Derby County 0 Bolton Wanderers 0: Immediate Reaction

Why is it the second we find something that actually, truly, 100% works....we change it?

The 4-4-2 was working wonders for this team and literally 20 minutes into playing this diluted 4-4-1-1 (it's STILL a 4-5-1 Dougie, so quit trying to fool me) I knew that this would be a long game for Bolton Wanderers.

I mean, the commentators said it themselves, Derby lose because despite putting so much pressure on their opponents, they never actually score. Bad for Derby, superb for us.

Or is it?

It's no secret that recently we'd been making up for our lack of defensive strategy by scoring a hell of a lot of goals (not that I'm complaining, trust me) so the fact that Dougie Freedman would purposely play a modified version of the same formation that screwed us over for so long is a bit disheartening.

And when Andre Moritz FINALLY gets to be a starter, he's taken out for a defensive substitution in the beginning of the second half? Before anyone has even scored? Sure, I think Moritz is better as a sub who comes on when teams are tired and he can exploit them and find gaps, it's how he's been most successful, but a defensive substitution when it's 0-0?

You're killing me Dougie. I've run out of excuses for you.

However, something one of the commentators said before the half stuck with me and got me thinking. He commented on how Bolton hadn't really made any notable chances yet and how we, as Bolton fans, were a little spoiled after all the goalscoring the last couple of weeks.

Part of me agreed with him...11 goals in 3 games? Of course we expect to have at least 2 goals by halftime. But expecting your team to produce no matter what formation they're playing, is that really spoiled? Sure, we love this team in a 4-4-2 and we're confident in them...but a majority of people wanted just a point tonight when they found out of the changes in lineup.

So I guess final score aside, this game's been important for a lot of reasons. I'm hoping it's Dougie's test to see if this team really can be as versatile and strong as we need it to be...

...and I'm hoping the answer is yes.