LeedsCityRam

Marshall 6 - not much to do really. Obviously stood no chance with their goal
McDonald 6 - really ropey first half hour with the ball going over his head time & time again. He then seemed to drop a little deeper which started to nullify their threat down that side. Thereafter, very solid. Didn't offer that much going forward but perhaps not surprising against a team that strong. Decent effort overall
Forsyth 5 - really poor in possession in the first half & hauled down their lad for the free kick winner. Also struggled with the movement of Aarons & Buendia and needed Jozwiak to help out repeatedly. Got involved second half going forward as we gained territorial ascendancy but quality was a bit variable
Wisdom 7 MOM - thought Andre played well today. Positionally very good, decent on the ball & on hand to mop up Mengi's periodic errors. Pukki barely got a kick all game which tells its own story.
Mengi 5 - did some good things including a superb last man tackle late on & a good effort on target second half. Overall very weak positionally though & very anonymous in aerial contests. Lost his man a few times and curiously seemed to head for the goal line when delivery came in - his job is to attack the ball. At the minute I don't believe he is strong enough to be a starting Championship CB.
Roberts 7 - really like this lad & think he's got so much more to offer. The way he moves with the ball is fantastic (bit too much crabbing at times though) & he was always looking to get involved and beat men. There were a couple of occasions where he had virtually beaten 3 defenders to get through on goal but ball ricocheted away from him unluckily.
Bird 6 - solid from Max today. Lots of good defensive work including a couple of shuddering challenges to stop them coming down the centre. Did a good job recycling possession & keeping us front foot throughout the second half. Bit disappointed with a couple of his through balls - can think of 2 in particular where it opened up for him but he put too much on the ball
Shinnie 6 - struggled badly that first 30 mins & couldn't get close to their movement. He was also constantly losing possession & part of the reason the ball kept coming back at us. Second half, his pressing started to win us the ball higher up the park & his passing was excellent - especially the superb ball for Kazim's chance. Missed an absolute sitter late on which really should have been on target (bobble or not)
Jozwiak 6 - worked incredibly hard to protect Forsyth (who badly needed it) & held the ball well up the park when we were under the cosh first half. Unfortunately a few instances of poor decision making/poor quality at the crucial moment. Quieter than Lawrence & Roberts second half
Lawrence 6 - work rate was first class, numerous occasions where he put in a great challenge to win the ball back in midfield. Still think his first touch could be a bit better & is the reason he struggles for space. Delivery was also a bit varied although liked the way he got involved in play second half moving the ball around with purpose
Kazim 6 - ball just wouldn't break for him first half & got little help from a pretty terrible ref. Second half he was better, great save from Krul to deny him with his best chance & fantastic closing down to set up Shinnie's late chance. Worked hard as part of the press in general second half

This was our offering for 1974/75
 

Had a couple of shirts made up using standard Umbro team apparel to mark the achievements of Clough & Taylor and also Dave Mackay, mainly to add a chapter into the book the colours of the Rams if the club and Umbro don’t do something.
we used the basic template matching the 1971/72 shirt and the style of the charity shield shirt badge, on the second shirt we went for the blue and white and the Umbro tapes on the cuffs, both finished off with the blood red no 10 as a nod to the king, also used the Derby County font for the wording.
the cost of these shirts from Umbro was £11.
we then added our design, can’t sell them due obviously to copyright infringement but would be nice if the club could do something similar.

Results:
Under Cocu - it's all the manager's fault.
Under Rooney - it's injuries and the quality of the squad.
I think the phrase "double standards" springs to mind.

Lawrence, Sibley and Jozwiak have more natural ability than most players in this division, Marshall and Byrne are above average Championship players, Clarke is one of the best CB's in the league, Knight's been linked with PL teams a few times. Even players like Gregory have proven they are at least mid table quality in the past. 
Many of the games when we've played CKR, Waghorn's been available. Player's don't just turn bad overnight, he's proved he's a decent player before. He didn't play because you can't just hoof the ball up to him like with CKR, he's a more technical player where you need more intricate tactical knowledge to get the best out of him, which our coaches don't seem to have.
I'm not saying we have have the quality to win the league, I'm saying they have enough to not be in a relegation battle.

Cardiff need to move on from it.

Dowell is a good player but he's only going to thrive when he has plenty of the ball & minimal defensive duties. He has that at Norwich with Skipp & McLean sitting in and allowing the 3 behind Pukki to express themselves.
When he played for us first half of last season, we were struggling to establish any control in midfield & someone like Dowell was a bit of a luxury.. Bielik didnt play DM until about November, Bird hadn't emerged, Shinnie was struggling & even Evans was having to play in there. 
As to the general point about players, @angieram is definitely right about fan expectation not helping. The bigger problem I believe though is the constant change in managers (and therefore style) & recruitment often ill-suited to the existing side. Players like Bennett, Evans & Pearce can thrive somewhere like Millwall because Rowett has a set team structure & players fill specific roles. At Derby, I sense we sign players on talent alone & then work out how the team adapts to them. Its why we have a lot of talent (yes, even now) but often poor team cohesion & understanding.

Speaking as someone who has totally self isolated since March last year with a Mrs who has been housebound and regularly contacts friends, family, church, organisations and charities all over the world, I can say, to quote Sergeant Windsor Davies..
"I've never heard such a load of drivel in my whole life sir!"

Do you mean other than staying in touch with friends and family, some of them you'll never see because of distance etc. Sharing among groups with common interests, being entertained, keeping up to date with news etc etc - Social media has its very real and big problems but the world isn't binary, you can take the good out of something and avoid the bad. There are a lot of positives.
All that said, one of the big big issues with Twitter in particular is that people place themselves in to echo chambers, in short, they don't tend to follow people they disagree with. It normalises their behaviour and this is where we're at.

Dowell is a good player but he's only going to thrive when he has plenty of the ball & minimal defensive duties. He has that at Norwich with Skipp & McLean sitting in and allowing the 3 behind Pukki to express themselves.
When he played for us first half of last season, we were struggling to establish any control in midfield & someone like Dowell was a bit of a luxury.. Bielik didnt play DM until about November, Bird hadn't emerged, Shinnie was struggling & even Evans was having to play in there. 
As to the general point about players, @angieram is definitely right about fan expectation not helping. The bigger problem I believe though is the constant change in managers (and therefore style) & recruitment often ill-suited to the existing side. Players like Bennett, Evans & Pearce can thrive somewhere like Millwall because Rowett has a set team structure & players fill specific roles. At Derby, I sense we sign players on talent alone & then work out how the team adapts to them. Its why we have a lot of talent (yes, even now) but often poor team cohesion & understanding.

Pitch is looking a lot better 

Derby County v Norwich City
 
5pts
rynny    40
 
3pts
Abu Derby    20
Beetroot    26
BOB BIGGS    46
BodminRam    49
Brammie Steve    28
Carnero    27
Cisse    61
cstand    30
dabber    31
dcfc the 1 4me    37
europia    18
gccrowdpleaser    45
gfs1ram    60
Half Fan Half Biscuit    28
harwich ram    36
ilsonram12    32
JarodyDCFC    43
jimtastic56    58
Jourdan    32
JuanFloEvraTheCocu'sNesta    32
Kamikaze    39
Keepyuppy    16
LeedsCityRam    44
lukedcfc    22
Malty    29
Mckram    45
Mos_Ram    20
mozza    32
r4derby    49
rammieib    45
Rampage    55
Rampant    29
Rich84    23
Roboram    26
Saul    44
Steve How Hard?    27
StevenageRam    32
swansea ram    17
TexasRam    21
timlondinium    38
Topram    41
Van der MoodHoover    36
Will Hughes Hair    32
Wolfie    37
ziggyram59    23
 
2pts
Rab a dab doo    16
 
1pt
Amberram    26
angieram    25
BarrowRam    25
BramcoteRam84    27
BucksRam    18
chewbacca    55
ColonelBlimp    49
CumbriaRam    10
DCFC1388    38
Dordogne-Ram    25
FindernRam    32
Foxy Ram    8
Jase116    28
Jimbo Ram    38
Kenavo    21
Leeds Ram    2
lrm14    1
Marriott Ram99    32
Mick Brolly    51
MidWalesRam    11
OohMartWright    20
PendineRam    22
1967Ram    28
ramant62    37
Rample    21
samwcave    12
SKHunter    39
TimRam    28
Wolfie20    22
Woodley Ram    39
 
 
Derby County 0 Norwich City 1, '0' = FRGS (surprisingly)
 

Most those injuries have only just happened in the last 2 games. I've tried to explain in my last 5 replies to you where I think the quality is. I don't know what else I can say 😆

My view is that we have enough quality in our attack to survive but the coaching and management isn't bringing out the best of that talent.
The drop in goals isn't purely down to individual dips,it's illogical for them all to have suddenly become so unprolific at the same time without there being a central external cause.
The problem us that it's sadly too late to positively change anything to alter it this season.
 

Rotherham play five games in 11 days. Two of those are Coventry and Birmingham. If anyone thinks they have a big enough squad to play a game every two days and the players will be full of energy and injury free then you are seriously optimistic.
There other three games are QPR, Boro and Barnsley. Both Boro and Barnsley are pushing for the play offs so they won’t give them easy games.
 
Oh and then on the 27th they go to Brentford.

Pretty much proved everything I said in my initial post.
Clearly you're choosing to ignore the circumstances of his first pre-season, the soft embargo in Jan & reputed extension into last June/July, as it seriously weakens your point. 
Cocu got this squad to 10th so clearly had some understanding of the division.
Not sure how you can accuse Cocu of over-complicating whilst Rooney changes formation, half the team & style of play on a game by game basis.

I think you must believe people have forgotten how dismissive you were of context when Cocu was struggling here.
Injuries no excuse, no pre-season not an excuse, soft transfer embargo no excuse, losing core of team with loan players from 18/19 leaving & Keogh sacked not an excuse. Often remember you saying Cocu's job was to work with what he had. Well, same applies to Rooney.
Simply because you've fallen head over heels for his celeb status, doesnt exempt him from football just as boring as your fave Gary Rowett.

It all comes down to the next 3 games for us. If we pick up 5 points then we should be ok, 6 should do it and we can relax for the last two games, regardless of what Rotherham and Wednesday do. Anything less then it will probably go to the last day of the season.
Im encouraged because we’ve put three good performances together in a row now and been unlucky in our last two games against good teams. We’ve created chances, the games before the international break we weren’t creating anything. There is absolutely no reason why we can’t win the next three games, bring this level of performance im confident we’ll get what we need. Return to the performances like against Stoke and Cov then I will be worried.

If Rooney sends us down then the first thing the new owners need to do is sack him.

Excuse me?

You're quite right,I was just working on speculation around £20m because Alonso said he'd pay £20m for the right player.
There are going to be bargain players out there.

How much did Byrne cost?  There are lots of clubs who are totally strapped, plenty of good players will be cheap. If we can just scout them well.  And Rooney’s team selection indicates some of our youngsters will be on the move (if not on loan). Don’t think P&S allows us to spend the amounts you mention 
Think it’s as much  about good decisions as dosh 

It needs an old head to steer us to safety now.
A 6 game unbeaten run with a good number of ugly draws is planned. 8 points will do it.
First up Blackburn.  We might actually score here, but a 0 - 0 will do.
Not worth a tenner (or even an overseas discount) to watch this one on Rams TV. Depending on the TBA kick off time I would suggest you watch the build-up to, or the post-ceremony analysis, of the Royal Funeral. Much more excitement.
Hope Gregory and Clarke are available. Too early for Markle though.

Pretty depressing prospect. Reading Rob Dorsett's tweets yesterday & his article on skysports com, they suggested Alonso wanted to focus on bringing young, hungry & good value players to the club and expand our foreign scouting network a la Brentford. Started to feel enthusiastic as that was exactly the direction we needed to take.
Now Alonso has apparently come out with these remarks, fans will be disappointed with anything less than a big spending regime. That will bring pressure particularly with fans due back at PP from August. Spectacular lack of judgement from a young guy obviously wanting to impress.
He needs wise heads around him & to stop giving clickbait interviews.

I hope that we don’t do any thing stupid. For every Wolves, there is are a dozen that fail with a quick fix.  Brentford who have also been mentioned have bought cheap and sold for profit but have also taken the time to build a team. 
 
I think challenging for a play off place next season is realistic, we should aim for the same the next year but billed as promotion. 
 
lets try to do a bigger version of Brentford rather than a cheaper version of Wolves.