MadAmster

Great idea but I think we'll see a fair few bench sitters starting alongside young uns like Fapetu and Brown. I think we may well see Brown alongside JJ.

70 next month and I'll be there with me Benelux Rams flag and looking towards the kid's pen to see if I can spot yer Utcheter flag 🙂 I say go for it. As someone else posted, it is, hopefully, our last ever chance of winning it so we might as well go for it. We can't start a full first XI because of the rules of the competition. I'm expecting most of the bench from the weekend to start along with Fapetu. Bench a mix of 1st XI and U21's, one of which should be Weston. The kids should be OK as the 21s next game is Friday and the 18s on Saturday so not too close to the Bradford game. Bradford are currently 14th in L2 so we should win and then we're just 2 games from Wembley and that would see at least 4 of us over for a weekend out or should I say out,out?

No digs intended, merely asking the question of whether the situation with PW/RB is similar to that we had with WR/LR. I think it is. I think it's the same share of responsibilities. I remember PW hinting at RB being the better tactician/coach. Add in that RB wasn't successful as a manager and you see that there are many facets to management and getting the mix right is paramount. McClaren was the ideas guy, the tactician, the hands on man and, yes, Fergie was in charge. I think we have a similar situation now and had it with the previous management as well. That was the question asked. No ulterior motives. I don't believe I mentioned anything about it being a bad idea or that maybe Rb should be #1... if you read that into it then it's not on me.

One would hope they had their targets sorted before the window opened so any googling will have taken place last year. January deals are notoriously difficult. Personally, I don't expect anything, barring possibly an extension for JJ, until the last 10 days or so of the month.

That LR and RB are better coaches, better tactically, than WR/PW. PW has said that RB is better at that side of the game...

The Rooney / Rosenior partnership had many fans thinking Rosenior was the better coach, the better tactician, the better footballing brain. Rooney, nevertheless, had the senior role. LR looked the more busy, the more vocal in the technical area during games. I am of the opinion that, from what we see on matchday and from bits and bobs during training from Moor Farm that get posted via #RamsTV seem to show a similar situation in that Barker is the better coach, the better tactician, the better footballing brain. PW, nevertheless, had the senior role. RB looks the more busy, the more vocal in the technical area during games. Agree/disagree?

In all seriousness though, I'd rather they got it right rather than merely "getting it done" 😉

0-2 Bird

What's the point of putting someone like Coldplay on our wish list when we know that Chris doesn't meet PWs requirements for all the things he wants a striker to do?

It most certainly does work but it shouldn't be your only tactic and, at times, it has felt like it is our one and only. Mix it up. Play through the middle as well. Invert the wingers and have them cut inside as well. Basically, don't be predictable.

The transfer window has been open 3 and a half days and we haven't signed anybody yet 😉 What are they playing at 🙂

Played 'em twice this season so far. 1-0 at home in the League and a 3-0 home win in the EFL Trophy. Hoping for a 0-2.

Thick finger typo, Tier 3 of course...

I thought he was a better footballer than his owd fella but much less of a physical presence. Take the best of Dad's game and add it to the best of young uns game and you've got yersen a footballer. Having said that, if we do sign him (unlikely as the story was in the Daily Fail) he'd best get used to oppo fans chanting "your Dad wasn't very good and neither are you" or words to that effect 😉

The joys of living abroad and TV companies not being interested in L1 games. That means I can get all the League 1 games via my RamsTV subscription. Already booked flights etc for Burton, Reading and Bolton. Doing the Toyota Lounge gig for Bolton so I hope they get knoscked out of the FA Cup in the next 2 rounds...

... not sure if you missed the news...... but Derby ARE in Tier 32 of the English footballing pyramid 🙂 and, as a Derby player, so is Max Bird.

When we signed him, the club was aware he's be absent during the 2 international breaks in the last 1/3 of 2023. When he was offered an 18 month extension on his contract, PW and his staff knew, barring injury, he'd be off the represent Namibia at AFCON. Maybe they know something you don't. Maybe missing him for January is deemed by those whose opinion counts to be well worth what he can deliver over the next season and a half. Maybe PW is happy as it will allow him to revert to his, apparently, preferred back 3.

New Manager bounce, us wanting to show our "bouncebackability", on Sky... 1-4

... at least I was consistent in repeating the error 🙂

NML needs a rest. He was knackered against the Posh. He's had a good season thus far but against Posh he was ineffective going forward and failed to track his man on several occasions including in the lead up to their first goal. Hourihane needs a rest too.

... and doesn't track back with any enthusiasm. Great talent but has to stay on his feet and get stuck in when "his man" moves forward with the ball rather than let himself get outrun by the man in possession.

65 minutes. Memory playing tricks. Can I claim age as the cause 🙂 ? I got the time of his substitution wrong. BTW - you DID suggest such a thing

It seems a lot of fans don't see what Bird does in a game. Let's have a look back at last season. We had a run of around 20 games unbeaten and Bird was focal in that run. Then he was out for a lot of games with injury and the unbeaten run ended and we fell away. Back in the 70s a lot of fans had similar comments about the likes of McGovern and Durban. As with Bird, you only really appreciate what they do when they're not there.

Burton and Derby Jan 13 to 16. Fuerteventura from the 18th for a week. A week in Derby in March for the Reading and Bolton games. Still deciding where to go in Feb, April and May. Stay in NL from June to the end of August, Germany in September, UK October, somewhere in the sun in November.... sorted.

A "comedy" of errors. Starting with the starting XI, maybe? Some of our not so young players looked off the pace and pace was the catalyst in the game. They were quicker just about everywhere. Hourihane and NML being the 2 "worst" IMO with Nat taking the biscuit. He roasts full backs for fun, usually, but I don't think he did his man a single time before his HT substitution. He totally forgot about tracking back too. On half a dozen occasions I was shouting at the screen for him to track his man. The first time led to their first goal, his "man" providing the assist. A totally preventable goal. No surprise that CH and NML were off at HT and Foz was on a yellow and had had a knock to his knee so probably wise to sub him off too. Their 2nd saw our defence fail to follow the movement of an opponent and he nodded home, totally unmarked. I know I'm old fashioned when it comes to things like strikers hunting in pairs. I also remain old school when it comes to defending corners. A man at the post would have prevented their equaliser. Their 3rd? How often have we seen us fail to properly clear the ball and pay the price? Nels and Cash got in each other's way, ball only partially cleared, came back in, Jones was stood in an offside position, one of our defenders got his head to it and it fell to Jones who poked it between JWs legs... because our player had purposely made contact with the ball, Jones was no longer deemed offside, in perfect accordance with the current offside Law. All too often, as has happened quite a lot this season, they had players allowed to make 40 or more yards without a challenge. Get into 'em I say. The better side on the day won. We get back up, dust ourselves down and we start over again.