Gabby'sThighs

This Bird has flown... Exactly my thoughts. He stayed during relegation when he didn't have to, and has plodded through 1 1/2 seasons being utilised quite badly in what must be a frustrating tactic for him to play. He's not going to develop his game at Derby, let's face facts. It speaks volumes that he's been constantly slated this season by some but he'll be at a Championship club next season on bigger wages, and with more chance of being spotted by a top division club.

I'd rather keep him, but maybe that's the romantic side of me! I think Adams/3 in midfield could really improve Bird's performance. He a decent footballer and gets a lot of unwarranted criticism. If we get a fee, at least we can plan for next season. Plus, Sibley could shift up, or Weston could get a shout.

Ebou's Wiki page said he signed a three-year deal in July 2022, so he's free in July 2025, presumably. The defensive stats posted above are very encouraging. Hopefully he'll add the steel to midfield we need, play all 17 games, we'll go up, then sign him for a song in the summer. He seems like a lovely, smiley character too, a good guy to have around. And by the sounds of his regular Nando's order, the Market Place branch are going to have to hire some extra staff.

Ha, those idiots! Not me. I wasn't panicking about today being the last day...👀

I stand corrected! A huge profit on Rogers. Same principle though - invest in and trust young players. Then reinvest when you sell.

Just looking at Middlesbrough & Blackburn each about to sell an academy player for around £20m then considering how little time our young players have had to show their value. Imagine actually giving our youngsters some minutes in the first team and getting a £20m bid... 😕

Or 4-3-3, obviously, with Bradley on the bench.

Warne doesn't want a holding DM, he'd judge it to be a waste of a player. Maybe he'd use a box-to-box DM, in the mould of Kante, but there aren't too many of them around. The midfield of Bird, Thompson, and Fornah looked much better to me than Bird/Hourihane. If Thommo & Fornah snap and bustle around while Bird plays in a more attacking role, which he's more suited to. I think it would firm us up. Although we'd then have to rely on Bradley in a back three...

Just for completeness, this ticket is now sold.

I'm not sure if this is the right place but I have a spare Charlton ticket going, in the singing section. Adult £24. DM me.

I'd ask Warne why he signed Fornah, and what role does he want Fornah to play on the pitch? I'd also want to know why he's neglected to give game time to Brown, Weston, Fapetu, etc. and if those players are wasting their time staying at Derby?

Bird is doing his job - scrap around for the ball in a midfield two next to a really slow guy, try and bang it out wide as quickly as possible, it's fine if you lose the ball a lot. That's what Warne is telling him to do.

Hourihane has 5 goals and 7 assists so far this season, 7 and 10 last season... His set pieces are very inconsistent though, terrible corners in the last few games.

Warne said something to this effect, in the promo for the Lincoln game. Along the lines of "Mendez can take a player on 10 times and lose it 3 times, that's fine. Same with Tom, same with Birdy" So he accepts the limitations of the tactic, and that our front 4 will lose the ball quite a bit, but what is he doing about counter-attacks? In the same interview he laments the lack of control the team often has. Well, yeah. He's not asking those players to retain the ball, and they don't.

Maybe he'll fly the nest before we ever find out.

Warne must have looked at the tactical impact of the great DMs - Keane, Vieira, Makélélé, Davids, Kante, Busquets - and gone - "Nah, just play two standard centre mids and boot the ball over their heads".

We've been awful in defeat and often not that great when we win.

I'm no tactician but this is how I see things, just to defend the players a bit: Warne is clearly asking Vickers to pump it long or get it to the wingbacks. Cashin & Nelson are pumping the ball to the wingers or long to Collins (who always wants it on the deck). But they eff it up often because they're not Terry & Ferdinand. There is a continual call for a sturdy DM, but it should be apparent by now that Warne feels that would be a waste of a player. Our wingbacks and wingers run down the touchline and when they lose the ball we're vulnerable on the counter-attack. Or if NML, Wilson, or Collins have an off-game, there's no other plan. We have CMs who can play a bit but they're following orders - Hourihane sits far too deep to play to his strengths, he hasn't the pace or the tackling ability to cover the middle of the pitch, and Bird/Smith/Tommo is largely left chasing shadows, Sibley seems to be an annoyance to Warne and just gets put wherever. I'd try and shape Fornah into that no-nonsense DM, but maybe it's better to leave him out of the squad entirely, right? The tactics have worked with Fozzy & Nyambe fit, when Wilson/Barks & NML are playing well, and if Collins can stand in the right place. (We are 4th, despite all of my complaints). If not, the team can collapse at any moment. But by and large, we've got the results - we're 4th, remember. And I know it's irrational, but Sonny Bradley's presence fills me with rage. He was supposed to be the seasoned pro, all-action leader type, but he's such a wet blanket, and he seems to be in the squad because there's still a belief he'll step up, or to justify his wages. After the Bradford he talked about senior players being responsible for motivating the team - that's supposed to be you, you d*ckhead! He's 32, he's played nearly 500 professional games: if he can't perform now, it's not going to happen, and you can't baby him through a 50+ game season. I hope we can stay in touch with the top 4, and I'm excited to go to Charlton away. I'm also not a sack the manager type but I'd boot Warne in the summer whether we go up or not. Our transfer focus has to shift (and is shifting?) from over 30s journeymen to under 27s with potential, and I think he's shown he can't create a balanced squad, still doesn't know his best XI, and can't or won't play players to their strengths. He has bizarre loyalty to Smith, Bradley, Vickers, and seems to have taken against Fornah, Wildsmith, Sibley, Brown, etc. Maybe he is the annoying, fickle office manager he comes across as.

Is this a parody account? I don't know if I've encountered such powerful Boomer energy...

Terrible performance. They've stopped doing the very basics, too many unforced errors and misplaced passes. Why do they keep banging the ball to Cashin in such tight situations? He's a good passer for a CB but he's not Xavi or Pirlo, he's gonna trip over himself at some point. Sad to see JJ going off injured too, I feel bad for him. Maybe we should keep Brown for now, and it makes another striker all the more important. On the plus side, Elder was very good. Also, we are still only 3 points off top with another 18 to play. And we'll definitely beat Cheltenham, right? Right??

Seems like a good move for Brown's development. He's got 20-odd games in a competitive adult league to show Paul Wane what he has to offer. I'd love to see him actually get some game time for Derby next season!

Worst kept secret of January. He looks like a good signing! Should take some pressure off NML in particular and keep us going to glorious, glorious 2nd place.

We're just like Real Madrid....in that unless we win 3-0 loads of fans bellyache about it endlessly. No European Cups or Jude Bellingham, sadly.

I keep coming back to Josh Onomah, he ticks a few boxes - CM, only 26, free agent, has played at a higher level. Surely, a 6 month contract would be tempting. But, I've glanced at some articles on his situation and he appears to have a lot of money in the bank, so maybe he just can't be *rsed! It seems odd that he hasn't ended up somewhere, maybe it's his injury problems.

I watched the U21s goals yesterday and it felt like there were multiple Harrisons on the pitch. Ugh. But there was our Tony, so that's something. Also, I was in a cafe the other week and a posh English guy in his 60s asked if they did 'takeout'. Go away.