Usually I won't write a report on a game unless I was actually there. I don't go to every away game, purely because I can't afford to, but usually there's someone who will send me a report that I can use. This time though, none of my regular mob made the trip to Pride Park, so I've had to do it myself. (Chris Murphy went, but due to the excessive amount of alcohol he consumed he remembers Paddy's goal and very little else, so his match report would be pretty sketchy to say the least!) Thankfully, the game was on Sky so I'm not basing my report on Ian St John's radio summary! There are many disadvantages to watching on Sky rather than actually being there, Andy Gray being the most notable one, but the one advantage watching the game on Sky gave me was that I got to see a very interesting interview with Le Boss beforehand. After hearing what Gerard had to say I was convinced we'd win, and win well. I've been moaning all season about Gerard being too defensive and not playing enough attacking midfield players. I know we've had a lot of injuries, but Hamann and Carragher shouldn't play together in midfield under ANY circumstances. If that means bringing in a youngster, then do it, but I hope I never see them two partnering each other again.
But anyway, back to the interview. Pretty much every time you see or hear from Gerard, he'll be beating on about being solid and not giving anything away. You know the script by now ¿if you can't score, get a drawî or ¿if you don't concede you won't loseî. This season it seems we have become too pre-occupied with not losing games and we have forgotten that it's not such a bad idea to actually go out and win. I don't blame the players too much for our faltering start, as I believe they have been handicapped by the formation and team selections of their manager. There has been no balance to the side, and I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say that prior to this game we've been about as entertaining as George Graham's Arsenal.
I think that this finally dawned on Gerard too, as the interview he gave was in stark contrast to his usual stuff. He spoke about telling his players (sorry, Ðpliers´) to simply go out and play. It was as though he too had become tired of the boring football we were producing, and he told the lads to go out and attack. ¿About fucking timeî I found myself muttering. At last we were going to see some FOOTBALL for a change. And we certainly did didn't we?
We started off okay without being spectacular, but once Emile rose salmon-like to power home Gary Mac's corner, there was only one team in it. Even the departures of Heggem and Owen didn't seem to phase the side, with Murphy and Macca pulling the strings in midfield and Barmby and Paddy running Derby ragged down the channels. It should be pointed out of course that Derby are shite, but it's also worth noting that prior to this game they were one of the highest scoring teams in the Premiership and have a pretty good home record. The fact that we prevented them from creating a single noteworthy chance is very encouraging.
Babbel looks like he's been playing alongside Sami his whole life and it's not going to be easy for Henchoz to get his place back. The defence hasn't really worried me at all this season, despite the fact that they've been shipping far too many goals for comfort. For me, the reason we were conceding goals was because we weren't playing enough good attacking football, which was putting too much pressure on the defence. This win would appear to prove the point, as the defence was far more effective with four attack minded midfielders in front of them than they have been with three defensive ones.
Naturally though, all the post-match headlines belonged to Emile Heskey, and I was made up for the lad. In the piece I wrote in issue 12 entitled ¿Lay Off Emileî, I mentioned that the lad has shown us in glimpses that he's got absolutely everything, but that he just hasn't put it all together in one match. Well he came pretty close in this one. Heading, shooting, poaching, hold up play, creating chances for others, he did it all at Pride Park. A worthy man of the match I'd say, although Gary Mac ran him pretty close didn't he?
It just shows how much we've missed the old fella. He always finds a red shirt, is always available for a pass and is always looking to play the ball FORWARD when possible. He'll be one of the first names on the team sheet from now on you can be sure. It was also nice to see Robbie getting a lot of minutes under his belt, although it was sad to see what happened to Michael. The way the game opened up in the second half would have been tailor made for Owen, and he could have bagged a hatful. Still, I thought Robbie played really well, although his finishing let him down and he should also have created a goal for Barmby (I think it was Barmby anyway) but his pass was far too casual.
All in all though, it was a good days work for Robbie and the reds, capped off by Paddy's fantastic strike to wrap things up. We've missed him too this season. GH said afterwards that he'd told the players ¿our season starts here.î We know what he means, but maybe if he'd given that speech before the Bradford game (and been a bit more positive in his team selections since) we'd be well clear at the top of the table. Still, we live and learn, and hopefully Gerard has learned from this and that we'll see a lot more of this positive approach from now on. With the squad of players we have now, that's surely the attitude we should be taking into games.
That defensive philosophy is the only criticism I've ever had of Gerard. In every other respect I think he's been fantastic for us. His signings have been pretty much universally successful, and he has instilled discipline and professionalism throughout the club. The only thing missing has been entertainment, but let's hope that this game is the turning point.
The final word though has to be for the travelling reds who were fantastic throughout. Listening to the noise coming from our lads, you'd have thought we were the home side. Well done lads, you did us proud.
TEAM: Sander Westerveld; Vegard Heggem (Danny Murphy), Markus Babbel, Sami Hyypia, Christian Ziege; Nick Barmby, Gary McAllister, Jamie Carragher, Patrik Berger; Emile Heskey, Michael Owen (Robbie Fowler):
