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McCarthy: Goal After the Break Crucial
Tuesday, 1st Oct 2013 22:55

Mick McCarthy felt conceding Derby’s second goal shortly after the break was the key moment in Town’s 4-4 draw with the Rams at Pride Park. The Blues had been 4-1 up at the break and looking on their way to their first away win of the season.

Asked what he believes went wrong in the second half, McCarthy said: “We conceded a bad goal but then you could be talking to them and saying ’What went wrong in the first half?’. They’ll think they’ve conceded bad goals.

“From my point of view it was, but from the opposition’s point of view it looks like a good goal. We never got anywhere near them, I don’t know why, that was for the second goal. And once the second goal has gone in it changes the whole course of the game, that’s what happened.”

The Town manager said he wasn’t pleased with the manner in which his team ended the first period: “I was a bit annoyed about how we gave them a chance. I wouldn’t say they took their foot off the gas but we made a mistake and gave them a corner and a chance just before half-time.

“I was livid at that because that probably sent them in feeling a lot better about it than if we’d have been up in their half having a corner.

“It could have been a lot more [at half-time] but then they might say the same in the second half because they had some other chances.”

But overall, he had been delighted with display before the break: “We played very well in the first half and, of course, they will be saying they played well in the second half. I’m saying that we didn’t and we didn’t defend properly.

“We’ve conceded goals today that we wouldn’t normally have. They deserved it in the end for their second half performance.”

McCarthy says the size of the deficit Derby faced at the break meant they had little choice but to go for it in the second half: “We’ve never been 4-1 up before [since he took over at Town], so that’s a new one for me.

“I just think that it changes because they’ve got little or nothing to lose. They’ve been overrun in the first half.

“I said to them at half-time — words are cheap, actions count — they had to change something and they did. They made substitutions, they got Will Hughes further forward, Bryson running, and they made a better fist of it. I’m not happy about it but I’m realistic enough to know what happened.”

He says the Blues should have made it a scrappy second period: “We needed to make it a horrible second half, however we do that, keep turning them around, don’t let them have a chance.

“If we’d have done that for 10 minutes we all know the circumstances would have changed completely. Give them a goal after 90 seconds and ‘Hey up, there’s a chance here, we can get something back’. We gave them hope.”

“Collectively we owe ourselves two points, we’ve going to have to get them somewhere else that might be slightly unlikely.”

McCarthy says there were no flying teacups in the dressing room afterwards: “I don’t subscribe to screaming in their faces. Plus, without looking at the goals and seeing where they came from and who was responsible, you end up just having a collective shouting match and I don’t subscribe to that.

“I prefer to pick out what I think is appropriate. They’re hurting as much as me, by the way. I’ve lost or drawn games from winning positions and I don’t think for one minute the players are any less hurting than I am, so we have to do it together.”

“We were a bit all over the place when we’ve conceded the goals and even the equaliser at the end. We’ve got players there and we should have blocked it. But sometimes it happens because we’re all human.”

Derby interim boss Darren Wassall revealed that new boss Steve McClaren had come into the dressing room at half-time and the substitutions and switch of system to a five-man midfield were down to him.

“We were getting a little bit overrun in midfield and the change worked magnificently,” academy manager Wassall said.


Photo: Action Images



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Letchworth_Blue added 23:03 - Oct 1
I feel much better now. Ffs?
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footers added 23:04 - Oct 1
I like Mick. I don't love him unconditionally though. And this 'oh well, it happens' attitude is part of the reason why. If we'd been 3-0 down at half time, he would've let rip but because we've scored 4 in the first, it makes it OK to concede 3 in the second... What? Pathetic.

Another reason I don't rate him is his tactical ineptitude. 4-4-2 is OK for most of the time in this league but where are our options? They changed their style and slaughtered us, where's our change in shape?
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footers added 23:04 - Oct 1
I like Mick. I don't love him unconditionally though. And this 'oh well, it happens' attitude is part of the reason why. If we'd been 3-0 down at half time, he would've let rip but because we've scored 4 in the first, it makes it OK to concede 3 in the second... What? Pathetic.

Another reason I don't rate him is his tactical ineptitude. 4-4-2 is OK for most of the time in this league but where are our options? They changed their style and slaughtered us, where's our change in shape?
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footers added 23:06 - Oct 1
Accidental double-post but it could be subconscious.
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Mark added 23:08 - Oct 1
It does feel rather a pattern that we are under pressure in the second half of away games and it felt only a matter of time before they drew level to 4-4 (or worse a 5-4 win, at least that didn't happen!).

Let's not get too carried away with despair though, as we scored four goals away from home, are 10th in the table, and play the 21st place side on Saturday so have a chance to push towards the play-offs before the international break.
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bluemikey100 added 23:38 - Oct 1
think wed won more comfortably but mc claren came in dressing room and turned it around at halftime
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footers added 23:46 - Oct 1
Haha, love the down votes. Typical. We're so used to being losers that we'll accept a drubbing when we were 4-1 up... Top lol- a point's a point. Hahaha. I didn't realise we were so scared of winning.
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Walk_the_Wark added 00:02 - Oct 2
Mick the dick. Thought at least we were 'hard to beat'. This mans a joke. Even Jewell wouldnt have squandered a 4-1 lead. Matter of fact- I wouldn't have! If unsure- park the bus!!! How hard can it be??????? McCarthy out pls!!!!!!!
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Walk_the_Wark added 00:06 - Oct 2
jReuser- he has nothing else...... He aint got anything else. Thats why he'll ultimately not take us forward. Listen to what all the oppo managers say- ' Big Mick has made em tough and hard to beat'.... Every single one. But guess what thick Mick, it aint good enough any more!!!!
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footers added 00:19 - Oct 2
I agree, Walk. He plays a style that most laugh at now but ironically Ipswich were known for playing 'sexy football' well before our rivals. Don't get me wrong, I think he's a decent manager but if we were to get a play-off place, like a lot of Town fans dream of, then what would happen? Promotion and 4-4-2 in the PL! Hahahahhaha. We'd be laughed off the park.

If we can't defend a three goal advantage for half a game then that looks unlikely anyway. .. Can't believe I was happy for half an hour earlier... Still always had the thought in the back of my mind that we'd give it away though- and look what happens!

Same old Town. And to the down-voters, tell me why I'm wrong. I bet you were the ones who wanted to give Jewell a few more games...Urgh.
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WorcesterBlue added 00:24 - Oct 2
Just back from the match.
Mick and his tactics are responsible for this. They gifted us 4 goals but despite this we still resorted to route one hot potato football as opposed to Derby's passing game. If you have possession they can't score so why always kick long from the keeper, play aerial balls down the channels or worse still straight up the middle? We arent actually much cop as a long ball team with Derby winning most aerial balls and 2nd balls so why do it? We didn't need to make it horrible Mick, we needed to play football but your definition of that and that of most modern coaches is a million miles apart.
Credit the players who all tried but were just outclassed in the second half. We are average at best and without a proper coach and a few additions mid table mediocrity is all we can look forward to.
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colchesterchris added 00:57 - Oct 2
Some of the posts on this board are laughable, from people who seem to almost seem to revel in a reason to post negative drivel. 4 points of the playoffs and we have people thinking we have a divine right to be doing better?

The irony of Walk the Wark calling MM 'thick Mick' , whilst suggesting that a side that was bottom last year hasn't moved forward at all, isn't lost on me.

Honestly.
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footers added 01:08 - Oct 2
'Divine right' = 4-1 half-time score. It's quite realistic to think we could win... So yes, we could be doing better, especially with a team that were difficult to beat last year.

Go on accepting defeat.
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bohslegend added 01:43 - Oct 2
Jreuser and walk the wark, neither of you deserve the names you carry - are you budgies in disguise?

The team is doing incredibly well and MM and TC are doing a great job trying to rebuild the team with ZERO money. We are top half, winning at home, not losing away , get a sense of perspective or else totter off back up the road to Norfolk.

I hope at the very least you will both have the dignity to admit you're wrong when we do finish top half this year (and top half would be progress after the years we've just come through).
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Dozzells_Bobblehat added 05:03 - Oct 2
Walkthewark and reuser - hugely disappointing second half, but if you can't see we are making progress then I despair. We are still a work in progress and along with many others I think we need a keeper but MM is doing a great job and you two should hang your heads.
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blueherts added 06:53 - Oct 2
Hmmmm - Deep breath here some of you
I seem to remember a pretty good team from North London losing a 4 goal lead a couple of years back away from home
It happens , its football - I am sure at 4-1 the negative nellys were lauding MM and within 30 minutes he is 'thick mick'
Last Saturday we played some of the 'best football seen for years by us at PR'
I am sure your lives are plainsailing and predictable - as this is what happens
Was it acceptable keeping or defending - NO
Are we a worst team now than last year - NO ( remember Blackppol , Palace and Leicester last year - 17-0 )
Saturday is a big test of character but I think we will are moving fwd
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BrandonsBlues added 06:56 - Oct 2
Mick the reason we lost the 2nd half was not the early goal, it was the change in formation at half time, which we had 45 minutes to counter and didnt. The way we played the 2nd half was ineffectual and we were only lucky not to have lost that game.
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DurhamTownFan added 07:10 - Oct 2
You're playing a team low on confidence, whose fans are turning. You're winning 4-1. WHY don't you smash them?! Because Mick, you're too scared to give it a go.

safety first, hey?!
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CharlieITFC added 07:25 - Oct 2
Although surrendering a 4-1 half time lead is bad. The club should be more embarrassed by the sheer stupidity of some of our fans. To all of you that want MM out, or think we are underachieving, know near to nothing about football. Where would we be without Mick? League 1 that's where (although some of you probably wanted that so we could win a few more games). If we didn't have Mick we also wouldn't have the squad we do. I didn't see any of you moan when we signed David McG, who is the best player we've had in a long, long time.
As well as this, anyone that knows anything about football knows that stability is a key factor in success, and changing our manager all the time will just send us backwards (like wolves). Mick picked up a team rock bottom of the league and have turned us into potential playoff contenders. We are 10 games in and have double the points we had when MM took over on Nov 1st. So to all of you idiot 'fans' I say: shut up, support our team, and watch us climb.
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sereneblue added 07:59 - Oct 2
Poor verbal response from Mick. A Sunday league manager would show more disappointment at giving away such a lead. Grow a backbone Mick.
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DurhamTownFan added 08:06 - Oct 2
I simply don't agree that criticism of last night and Mick in general means you're less of a fan!

What should we do, just blindly follow whatever happens without opinions and feedback? We're here for debate, not tubthumping propagandist rubbish!

Fact is, we drew 4-4 having won 4-1. You're GOING to get people airing criticism, and rightly so! I'll still buy the shirt and go to games!
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Keaneish added 08:41 - Oct 2
Walk the Wark's post is nonsense, i think we can all agree to that but i have to agree in part with Reuser. We should have combatted their diamond formation better. Why not switch to a 4-4-1-1 and sit someone on Eustace? The game was won, we could easily have sacrificed a striking option.

That said, it's not MM's fault we gave away such a poor goal start of the 2nd half. As players you know Derby are going to come steaming out of that changing room and you'll need to weather a storm for ten minutes. You do that and you go on to win the game but with the amount of experience we have in that side it it's bizarre to say the least at how we capitulated!

MM and the side deserve criticism for letting that slip. We should be talking about how great it was to score 4 away from home, how great it was for Murphy to get a brace and how good it is to get so many goals from set-pieces but we're not. The reality is we were defensively poor, very naive and tactically undone and neither of those things bode well for a top 6 finish!

I actually posted before the game saying i though we'd trounce Derby and Sheff Wed would be more of a test. Here's hoping for a good reaction, a clean sheet and our first away win at Hillsborough.
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dirtyboy added 08:48 - Oct 2
I just think it's typical of a game when a new manager comes in.

It's exactly the same as the ex-player curse.

4-1 up...you'd expect a win.

However, doesn't always work that way. Hopefully that's our only freak result this season. Optimism still there for me, progress.

We're 9 points above the relegation zone FFS... not 7 behind it!
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DeanoBlue added 08:49 - Oct 2
Anyone remember man Utd drawing 4-4 with Everton last season that was a great comeback from Everton at old Trafford. As guttering as it is, it's happened to us and I suppose the plus side is we are starting to score goals and at least got a point. Mccarthy never took wolves up in his first full season and won't with us either but we are certainly better under his management then previous ones. He is slowly building his team we may not play the kinda of footy we did under royal and burley but we don't just go long all the time we mix it up. Top ten for this year which improved on last and then next year will b top 6
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Special_A added 08:49 - Oct 2
Ok so last night winning 1-4 you expect 3 points. New gaffer comes in the changing room at half time and has a huge impact.

Let's not forget what MM and TC did for us. Came in when we were doomed for relegation and turned it around. Our squad is much better than previously and we are improving.

Over 10 years since we have been in the top flight so don't start jumping all over MM and TC after a point away from home. Yes it should have been a win but I'm sure we will nick a point or 3 at some stage this season!

COYB
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