Hector was the best

I’m not exactly asking him to playing 90 minutes every week. We’ve just had Hourihane (who’s legs have gone, let’s face it) out injured for a few games and he’s not played a minute. Seems ridiculous to me when we so often lack energy and athleticism. 

Thought ward looked fitter than most yesterday, looked quick, sprinted often and made some great tackles. Really impressed 

Currently looks like the grounds staff are heavily watering the end of the pitch we’re defending second half, wonder what the thinking is there? 🤔 

Started well with Sibley’s deflected finish, could (and should?) have been 3 up after 15 mins, then we had 10 mins or so of almost countering to get a second but couldn’t quite ice the pass, they then had a little spell of pressure where it seemed our recent habits of retreating after taking the lead could be an issue…but a lovely first goal for Dwight Gayle in a rams shirt has us firmly in the driving seat at half time.
Ward and Sibley doing well as the wing backs, back 3 have dealt with what little threat PV have offered, Bird and Adams are doing ok in midfield, I’d say maybe Barkhuizen isn’t quite at it so far in my opinion so could be the game to get CBT involved with less pressure and potentially a bit of space to exploit.

If you don't shoot, you don't score. It's one of many reasons Sibley should be one of the first names on the teamsheet.
Wonderful for Gayle to score. That will give him massive confidence. Hope he gets a couple more in the second half!
Come on you Rams.

I really liked the theory that was laid out in the final couple of years of Mel’s tenure (frightening sentence, I know). The idea that over half the first team would be made up of academy players, with high quality loans to cover shorter term gaps and good signings brought in to cover areas where there were no players coming through. I thought this was quite a good model in the modern day. It would attract youngsters with high ceilings to the club as their was a clear path to the first team, build confidence with other clubs to lend us their best talent, and allow us to spend decent money on players as academy players would be pure profit. It seemed to align academy with first team and present a good vision for a modern sustainable football club. 
 
I think we were maybe a couple of seasons from seeing it come to fruition too. We were looking at having a team/squad with the potential of having Knight, Bird, Sibley, Thompson, Delap, Gordon, Kellyman, Cashin, Ebosele, Buchanan, Whitaker, Plange, and Williams all drawn from our own academy in it. We all know why it never happened, and the initial idea behind it may have been pushed by outside factors, but looking at the idea on paper it showed a club well aligned in philosophy, both in development and recruitment.
At the moment I don’t really know what the plan is. Academy players don’t seem to be anywhere near it. That might be due to the club being gutted and them not being to the standard but they never seem to be given a chance. The recruitment seems to be focused on older players, but they don’t appear to fit a system. Cocu spoke about having all teams playing the same way so younger players can step up, which seems really sensible, but currently our first team doesn’t seem to have a consistent way of playing let alone something aligned through the age groups. I think we could do with really setting out a clear goal and a philosophy and working towards it. It would really allow supporters to buy into the vision and direction. Build trust and patience. And, as I think supporters often back their academy graduates the most, really build a unity between team and fans. 

Just to be clear, and to avoid any more nominations sarcastic or not. I have absolutely no interest in the role.
None whatsoever. Zero. Zilch. 
Whoever takes it on, good luck, be prepared for all kinds of abuse and repeatedly told “you don’t represent me”.
I’ll just stay over here in this little corner of the internet and keep this place online for you all. I’m happy doing that.

This is really a must win game  for Warne - another performance like last night could see the crowd turn on him. Think he is a decent guy but sadly out of his depth managing a club the size of Derby with the big expectation of the fans.

🤷🏻‍♂️ 
Thank you for sharing an opinion piece from a random website. I’m still happy with my own opinion, which I formed having watched Gayle a bit on Saturday and a bit last night. I think it is possible for him to contribute to our season and will look forward to that possibility rather than writing him off just yet ta 

How many times has he saved us before that tho 1 mistake? 

For a season and a half I was very impressed with Wildsmith but he's faded for a while now. 
What he did tonight was just nuts.

At half time, both teams had had three shots, with the Cash goal being the only effort on target.
We were home to fifth bottom who were winless in 18, and we’d had three shots.
By the 98th minute we hadn’t fashioned any half decent open play opportunity.

1Wildsmith 4 
24Nyambe 7
7Barkhuizen 6
35Nelson 7
5Bradley 6
6Cashin 7 
2Wilson 4 
12Smith 6
17Sibley 5
32Adams 6
27Blackett-Taylor 6
11Méndez-Laing 4
8Bird 🐦 5
25Gayle 6
10Waghorn 4
Manager 1 (for getting his shoes on the right way round)
 
Even in this game the players showed that they can play football and cut through defences. Why then revert to the utter, shambolic disorganised garbage that they reverted to. The players look confused, get in each others way and are almost zero threat to the opposition goal from open play.
The answer of course is with the manager and his clearly inept staff of coaches [sic]. I agree that we cannot move them on at this stage of the season, but promoted or not, they have to go at the seasons end.
My hope is that the owner has a big enough pair of balls be making the right moves. Sadly. I suspect not, the manager probably has him in his pocket.

Honestly, I think that a lot of the performances this season haven't really looked all that different to last night.  The only difference being that in those games we didn't make those silly mistakes, and NML/Hourihane/Collins etc pulled a goal or 2 out of nowhere and we ended up winning fairly comfortably.  And that's why a lot of people have been so frustrated, even when we've won, because it doesn't feel sustainable.  We aren't going to go the entire season without making silly mistakes, and without those key matchwinners getting injuries or getting tired or losing form, yet with the way we set up, it feels like we're going to have to.  And that's compounded because we know with the way we play, that players are going to pick up knocks, and that older players are going to get tired etc, and that's when the mistakes creep in and performances start to drift off.

Warne was a fitness coach, yet he can't keep players fit. Worrying. Yes their age will be a factor, but so will his training methods. Is he over training?
I'm sure many of you will remember Paul McGrath? Yes he was an extreme case in a different era, but he maintained a basic level of fitness, sometimes not training from one week to the next, yet he turned out week after week and did a good job.
I suspect Warne would be best placed to go gently with the older players, once they are "fit enough". Then he may just keep them fit and energetic for longer - NML included.

I actually thought Gayle looked really promising for a player that’s been here a week with limited training.
He’s still got pace and played some really nice balls to bring others in to play. It was just a shame that we don’t seem capable of stringing more than 2 passes together beyond that.

Was involved in our best move with a little back heel. Has got a good first touch. Bad signing for the style of football we played last night. Nothing along the floor. No midfielder to slip him in. 

He didn’t get much a sniff IMO. Probably a victim of Warneball requiring someone more physical and PW seemingly unable to adapt his methods.
Made a couple of good flicks and looked interested though, so there’s cause for optimism.

Just woken up to see the highlights.
Is Elder injured? If not, can someone explain that back 4 to me.
Wildsmith has lost the plot like last season.
We are so lucky that Bolton are imploding too.
2nd place is now up for grabs for 6 teams.

Smith was our best player (I'd like to know why he was subbed). Gayle made a few good flick-ons and had good movement with little service. Bird was doing the job of 3 midfielders by the end because everyone else was playing upfront.
Warne got the substitutions wrong. Wildsmith did another brainless thing. Charlton were dirty feckers who had the weak referee in their pockets - Adams had the s*** kicked out of him, their player on a booking kicked the ball away but didn't get a second yellow card, their injured player ignored the refs instructions to take the shortest route off the pitch and didn't get booked......jeez, the list is endless 😞

Unfortunately, I am beginning to believe that on genuine evidence PW and his team are woefully inadequate. Tactically naive, they allow other managers and their coaching teams to take total advantage of any and every strategic tactical decision. I was never expecting Pep, but this is bettered on local playing fields by many a under 8's coach.
Basically it lets us down. Even if by fluke we get promoted, I am sorry that we cannot sustain this. I have never been anti Warne and Co but did note my reservations and concerns quite a while ago (these were quite obvious, so everyone else noted them) but no-one in the coaching team appears to learn.
I'm not a spring chicken having watched Derby For around 63 years and I 'm not saying I remember that much in my early years (but I have seen a lot of football, in my time)  but an older guy said to me tonight, after the match; that the manager is just a PE teacher and his only answer is to get quicker, unfortunately, the technicians have caught up. This is 2024, this I am afraid is a cul-de-sac.

Utterly moronic by Wildsmith. Once he realised he wasn't going to get there first he simply has to have the self-restraint to not dangle a leg towards the attacker. 

You are right its not Warne's fault for example that none of our players seemed to get the ball to another Derby player from a throw in. Or pick out a white shirt or make a correct decision 

Started brightly, got the goal. The game became somewhat of a mess after that, compounded by Wildsmith being an absolute f****** idiot. Lost a tight game mostly down to poor decision-making at crucial times. 
In the grand scheme of things, we are a pretty f****** dreadful football team but that goes for every team in this league.
Promotion would be great, but I have no faith in the club to make any great success of it. We simply get away with it in this league because we’re able to pay three or four times the wages of other teams. When we’re financially competing with others, notably financially outmatched by others, there’s nothing I’ve seen from the club that shows we can exceed expectations. 

I think its to be expected tonight after that really. I never thought I'd say it but boy are we missing Collins all over the pitch. There were some nice touches from Gayle though