Ian Buxton's Bat

9 hours ago, kevinhectoring said:

Are you sure he said cbt hadn’t been training on grass ?

My apologies - just re-checked and he said he had been on the grass but 'not joined in' training .....I thought he said hadn't been on the grass on first listening.

But......key thing is that he's injured/has been injured so PW doesn't sound too positive for tomorrow.

Warne's pre-match interview on club website seems to say NML more likely to play than CBT who is injured and hasn't been training 'on the grass' despite footage of him training ....on grass. 

5 minutes ago, HorsforthRam said:

I felt there was definitely a sense of desperation on clearing the ball at times or flicking it on etc when the player had time to bring the ball down and look up. 

I know what you are saying.

One thing you can rarely complain about is lack of effort- we defended heroically at times.

Because we don’t play much possession based football it seems hard for us to take the sting out of the game and we resort to aimless clearances followed by even more heroic defending.

And if we can’t string 2 passes together we should resort to some dark arts to stop momentum against us…..we’re too nice.

55 mins was the time for Vickers to go down with that horrendous injury!

Rams TV (nice zoomed out view so you could see what was going on…..but not always who was doing it)

31Vickers          6.5……did nothing wrong

35Nelson           7.5……solid. Again.

5Bradley            7.5…..very decent

6Cashin            7.5……half point off for some loose passes. Full point on for sheer number of defensive interventions. Incredible 

23Ward             6.5…..did OK. Worldie free kick first half that no one got on the end of

24Nyambe         6…..no time

32Adams          7.5…….brilliant first half….faded after yellow but looks a good signing tbf

16Thompson      6….no time

8Bird 🦅             7.5…..brilliant assist, brilliant mazy run and very good performance. Pity about the pass behind Collins

4Hourihane       6…..OK….not his best game

17Sibley            6.5…..another good game. Decent defensively and kept trying to go forward 

20Elder              6.5…..good cameo

11Méndez-Laing     7……looked lively from the off. Great finish

7Barkhuizen       6.5…..quite lively and is a decent ‘out’ when we put everyone behind the ball

2Wilson              6…no time

9Collins             6.5…..worked incredibly hard. Two half chances. Some decent hold up and link play.

Much better than last week but still quite a tough watch. 
Nobody had a bad game.

10 hours ago, Chris_Martin said:

how is that absolute rubbish?

It's a fact that taking penalties inflates your performance stats, not just the goal tally. It's also a fact he is 54th in the shooting stats for league one players. 

I am talking about the season as a whole, up until last week or so we still had other forwards fit. John-Jules, Washington, & Waghorn all have better np data for most metrics this season (also a fact)

Collins is outperforming his xg which does account for penalties being a good chance to score.

Genuine question….do you go to matches?

The reason I say it is that Rams Tv, Radio Derby and text updates don’t show runs that aren’t fed, lung busting pressing and general shithousery that winds up defenders and ultimately leads to mistakes, goals.

Your point about other dcfc strikers is / was irrelevant…. because they’re hardly ever fit.

Collins -1982 mins

TJJ      - 337 mins

MW      -664 mins

CW       -497

I’ve taken our minutes against kids and pensioners so these are real man minutes.

3 minutes ago, Kernow said:

I think it's strange that Dom Dietrich and Leigh Curtis have been so quiet on social media. Even if there was nothing going on, and nothing was going to happen, I think they'd tweet that.

Ebou Adams came out of nowhere. A lot of our deals since DC took control of the Club have been kept very much under wraps.

I think we will still get 1 in. It might not necessarily be anything exciting, but in a weird way, I think just how silent it's been must be an indicator of something.

To be fair they're decent journos who don't get involved in rumour and guesswork.

I sense the club possibly tell them what's happening on the understanding they don't blab about it until it's done and dusted......CBT being a case in point.

ATG

31Vickers 6……two routine but decent saves

2Wilson 5.5…….not his best performance. Not afraid to take the ball under pressure but it’s different doing that as RBrather than at RW……got robbed several times 

35Nelson 7…….solid

6Cashin 6.5…….thought he played well but their goal came from a Hollywood diagonal straight to their defender…..but CM’s get the blame

17Sibley 6.5……best player first half. Injected some forward momentum. Defensively OK bearing in mind he’s playing out of position 

7Barkhuizen 6.5……injected plenty of zip on occasions. His run to halfway when he was chopped in half was the turning point of the match. Got the crowd up, got teammates going.

4Hourihane 5…..not his best display but suspect he’s obeying orders. We all know that winning second balls and games of head tennis are not his game.

22Fornah 6….didn’t do much but was an extra body in midfield 

8Bird 6…..anonymous until part of a 3 in midfield and then very good. Lovely goal.

5Bradley 7……quietly very good. Passes the ball to teammates rather than speculative hoofs (remember Northampton when we played very well and he played loads of good balls into midfield players)

27Blackett-Taylor 3…..really poor performance - game completely passed him by. Let’s hope he follows the Wilson trend line with rapid improvement 

16Thompson 6….buzzed around 

11Méndez-Laing 6.5…….not his greatest game but lovely assist and hard working throughout 

9Collins 7…….most of that score is for hard work and patience. Not sure he had a single pass that he could do anything with until the goal. Haaland wouldn’t have done any better yesterday. Did lose his man in the last second….when normally he’s one of the better defenders (wasn’t a foul in the first place)

Horrible game to watch. Never seen so much head tennis……pub teams play like this but with less ability. Some of the ‘rallies’ yesterday were jaw-dropping….chest control and pass anyone?

On the player rating thread there is a convention of saying if you were at the game or watched on Rams TV.

This season there has been a welcome absence of people trying to ‘out-fan’ each other…..we’re all fans whether we go to all games, home games, watch on Rams Tv, listen on Radio Derby or follow scores on BBC website.

However, how you follow does affect what and how you see it (e.g. you have to be at the match to see the runs Collins makes that are not spotted or fed or that Hourihane is the only one cajoling teammates)

Also your/my level of grumpiness may well be affected by how much time of the day you’ve set aside to follow the match and what else you do.

if you drive a 6 hour round trip just for a match your view may be different to those who’ve had a meal or pint with friends and have the match as part of their day out.

I’ve managed to watch most games live or on Rams TV this season and I do want to be entertained to some extent.

On the rare occasion I’ve listened on the radio or had to get web updates then the result has been everything.

Maybe we could start to be upfront on here with ATG, Rams TV, RD, score updates only…..or comments on comments….it might explain a few differences of opinion.

I didn’t boo at halftime but people around me were shouting ‘sort it out Warne’ - I think the boos were more for the tactics than the players….I didn’t actually see many errors in the first half, just abysmal tactics.

We played with essentially a back 5 in the first half when in possession, with Hourihane dropping as quarterback, no-one (literally no-one) in midfield, Bird slightly withdrawn from a front 4…….passing out from the back to Wilson, who was marked and robbed about 6 times. The alternative was to lump it.

No member of the coaching staff admonished Hourihane…..he was clearly doing as he was asked.

I thought the boos at their goal were aimed at PW i.e. sort it out.

I cringed at the cheers for Hourihane being subbed. That was horrible- he’s working to orders and outnumbered in midfield.

3 in midfield was better and Bird seemed to drive with the ball more through the middle and things happened……I think that’s more to do with tactics and numbers rather than personnel.

i know the winner came from a cross but by then Cheltenham actually had to deal with more than one form of attack.

Happy with 3 points- really unhappy with the performance.

You can argue that the result is the most important thing and there is an element of truth in it…..but it is meant to be entertainment that’s somewhat enjoyable.

if I went to the cinema and watched an awful film I wouldn’t be happy just because Brad Pitt ended up snogging Julia Roberts and lived happily ever after……I’d think I’d had very poor value for money.

DT reporting that Kirchner has been found guilty of fraud and faces up to 30 jail time.

Puts some misplaced passes at Reading into perspective.

Sorry if posted elsewhere......couldn't find it

Agree 100% with @iRam that Warne, or any of the players do not deserve abuse. 

I think for any manager, the key thing is to try and make a team better than the sum parts - simple as.

Is Warne achieving that? In my opinion no.....but I hope he does achieve that.

If you are not making the team better than the sum parts then other aspects come into it, like ......Are you winning games? (We are) Are you playing an entertaining form of football? (In my opinion, we're not) and Where are you in the league? (In my opinion, doing OK but not great bearing in mind the squad).

So, when we lose a game against lesser teams, playing unattractive football and our league position suffers, it's no surprise that criticism comes in.

But.....Having listened to the BBC podcast with Warne and Karl Robinson and heard the latter's abuse/bullying of players, and having seen Deeney binned for slagging off players in public....after a 4 game ban for abusing officials, I'm pleased we've got a decent bloke in charge.

2 minutes ago, TomTom92 said:

Problem is we haven’t got enough players who can pull a rabbit out of the hat when the chips are down. 
 
Hopefully CBT will add a bit of sparkle. But who do we bring in from the bench to strengthen us? Sibley’s had more chances than hot dinners, we’ve got no strikers and Fornah looks average league 1 at best. 

Last night was pretty embarrassing. How can we not muster one good chance in 90 minutes against Reading?

We did......TJJ missed it

Rams tv

I thought we were absolutely awful tonight. Got what we deserved against a less than bang average team who were there for the taking 

Vickers…..5.5……no errors but no calming influence 

Wilson…….6…….did Ok. Missed a couple of opportunities to cross

Bradley…..6

Nelson…….6…….no major issues but not as imperious as usual

Cashin…….5……..white knuckle ride stuff tonight and sloppy passing

Elder……7………best performance by him in a Derby shirt by a mile. Tried to make things happen and defended quite well. Let down by Barkhuizen for the goal

Hourihane…..5……pass completion was high but those that didn’t land were awful. Doesn’t hide.

Ward……6

Bird…….4.5……can’t remember a worse passing performance from him.

Barkhuizen……4.5…..I like TB but this was a poor night at the office. Didn’t do much and switched off for their goal

Blackett-Taylor…..6…….one run and off target shot. Not a lot else

Thompson……6.5……more than a bundle of energy. Some nice touches and head up passing. Unlucky to be hooked

Sibley…..5.5…..looked after the ball well but not a lot came off

Méndez-Laing…..6……tried but not a lot came off

Collins…….6……works hard and some good link play. Possibly my biased eyes and poor picture quality but some offsides looked harsh

John-Jules…..5……feel very sorry for the lad as it looks as though he’s now a long term absentee…..but he missed an absolute sitter that was much easier than the shot they scored from. Oozes quality but no menace or threat at all.

Ref…..refereed the first second like Pol Pot when Thompson strayed 3 cm into their half ….and then the rest of the game like the ref from Rollerball 

8 hours ago, Van der MoodHoover said:

True.... seems to be 50% of the now minimum operating budget for a cat 1 of 2.5m.

Still a cost of 1.2m pa to be recouped from either selling young players or bringing them through so you can avoid transfer fees.

That's assuming the academy operates at the minimum requirement.

It could be argued that our Cat 1 academy saved the club at one point.........it would have been running for 7 or so years for the cost of Bielik??

When we were flogging proper young talent like Gordon, Kellyman and the likes to pay the bills it seemed to be the only way to survive.

When you look at Ivan 'foam mover' Toney (genius) and the sell-on that Posh may get if he goes to a bigger club, you have to hope that we may benefit in a similar way with one of our emergency sales at some stage in the future.

Let's just hope any sell-ons aren't scuppered by Buchanan / Byrne 'you're not the same Derby County anymore' chicanery.

If we tried to sign him in the summer/summer window we'd have been signing the 126th best player in league 1 for 22/23 according to Who Scored stats.

We're now trying trying to sign the 10th best player in league 1.

Have we been gazumped?

8 minutes ago, duncanjwitham said:

Oooh look, it's Eiran "Horror Show" Cashin, in the team of the week...

 

He got done for speed on three occasions but was otherwise pretty good.

I'm surprised he made it into team of the week based on what I saw live but Who Scored do take all the emotion out of it ....so fair enough.

ATG

31Vickers 7…..some decent stops especially the 1 on 1 in the second half

2Wilson 7……after a super-attacking display against Burton this was more of a normal right back outing. Did well.

35Nelson 7.5……solid as always.

6Cashin 5.5……whupped for pace 3 times. Played well otherwise with good goal line clearance 

20Elder 6…….still rusty in first half but much better than V Burton. I’ve been critical of him in terms of negativity and mistakes but was more positive and very few errors

7Barkhuizen 6…….did OK. Could’ve crossed a millisecond quicker on a couple of occasions to beat their proactive blocking

16Thompson 6…..OK. Energetic as always 

8Bird 6.5…….involved a lot but generally spreading it wide. Needed a Fleetwood style drive or a Cambridge away from last year pass slipped through pass to Collins to mix it

4Hourihane 6.5……..involved a lot in open  play and broke up their play quite well. Corners not great today

11Méndez-Laing 6…….excellent effort, not a lot came off for him today but they really packed their area making it hard to get decent crosses in

17Sibley 5.5……..played as a 10?…but couldn’t see any link up with Collins

19John-Jules 6……..nice touches and tried to get involved 

9Collins 6.5……no service or support for first 25 or so minutes. Worked hard as always and sniffed out 4 or 5 half or three quarter chances

No-one was terrible, no-one was scintillating and it was a game we could’ve won or could’ve lost.

Seen some comments on match thread saying we didn’t turn up today - I couldn’t fault anyone’s effort.

Men’s toilets 0.5/10…….no windows, no water, no light……..how do they get any sort of stadium certificate?

just back……. Thought we did OK and thought Lincoln defended very well - blocking shots, stopping crosses and getting men behind the ball in their area.

We do need a Bellingham-type threat via a powerful attacking midfielder more than a new winger imo.

i agree with @DavesaRam that we should have realised plan A wasn’t working a bit sooner and tried through the middle more…..but overall a decent point.

This just cements DC’s hero status for me.

Of course the first few months out of admin  won’t be representative of the rest of his tenure and as @angieramsays there may be Bielek money etc in that loss.

However when you see someone running a successful, mid-size, profitable property company lurching into a business like football where it’s so difficult to turn a profit…….all for the sake of us…..you have to doff your cap.

3 minutes ago, oodledoodle said:

Remember when we all threw our toys out the pram and got games abandoned when we almost died?

Oh wait no, we didn't do that because what's the point ruining games for the other set of travelling fans.

Huge sympathy with Reading fans but totally agree regarding respecting other fans.

EFL should have either given points to Port Vale or declared all home games to be played behind closed doors until further notice........which would hit the owner in the pocket. They need to take action to try to ensure further games aren't abandoned - knowing in advance that an invasion will gift 3 points to Derby would be some sort of deterrent.

I'm not going on Tues but I'm concerned there could be a wasted journey for those who do.

I think happy clapping tomorrow on the 16th minute will simply embolden Reading fans to disrupt the game on Tues.....I won't be joining in.

You've got to love league 1 transfers.

We get linked to a player most of us - if we're honest enough - have never heard of and, in the blink of an eye, we're calling them by nicknames and abbreviations like they're our mates form the pub.

After a a short period of time we're doing cartwheels because they're on the verge of signing, by which time they've been bigged up so far that we're basically expecting fat Ronaldo from his pre-pie phase to walk in the building.

I'm no different........can't wait for the corner flag later on!

38 minutes ago, Chris_Martin said:

The stats on 'who scored' website are a reasonable starting point.

They rated him at 7.52 against Burton and give you chapter and verse on what he, and the rest of the players actually did in terms of pass completion, tackles etc.

To the best of my knowledge it's completely impartial with no conscious or unconscious bias so doesn't have the grumpy or elation-based swings in scores that we all tend to get drawn into to some extent. It's an interesting sense check for us all - I gave Elder 3.5 and I thought he was poor but 'who scored' rated him at 6.81 against Burton.........on reflection I was probably harsh on him.

To provide a little bit of context, Cashin is currently rated as the best player in the league with an average match rating of 7.43

2 hours ago, Chris_Martin said:

stats will of course say that though as he's had 4 pens which are 0.8xg chances and the tap in rebound from the pen 0.95xg

Sorry - I'm confused

If you look at the goals vs xg for pens/tap-ins he's scored 4 goals from an xg of 4.15.

If you you strip out the goals and chances from pens / tap-in rebounds he has 0.41 goals / 90 mins against an xg of 0.21........if you discount his pen involvement he looks even better

11 minutes ago, Chris_Martin said:

4 pens actually as he missed one and tapped in the rebound

so slightly worse than one in 3 games, and considering we have arguably the best squad in the league creating chances for him, it's actually not that great

Sorry to bring it back xg again but he has an xg of 0.47 per 90 mins for this league season which is essentially what he should score with the best squad in the league putting things on a plate for him. That includes pens.

Yet he’s scored 0.62 per 90 mins against full strength teams.

Stats say he’s over-performing.

From footy stats.org btw.

ATG

31Vickers...5.5.....not a lot to do but didn't look confident doing it. Wildsmith has a bit of Schmeichel about him - makes mistakes but body language is always rock solid. I'd be tempted to swap back on Sat if I were Warne.

2Wilson.....7.5.....bit of a cheat code at RB against a weak team. Loads of decent crosses and always trying to be positive.

35Nelson.....8.....bit of a league 1 Virgil van Dyke now....he knows he's going to win everything, forwards know he's going to win everything and he wins everything. Half point off for backing off on their first goal.

6Cashin......7.5.....excellent again 

20Elder......3.5......half point for the cross on the second goal. Stray passes, vertical headers, lamentable defending and a reluctance to cross ( 2 last night compared to how many from Wilson?) I genuinely hope he comes good, and second half v Posh gives some hope but expect Sibley to play on Saturday

17Sibley.....6.5....added much needed composure at LB. Expect him to play there on Sat.

11Méndez-Laing......6.5.....did loads of really really good stuff and was overall excellent -  but full point off for doing lollipops in our half for their first goal. Whether it was a foul or not, it was a bit of unnecessary flashiness in a bad area and complete momentum changer

8Bird.........7.....nothing flash but worked very hard in what was often a 4-2-4 formation. Quietly decent.

4Hourihane.....7.......loads of examples of excellent quality. Bit of a white knuckle ride playing him in 4-4-2 or 4-2-4 but I'm very glad he plays for us and not a L1 rival. Doesn't hide - proper quarterback performance in last 25 when they dropped back 

7Barkhuizen.....7.5......can't believe what I've read on the matchday thread. Other than scoring the first, making the second (with 2 involvements) and winning the ball back for our third what did he contribute?  Nelson was my MOTM but Sky love goal involvements.

5Bradley......6

19John-Jules....5.5....clearly talented and made some very useful contributions but when I see JC sprinting past him to get on the end of something in the box in the second half then I see someone who hasn't made it and isn't busting a gut to make it. The Burton sub looked much hungrier.

16Thompson.....6

9Collins.......7.5.....another very good performance. Benefits from having players around him rather than being lone striker. Arguably our single most important player at the moment.