OoooMarkWright

My ideal XI would see Morrison replicating his second half position against Salford. Ideally you'd want that quality up the pitch but want us to control possession & games - Ravel alongside Bird should guarantee that and act as insurance for our CBs who aren't that comfortable on the ball. 
I'd start Lawrence, Sibley & Jozwiak as the 3 behind Kazim with Sibley in particular tasked to run beyond Kazim.

Fair play to Rooney for tonight, but also for how he’s handling this entire situation. His press conferences have been outstanding. He is saying exactly the right things, I actually feel proud of him and I’ll be honest I had some goosebumps listening to his message. I think he can bring the pride back. Maybe he can motivate and galvanise this club after all. I’ve been critical of his selections and tactics, but this could be the making of him. 

I’m serious! Maybe the goosebump bit was a bit OTT! He gets a lot of stick on here, rightly so on occasions. But credit where credits due, he’s handling this very difficult situation brilliantly. Would have been understandable if he walked, but he’s said all the right things and he has that siege mentality about him, I like it. 

I’m serious! Maybe the goosebump bit was a bit OTT! He gets a lot of stick on here, rightly so on occasions. But credit where credits due, he’s handling this very difficult situation brilliantly. Would have been understandable if he walked, but he’s said all the right things and he has that siege mentality about him, I like it. 

What keeps becoming apparent is his absolute dogged determination to get it right. It is deep within his eyes - a hypnotic certainty that whatever is thrown at him will not cause him to waver. The very essence of a winner. 

I’m serious! Maybe the goosebump bit was a bit OTT! He gets a lot of stick on here, rightly so on occasions. But credit where credits due, he’s handling this very difficult situation brilliantly. Would have been understandable if he walked, but he’s said all the right things and he has that siege mentality about him, I like it. 

I’m serious! Maybe the goosebump bit was a bit OTT! He gets a lot of stick on here, rightly so on occasions. But credit where credits due, he’s handling this very difficult situation brilliantly. Would have been understandable if he walked, but he’s said all the right things and he has that siege mentality about him, I like it. 

I’m serious! Maybe the goosebump bit was a bit OTT! He gets a lot of stick on here, rightly so on occasions. But credit where credits due, he’s handling this very difficult situation brilliantly. Would have been understandable if he walked, but he’s said all the right things and he has that siege mentality about him, I like it. 

I’m serious! Maybe the goosebump bit was a bit OTT! He gets a lot of stick on here, rightly so on occasions. But credit where credits due, he’s handling this very difficult situation brilliantly. Would have been understandable if he walked, but he’s said all the right things and he has that siege mentality about him, I like it. 

Fair play to Rooney for tonight, but also for how he’s handling this entire situation. His press conferences have been outstanding. He is saying exactly the right things, I actually feel proud of him and I’ll be honest I had some goosebumps listening to his message. I think he can bring the pride back. Maybe he can motivate and galvanise this club after all. I’ve been critical of his selections and tactics, but this could be the making of him. 

I’m serious! Maybe the goosebump bit was a bit OTT! He gets a lot of stick on here, rightly so on occasions. But credit where credits due, he’s handling this very difficult situation brilliantly. Would have been understandable if he walked, but he’s said all the right things and he has that siege mentality about him, I like it. 

Trying to figure out how much of this is sarcasm.

Fair play to Rooney for tonight, but also for how he’s handling this entire situation. His press conferences have been outstanding. He is saying exactly the right things, I actually feel proud of him and I’ll be honest I had some goosebumps listening to his message. I think he can bring the pride back. Maybe he can motivate and galvanise this club after all. I’ve been critical of his selections and tactics, but this could be the making of him. 

Fair play to Rooney for tonight, but also for how he’s handling this entire situation. His press conferences have been outstanding. He is saying exactly the right things, I actually feel proud of him and I’ll be honest I had some goosebumps listening to his message. I think he can bring the pride back. Maybe he can motivate and galvanise this club after all. I’ve been critical of his selections and tactics, but this could be the making of him. 

Messi can’t stay at Barca. They can’t register him as they are well over FFP. There is also a Spanish law that means Messi can’t take more than a 50% wage cut. He can’t play for free or even 4.5k a week! A weird one. Messi did everything he could to stay. I have huge sympathy for him. This is not the way the greatest should bow out of such a great club. 

I was on channel 901….. worth switching over?

Absolutely, this is the thing I love about the olympics. When you’re so used to watching football, and the massively overpaid primadonnas playing it. Don’t get me wrong, I do love watching football, but it’s so nice, every 4 years, to get a reminder of what proper sporting competition should be. People who were working in a factory not long ago, and are now holding a gold medal, that they’ll dine out on for years and tell their grandkids about. Ordinary people (but extraordinary athletes) that you may never see or hear from again, but for a moment they get their very well deserved, snd hard earned, time in the spotlight. 
It does piss me off that NBA stars are allowed to come in a waltz all over the basketball competition though. That doesn’t feel like it’s part of the Olympic spirit. 

Do we set up to score goals or to not concede goals? The Euros saw Gareth Southgate pick 8 or 9 defensive players every game and it worked for a while but couldn't get him over the line, with an incredible array of attacking talent on his bench. Rooney has far fewer options but a very similar mindset.
Asked in today's Radio Derby interview why Louie Sibley doesn't start Rooney effectively said he doesn't trust him defensively. Sibbo is to Rooney what Jack Grealish is to Southgate. Rooney said he didn't play Sibbo specifically because his number one priority was not to fall behind in the match.
Here's the interview https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p09pv3hb with the best version of the interview at 46:30.
Derby's problem is not scoring goals. Louie Sibley is the biggest goal threat our team has. Aston Villa built their team around Grealish until selling him for £100m. If Derby are going to survive (and maybe thrive) this season we need to build our team around Sibbo, not give him a cameo in which to try to make the difference. How best to do this?
I have long argued that the 4-2-3-1 does not work for us and we should be playing 4-3-3 (set up as 4-1-2-3). With the players available at the moment we should have Shinnie shielding the defence and then we can have Morrison and Sibley as the two more forward midfielders, which gives a forward line of Kazim-Richards central and Jozwiak and Thomas wide. So much more threatening than what we have at the moment.
With a team desperate for goals, having your 5 most dangerous attacking players in the line-up seems a no brainer. Rooney needs to learn to trust Sibley, and I am certain that trust would be rewarded.

Good player is Clarke. Him and Keogh would have made a great pairing. Cocu really was cursed. Not convinced he’d make it in the Premier League, but in the Champ he is a very dominant centre half. 

I thought Hughes would eclipse Huddlestone, he still has time. But Huddlestone had an established Premier  League career, and for a long time at a top 6 club. Not sure Hughes will hit those heights. I hope he does. 

It is still miles off. Smith bought in about 9 players that summer. We can’t bring in any. Smith bought players with some standing still. Van Der Laan was decent at Port Vale, Powell he knew from Portsmouth. We also had an experienced manager and one of the best young coaches in the game. That is miles off where we currently stand. 

The club will hardly promote negativity will it? However the following isn’t positive:
No money
Less than 12 senior players.
No signings.
Failed takeovers.
The club is a shambles. I feel for Rooney and the staff as we will not be competitive next season and are certs to go down as it stands. A club of Derby County’s stature soul not be in this position. Well done Morris. Thanks a lot. 

As would I. But at the time Mel was quoting our collapse when Martin, Hughes etc. got injured and having zero cover. He said this harmed our promotion bid, hence signing Butterfield, Johnson etc. to ensure this doesn’t happen again. He’s contradicted himself. Again. 

It is still miles off. Smith bought in about 9 players that summer. We can’t bring in any. Smith bought players with some standing still. Van Der Laan was decent at Port Vale, Powell he knew from Portsmouth. We also had an experienced manager and one of the best young coaches in the game. That is miles off where we currently stand. 

The only explanation I can think of, is that while he really wants a team full of academy lads, he genuinely has no idea how to actually make it happen. The Scott Malone signing just epitomised the whole thing for me.  We had 2 promising youngsters who were on the verge of the first team (Lowe and Buchanan) and an aging, injury-prone Forsyth.  If we genuinely didn't think Lowe or Buchanan were quite ready yet, or we wanted some more reliable experienced cover there (in case Forsyth got injured again), then either get a loan in or sign someone like Byrne (relatively cheap, shortish contract etc). What you don't do is spend £3.5m and prem wages on a very average player who's not going to improve the team and just sit there burning wages and blocking the academy lads.  
The problem isn't directly down the recruitment, the managers, the academy lads themselves etc, it's a lack of vision (and the nous to implement it) from the very top.  If we genuinely wanted a team full of academy lads it should be club policy to not sign old players on big money/long contracts, to not sign expensive players where we have academy lads on the verge of breaking through, to not appoint managers that only want a team full of experienced players and so on.  You can't just throw money at the academy and expect it to work.
Mel's whole "I'm not a boss who says no" schtick (in regards to managers wanting signings) just reminds of a parent who can't say no to their child wanting sweets.  It's literally your job to say no.  Tell the manager he can't have that new left back because he already has 2 promising ones coming through. And if the manager doesn't like it, get a different manager who does.