Anag Ram

Cheltenham away was the 81st ground where I have seen Derby play. My first match at the Baseball Ground was in 1966 aged 8 when my Father and Grandfather took me. First away game was Villa Park in 1968/69 during Clough and Taylors promotion season. Cheltenham's ground made me feel I was back in the 60's again (how lucky we are with Pride Park).
I stood behind the Derby dugout yesterday and loved it when Paul Warne popped round the side of the dugout and exchanged some jovial banter with the Cheltenham fans behind him. All in the best possible taste and another throw back to the good old days. How many grounds could that happen at nowadays ?
Finally, I don't think I have ever witnessed home fans applaud an away goal in the way the Cheltenham fans around me did with Birdy's screamer. A sporting response from football supporters very rarely seen in the modern game.
A great day yesterday but back to the 21st century next week against Bolton.

Yesterday showed that we need three across the midfield.
The starting line up worked yesterday and Hourihane will be annoyed at his missed tackle which led to their first goal.
That apart, we were comfortably the best side for an hour.
The substitutions left Bird and Knight outnumbered.
Our attacking play was pretty exciting and if we had an out and out goal scoring CF we’d have had eight.
I had a great day out yesterday and there were quite a few of us in the home support.
Big up to the burger guy. Lovely.
Bolton should be a cracker.

Yesterday showed that we need three across the midfield.
The starting line up worked yesterday and Hourihane will be annoyed at his missed tackle which led to their first goal.
That apart, we were comfortably the best side for an hour.
The substitutions left Bird and Knight outnumbered.
Our attacking play was pretty exciting and if we had an out and out goal scoring CF we’d have had eight.
I had a great day out yesterday and there were quite a few of us in the home support.
Big up to the burger guy. Lovely.
Bolton should be a cracker.

I think dispensing with 3 at the back and wing backs, which we all knew didn’t suit our players, is what has made the difference. At least he saw it and didn’t pig-headedly persist with it, as many other managers would have done, which is to his credit. I’m enjoying it all at the moment. 

Yesterday showed that we need three across the midfield.
The starting line up worked yesterday and Hourihane will be annoyed at his missed tackle which led to their first goal.
That apart, we were comfortably the best side for an hour.
The substitutions left Bird and Knight outnumbered.
Our attacking play was pretty exciting and if we had an out and out goal scoring CF we’d have had eight.
I had a great day out yesterday and there were quite a few of us in the home support.
Big up to the burger guy. Lovely.
Bolton should be a cracker.

1Wildsmith           7   
12Smith              6
3Forsyth              7
6Cashin               6.5
33 Davies            5.5
17Sibley               7
4Hourihane         6.5
McGoldrick         6.5
8Bird ?              7.5
11Mendez-Laing      7
38Knight              7
7Barkhuizen         6.5
Dobbin               5.5
9Collins              6
Rooney             6.5

Yesterday showed that we need three across the midfield.
The starting line up worked yesterday and Hourihane will be annoyed at his missed tackle which led to their first goal.
That apart, we were comfortably the best side for an hour.
The substitutions left Bird and Knight outnumbered.
Our attacking play was pretty exciting and if we had an out and out goal scoring CF we’d have had eight.
I had a great day out yesterday and there were quite a few of us in the home support.
Big up to the burger guy. Lovely.
Bolton should be a cracker.

Yesterday showed that we need three across the midfield.
The starting line up worked yesterday and Hourihane will be annoyed at his missed tackle which led to their first goal.
That apart, we were comfortably the best side for an hour.
The substitutions left Bird and Knight outnumbered.
Our attacking play was pretty exciting and if we had an out and out goal scoring CF we’d have had eight.
I had a great day out yesterday and there were quite a few of us in the home support.
Big up to the burger guy. Lovely.
Bolton should be a cracker.

Young man!

Rare away trip for me and thoroughly enjoyable - Derby ends noisy and entertaining with a good rapport with the players that came from being so close. 
 
couple of thoughts - impressed with Corey Smith, always finding space going forward and interesting argument between him and Hourihane that showed the intensity.
Barkhuizen was tremendous, made so many good runs that his teammates didn’t find as he repeatedly came between centre back and full back. 
However, messy and nervy at the end once Cash went off, what happened to Wildsmith to upset the radar on his kicks ?
 
Bolton is a huge one next week. Big win for them again today, but feels like we have a strong squad that really adds options from the bench. 2 points closer to Ipswich and Plymouth, and some serious injuries for Wednesday. It felt like ‘mission impossible’ to get in the automatics, now it’s improved to ‘tough ask’ 
 
 

There was a real feeling of panic. Players hacking and scuffing at the ball.
Cheltenham, who weren’t in the game at the hour mark, took confidence from their second goal and played with desire.
We couldn’t handle their giant centre half Taylor but a win’s a win.
They will need to be tighter next week.

Extremely funny but it’s quality was you grew to love the characters…..one minute you would be laughing your head off and the next have a tear in your eye. Brilliantly written. Like Fawlty Towers, just the 2 series and 12 episodes ?

Really fun away day today. Some poor play in the final 10 minutes but I have to say when we turn it on, we're class.
Enjoying watching Derby at the moment

Why aren’t we singing that?! There’s only one max bird is a bit lame when there is a classic tailor made for him. “Bird, Bird, Bird, Bird is the word.”

Don’t worry. They’re not in the deluxe seats!

It has hammered down all night here and we had the same forecast as Cheltenham. Should stop mid morning for the day but the pitch must be saturated.
Cheltenham is mostly a nice place but the ground is a s***hole. 
 
Or should I say a quaint throwback to the old days? ?

Erogenous zonal marking.

I just think Bielik would be a square peg in a round hole here now. 

He’s a class act when he’s on form for sure.
However, he would be here begrudgingly as he’s ambitious and wants International Football.
The sooner we offload him the better. His presence, albeit remote, is a distraction.
We should let him go with our very best wishes and thanks for his time with us as a ram.
 
 

Erogenous zonal marking.

Erogenous zonal marking.

Erogenous zonal marking.

Erogenous zonal marking.

Young man!