Hector was the best

As others have said though, the more you control the game, the less chance the opposition have of scoring. 
Their penalty came about from one of numerous balls pumped into our area because we kept on giving possession away.
We need to start taking more control of games because the long balls are just giving away possession and inviting the opposition to attack us.

This is a big issue for me as well. He initially tried 3 at the back, didn’t work. Reverted to a four. Worked really well. Towards the end of our run changed the four slightly. And then now fully back at a 3.
Going back to a defence of smith, fozzy, cashin, sibley seems so obvious as our best way forward.
then hourihane and bird in midfield, with knight ahead, nml and barkhuizen wide and mcgoldrick up top.
that team just makes a lot more sense than any picked lately. Can sometimes have Collins in and move mocgoldrick back too. Dobbin a wide option.

This is the only thing I will get at Warne for. It's square pegs in round holes again.
This squad suits a 433 or 442 formation where players play in their natural positions. 352 just does not work, we do not have the personnel.
Playing barkheuizen and Mendez Laing as wing backs is just wrong because it's not their game. It does not get the best out of them at all. Frustrates me every time I see it.
Mendez Laing was walking at times yesterday and we were dead lucky not to concede in the first half. He got beat for the mk Dons equaliser as well. Would those situations have arose if Mendez Laing was playing further forward in his natural position and not chasing back towards his own goal?
If Warne can't see this and still continues to play this system then he must be clueless.

Further to Angieram and a few other posts .. it’s very telling that the run/rot has continued for so long. 
 
man management is crucial .. but so is having a clearly defined strategy… leading onto tactics - this is how we’re going to achieve the goal that the strategy is based on .. 
Stevie Mac didn’t have a plan b either but he did have one hell of a plan A which was soooo good to watch 
today wasn’t about the ref…
we were so so bad - Bristol murdered us at will today - we made them look like play off contenders
 

Sadly I agree. The warning signs were at Barnsley and Wycombe and I don't think the fans and players have been remotely convinced since.

Thanks for posting Angie. Having met you I know you want nothing more than the club to succeed and dont do knee jerk unfair posts with an agenda so your post is all the more telling. I am trying to keep the faith but bewildered by many things at the moment as it seems are you!

This is just stunningly depressing.
And there isn't even any mention of Birdy and Sibs, they are soooo being wasted. 

Maybe the best way to motivate your players to perform on a Saturday is not to give an interview on the Friday saying the following: 
 
"It is no hidden fact that I like 3-5-2. I like to have two players in every position. I need two wing-backs. And I'll obviously get Tom Barkhuizen and Nat Mendez-Laing fitter, so they can do it more.
"But they need help. We need centre-backs, we need centre forwards, we need a lot, really. That's the truth."
There are a number of players out on that pitch (and sitting as underused subs) who either already know they aren't part of Warne's 3-5-2 plans or don't want to be. It showed today.
As a fan at every away game this season, I'm hearing a lot more discontent in the stands than I'm reading on here. We do the hard miles every week, pay out a shed-load of money and are bemused by what we're trying to acheive at the moment. There's no pattern, no cohesion and little to give us heart. I think we're entitled to criticise when it's due.
We sang our socks off in that second half as we wanted to get those lads over the line for what would have been a very undeserved victory. They looked disappointed and a bit sheepish when they came over to us at the end. Some of them didn't come over at all. I didn't notice Warne at all but I left about ten minutes after the end.
We're rapidly losing that togetherness that saw us through the toughest of times last year. Makes me feel sad. 

Agree about NML, wasted at wing back..

I've just watched the penalty decision over and over again and it looks a correct decision every time tbh. White wasn't strong enough - again - and in going to ground he wipes out the Rovers player. 
What a dismal performance again. Wildsmith's timewasting is pathetic, Knight is regressing badly and Collins offers nothing. Nowt. We'd be much improved just with Didzy up top and giving Collins' shirt to someone else. Anyone else. 
The tippy tappy at the back we saw under Cocu, Rooney and Rosenior is something I can do without again but the idea then was to play attractive football when we got it forward too. This long ball guff, completely nullifying Hourihane and Bird's strengths, is awful to watch.
 

Well at last that match is over. It makes me want to go and break a few windows, or thump an old person in the face so at least the punishment of watching Derby play is somewhat justified. 
So we started by playing the ball on the grass, where Cloughie says it should be played, and we scored., But then what? Bristol upped their tempo after about 20 minutes and it was all over. And what we did was start to hoof the ball long - to the opposition. And then even passing the ball out of defence seemed difficult for us, and often went to the wrong player. On rare occasions we cocked up and played the ball on the floor and actually threatened, but only on very rare occasions.
Actually the ref was pretty ok 1st half, but the EFL must have had their man at Bristol, who popped into the refs changing room at half time because suddenly he was gifting cards out like it was a mass birthday party for Derby players. It actually wasn't a dirty game, with Derby looking the dirtiest because of clumsy challenges, and there was a remarkable lack of malice, which is surprising given who their manager is!
The penalty was give-able because there  player was impeded in the penalty area, but as many have said, is the type of penalty given against us, but never for us. It was certainly softer than the belt in the back given to Jason Knight on Monday! And would have been as soft as the one that could have been given when McGoldrick was pulled down a little earlier, and probably would have been given if he was playing for Bristol. Or any other club who isn't Derby County.
BUT: it wasn't the ref today, because Bristol deserved far more than they got, and we deserved diddly squat because of our dreadful performance, and sitting back once we had gone a goal up. Given that we need to improve our goal difference, sitting back was unforgiveable.
And surely the players themselves have got to have a good sit down and ask themselves what the heck they ere doing this afternoon. Even at League one levels, not being able to pass the ball to your own team-mates for nearly 90 minutes simply isn't good enough.
I shall miss the next home match, against Burton, because I will be at my son's wedding, so at least I will be having good time. I will keep you all in my thoughts, though!

My overall thoughts:
- The team selection immediately had me concerned, very inexperienced back three, and Barkhuizen at wing back scares the life out of me, I don’t know why we continue to do it, I can’t think of one good performance he’s had in the role, Sibley, who I’ll get back to, by no means had a blinder at Forest Green, but didn’t do anything to warrant being dropped for an out of form right footed winger, as much as he’s better centrally at least he provides a balance as a left footer at left wing back.
- Despite my initial concerns the first half performance was really good and I was impressed with how ballsy the set up was (credit to Warne), we attacked and got shots off and just weren’t finishing our opportunities, I thought the back three were good throughout, I always like the look of young Rooney, just hope he’s not out the squad again next game, how’s he meant to find any consistency or form if he drops out the next game every time he starts? Only 1-0 up at half time though you could see the second half from a mile off, and it felt as though the players thought it too, everyone was just waiting for an equaliser after the penalty shouts, speaking of, Jason Knight has to do so much better through on goal like that, if he’s as good as we think he is he needs to bring it down and get a shot off rather than ending up wide of the goal looking for a pen. The goal’s an absolute embarrassment, for someone of his build Mendez-Laing should never get out muscled that easily, then he’s too lazy to try and win the ball back, think Barkhuizen’s attempted block was pretty weak too but that might be harsh.
- Finally, the subs were bizarre, I hate making the point over and over because it comes across like I’m his fanboy or something, but at 1-1 and in need of a goal, what possesses you to bring on Max Bird and Harvey White (who’ve both played primarily DM for us, and have 1 league goal between the pair of them) ahead of Louie Sibley, who recently won us the game at Oxford with a brace, and when you do bring him on you give him 5 minutes at wing back to make a difference, it’s f****** mad, I honestly don’t get it, is there any reasonable explanation for that? Why is Knight a guaranteed starter every week whilst Sibley gets the scrap minutes playing at wing back? And why did we take Collins off while he was actually playing pretty well and then start delivering even more crosses with our only out and out number 9 off the pitch? Surely Dobbin could’ve played off of Mcgoldrick and Collins while we were pushing for the goal. So whilst you can’t blame Warne for missed opportunities, you can certainly question his in-game decision making and substitutions, which also came too late once again, it’s made worse that I feel as though we go over this every game and have the same debate every week. 
We need 4 points from these 2 away games, Burton could end up being our biggest game as for deciding if we can achieve playoffs or not.

I said it a couple of matches ago re NML's enormous crosses. Isn't it about time that when he gets the ball and heads off down the wing one of our wide left layers immediately goes to the far side of the penalty area so  when the inevitably over-hit cross comes sailing over we have someone there completely unmarked to run in and slot the ball home? Or is that a bit to "common sense", a bit too obvious?

My biggest frustration yesterday was that we lost control of the game in the second half after the howling for penalties. It was still 1-0. We needed a calm head to get everyone re focused and have a solid 5 minutes.
But no, we left the back door open for an equaliser against such an inferior opponent.
The basis of our long unbeaten run was clean sheets. If we could get back to keeping clean sheets we’d make the play offs easily. The basis of our recent poor run has been conceding really poor goals including the one yesterday.
We should have won 1-0 which would have been a good result.
If we miss out on the play offs it will be down to ourselves and no one else.
The priority signing for the summer in my view is a strong leader on the pitch with a calm head respected and listened to by the other players. Either a centre half or centre mid.

We should have slaughtered them today - we didn’t because we didn’t score enough goals from loads of chances 
but - our defending was shocking and desperate far to often - even at 1-0 we get 3 points and we most certainly should have at least won that game 1-0 

Totally agree.  People go on about the age of the players and fitness but it's character that's missing for me.  We've dropped so many points we shouldn't have done this season.  

The win was all that mattered today. It wasn't a vintage performance, and some defending made me think that we would have been punished if we were against a slightly better team. But the lads need some confidence to recover from what has been an absolutely terrible run of form with some atrocious performances to go alongside it. 

Come on Peterborough and do us a favour, lose against ipswich and barnsley

Shame we don't have the extra point from last week.  EFL show spent the last minute going on about Ipswich phenomenal 9 clean sheets.  Apart from the one disallowed for f - all.  Be shocking if the goal, never mind point, costs us .  

spoke to my friend who's a Charlton STH and when i said promotion maybe too much too early for us he said, once you stay down in League1 for more than a season it seems to engulf you and then you're a league 1 club and very difficult to get out of....makes sense looking at other big teams who've gone down and spent  seasons there, so for me , I don't care how we get there but lets just get to the play offs first, then 3 big games and lets get the f out of this league!!
...I think we can do it ....still 

Referee was poor but it was not a reasonable penalty shout on Knight and he is not going to be getting many decisions go his way if he continues diving trying to con referees. 
If we want officials to be consistent then at least lets be consistent ourselves in calling out blatant cheating?

I disagree, we will have much more choice in the next transfer window. Last summer we couldn't sign players until after the takeover in July and so missed the boat. In the January window we could only sign players that a club wanted rid of.
However, this summer there will be quite a few players throughout the league who have refused to sign a new contract, believing that they can do better elsewhere. These are the players that we can target, we can offer wages, although limited, that are higher than virtually every other club in league 1 next season and a good portion of the championship, we can offer fantastic training facilities and playing in front of nearly 30,000 every week at PP. I'm sure that the club are aware of these players and have a list of those who could do a job in either the championship or league 1.
I think that we struggle with both pace and height and this will need to be addressed in the close season. I seems that every time a corner is awarded against, the opposition have at least 3 players taller than our tallest player and by some margin. The pace of Ipswich's breaks yesterday also done for us, none of our younger players seemed to be blessed with blistering pace, even Dobbin.

I was a bit gobsmacked when Smith was awarded MOTM at the ground yesterday. Thought he was partly responsible for both of their goals, regardless of how well he played in the rest of the game. 
I was screaming at him for their second, he was just watching rather than busting a gut to get back. When he did finally sprint he got almost up to their player, if he'd done it earlier he'd have been in a position to clean up that rebound.

He isn’t going to I agree (giving any manager a 4 year contract is stupid, said as much at the time), but he needs to. Paul Warne will never get this team promoted, you can quote me on that. He’s like Nathan Jones at Luton, he will only succeed at a small club where working hard is all that’s needed. Allowing him to build his own squad will take us further away from a team that can get us promoted, and take longer for a proper manager to sort out in future.

I’ll carry on making this point until I’m blue in the face because I just don’t get it, Louie Sibley is the last player to score a goal for us, won the game with a brace at Oxford, should’ve had a run of games in the 10 after that to help him put some form together. Yet here we are 3 games later and he’s back on scrap minutes as though it’s last season, coming on with 12 to go at 2 down and expecting him to change the game is a joke.
The last two games we’ve played well in patches with lots of possession without ever really creating anything, it’s been crying out for someone to take the game by the scruff of the neck and start running at people and having shots from outside the box, Sibley has the ability to do that yet he’s sat twiddling his thumbs on the bench, he came on at bloody wing back last week and still created one of our best chances of the game. That midfield yesterday was severely lacking goals and creativity, at least Sibley will take risks and try things.