How are we feeling after sleeping on it?

I'll be honest; I was disappointed not to win because not winning felt like a step down. But that's a huge positive. We'd won 7 on the trot, unbeaten in 9, and I was a bit píssed off we drew. Because we've just been that effective, and frankly spoiled.

The weather was awful, the pitch was awful, the opposition manager's hairline was awful. All major factors.

What do we think now? Poll above

 

It shows how far we've come when we're disappointed by only getting a draw, but a combination of strong winds and inadequate refereeing spoilt the game. Take a point and move on. Ten games unbeaten. The juggernaut's still rolling....

 

I hope if we end up finishing 10th or something lower that people remember how they thought we’d do at the start of the season, or after seven games, or even 8 games ago. We need one point from 11 games to have our most in a Championship season since 2000.

 

Sometimes things don't go your way. Last night we just didn't have our shooting boots on so were never going to win. Lads tried their best as usual but it just wasn't our night.

 

Not the best game, but we still came awa with a point.

Bournemouth is the big one now. Huge huge game. If we can win it we're in dreamland. Cardiff playing Watford too.

 

If the lowlights i've just watched are a fair summary of the best chances, it's fair to say it was a point gained and not 2 dropped.

 

This!!!!!

 

Another one of those games that we would probably have lost in previous seasons. Not the best football to watch but neither the weather or the pitch were conducive to a free flowing game.

Whatever happens in the next couple of months it should not be understated just how far this team has come in a short period of time

 

Personally I thought this week 4 points would be amazing, we’re still on for that.

I’m happy with a point in that game, Derby didn’t come to play football at all they came to get a point and that’s what they got away with, so credit to them for that.

I can’t fault the lads at all, they ran their blood to water again, and they keep doing this week after week but let’s be honest with ourselves it shouldn’t be a tactic to struggle against. If you put men behind the ball and pump it over our defence you have a chance, derby did that all night and we struggled to get any control on the game.

Also, it’s alright managers like that clown at Millwall saying our pitch suits our style, but I genuinely think it’s a disadvantage for us. Our pressing style is significantly reduced on heavy pitches like yesterday. At one point Dike looked slow trying to run through the mud. Hopefully they have adequate recovery time and put in another massive performance on Bournemouth’s lovely pitch.

 

Anyone thinking anything other than keeping a clean sheet in horrendous conditions after a load of games in a short period of time is a decent result needs to give their head a wobble.

 

Contrary to Mr Badger, I didn't think it was the worst game I've seen - not even the worst this season. He'll get little credit on here, but Rooney weighed us up shrewdly and matched our formation with his. His lads put a shift in for him, but the outcome was a predictable stalemate. I think if anything, Derby came closer to winning it with that shot off the post. As has been said before, in the past we had a tendency to lose irritating games like this, or Birmingham. So a draw on the back of seven wins is absolutely fine. We are in the top six level on games, and our future is in our own hands. Saturday is a big game, and may tell us how far we've come. Well played Val and the lads - keep it up.

 

This^

 

At this stage last season most of us had resigned ourselves to relegation,

We've come a long, long way.

 

And as @orsenkaht says; in other seasons we would never have got a point from a game like that (or Cardiff), picking up scrappy points is the difference between success and nearly.

 

If styles Is capable of doing all the niggly bits that Palmer is doing he might get a start in centre midfield soon.

Val doesn’t seem one for experimentation however and there’s not really much time in training to see. An injury might force his hand but we’ve generally been a pretty fit team this year despite the heavy workload.

 

Think we missed Halme last night personally. Could have been very combative in the middle and pushed us over the line. A solid point, we move on.

 

I think Styles would work well in the front three, with Dike and Morris, but would need some time in training to prepare for it given how important the high press is to our game, so wouldn't happen before the international break. I was surprised he wasn't moved into midfield when Williams came on, with Palmer going off a bit earlier. He looked knackered.

In terms of the poll, I'd say a mix of all three apply. Poor game, but for 55-60 minutes, we looked like the only team playing while they were having the occasional game against our offside trap. Though they won a lot more second balls than teams have done against us recently, and they were the better team once Chaplin missed his chance. If that or the Dike header goes in, it's another fairly comfortable win.

 

I was disappointed with the draw, but mainly because we could so easily have won it. Not that we deserved to, but chaplin should have scored and Dike could have had a penalty. Not that I think it was a penalty but I’ve seen them given. However on the other side Derby should have scored when Collins had to make a fantastic save and they also could have had a penalty. Again I don’t think it was but I’ve seen them given.

Probably a fair result all things considered but I was really hoping we could get some daylight between ourselves and Bournemouth before Saturday. It’s a massive game now.

 

Relaxed. We're on a great run. We're in a Play Off spot. We're not in a relegation battle. We have a squad of players who we know all give 100% every single match. The club has launched it's season ticket prices with an option to buy cheaply lasting two months, rather than previously only one. We have a truly outstanding Head Coach in Valerien Ismael. We have a truly outstanding & imaginative social media team.
I'm not speaking on behalf of anyone else, just me. If others insist on finding negatives, let them. They're entitled to their opinion. But they certainly don't speak for me.