LeedsCityRam

Exeter away now sold out...great effort that for a Tuesday night 👏

I remember that twitter account - it was very good/insightful & do recall him getting an offer from a professional club to formalise his expertise. Good on him making a career for himself & then returning to his home club.

Very self-deprecating but I'd be amazed if Pompey finished 5th - have collapses in previous seasons coloured your view a little? Pompey obviously had a bit of a wobble but have taken 10 points from last 12 since & from the outside appear to have had a really good January window - we'd have been delighted with Calum Lang & Owen Moxon as signings. Peterborough's squad is too small to sustain a top 2 push in my opinion (although their first XI is very good) & think Barnsley are a little too far behind to overhaul you now.

Agree with this. I was frustrated by our inability to slow the tempo of the match down & way we were surrendering possession when they had the ascendancy. Couple of times late on Collins got the ball from a break & tried to flick it on rather than holding it, looking for an easy sideways ball & enabling the team to move up the field. Earlier on in the match, there were a fair amount of 'aerial hooks' to no-one in particular (Hourihane particularly guilty of this) which enabled them to receive possession easily & come back at us. The team obviously deserve credit for defending with real purpose (especially late on) but the point is it maybe didnt have to be so dramatic if we'd controlled the ball better.

I don't think a departure would be solely down to results. As per 'Clowes losing faith in recruitment process' thread, I think our strategy as a club is about to change this summer post-restrictions to finding young talent to develop & sell at a profit. Thats why Mark Thomas is here & I think thats why the taps have been turned off for any more short term Warne signings (CBT has long term value of course). That strategy is basically the polar opposite of how Warne works as a manager. The only way I believe Warne stays is if we go up & that would largely be out of courtesy to give him a crack at the division above.

1. Bolton 2. Pompey 3. Peterborough 4. Derby 5. Barnsley 6. Oxford Barnsley to beat us in the playoffs & a managerial change in May

Is that actually the case? Genuinely don't know but my impression is that he doesn't get that many opportunities hence why he drifts out to the wings/into midfield to get involved (I'm assuming you mean opportunities as chances rather than games btw). I suspect his conversion rate is actually pretty good but happy for that to be challenged with actual stats. I like the guy - he's a good finisher, a hard worker & you can tell he cares. He's set for 20 odd league goals this season & I don't believe without him we would be top 6. Re next season - i would definitely offer him another contract albeit purely as a backup if we went up. I don't think anyone would imagine for a second we would start a Championship season with Collins as our main number 9, nor would we need to given the changed financial landscape next season if we went up.

Acceptable face of South London 1 Derby 1 FRGS Collins

Great gesture from a great player I seem to remember reading a post by @loweman2 a few years back saying that Todd had little to do with the club much to his regret, so am particularly pleased to see this today. Given David Clowes is very passionate about our history, hopefully we'll see some of the other 70s heroes in & around PP a bit more.

Thanks for the reasoned post - appreciate that. I think we'll have to agree to disagree about the chances of top two - I think it is a stronger claim than an outside chance. As I've mentioned a few times elsewhere, there will be very few seasons where the 3 relegated sides from the Championship make no impact on a League One promotion race. Add that to our budget (described as competitive by Clowes), existing squad (Championship interest in Bird, Cashin, NML, Nyambe etc), undoubted pull (who else in this division could have convinced Blackett-Taylor to join?) and a manager with a reputation as a League One promotion specialist & I think the expectations should be automatic promotion. I'd agree with you Bolton are very strong but the remainder have vulnerabilities. Pompey have had their rookie manager for a mere 6 months & have been upper midtable for the past few seasons, Peterborough are skint, have a small squad & are losing their main striker (and only sneaked ahead of us last year), Barnsley lost a very good manager in the summer and Oxford/Stevenage are dropping off as everyone expected. This is a real opportunity for us & this underpins the frustration at the limp performances. We can't continue in this vein or we will start dropping points - this is even before we start considering how sustainable this style would potentially be in the division above. From a results POV, Warne is about par - I agree with you there. I do not think he is over-achieving or getting the maximum from this group though and results are largely earnt by individual flashes of quality rather than slick team displays. You make a point in a later post asking whether 16 months in charge is enough to get the side working well - Warne is now the 27th longest serving manager out of 92 in the Prem/EFL i.e. he is virtually in the upper quartile & therefore I believe its fair to start holding him to account for what we're watching. My hope is that having seen the improvement on Saturday when we had a Fornah/Bird/ Thompson midfield on the park, Warne sticks to that & we start to impose ourselves more on the opposition. Like yourself, I will call it as I see it & if we play well, I'm happy to acknowledge that. I want us to be better, we can be better & we must be better or Warne is looking at his last 17 matches in charge. For the record & as a nod to the thread title, I'm comfortable him remaining in post until the end of the season.

Yes, that's the takeaway Jourdan. If you can't be bothered debating like an adult, maybe just ignore any inconvenient posts next time 👍

Quality of football & entertainment can be two very different things. Derby simultaneously score & concede a fair amount at the minute/lose late leads or gain late leads which could be described as 'entertaining' to the neutral but certainly is not high quality. Conversely Paul Clement delivered high quality play but some fairly dull matches. You're missing the point though. People are primarily annoyed that a supposed automatic promotion contender has so little control of the match & is heavily dependant on flashes of quality by individual players to overwhelm poorly resourced but better coached teams. The issue isnt that they're bored...its frustration at how poor we look the majority of the time. Comparing previous managers by entertainment value, many of whom operated under far harsher circumstances than Warne, doesnt strike me as that instructive. In terms of your obvious frustration that folk don't appreciate the job Warne is doing, maybe a more useful comparison would be Derby managers ranked by meeting/exceeding expectations or building a team greater than the sum of its parts. IMO Warne would be very near the bottom.

That 'results only' approach is simply not sustainable over the last 17 games. We have to improve our performance levels dramatically or we are going to be punished by the better sides & miss out again. We've just had 2 matches in the past 5 days being outplayed by two teams in the bottom 4, it shouldn't just be glossed over. No one expects 8/10 performances every week & we will have to win ugly at points but these performances are becoming a recurring habit. The lack of control in games is fundamental to this point..until we can impose ourselves in midfield & whilst we are so cavalier in turning over the ball, we will continue to be vulnerable. We got out of jail today, make no mistake.

Not sure I can properly articulate how much I love this man. The waiver against the Wendies, signing a blank contract that summer when Morris was playing his games, mingling happily with fans at Wembley 2019 even though he wasnt playing & must have been hurting, leadership on & off the pitch during the dark days of admin....amazing that a man with such a career as him thought so much of us to do all that. Much derided as a 'kick it, head it' centre half by outsiders, he improved massively technically when under Rooney/Rosenior. Set his fastest bleep test I believe in training whilst with us during the admin season...he wanted to be the best version of himself at all times. He deserves & will get a rapturous reception tomorrow. I hope he returns back home to us in some capacity very soon 🖤🐏

Derby 2 Super Curtis Davies 1 FRGS Hourihane

Where do you see Fapetu & Wheeldon at this stage? Fapetu really impressed me in his one EFL Trophy start & sure he's made a first team matchday squad since. Wheeldon looks a big, quick lad and was very dangerous against (an admittedly already well beaten) Wolves u23s. Good points in your later post about young players being useful sporadically in first team games. Even Evan Ferguson gets that treatment at Brighton. Of course 21/22 proves that some can actually flourish when given extended playing time. Im sure Cashin would never have made it had he been 4 years older & emerged during Rowett/Lampard reigns.

They did exacrly this on our last visit to Charlton. Each block tentatively released even though postal deadline gets ever closer & we are close to selling out. As I recall last time at Charlton, the smallest block was never opened even though everything else had virtually sold out...ended up being pay on the day which people were unlikely to risk given how close we were to selling out. Probably needs formally asking (SCG question?) but I'd like to see all away blocks released at the start of sales. We are very likely to sell out all of allocations anyway, it rewards most loyal away fans with their chosen seats and also gives everyone true picture of allocation & sales for that given match.

The Academy is apparently ahead of schedule after the decimation of administration What is the plan for developing these players into first team members & why were they so underused during the EFL Trophy campaign?

Harsh on Thompson, I thought he was good tonight. Obvious energy in stark contrast to his midfield colleagues, wanted to get on the ball & looked to move forward/pass forward. He & Elder were the standouts for me and I'm really not sure why he was taken off before Hourihane. As a general point, really disappointed by the attitude to tonight's game. We looked pedestrian without the ball & sloppy with it - I get that teams have off games but there was a real lack of urgency given the prize of being top tonight. I wanted to see players demanding improvements of each other & launching into challenges, particularly when it was apparent the ref had no interest in penalising anything short of ABH. It felt listless throughout & Reading deserved their win. The most concerning area for me is still that midfield. Thompson did improve things at the top end but we simply can not afford to have Bird & Hourihane in tandem further back. Either Fornah or Robinson need to come in & improve the energy in that area - its too passive and slow currently.

I meant more from a financial competition perspective given his wages. Agree his style would be very sought after at this level. We'd also have the trump card of him (presumably) wanting to play for Warne again.

Not read all the thread so not sure if anyone else has commented on this but there was a lot of passing out from the keeper on Saturday. Hourihane was often picking the ball up as the last man & we were knocking it around the back & then passing through the lines into midfield rather than just launching it every time. It was good to see that variety & coming back to your point about Klopp, reminiscent of how they build the play.

Speaking to a Wendy pal at weekend, apparently Smith got a ridiculous wage increase when they went up & that's the issue. Sounds like we would be unable to get close to paying all of his wages (definition of significant contribution could be very broad & not in reality be the majority of wages) which is why they've asked for a loan fee to sweeten the deal. Wendies sound in a mess financially what with Chansiri refusing to put any more money in & even asking the fans to pay HMRC debts in October. I suspect they can not afford to have Smith on the books at the end of January & hence we're in a stronger bargaining position the longer the month goes. I can't see there'd be that much competition from other League One clubs now given Oxford & Charlton's recent business and would be surprised if anyone in the Championship wanted him. Sit tight I think.

Most soulless place in Britain 0 Super Derby 2 FRGS Collins

Imps 2 Rams 1 FRGS Mendez-Laing

I think that's a bit unfair personally. Considering Hourihane is clearly a cultured midfielder, he has adapted surprisingly well to Warne's more energetic style of play - the problem is he simply doesn't have the legs to keep that effort up & Warne seems disinclined to sub him, probably because he has the type of game changing quality in his locker that we saw last night. It would appear that some are mistakenly confusing that tiredness with a lack of effort/passion. As others have also mentioned, he certainly looked very happy with his winner last night & leads the team well in terms of professionalism/high standards on & off the field. I've noticed a few folk calling out Max Bird as well over the past 24 hours despite the fact I thought he played well last night especially defensively. The real issue is that the blend isn't right in midfield with both of them in there. We need an energetic midfielder amongst both of them or in place of one of them. Contrary to the majority on here it seems, I strongly believe that should be Fornah.