Spacehorse

This is such a surreal game for me. 
 
Forest Green is a tiny hamlet on top of pretty Cotswold town called Nailsworth, the town i grew up next to for 21 years.  I remember going to watch FGR with about 250 fans regularly in their old ground round the corner and playing there a couple of times for my school team.
 
Now, I'm going to watch FGR v Derby in a league game.  I never thought that would happen.
 
As a result, myself and all my mates (who all live in Forest Green/Nailsworth) have sorted a box for the day.  They are all closet FGR go see them once every year fans while I'm going to be supporting the mighty Rams.  
 
Jesus christ i hope we don't lose!!!

Are those stats for Derby across the entire season or just for Derby under Warne? If it's the former and to state the obvious Rosenior's stint will likely have skewed the short pass % as higher & long ball % as lower than it currently is.
 
I'm in real conflict about this question. Instinctively I do not like sacking managers & believe the longer they get (particularly at lower levels), the more likely they are to succeed. This is primarily due to being able to get their 'type' of players & culture into the club but this theory also assumes that they are competent in the first place. I wasn't a fan of Rowett or Pearson's style of football either but still believed that both needed more time to deliver their ideas (accept Rowett walked but the club atmosphere was toxic by that point anyway)
On the flip side, I don't necessarily want the kind of athletes at Derby that Warne will need to make his style work & I also worry about the implications for the Academy as @IslandExile has highlighted. I don't enjoy Warne's style of football & there does seem to be some glaring flaws in his ability given the amount of times he has been out-thought by opposition managers in the second half of games. I also do not believe he is getting the maximum from this squad - ideally we want a manager who is able to get his team to out-perform expectations, not the reverse.
That said, I struggle with agitating for the removal of a manager hired by David Clowes - it's all too easy to gloss over our debt to him & therefore I want to give his pick the benefit of the doubt whilst still reasonably pointing out where Warne is falling short currently. 
I don't therefore think I'd be happy if he went at this stage but there needs to be some serious consideration within the club early May as to the long term implications of sticking with Warne. Until then I will support his team to the hilt at games & criticise on here when warranted.

Frustrated upset and angry today leaving the ground, hate losing but hate it even more when the opposition are such bad winners. Ipswich fans and players were complete Bamfords today!! Their arrogance rivals Forest. But all in all while it felt bad at the time, again we fell the wrong side of fine margins today. It was never a 2-0 game.
Ipswich are going up. Wouldn’t be surprised if they won the league. The best side to come to Derby this season. They don’t play the best football but they’re the complete team. They have goal threat, a bit of flair when they need it. Defensively they are excellent and concede very few chances, and at the Dark Arts of time wasting and cheating they are world class. Hope they do go up automatically as if we get them in the playoffs we don’t have enough to beat them. Would probably also say the same about Wednesday.
Regarding Derby, we got beaten up and outplayed in the first 25 minutes when Ipswich had their strongest spell of the game. That being said it was still a counter attack that did us, and an excellent one at that though Smith should’ve cut it out before it got to Chaplin. However we weathered the Storm and finished first half strongly in the last 15-20 mins, it was in this period McGoldrick missed an absolute sitter from a worldie Mendez cross, had to score. We carried that on into the second half and then the disallowed goal, watched it back no way should it have been disallowed, that goal is given and it’s a different game. Then the second goal sucker punch was probably the most disappointing moment of the day. Another counter, good save from Wildsmith but the reaction from the Derby players to the save was horrendous!! He had time to run back, turn with the ball, set himself and shoot, it was as if he was taking a penalty!! Really disappointing. 
 
We deserved to lose, we were beaten by a better team one with far more resources than we have right now, but again we were the wrong side of fine margins and were not that far away. That performance from 25 mins on gets 6 points against Forest Green and MK Dons. Then the table looks different again. 
 
As for where it went wrong today, some are blaming Warne. He at least tried something different, if he stuck with the last 2 games he’d have also been criticised. Right call to drop Hourihane and bring in Rooney. Did moving to wing backs stifle Mendez? Possibly. Understand putting Smith in midfield against Morsy and Luongo but thought Harvey White was the standout player at Peterborough and should’ve kept his place. Max Bird on the other hand carried on his poor performance from Peterborough and had a total stinker of a game. I’m a Max Bird fan but he’s struggled since he came back. Though I thought he spoke brilliantly after the game.
 
A few players are still off it. Cash and Foz are definitely out of form right now and struggling, Knight was better today but still needs more care with his end product. Mendez in and out but put in some excellent crosses. Shout out however to Collo who I thought was excellent today without much support at times. 
 
Still think we can turn this around. We were beaten by a better team but the performance wasn’t awful, it wasn’t far off from where we needed it to be apart from first half hour. Peterborough and Wycombe were at home to relegation candidates today, couldn’t win. We have a great chance to get 6 points next weekend. Pompey are now the team I’m most concerned about, that game on the 29th looks humongous!! 
 

Well that was quite an ill-tempered match. Lots of ugly challenges and timewasting throughout. 
I was shocked to see Warne go to the 3 at the back today as it didn't work against us at Portman Road and his fortunes seemed to improve when he ditched it back in November. Not a lot changed when he made the switch today, but had he played a different system at the start, I wonder if Derby would have settled into the game better.
We started really well and the movement for Chaplin's goal was sublime. We didn't really capitalise beyond that though and Mendez-Laing clearly had the beating of Greg Leigh whenever he took him on. McGoldrick definitely should have done better with that header and I was happy we went into half-time still ahead.
I've only seen one replay of the disallowed goal but it looked harsh and there's every chance the game could have turned had it been given so it's a big what if. The referee was really poor, he lost control of the game and his decisions with yellow cards were very inconsistent. I'd be surprised if he gets given any of the important games in the run-in because even by League One standards, he was bad and couldn't get a grip on things.
I thought overall we dominated the game and took our chances well, neither team had too many clear cut opportunities but we did enough. The Cashin goal will understandably be the big talking point because it seemed to drain Derby's confidence thereafter.
There's still a long way to go though, most of the top 8 teams are either on amazing or awful runs of form which surely can't sustain itself for another month. As you probably know, Warne's Rotherham team went through some incredibly patchy spells either side of their winning runs. 
Good luck for the rest of the season and maybe see you in the playoffs. Although hopefully not, in the nicest way possible!
 

Picture this.
Derby City Centre.
A large pub that is owned by Derby County.
The theme, Derby County, walls covered in photos, shirts, replica trophies.
Serving food including vegan and gluten free, wide range of real ales and ciders along with the mainstream of the supermarket shelve stuff.
Sell programmes, scarfs, flags, badges.
Open 7 days a week.
Derby County themed weekly quiz.
Fan forums held there.
Monthly Q&A nights with current and former players, admission fee for these.
Even a monthly membership that gives you a discount off food and admission for free to event nights.
Make it the city centre Mecca for Derby County fans for not only pre match, after match and everything else in the week.
All that money, into the clubs account. 
Whilst it wouldn’t put us close to Manchester United levels of revenue, there must be a profit to be had there with a venue like this.
Very much off topic, but all those that need their hunger needs met on a Saturday would have their problems solved whilst supporting the club.
 

The benefit of last night's loss to Plymouth is that it puts us out of our misery. The automatic places are gone. We need to dust ourselves down and regroup. The focus should be on securing a playoff spot, finding the right team to win the playoffs and ensuring we peak at the end of the season in terms of fitness and form. There are 11 games left in the main season; we hope there will be 3 more.
The table looks as if it has a top 4 from where the autos will be decided, with the remaining 2 places coming from the next 4. Our mini league is Bolton, us, Wycombe and Peterborough. 
We are starting to look tired. Should we bring more rotation to the team now, rather than relying on the same small core? For instance, should we widen the starting group to sometimes include Rooney, Davies, Thommo, Springett? And also Chester with him seemingly close to fitness?
Should we change tack to Warne's preferred 3-5-2 and see if we can make it work for the run-in? Or do we stick with the current formation but have different players in the various positions?
What other changes might we consider, especially considering how poor our record has been against the top teams, who we will eventually need to beat in the playoffs if we're to get promoted? And for anyone who says this season was a free fit and we'll be better next year, remember we lose a whole load of our best players if we don't go up next season - yours is a ridiculous attitude.
When we hoped for automatics, every game was a must win and there was no room for experimentation. Now we have a little breathing space, meaning this is the moment to take stock and find the optimal strategy to secure a place in the playoffs, and then win them.

Shame about the result, but we were bullied today. We have actually taken bullying in our stride this season, but trying to play them at their game was the big mistake. Too much long ball, too much "Just head it somewhere" in, our defending and midfield play, instead of getting it down and actually playing football. 
First half we held our own, and created the more dangerous chances, but a lucky deflection played two strikers on, and we were behind. We should have been able to get the game back again, but dilly dallied with late substitutions, and continued with our Wycombe impersonations. My internet went off after their second goal, and even after flying from Tokyo to Amsterdam it stayed off, eventually getting a message across the screen "Your are not allowed to watch this video" and I am still having problems now. It would seem that Rams TV are having a purge on oversees viewers! So I missed the third, and our second, as well as their keeper thinking he was an ex-Forest keeper! 
And having had a couple of decent referees recently, it was inevitable that we would get one who gave Wycombe carte blanche to be Wycombe Wanderers. And this is the only worry I have for us getting into the play-offs - all the EFL will have to do is give us a crap ref, and they have a huge stock of those to call on. However the ref didn't cost us the game today, we did with our tactics and reluctance to bring on the subs soon enough. And in a game where very few did well, Cashin was Man of the Match for us, and Dobbin continued his emergence into greatness! I am so glad he got another goal. Keep it going, Dobbs!
So on to Tuesday. Watch out, Lincoln!

Stream on paddypower, able to view with zero balance as well. Also on B365, but they need a deposit in.

Nope no interest in International football whatsoever unless a Rams player is involved and even then wouldn’t swap a Derby win for an England one even the WC Final. Derby all the way for me 

If we don't lose, does @lukerobinshave to start the next match thread? Has @Diegoflown off to Qatar and forgotten to do this first?

Snow White and Billy Davies

...and from where the saying "Back to square 1" comes from. 

You make it sound like we were relegated missing gilt-edged chances left, right and centre. Under Cocu we were lucky to get a shot at goal at all and last season, we struggled to create even when we played well.
Missing easy chances is a problem, but it's a new one. 
In this game specifically.

OK Upload issue has been fixed {Thanks @David
DCFC V OUFC Ratings are below:

Sibley’s introduction made a huge difference.
That’s the thing. Decent ball carriers moves the opposition out of position more than possession football (unless you pass at the speed of a PL side).
We were slow in possession. But getting NML, Sibley and Knight running on the ball moved them out of position and created the space.
I don’t think we can have Bird, Smith and Hourihane as a midfield three. All too similar possession players. We need a runner in there.

Maybe we can give him first team experience so he can earn a move back to Palace?

Lol.
 

"Failure of the press to cover the heatwave"
Are they serious? 2 hot days in the middle of summer has received wall to wall coverage and been treated like the end of the world by the media.
Insane climate alarmists vs the corporate media. Is there a way they can both lose?

Tiger Moth Woods. 

Quiet on this thread because SpaceX's rapid prototyping of the Mars Starship has been held up for a very long time by the FAA (Federal Aviation Authority) in America. SpaceX wanted to do an orbital flight test with early prototypes, seeing if the Starship upper stage could reach orbit and ditching both that and the Super Heavy booster in the sea afterwards (with controlled landings) to recover those early vessels. But the FAA decided it needed to conduct an environmental assessment to determine if this should be allowed. Despite the fact the Starship has already been chosen by NASA as the vehicle for the forthcoming Moon landings in 2025, so SpaceX really does need to be allowed to get on and build and test the thing to make that deadline.
The environmental assessment has been approved, but SpaceX has had to agree to hundreds of farcical requirements such as "preparing a historical context report of the events of the Mexican and Civil War that took place in the geographic area..."
What this means is during the hiatus SpaceX has been progressing in a different way and built much more advanced prototypes, and the first of these (Starship number 24 prototype and SuperHeavy booster number 7) will likely launch (hopefully to orbit) in the next 4-6 weeks. But with lots of much more advanced engines on the SuperHeavy booster, they may very well now try to catch that on the launch tower (using hydraulic chopsticks) instead of ditching the vessel in the ocean. It's risky as it would likely destroy the launch tower if they failed, but another thing they've been doing while waiting for approval is to build a second launch tower in Florida at Cape Canaveral where they said they'd launch from instead if FAA didn't give the approval.
Here's Ship 24 being tested this week prior to the August launch:
Meanwhile SpaceX has already launched and landed 28 of their smaller orbital class Falcon9 rocket so far this year, going at a rate of one per week, with another launch this Monday. No other company or country has ever landed an orbital class rocket vertically. The closest we've come was the American shuttle program.

In the words of Mason Bennett:
"f****** Byrne."

You couldn’t beat Saab on your shirt… when we were cool….