night laughing while writing a column about what a dick I am. Fair enough.

Result: D 1-1

Lessons learned at Pride Park:

1. Don’t udnerestimate former players, even if they’re only half-decent.
2. Feel free to underestimate Shola Ameobi. He can’t even get a game for Derby County.
3. 4-4-2 with Camacho and Veloso at CM is probably a sensible formation for difficult games away from home.

Those two points dropped mean that instead of topping the Prem (which is what could have happened) I’m now sitting third behind Man City and Arsenal.

Next up. The Tyne-Wear derby. Me vs Roy Keane and his 18th placed Sunderland at St. James’ Park. I don’t dare do anything but win that one.