gfs1ram

I think the (narrow) pitch was quite cleverly prepared to play into their hands. It was bobbly and seemed very slow, so it was difficult for us to find weight of pass. That led us to resort to route A and that’s a leveller despite that we had more quality on the pitch

My opinion of Warne as a manager is well known and he is what he is so I’m not going to go over those talking points again. 
 
I’m sick of slating the woeful tactics so My anger yesterday is directed at the players. Can any of them come off the pitch with any sort of credit? 
 
Their goal was Sunday league defending. Bradley letting him get the cross in too easy. Cashin and Sibley breakdown in communication allowing the scorer the freedom of half of the pitch. 
 
Passing accuracy was abysmal. Even the passes that went to our players were always causing the receiver to turn back and collect it from behind them or to stretch for it. Wasted the 3 real opportunities we had with awful finishing.
 
Constant hoofed balls up rather than the composure to play it through a pretty crap league 1 press. 
 
Honestly a good chunk of the team yesterday printed their own P45s for the end of this season regardless of division. 

At the game today.
Can't help but feel that this could / will be the defining game of the season against a very poor Northampton team lacking several first choice players and on a bad run of form.
A complete no show from 1 to 16. Add the NML injury and Bradley's stupid sending off and I fear the worse.
It's the Derby way nothing ever straight forward !!

ATG.
1Wildsmith                5.5   Did nothing wrong but looked shaky right from the off.
35Nelson                  5.5   Not his usual self today
5Bradley                   4.5   Still seemed concussed to me. Really shaky. Idiotic sending off in the last minute.
6Cashin                     5.5  Like Nelson just not his usual dominating self.
2Wilson                     5     Seems more effective as a last 30 minute substitute.
32Adams                  5.5  Yet another player who tried but something just not there today. Should have scored.
12Smith                     5     Steady but ineffective.
4Hourihane               4     Very pedestrian and added little in midfield. Should have been subbed instead of Adams.
17Sibley                     5     Started ok. Made chance for Waghorn but faded badly especially after booking.
20Elder                      5.5   Steady but not effective.
23Ward                      6      Thought he was the best of the Subs and put in some good crosses. Should have started.
10Waghorn                5      Should have scored early on. Tried without any impact.
16Thompson             4.5    Usual energy but no influence at all on the game.
27Blackett-Taylor     5.5    Need more from him
11Méndez-Laing       5       Not his day. Disaster though if he is now injured for any length of time.
14Washington           5.5      Seemed quite lively after a long lay off but no service.
What an opportunity missed against a poor Northampton side who lacked first choice players and were on a bad run of form. A complete no show from the players ( was it the pitch, the wind, the movement of the ball seemed different?) and questionable tactics from the Manager. (what were they ??). Very disappointing.
 

At the game today.
Can't help but feel that this could / will be the defining game of the season against a very poor Northampton team lacking several first choice players and on a bad run of form.
A complete no show from 1 to 16. Add the NML injury and Bradley's stupid sending off and I fear the worse.
It's the Derby way nothing ever straight forward !!

At the game today.
Can't help but feel that this could / will be the defining game of the season against a very poor Northampton team lacking several first choice players and on a bad run of form.
A complete no show from 1 to 16. Add the NML injury and Bradley's stupid sending off and I fear the worse.
It's the Derby way nothing ever straight forward !!

Peterborough have by far the easiest run in. Still think it will go to the last day - it's the Derby way !!!

Sounds very interesting. I am sure the Rams Heritage Trust would be interested to see. @loweman2

I wish people would stop this snide picking on Diane Abbott. She made a gaff when she was suffering a diabetic blood-sugar problem which does mess with your thinking processes - one ,mistake - and the world has had its teeth into her ever since, going on for how many years? Think of the colossal number of gaffes from Bonzo Dog Johnson, let alone his blatant lies, yet no-one keeps taking him to task for much more serious "gaffes". The same is true for most of his many cabinet members who kept making mistakes, who continue to get away scot-free. Abbott may dress a bit oddly, but there is no excuse for continuing to do her down for one incident caused by by a health problem.

Errr have I missed something or is an apology due ???

Throwing the board rubber at me too much.🤣

Peterborough have by far the easiest run in. Still think it will go to the last day - it's the Derby way !!!

Peterborough have by far the easiest run in. Still think it will go to the last day - it's the Derby way !!!

But that would have been incorrect, NML was not out of control, just over stretched and his foot was firmly on the ground with no studs showing. So, again I give credit to the ref for getting the decision correct. As somebody else pointed out, Adams was flattened in the six yard box, but I missed that incident, you could say that plenty of refs would have given us a penalty there.
Why do some people try so hard to look for negatives in every game we win?

Yes, I thought he did well. Wardy was lucky, their 8 should have been booked, but he saw several handballs both deliberate and accidental, wasn’t t a fussy big I am. Missed one chance to play advantage but was up with play and gave good quick decisions the majority of time. You couldn’t reasonably ask for more. 

Well I actually enjoyed the the football today.  We were well organised and resolute and generally made good decisions.  I like Hourihane and think he is doing his best for the team, but there's no way I would have started him in what is basically a two man midfield against Bolton. Against lesser teams our wing backs can push back their opposite numbers and wrestle some kind of control, but that was unlikely to work against Bolton.  I was definitely in favour of bringing on Smith for Gayle, even with Waggy on the bench.  One - nil to Bolton would have been a fair half time score, but the whole team deserve credit for keeping them out although Wildsmith, Adams and the back three will obviously take most of the plaudits.  The way we played in the second half was not very Derby like - complete focus at the expense of free flowing football and no slip ups.  We did go for a second goal though which I really liked, as it meant the ball was in and around the Bolton area for a spell of six or seven minutes and therefore nowhere near our goal.
Bolton are a good squad with a continuity of management and building of the team over several seasons.  To be four points above them at this point of only our second season in this division is a fantastic achievement - especially when you take into account our injury record and our inability to spend money on transfers.  Within 18 months we've gone from nearly no players to the brink of a record points haul.  Yes there are some potential areas of concern, but they can wait till the end of the season.  For now I'm going to bask in our greatest victory since L***s. UTR

What a great day out at the Park! The atmosphere was already stoking up while we were outside the South Stand for pre-match supping, and the fans were terrific all match long! Well done you Fans!
It was a fascinating game of football, and it makes a change to see a good team out on the pitch with us. There wasn't a lot in it, and we started well, dispelling my fears that Warne would get us sitting back trying to keep Bolton out and then nicking a win. Only he did, didn't he? The bright start was just a smokescreen, and especially after Gayle went off we were sitting deep. So what? Smith coming on changed the pattern of the game as we started to get more influence in midfield.
The triple substitution could have backfired, but such is the team nowadays that we soldiered on, and at times I thought Thompson was vying for man of the match. A lot of people didn't think he did much, but actually he started knitting the play together, and was having massive influence, because he is high energy, doesn't waste the ball and can spot a pass and can spot an interception. Putting Wilson on was also a great substitution - Bolton didn't know what to do with him - a bit curious because it turns out they tried to sign him a while ago!
And although Bolton seemed steady and composed, when we attacked and put the pressure on, their backline looked like it was on the verge of panicking, and most certainly weren't comfortable with high balls. It is hard to single players out because no-one was holding anything back today, but Wildsmith, Fozzy and Adams deserve our thanks.
And the ref - I know you are all waiting for this! Well, it was 28 minutes before I booed him! He did pretty well, although there a few poor decisions, the main one being Adams getting hauled to the ground on the edge of the 6 yard box late on in the match. Oh, and chasing after Fozzy for his first offence immediately after dipping out of a run of 3 or 4 handball decisions in a row. But given that in a match of this importance we can normally depend on the ref to cost us, he did just fine!
My only regret is that we have come across a way of playing the works, that wins games and actually looks like football. But today we took several steps back to Warne's percentages football. Again, so what? We won. But please, Paul, don't abandon the football, because we are good enough to play that way and win.
We are in a very strong position now, effectively making 2nd place all our own, and ours to lose or throw away. We are going up! And we have left our closest rival trailing in our dust!
COME ON YOU RAMS!!!

We’ve been on the wrong end of games like today many times in the past so nice to dish one out in such a big game. Bolton are clearly well drilled, definitely easier on the eye than us but don’t have the grit needed to push through these kind of games, whereas we do. 
 
Any of the back 3 and Wildsmith could’ve been MOTM. Thought Smith and Thompson added a bit of bite when they came on although not hard when you’re a direct replacement for Hourihane, who for all his qualities looks like he’s towing a caravan when he moves. 
 
Their skipper, Santos, who their fans rave about - did anyone else think he looked absolutely dreadful? Clearly not good on the ball, got caught under 4/5 long balls and offered no threat from set pieces. Might be an off day but wasn’t impressed after reading so much about him.
 

The Gayle goal. Image below of the moment Ward's foot connects with the ball. Lino is in a good position. Gayle, arrowed, is to the right of Bradley who is almost certainly offside, though never becomes active in the move. It's possible that Bradley's position fools the lino into believing that Gayle is probably onside, though it's more likely he can see part of the torsos of either or both of the Reading defenders arrowed at the end of the line who could just be playing Gayle onside. Whatever a VAR-style line would show from a side-on view, this is in no-way a "clear and obvious mistake" by the officials for which they deserve criticism. It's not even clear that is is a mistake at all.

Did you watch the game at Bolton away, same ref, did you watch last seasons away game at Plymouth, same ref.

It was Wilson with the dummy for the third.

Well here's an example of what I'm referring to:
"Derby paying rent of £872k a year for Pride Park. Low yield compare to the £80m stadium sold for to an MM company a few years ago."
Do you know anyone else who works out the yield on an investment based on an obsolete valuation rather than what they paid for the asset? 
To me, it just looks like he's taking an opportunity to mention a contentious valuation that he disagreed with.

Noted, though it took someone to ask. It's just the tone of his posts - it always seems that he's having a dig.

Maguire still desperately spinning the message in effort to throw mud at the club. You'll note that none of his posts include the rider "at the end of the last financial year", thereby giving the impression that the figures he's quoting are representative of the current post.
Show me on the Action Man puppet where Derby County hurt you Kieran...

Because Ebosele and Buchanan went to clubs in Europe. Under UEFA rules we only get compensated for their development costs. Whittaker's sell on money was tiny also. No mention of Ebiowe so I assume that is still not settled.