A glance at the table and you’d wonder just what was going on at Derby County. Are they trying to outdo the uselessness of their iconic 07/08 Premier League side? If there was an “off the pitch league table” they’d probably be bottom too. Every week another story, dodgy stadium sale, administration and now a potential liquidation. I suppose in someways it is an “off the pitch league table”, because their complete uselessness has cost them a place in the Championship. That is unless they come up with the greatest escape imaginable. The club is clearly a complete shambles. People often accuse the Bristol City hierarchy of being incompetent, but we don’t really realise what incompetent means.
I wonder if as City fans we should make a greater effort to highlight the plight of clubs that are truly “badly-run”. In recent years we’ve certainly had our fair share of lacklustre transfers, we’ve let players go for peanuts who’ve gone on to great things and we’ve had some questionable managerial appointments. There are a fair few chunks of dead wood in our current squad, many on wages that far exceed their ability. Pearson has got a lot of players out of the club that simply had to leave. His bus waits for nobody and there are more that need to get off at the next stop. If anyone will pick them up that is.
Must-Win Game to Steer Clear of Drop Zone
City have certainly “wasted” money on numerous players in recent seasons, nothing compared to Derby though. When you see that Tom Lawrence is reportedly on £37,000 a week, it makes you realise how out of hand spending can get in the Championship. They’ve got quality in their side, not for much longer though. Any savvy club will be circling around their best players looking for a bargain. Recall how quickly the bones were picked apart recently when Wigan had to sell all their talent.
This is the sort of game we must be winning, if we are to stay clear of the relegation zone.
Despite all the carnage surrounding Derby this season, without a points deduction they would be just one behind us. Not brilliant considering the wage bill but a reasonable effort considering the noise about the place. This would be a huge six pointer were there no punishment, a battle between two teams trying to distance themselves from relegation. Instead it’s a chance for only us to do just that. With Barnsley and Peterborough not winning in their last four, the two other teams in the relegation zone, this is a great chance to start stretching the gap between us and disaster. The three teams between us and them have all picked up form recently. If we’re not careful we’ll be just above the dotted line. Despite being a fair few points away from dropping below it.
Don’t Expect Entertainment on Saturday
Focusing on Saturday though, Derby fans have hardly been served up entertaining games this season. Only two teams have scored less, only three teams have conceded fewer this season. A sign that we may see a cagey match, or at least one with minimal goals. No team has scored fewer goals away from home this season, you’d hope we can get a clean sheet. We’ll need to defend better than we did on Saturday though. Only Blackpool fans have witnessed fewer goals at home than Bristol City fans, it’s about time we were entertained with some more goals.
The lack of potency against Sheffield United was clear and obvious. We saw Wells, Semenyo, Weimann and Martin all on the pitch at the same time come the end. Even that wasn’t enough to cause any problems. For me Semenyo has to feature, he was the only player to play with a real purpose and make things happen. What has Cameron Pring done to deserve being out of the team? We had very little cutting edge on Saturday, those two would feature in my team. We need pace, we need power and we need some potency. We’re in for a long season, let’s hope we can find enough of those three things to stay clear of danger.