The Scarlet Pimpernel

I absolutely do not understand football club valuations. They seem to defy all commercial logic given all bar the handful who win everything and have global brands run at a loss.

Just seen Madley in a pub in Barnsley. Having a pint with Toby Tyke. Wearing full Barnsley kit, cleaning his red cards, and he was practicing how to write "Mendez-Laing" in a little black book. On the dart board was a ram.
Make of that what you will.

If I may be so bold, I'd like to poo-poo on your opinion.
 
North Stand...

 
East Stand...

 
South Stand...

 
And mentioning no names... West Stand...

The team should do exactly as you state and I'm sure they will but us fans can speculate surely? 

Its all about belief now.
Hopefully older lads who've done it before like Mendez-Laing, Bradley, Nelson, Hourihane, Fozzy and Waggy can calm the younger lads, help them concentrate to cut out individual errors. Its rare teams score worldies against us, its nearly always because we've given the ball away cheaply.
I hope those lot are telling the boys how they'll feel to be part of taking this club up and boost their confidence.
As a life long fan, all i want to see is total commitment to the cause, from both players and fans.
We need B4 to give a team talk.

There aren't many, the difference between U21 and playing in the first team is massive. Very few actually make it, Stretton is another example of someone who looked good at that level because it's not really competitive.
Can't understand the fascination for a 18 year old leading your line in a promotion charge who has no experience, why not send him out to prove what he can do. If he starts scoring for fun, you then have a player who can be recalled that is on top of his game and full of confidence.

Are their careers nosediving though or is just proof that Derby are making the right decision to let them go?
Struggling to think of many that we have let go that have gone on to higher levels.
 

The team should do exactly as you state and I'm sure they will but us fans can speculate surely? 

That disguises the problem. His all-round poor play is interrupted by the occasional good goal. Every manager thought the same.  

Brown has hardly played and hasn't scored for Gateshead. Is he ready for Division one ? No.

Last week I questioned Warne's substitution of Nyambe, and I'm still not convinced it was the right thing to do. But if you're going to question, you should always praise as well when it goes well.
Yesterday, his substitutions and personnel switches were bang on and went a long way to helping us win the game. Releasing Bird higher up, bringing on Smith who can pass, putting NML wider and having Sibley in and around the area, all great tactical switches. Great job!

I’ve watched the game back in full again and have somewhat changed my mind about things. At the time i thought the team selection was dire and the first half was far from a classic. But looking back now u can see that it really was a battle of attrition and that during that first half it was essential that we just dug in, held our own and gave us good as we got. Which we did and great credit to the lads for that 👏
It’s amazing sometimes how, when the pressure is off and the passion has died down, one can see the game more clearly . That was the case with this one for me. 
i came away so proud of the team and can better appreciate what PW did and why. At the time i really didn’t see how much we were pushing after the Smith substitution. So, credit to PW and the fans (who were brilliant).

Taking this as a genuine discussion point as your subsequent posts state it is, and looking back at my own thoughts on it yesterday, my take was that Warne picked a team to be solid and robust as we have historically struggled with the type of side Stevenage allegedly are. 

I don’t think it was a bleak as others do as I saw a couple of moments where we looked to press high and break on them in the final third but it just wasn’t quite working for Barkhuizen, NML and Wilson. The flicked passes round the corner were too pacy for the likes of Elder to get to, they did well to cut out at least two  through balls that would have put NML/Bird (I think it was) through on goal BUT it was definitely a side picked to be solid and uninspiring with the lack of forward options. 
 
Warne then made the changes to the side and subtly tweaked the shape and we suddenly looked much better, our better fitness and quality came to the fore and we won the game. 
 
Only Warne can truly explain “why” he made the choices he did but that’s my take on it, and although it wasn’t a flowing game of passing football, I’ve long accepted that’s not what we’ll get and take a tough ground out win and 3 more points for what it is, another step towards promotion (hopefully).

Easy in hindsight Roy. 
 
Maybe the rough tactics of Steve Evans played a part in team selection. 
 
Can’t always play pretty football in this League and losing James Collins for most of the season must have been a shock to the club and tactics 

We had to win the battle first and the selection and aggression allowed us to succeed. Once the subs came on and we started to play, Stevenage couldn't  match us. 

We had to win the battle first and the selection and aggression allowed us to succeed. Once the subs came on and we started to play, Stevenage couldn't  match us. 

We had to win the battle first and the selection and aggression allowed us to succeed. Once the subs came on and we started to play, Stevenage couldn't  match us. 

We had to win the battle first and the selection and aggression allowed us to succeed. Once the subs came on and we started to play, Stevenage couldn't  match us. 

We had to win the battle first and the selection and aggression allowed us to succeed. Once the subs came on and we started to play, Stevenage couldn't  match us. 

We had to win the battle first and the selection and aggression allowed us to succeed. Once the subs came on and we started to play, Stevenage couldn't  match us. 

We had to win the battle first and the selection and aggression allowed us to succeed. Once the subs came on and we started to play, Stevenage couldn't  match us. 

Todays game was one I thought beforehand would be very difficult and I thought we may get a draw. Stevenage are a typical hard tackling, aggressive side which Derby sides have struggled to play against for many a long year - N Clough, McClaren etc etc etc. we struggled at their place and were well defeated, having been bullied off the park.
News that Collins was not fit also made team selection extremely difficult, as he is the one who normally takes the brunt of aggression from the opposition defence. I can totally understand the team selection today, which I think was initially to standup to the bullying, aggressive tactics. Having 4 particularly strong defenders in Nyambe, Bradley, Nelson and Cashin set the tone, with Adams and Elder also being strong too. I think this initial part of the game, although not exciting, was necessary. Although not entertaining, I admired our courage and grit.
We did try to attack where possible in the first half, but it didn’t happen. Our passing, fluidity up front just wasn’t there. MNL wasn’t at the races in the first half and I don’t think Barkhaizen is particular effective when the opposition is aggressive. We had a couple of near squeaks 1st half but we played them very well - they were probably surprised by our performance.
The 2nd half continued in the same vein but we then became a little more adventurous and the Smith substitution improved matters, freeing Wilson to start attacking more. Not much in the game but I thought we deserved to win in the end due to our courage to stand up to them early on in the game.
Not sure Hourahane was totally fit to start but we seemed to be more mobile in midfield as a result. Everyone got stuck in today, so very pleased with the effort. Sure we will have more productive games going forward soon. We just had to get through today - it was so important that our confidence levels did not drop. Some of our opponents in the promotion race would have loved the 3 points we won today.
Warne has taken a lot of stick on here for his tactics and team selection - not sure what else he could have done under the circumstances he found himself in.
Also a shout out for the referee today, who was not intimidated by the pre-match comments, and Ibthought refereed he game vey sensibly and well on the whole.
we now have a week to work on a formation and tactics for another difficult game on Saturday.
I for one, was pleased with todays showing.
 
 

Mendez-Laing has had the most productive League season of his career. 8g 14a beats his 16/17 season best of 8g 12a. Collins was on course for his best goalscoring season since 19/20. Warne took an unfancied McGoldrick and gave him his best ever season.
The team have the meanest defence, and are joint 2nd on goals scored - a team that has largely been assembled on a shoestring, closely monitored budget.
Yes, the football has rarely been sparkling, but who in this division is? Peterborough looked far and away the best team to come to Pride Park this season, and we now have a 10 point gap on them.
We are second to a team in Portsmouth, who - much like Ipswich and Plymouth last season - have been in this league a while and been building to it.
I've been critical of Warne this season, and had lost faith at one point. I'm glad to have been wrong. 

Even I, the Master of Misery, the Prince of Pusillanimity, the Czar of Criticism admit that I feel a warm waft of satisfaction this evening at the outcome today.
 
 
 
Or I've soiled myself....

3 more points on the board and more pressure applied to the chasing pack, who couldn't be happy with that!