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DOL looks set to name the same side that played so well at Goodison Park, despite only picking up a single point. The only possible change might be Jason Wilcox coming into the left side of midfield in place of Dominic Matteo. If this is the case, the side will be:
For Derby, Craig Burley is a major doubt as they look to bounce back following their shocking FA Cup surrender against Blackburn in midweek. Goalkeeper Mark Poom is still out but captain Darryl Powell is set to return.
'Ramian', at unofficial Derby County site, "Ramian's Review" http://ramians.place.cc/ previews the game as follows:
"Elland Road is not one of the easiest grounds to come away from with points.You have to go back 27 years for the Rams last victory there. Derby must however put behind them the midweek shambles that saw Blackburn slip five goals past the hapless Rams.
Derby have to make do without the services of Estonian goal keeper Mart Poom again as his shoulder injury is proving rather worse than at first thought. His replacement Andy Oakes is set to make his second Premier League start of the season.
Better news about long time injured Branko Strupar. He travels with the squad up to Elland Road and with Malcolm Christie having an enforced break through suspension after this match Derby could do with getting Strupar match fit.
Skipper Darryl Powell should make the starting line up after his facial and neck injury sustained against Sunderland last week. He should add some added bite into the midfield which was an utter disgrace in the midweek Cup match. Craig Burley is a doubt for the Leeds game and a decision will be left till the last minute on whether he plays.
The Rams still have Simo Valakari out with a mystery illness which the rest of the team recovered from two weeks ago. Rory Delap is still troubled with a knee injury and midfield ace Georgi Kinkladze is still under the doctor with his injured groin.
Well miracles do happen as last week against Sunderland but a point would be a more realistic target from tomorrow's clash. Although we are four points clear of the relegation zone, it is all so easy to slip back into the mire should results not go our way.
Our popular AWAY FANS feature continues with the views of unofficial Derby County site, "Ramian's Derby County Review"...
AWAY FANS:
How will they fare with the following questions...?
*Site: Ramian's Derby County Review
*URL: http://ramians.place.cc/
* Do you think you're having a good season?
We are experiencing another nightmare of a season. It started off bad then continued on a downward spiral. The acquisition of Colin Todd as Assistant manager and Taribo West on loan from AC Milan has steadied the ship a little in recent weeks.
* Who do you think is your best player(s) ?
Our best player at the moment has to be Mart Poom in goal (unfortunately injured and may miss Saturday) He has been consistently outstanding this season and saved valuable points at times and a severe thrashing at others.
* Your worst player(s) ?
We have a few who consistently under achieve. Danny Higginbotham springs to mind. A £2million buy from ManUre in the summer he has yet to prove to me or other Derby fans that he is worth a place or the money spent in buying him.
Same applies to Bjorn Otto Bragstad. £3m in the summer after Euro 2000. We beat off competition for his signature from Celtic but now wish we hadn't....
*Your players to watch (youngsters or underrated players) ?
Chris Riggott (injured at present) has come into the first team and has impressed. Malcolm Christie has flagged lately but it is understandable as he has had to shoulder most of the attacking duties for most of the season and had a case of viral Meningitis before the season started. Seth Johnson (rumoured you are interested in him) made the break through to a full England game this year and is improving with every game......
*Your preferred formation for Saturday's game?
4-4-2 ....Couldn't really say who will play as we are in a mini injury crisis at the moment.
*Your best chant ?
"Who ate all the pies?" at the moment. This is because our Police liaison officer has threatened to arrest and/or eject any offending person from the ground for singing this or any other offensive chant....... ;-(
*Where do you think Derby will finish in the Premiership this season ?
Hopefully STILL IN IT....... ;-)
*Prediction for Saturday and Derby scorers (if applicable)?
2-2 Christie, Burley
You need to go back to the days of Don Revie to see the last time Leeds managed to string together a run of six consecutive top flight victories, but that's exactly what David O'Leary's team managed to do this afternoon, beating Derby 4-1 at Elland Road, to go third in the Premiership table.
It was, as the cliche goes, very much a game of two halves. During the first forty five minutes, some of the football was breathtaking as United managed to fight back from the deficit of an early goal to lead Derby 3-1 by the interval. In the second half, the whole game was far more scrappy. It was almost as if the Leeds players sensed that their depleted opponents were never going to offer a real scoring threat - and so sat back, taking things a little easier. It was then up to Ian Harte to save the best till last, scoring a screaming fourth goal, to send the fans away happy.
The first half started disastrously as, with only four minutes gone, Radebe tripped Borbokis to concede a penalty, which was converted by Baiano. Yet, even despite this setback, there was no sense of panic in the stadium. It was almost as if, given our recent excellent form and our famed good record against Derby, we knew that goals would come, sooner or later. As one supporter joked, "Last year, we gave them three goals start, so we might as well at least give them one this time round."
Leeds still continued to stroke the ball around the park, a little too relaxed at times - and sure enough, we were eventually rewarded. Both Jimmy and the impressive Korsten had come close, prior to us equalizing after 18 minutes. Jimmy, who was to be involved in all of our first half goals, passed the ball in from the right flank and, following a slight muddle in the Rams' defence, the ball fell to Bowyer's feet, who turned to finish neatly low past Poum's right hand.
You could now sense that the game had well and truly turned. Some of the interplay between Leeds' midfield and attack was simply stunning at times, with Hopkin, Bowyer and Korsten particularly effective in the middle of the park - and, as always, Jimmy and Harry menacing up front.
Just past the half hour mark, the second goal arrived. Kewell was tripped just outside the area, resulting in a Leeds free kick, which Jimmy dispatched with clinical ease, low into the right hand corner of the net. Then, just before the break, the game was over as a contest, when Korsten scored a deserved goal, finishing crisply from a tight angle on the left hand side of the area.
After the break, Leeds produced a professional display to keep their opponents at arm's length but the game never reached the heights of the first period. They allowed Derby plenty of possession but, apart from a ten minute period at the start of the half, there seemed very little danger of a Derby comeback. Martyn's participation mainly consisted in easily collecting a series of crosses and corners. he barely had a real save to make.
On 83 minutes, with the game petering out, Ian Harte produced the most impressive individual moment of the match. Cutting inside form the left flank, he produced a superb right footed finish from thirty yards, which went screaming into the top right hand corner of the derby goal. The whole ground erupted and even the bench spilled out onto the pitch in their excitement.
The only slightly sour note came with just a couple of minutes left on the clock, when Prior's lunging late tackle on Korsten led to him being stretchered off. It's difficult to believe that the yellow card he relieved can be fair punishment, given the two cards shown to Haaland and Hopkin in the first half. You can't help but feel, sometimes, that we are being punished for wearing white shirts. A little consistency would be welcome, but then again the referee was none other than Mr Reed. Nuff said.
Comment - Things don't get much better than this! Those mouthwatering clashes against Man United and Arsenal, in April and May, originally seemed to offer us an opportunity to influence where the top prizes would go. Now, though, they may be of even greater significance, with us now only six points behind the leaders.
You can imagine the scene on the Leeds training ground this week....
Eddie : Boss, we've struggled to break down teams this season - West Ham, Man City, Ipswich, Boro, Villa, Newcastle and the rest....
O'Leary : To be sure....
Eddie : So do you think we should maybe practice some scenarios where we can try and breach a 10 man defence ? You know like pass and move, one-twos, overlapping fullbacks, central defenders breaking forward - Derby are certain to come for a point.
O'Leary : Oim not paid to tink - Oim just a young naive manager wid his little babies and potatoes.
Eddie : So what are we going to practise then ?
O'Leary : Carners !....... right ! Bowyer you take the carner and play it short to Wilcox. Wilcox - you wait for a defender to approach and troy and get anudder carner off of his legs. Hey presto anudder carner - it makes our stats look good. HEY ! HARTEY MIND THOSE POTATOES !
Eddie : <sigh>
Well as you can probably guess Derby set their stall out for a draw.
The 1st half was dreadful, not as bad as Coventry but still dreadful. Keane had a chance in the first few minutes to change the whole course of the game. He weaved his way through the Rams' defence but his shot was pushed wide by the excellent Oakes.
Leeds continued to have 90% of the play. Batty and Ollie began where they left off at Everton and had a stranglehold on the midfield. Derby didn't care. The visitors looked more content without the ball. Burley marshalled his midfield into a formidable line which sat in front of another intimidating line held together by the inspirational West. West who looked demonic with his bizarre horned hair kept Viduka at bay all afternoon by sticking his 3-pronged fork into the Aussie's substantial rear whenever the ball was near. Viduka tried to whack West back with his hot dog but West was too quick.
Harte playing as a right back (Charlie Brown Mills had taken a sickie cos he was frightened that Tord Grip may be watching) rarely got forward, on the left Wilcox appeared to have acres of space. However, whenever he got the ball he dillied and dallied allowing Derby's blanket defence to filter across quickly and smother out the threat. Matteo at left back offered him little useful support.
When we did get round the back or get any corners it was the usual story - our crossing was criminal. The Bad Crossing Police would have had a field day:
"Allo, Allo, Allo - what ave we 'ere then ? Another scuffed cross my son - I've had my eye on you sunshine and you are gonner be banged up good and proper"
I'm assuming we do practice set-pieces. Maybe we should practice them out on a pitch rather than just drawing them on a blackboard.
Derby didn't venture forward much and their best opening fell to Agatha Christie who inexplicably missed the ball completely. Another mystery.
The first half petered out as if Leeds were happy to wait for the 2nd half when they'd be attacking their favoured Kop end. Derby were probably amazed how easy it had been.
Tea cups and potatoes were thrown in the Leeds dressing room.
Leeds started the second half like greyhounds with their arses on fire. Ollie and Batty drove forward and created some space. Wilcox saw plenty of ball on the left but again with few accurate crosses. Keane worked his socks off but was physically intimidated by the Derby giants. Viduka, well - was Viduka - flick - touch - belch - yawn - burp - nap - 2 yard jog - flick - spin - scratch - wheeze - stumble - pie - itch - snooze.
For 20 minutes Leeds were superb. Rio stepped out of defence with the ball and the extra man created space for Leeds. Harte and Dacourt forced Oakes into fine saves but far too often for my liking the ball just eluded a Leeds player when it seemed certain we would score. Maybe we were unlucky but for all our pressure we created very few chances and had very few shots.
Kewell came onto replace the out of sorts Wilcox to try and give Leeds a much needed fillip. Harry also saw plenty of the ball on the left and beat his man on a number of occasions, but the final ball mysteriously evaded the Leeds players. Maybe Jim Smith had placed a huge magnet in the ball and the Derby keeper also had a magnet in his shorts that repelled the ball every time it went in the Derby area. Or maybe our crossing was just shite.
Again - do we practise ? or just draw arrows on a chalkboard ?
Smith and Bakke came on as a shocked Elland Road crowd saw Viduka's number appear on the 4th Official's board. I'm waiting for the day when players numbers will be in Hexadecimal - that way Viduka could wear a shirt with "FB" on the back.
Well Smithy replaced "FB" and Eirik the miserable Noggie giant replaced the shattered Bowyer - It can't be easy playing with a ball and chain round your ankle.
Smith did nowt except nearly kill a Derby defender. He could have been sent off but luckily the ref hadn't seen it and the linesman was too scared to say too much. Bakke also twatted Higginbottom. A former Man Utd defender who made the most of it and got Eirik booked.
Time was running out and Kewell switched to the right. He picked up the ball out wide, cut in, he faked to go inside, switched outside, faked, cut back in, shimmied, shammied, shommied, shemmied, shummied - the dizzy defender West fell over - as did most of the fans watching. Kewell 15 yards out teed the ball up onto his blunderbuss left foot. Whoooooooosh - the ball flew across the face of the goal at a ferocious speed. I waited for the net to bulge - time stood still - the ball inched closer - the net waited - I waited - we all waited.... CRONK ! - it hit somebody in the crowd.
In injury time Derby could have snatched it but a free header went flying over Martyn's goal, the keeper's head appeared from his sleeping bag to watch the ball whistle past.
To sum up the day Derby got a corner in the 94th and last minute. Instead of going for the 3 points they took a short corner to waste time. I get the feeling if Derby had scored and won then they would have been upset - they had come for a point - nothing more , nothing less. They deserved it. They asked the questions. We had the answers but none of them in the correct order. Somehow we have managed to creep into 5th place in the division. What a strange (shit) league this is.
Scores
Martyn 6 - Virtual spectator.
Harte 6 - Couple of good shots.
Matteo 3 - This guy is hopeless.
Radebe 6 - Easy peasy.
Rio 8 - Tried to get things going. Sven is gonner love this guy.
Bowyer 6 - Looked tired, mentally and physically.
Batty 8 - Won everything.
Ollie 8 - Passing was dreadful early on but was untouchable 2nd half.
Wilcox 4 - His injury has unfortunately turned him into a division 1 player
Viduka 5 - West played him off the park.
Keane 6 - Knocked off the ball far too often. A pretty quiet game for him.
Subs:
Kewell 7 - A bit rusty but beat his man a few times.
Smith 4 - A thug.
Bakke x - I don't like him so its unfair to give him 0/10...so he gets x
Reporter: Stotty
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