Derby

[Gazwag]

I don’t know about anyone else but I like the idea of playing the first leg at the Amex because no matter what happens it will not end there. There will be no extra preparations, confetti or fireworks organisied in anticipation in the event that we win, and everyone will stay to the end to applaud our squad giving them a fantastic send off to the second leg.
.

 

[symyjym]

Ok, most then.

 

[Ramalanadingdong]

If we don't make it I'd really love Brighton to make it ..Both of us would enhance the prem in a positive way ... both are very well supported with a big fanbase ... both have not spent money .. both come from areas under represented in the top tier ...

 

[DerbyDerby]

Ram Here,

Not read this whole thread so apologies in advance if some of this has already been said.

Been hearing from some of the Brighton fans i know, that we are abit over confident about beating you etc. I think we have every right to be confident, we finished 3rd, with alot more points, the leagues top goal scorers and have conceded a similar amount to you since Steve Mcclaren came in.

At the minute we are dominating games and scoring for fun to be honest. We work as a team and are very attack minded, but still have enough game changes in the squad to get goals if the going gets tough.

I would have thought we'd line up:

Grant - (top season for him working under eric steele)
Wisdom - Very solid defensively, not as potent going forward but very solid
Keogh - Captain
Buxton - Probably the most underrated player in the league, you'll soon see why we all love him
Forsyth - Massively Improved, one of the best left backs in the division now and his a wicked cross
Thorne - Completely dominant CDM, great vision, if theres a better talent outside of the prem, i'm yet to see it
Bryson - 16 goals from central midfield, and an absolute engine
Hendrick - Really found form of late, wouldnt give him space to shoot on or around the edge of your box
Ward - On his day can cause real problems
Martin - 23 goals, the focal point of our attack
Russell - Lighting quick and knows where the net is

We have a good bench also, with will hughes, patrick bamford etc.

I don't think we'll walk it, would take a draw at your place as i feel we can beat anyone at home. Paticularly wary of Ulloa (if thats how its spelt?), Buckley and Ince from what i can remember of seeing you play, and if we dont make it, make sure you lot go on and win it! couldn't stand it if moneybags QPR were to spend there way back to the prem.

 

[The Wizard]

For some reason I have an irrational hatred of Wigan, not sure why just one of those clubs that irritate me massively, can't stand Arry & QPR either so if we do lose out to Derby I hope they go all the way.

I'm not sure about this game though we don't have a bad record at home to teams that try and attack us, it will be interesting to see a team come to the Amex and actually try to win the game as we normally beat teams who try that, apart from Wigan who we destroyed and some how lost, lost count of the amount of teams this season who just come to contain and time waste. I think it will be 2 close games, a goal either way over 2 legs will win it IMO.

Derby are the best team to have visited us this season for me, although they got us at a very good time.

 

[hybrid_x]

Ram Here,

Not read this whole thread so apologies in advance if some of this has already been said.

Been hearing from some of the Brighton fans i know, that we are abit over confident about beating you etc. I think we have every right to be confident, we finished 3rd, with alot more points, the leagues top goal scorers and have conceded a similar amount to you since Steve Mcclaren came in.

At the minute we are dominating games and scoring for fun to be honest. We work as a team and are very attack minded, but still have enough game changes in the squad to get goals if the going gets tough.

I would have thought we'd line up:

Grant - (top season for him working under eric steele)
Wisdom - Very solid defensively, not as potent going forward but very solid
Keogh - Captain
Buxton - Probably the most underrated player in the league, you'll soon see why we all love him
Forsyth - Massively Improved, one of the best left backs in the division now and his a wicked cross
Thorne - Completely dominant CDM, great vision, if theres a better talent outside of the prem, i'm yet to see it
Bryson - 16 goals from central midfield, and an absolute engine
Hendrick - Really found form of late, wouldnt give him space to shoot on or around the edge of your box
Ward - On his day can cause real problems
Martin - 23 goals, the focal point of our attack
Russell - Lighting quick and knows where the net is

We have a good bench also, with will hughes, patrick bamford etc.

I don't think we'll walk it, would take a draw at your place as i feel we can beat anyone at home. Paticularly wary of Ulloa (if thats how its spelt?), Buckley and Ince from what i can remember of seeing you play, and if we dont make it, make sure you lot go on and win it! couldn't stand it if moneybags QPR were to spend there way back to the prem.

what you say is all true, but you're not taking into account one thing.

our players and fans are in a joyous spin at the moment, we have some serious momentum, and will play in front of 28k of our own fans..........you have been playing nothing games the past few weeks and may not be ready for what you will walk into on thurs.

if we score thurs in the first 20mins i see us going crazy and steamrolling the whole 2 legged tie. if not, then i see you scraping it by the old goal / mistake / penalties.

you ARE the better team, but we are on the crest of a piece of magic (saturday).

 

[Whirlwind_Ram]

Too much over analysis on these two games.

Both teams are capable of beating each other. Both previous games have been tight affairs.

I don't fear Derby, and I'm sure they don't fear us.

Home advantage needs to be taken care of, because I'm sure Derby will throw everything including the kitchen sink at us up there.

You're not allowed to take kitchen sinks into the ground...it says so on the sign outside...or if it doesn't it should do, everything else is on there!

You are right though clippedgull, I'm sure we will go for it in the 2nd leg

Forget all that has been before these two fixtures...it's a cup tie and anything can happen

I'm looking forward to it but I'm never optimistic in these situations so as not to be too disappointed if it all goes breasts to the sky

 

[clippedgull]

You're not allowed to take kitchen sinks into the ground...it says so on the sign outside...or if it doesn't it should do, everything else is on there!

Welcome to the Forum

Let's hope that we have two exciting games and whoever wins, wins on merit!

 

[nicko31]

If Wigan get to the final at Wembley it will feel like another home game for them .....

Yes, and only selling about half their tickets

 

[edna krabappel]

you ARE the better team, but we are on the crest of a piece of magic (saturday).

As were Leicester last season after also scraping into the play offs with a last minute winner. Probably even more so, as that result also destroyed their local-ish rivals' (yes, I know Forest care more about Derby, but I'm sure Leicester would have enjoyed turning them over nonetheless) hopes of promotion at the same time.

Leicester last season peaked with that result. Maybe the effort took it out of them, I have no idea, but they then went and blew it against Watford. I hope we don't do a Leicester, or, if we do, that we follow their season this time around with similar starting in August

 

[Whirlwind_Ram]

Let's hope that we have two exciting games and whoever wins, wins on merit!

Absolutely, I'll drink to that

 

[edna krabappel]

Absolutely, I'll drink to that

This must be the most civilised play off build up, ever

As I think a lot of people have said: if we lose, I'll have little problem wishing Derby luck for the final, as Wigan (boring, never really brought much to the party when they were there previously) and QPR (let's be honest, nobody likes QPR) aren't remotely appealing candidates.

 

[Turkey]

Ram Here,

Not read this whole thread so apologies in advance if some of this has already been said.

Been hearing from some of the Brighton fans i know, that we are abit over confident about beating you etc. I think we have every right to be confident, we finished 3rd, with alot more points, the leagues top goal scorers and have conceded a similar amount to you since Steve Mcclaren came in.

At the minute we are dominating games and scoring for fun to be honest. We work as a team and are very attack minded, but still have enough game changes in the squad to get goals if the going gets tough.

I would have thought we'd line up:

Grant - (top season for him working under eric steele)
Wisdom - Very solid defensively, not as potent going forward but very solid
Keogh - Captain
Buxton - Probably the most underrated player in the league, you'll soon see why we all love him
Forsyth - Massively Improved, one of the best left backs in the division now and his a wicked cross
Thorne - Completely dominant CDM, great vision, if theres a better talent outside of the prem, i'm yet to see it
Bryson - 16 goals from central midfield, and an absolute engine
Hendrick - Really found form of late, wouldnt give him space to shoot on or around the edge of your box
Ward - On his day can cause real problems
Martin - 23 goals, the focal point of our attack
Russell - Lighting quick and knows where the net is

We have a good bench also, with will hughes, patrick bamford etc.

I don't think we'll walk it, would take a draw at your place as i feel we can beat anyone at home. Paticularly wary of Ulloa (if thats how its spelt?), Buckley and Ince from what i can remember of seeing you play, and if we dont make it, make sure you lot go on and win it! couldn't stand it if moneybags QPR were to spend there way back to the prem.

You are entitled to be confident. You should be!

We've got the experience of last season's Play-Off games (7 of the 11 who started against Palace likely to start vs you) and we've just had two games against Yeovil and Forest where we had to win and the pressure was really on. I'm hoping our players will now be used to that pressure and handle it well and enjoy these games. I'm hoping that under the pressure of the Play-Offs, your lot will show some vulnerability. Who knows though, just delighted to be in it and looking forward to it.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

This must be the most civilised play off build up, ever

As I think a lot of people have said: if we lose, I'll have little problem wishing Derby luck for the final, .

You say that now, but a lot can change over the next few days. If Derby get past us with a dodgy penalty, a few dives and some world-class time-wasting, we'll all be cheering Wigan in the final...

(Not QPR though, OBVIOUSLY)

 

[Simster]

You say that now, but a lot can change over the next few days. If Derby get past us with a dodgy penalty, a few dives and some world-class time-wasting, we'll all be cheering Wigan in the final...

(Not QPR though, OBVIOUSLY)

I'd still struggle to support Wigan, personally. If we lose, however it happens, Derby got miles more points than us, and indeed miles more than QPR, all without spending absurd amounts or borrowing Serie A players - they will have deserved it.

 

[edna krabappel]

You say that now, but a lot can change over the next few days. If Derby get past us with a dodgy penalty, a few dives and some world-class time-wasting, we'll all be cheering Wigan in the final...

(Not QPR though, OBVIOUSLY)

I realise that. But for now, it's incredibly civilised.

 

[Machiavelli]

For some reason I have an irrational hatred of Wigan, not sure why just one of those clubs that irritate me massively, can't stand Arry & QPR either so if we do lose out to Derby I hope they go all the way.

I'm not sure about this game though we don't have a bad record at home to teams that try and attack us, it will be interesting to see a team come to the Amex and actually try to win the game as we normally beat teams who try that, apart from Wigan who we destroyed and some how lost, lost count of the amount of teams this season who just come to contain and time waste. I think it will be 2 close games, a goal either way over 2 legs will win it IMO.

Derby are the best team to have visited us this season for me, although they got us at a very good time.

Not convinced by this. Forest were the best team at Falmer this season, and tore us apart especially in the first part of the second half. Derby looked pretty good but had D'Urso spotted one of the most blatant penalties, and had Lopez converted the spot-kick (on the evidence he's provided thus far, this is extremely likely), Derby would have found themselves 2-0 down. How that game would have transpired is anyone's guess.
For very different reasons, I though that QPR and Wigan looked mightily impressive at our place, both better than Derby. Mind you, Clough was their manager when they played here, whereas McLaren was when we played them there, and -- like us -- they weren't much good in that turgid game.

 

[Hamilton]

Hi chaps, just want to congratulate you lot in making the play-offs two years in a row, no easy feat. Particularly pleased you pipped Reading to the post because of my hatred of Nigel Adkins, stemming back from his Soton days where he always struck me as a smug b*stard.

I must admit the general feeling on our forum (dcfc fans, if you're interested) is that you were the ones we wanted to play. I mean no offence by this and I definitely don't underestimate you slightly, but you were the best draw for us mainly because we've done the double over you this season where as we'd struggled against Reading. You also seem to play decent football, which suits us massively as we've struggled against physical teams that come to limit us rather than play themselves (Wigan did that to great effect). However saying that, I feel like we got you lot at the right time at the start of the season and the game at our place could have gone either well. Ulloa seems a cracking player and one I'd kill to sign if we went up as he's similar to Chris Martin but considerably stronger in the air (something we don't really have up top).

But, I was just wondering what your thoughts about us and the tie were? We've really had the best season for a long time, considering the last few years have been mid-table and dull. At the start of the year we'd have been pretty chuffed to be in your position right now, but we're finding ourselves disappointed with 3rd.

I've already said that this tie was the best result for neutrals and wish you all the best

Best of luck to you (if you get to the final).

I agree, we are the underdogs. It's a good to be in that position rather than favourites. I'm just delighted to be here and to have a crack at getting to the final.

You've clearly proved yourselves 100% this season and it's frustrating to be 3rd and have to play a team with significantly less points than you for a chance to get to the final. I'd be frustrated with that, but hey, that's the play-offs and nobody can say it doesn't keep the season alive until the very end.

The big question will be whether the occasion gets to your players. The pressure is very much on them. The other big question is whether or not our lot can relax. I've a feeling they'll be just as jumpy. The weight of expectation from our crowd can be ridiculous.

Anyhow, best of luck. Hope you lose and all that.

 

[Hamilton]

You say that now, but a lot can change over the next few days. If Derby get past us with a dodgy penalty, a few dives and some world-class time-wasting, we'll all be cheering Wigan in the final...

(Not QPR though, OBVIOUSLY)

Quite.

However...

QPR = Harry and loadsamoney culture
Wigan = nice I'm sure, but had their moment in the sun, and please no more Rugby League B teams in the top flight

 

[The Wizard]

Not convinced by this. Forest were the best team at Falmer this season, and tore us apart especially in the first part of the second half. Derby looked pretty good but had D'Urso spotted one of the most blatant penalties, and had Lopez converted the spot-kick (on the evidence he's provided thus far, this is extremely likely), Derby would have found themselves 2-0 down. How that game would have transpired is anyone's guess.
For very different reasons, I though that QPR and Wigan looked mightily impressive at our place, both better than Derby. Mind you, Clough was their manager when they played here, whereas McLaren was when we played them there, and -- like us -- they weren't much good in that turgid game.

All about opinions I guess, Derby just sticks out in my mind, Forest were very good though and as you say took us apart. And I didn't think much of Wigan or QPR in all honesty, we totally dominated Wigan and lost due to mistake by Upson(?) and QPR just looked like a team of big time players who didn't want it enough + we won the game 2-0 so they can't be that good given some of our other results to lesser teams at home.

Middlesbrough were good as well, even if we were appallingly bad that day.