Anag Ram

A lot of criticism of our CMs but they are often 2 v 3 or 4 because of the way we set up. Barks and NML are basically wingers in a 4-man midfield so don’t offer much support. No surprise that they get caught up in stick or twist. Bird has to cover a lot of ground due to Hourihane’s ageing legs. You can’t make a thoroughbred drag a cart and expect him to win the Derby. I think it emphasises the need for a midfielder in the window. Fornah seems to be out of contention, Thompson is average. More often than not, we will need three proper midfielders to get promotion. I still think the obsession with a new winger is a mistake. We are second top scorers in the league. We find a way of scoring goals, though Smith would add by getting on the end of the mass of crosses we manage. Arblaster and Smith for me would be better than spending loads on another wide player.

Sibley plays okay at LB. Less pressure now for him to be up and back with the wide players we have. Elder hasn’t impressed me at all.

Relax man!

Time for Callum the Younger. Sloppy from Derby this half. Let’s see how they recover

Soon be rutting season too ❤️❤️🐑🍆

I spend most games chuntering away about Barkhuisen then he pops up with a goal. Long may that continue 😊

Yeah, I’d almost forgotten him.

That’s what they used to say about Man U with Giggs and Ronaldo playing wide in a 4-4-2 but I seem to remember the other team being rather busy 😊 It’ll all be tickety boo.

Attack!!!!!

Just out of interest, are there any good German centre backs?

£2m plus Lyndon Dykes maybe but otherwise no deal 🤫

Pace is great if there’s an end result. If he races down the wing then messes up his crosses then we have those already. I think we have to be careful about spending what for us is a lot of money if CBT is just another sprinter. Proven goalscorers have gone for less than £500k in this division. We would all like a new hero. He will be under pressure to perform in front of a big crowd. If we sign him, it has to be because he’s the difference between going up and not going up.

On a more trivial note, my daughter is miffed she won’t get to see the Blue Lagoon next weekend

They go hand in glove apparently

Paul Warne swears by it https://www.revlon.co.uk/

Someone who’s happy to run round cones for hours then help put them away 😊

He was dreadful when he first came to Derby but when he got fitter, he was useful as an irritant. By then, though, he had lost his spark and had to use his ‘experience’ to wind up the opposition. Was a good player in Leicester’s side.

Agree that on paper it looks good but Reading aren’t picking him at the moment. Could be that the uncertainty has unsettled him. If he signs, will his grinning buffoon dad be seen at PP?

Yeah, would there be this much attention for him if his surname wasn’t Savage?

I got fed up with Ted Lasso too. Fargo 5 is terrific stuff. All of the usual kookiness but with domestic violence at its core. Great writing, great characters and great acting, especially from Juno Temple from Ted Lasso 😊 Jon Hamm is terrifying as a sheriff who thumps bibles and wives with equal relish.

Written in the tea leaves

Yes, Warne and his staff will have identified players they think can improve us. Clowes and Pearce then have to look at the finances and the regulations (cos we don’t want to go down that route again) and may say sorry, we can’t do that. I know we are excited at the prospect of promotion but we can’t risk the future of our club again. We have a big wage bill and there’s no guarantee we can shift the ones we don’t need in order to bring in those we do. Back in the summer, we were almost accepting the departure of Cashin because we had this 6’5” colossus coming in. We were hoping for Hansen but ended up with Rylan. Cashin and Nelson have been the rock around which are season has been built. I’d be sad to see Bird go and we’d need two in his place. Hourihane, Sibley and a few other fringe players could go but I’m not sure we’d get much for them. We have to just accept the window might not be exciting and hope our bid isn’t derailed.

If we’re shopping in Reading Knibbs is the man.

Wow, what a terrible thing to have happened. So sorry Ramslad. Take care of yourself.