Let’s get the negative straight out of the way and say that Derby were awful.
I don’t think they had a shot on target all game and reminded me so much of us recently.
By that, I mean that it seemed everything they tried just didn’t come off and it looked like a classic case of a side low in confidence.
But for a side to look awful, it also suggests that the oposition were frankly very good and I thought we were today.
What’s shocked me is how much difference Jack Grealish seemed to make.
I inherently think that there’s no way one player should make such a difference to a side, but that was definitely the case today.
Even though he’s been out for three months, he just oozed confidence from the off and knew he was going to take this game by the scruff of the neck. You could see it.
And the good (or is it bad?) thing is that it rubbed off on the rest of the team.
This was basically the same side that we’ve seen for weeks, but the effort was massively increased.
We were beating the opposition to every second ball in the middle; something I and many of us have been moaning about for ages.
Why?
It seems we’re definitely a confidence side, to my mind.
So we cantered to a 4-0 lead at half time and then took our foot off the gas to see the result out.
We still threatened, but the intensity wasn’t there, because it frankly wasn’t needed, as even though derby tried to step it up a gear, they still offered nothing.
Grealish was subbed probably earlier than we would have liked, beccause he wasn’t running smoothly. I doubt it’s anything to worry about though and was probably just precautionary.
On the other hand, Elphick’s injury looks a lot more serious.
For a player to just turn and collapse on the spot, is always worrying.
All I could think, was him thinking “that’s my renewed contract blown”.
I think he has another year in him, myself.
Going back to plus points, we kept a clean sheet, scored four and set ourselves up quite nicely for the scum game.
Grealish is the new Gabby, when it comes to the blues games and while he’s not as vocal, hopefully he’ll be showing it with his silky skills.
And I haven’t even mentioned his volley, have I?
What a stormer, that was.
As for Hourihane, fair play lad.
Let’s see more of it, as we know you have it in your locker.
Confidence is key. As I’ve suggested.