Fla Ram

Rooney was fantastic last week, and Warne said he was “pretty faultless” after the first 20 mins. I don’t think we should be short term replacing our own youngsters when they have a chance to play and learn. 

Thommo was outstanding 

Absolute snip! 🐏

Watching Waggy making time to speak with both of the new lads when he could have been milking the crowd reaction says everything you need to know about his position in the squad. What a man!

Liam Thompsons best game in a Derby shirt for me, really really good all round today. 

Absolute quality Tommo today. Brilliant.

Who would have thought it? A settled pro who has almost always played above this level and enjoys the team he plays for could come good? 
 
It’s almost as if Fozzy knew what he was talking about pushing to bring Waghorn back 

Thompson really impressing me again, there’s a composure and almost subtle swagger (oxymoron I know!) to his play.

He says his best attribute is "carrying the ball forward". I cannot wait for someone in our midfield who can do that. Welcome to Derby.

I’m really happy with this signing - it’s a player I’ve been pushing for all summer. 
He’s a gamble, because of his injury record, but his technical ability is outstanding. Physically, he’s a good height, is quick, agile. He can play upfront, in the 10 and out wide. He is the ideal player to roll the dice on. 
You simply don’t get a player of his technical ability at his age at this level without some drawback. Ipswich fans really like him. 
I hope it works out for both him and us. 

I agree r,e his inability to crash through a striker. Looking at his physique I was expecting no nonsense. Looks very to me that due to previous injury he is very tentative. I've been like this on returning from a long lay off. It takes time until you feel at ease with your body.
I would stick him In u21s to get game time.
On the face if it, it looks an absolute clanger by the recruitment team.

Midfielder in either tomorrow or Monday. Loan from a Premier League club. With the Fornah rumours pretty safe to say it could be him. Potentially another 2 in before Saturday

I'd like to see Thompson and Rooney stay in the team. Waghorn is our best striker. Forsyth is excellent and was last season. Another midfielder and a couple of creative forward players and we will be doing alright.

Rooney looks class, so comfortable on the ball and moving forwards.

Waggy is so much more of a better player than Collins. I'd have waggy start ahead of him everyday of the week.
 
COYR!

The same thing everyone at the club from owner to manager to playing staff expected.
A season where we secure a play-off place with reasonable comfort and maybe even have a tilt at the top 2.
A squad built in the manager's image with clear signs of progression from last season and a plan in place as to how to achieve that goal, with something we could either build on if we did get promoted, or that would put us in good stead to go one further next season.
It's not the fans' fault we're f****** it up.

Possibly the more interesting question, is how many of the new signings get into our current best XI.  You can put together a pretty decent team that has none of them in:
Wildsmith
Smith Rooney Cashin Forsyth
Bird Hourihane
NML Sibley Barkhuizen
Collins

Max Bird is the last remaining player in our squad who can actually play football. He is calm under pressure and can pick a pass.
It’s not his fault he’s surrounded by less talented players.
He is one of those who will be a better player elsewhere. He was at his best learning from Rooney. He won’t get better in a hoofball side.
I’ll be gutted when he leaves but I guess it’s all part of our transition from a chrysalis to a slug.
 

I know there are ample threads popping up all relating to a similar topic of discussion, but wanted to air this one out (for my own peace of mind) and gauge what the majority thought. 
I had day of mostly driving between meetings today and found myself replaying last night’s disaster in my head. I was driving for over an hour just exhausting my own thoughts and feelings on the game last night, without noticing that I hadn’t even turned the radio on. I honestly couldn’t think of another time a result/performance had such a detrimental impact on my view of the team, club and the way things were being run. Situations around the club, obviously have, but never one performance which made me think what does David Clowes actually make of it all?
By all accounts, he had a vision for Derby County which essentially accumulated to building a successful side on the back of being commercially savvy, recruiting well and while not banging ‘the Derby way’ drum, was definitely hopeful of an aesthetically pleasing football team to watch. We all understood he didn’t have Candy Crush money to burn, as did he, but I think we all hoped that the club would follow in the footsteps of other clubs who have built and not bought by making smart decisions and ultimately working harder than rival sides who share our aspirations. 
Last summer was a little bit of a rush job, but all things considered Rosenior (and probably Rooney initially) had done really well to work around our restrictions and build competitive side for the level we were at. The season got off to a steady yet slow start and with Rosenior only hired in an interim basis, I felt (and I imagine the majority) it was only a matter of time before he was hired on an official basis. Clowes, obviously, had other plans and to his credit wanted to do a thorough process and see what was available to him with the vision he had at the club. Warne was his choice and he pointed to his previous promotions at this level as the reason, few could argue against his points and reasoning, but obviously there were some reservations regarding his playing style, his previous relegations and how he would handle the move away from Rotherham above all else. 
Needless to say we saw a fairly quick change in our approach and we were moving the ball a lot faster down the pitch and having less possession. We then went on a little bit of a purple patch (20 unbeaten) but I felt just before we actually finally lost that we had seen performances slip and when we finally lost it was hard for us to get back on track. We had completely transitioned by that point into a more Warne set-up with 3 at the back a lot of the time over the final quarter of the season. Obviously, how we have started this season needs no further explanation otherwise this thread wouldn’t be a thing. 
On to the recruitment, namely Mark Thomas, who came in from Oxford following praise for his good work there. We were obviously looking for someone with a little bit of knowledge of our level and below, in my opinion, who had shown a competence in recruiting cheap(er) players who had potential to grow with the team. The summer recruitment, at least at this snapshot in time, looks a bit of a disaster. If you asked me who our best signing was from this summer based on minutes played, it would undoubtedly be Waghorn - a player invited to train with the club on nothing more than the proximity of his home. Not a player we scoped out, not a player we headhunted - a player who could probably peddle a bike into training should he so wish. 
We have had Paul Warne explain what he’s teams are all about: the high relentless press, the high energy, speed… the recruitment doesn’t mirror that in the slightest. We’ve signed players who fans would’ve heard of, out-of-contract from Championship clubs (for the most part) and above all else - experienced. The budget has been bemoaned but we have recruited in a far different fashion to every other League One club because no other League One club can afford to go and sign players who are accustom to Championship wages. You have to then think to the likes of Sonny Bradley who has had an horrendous start and been dragged off at half-time twice in four games. Both Warne and Thomas would’ve been banging Clowes’ table for him and saying how this is the guy who can lead this defence back into the Championship. Obviously the due diligence hadn’t been done because now it’s coming to light that he’s not looked remotely similar to the player he was since his injury - which is probably the player we’re watching now.
It brings me back to my point: What on earth must Clowes be thinking? He’s given Warne and his staff the keys to the castle based on what he told him and now four games in the whole thing looks like a dog’s dinner - substantially worse than where we were 12 months ago under Rosenior. A decision, I’m absolutely sure, he would reverse if given the opportunity to replay it again. He now has to consider the direction of the club and importantly how to direct it again in a progressive direction. I don’t believe Clowes is someone who is going to drop a guy with 3 years left on his contract without substantial reason so I question what comes next - does he refresh the recruitment of the club? Does he try and have some influence over the football operation of the club - perhaps even hire a director of football to steer the direction for him as he has seen how even the best laid plans can capitulate when decisions aren’t aligned, i.e. playing recruitment and playing style. 
I feel for the bloke because ultimately the weight is heavy on his shoulders and the club is a pressure cooker at the moment. 

You can't rely on set pieces to win games at a professional level. We lacked anything from open play, devoid of quality or dangerousness they looked utterly comfortable. 

I thought he should’ve gone when we failed to make the playoffs. However, was willing to give him a pre season to sign some players, and see how we started. 
 
We’re way, way worse than we were before. There is absolutely no excuses now. He’s prioritised defenders that are making mistakes left right and centre, leaving us with nothing to sign attacking players. Playing a system that doesn’t work for any of the players we currently have and is making them look way worse than they collectively are.
It’s not working at all. Enough is enough for me.

What a week - and it’s only Tuesday! 
Stupid comment to make by Warne, for sure, who is clearly very angry. The whole situation just looks fraught to me at the moment, we’ve painted ourselves into a corner with the EFL budget and we have players who want to leave that we can’t replace if they go. Now, unfortunately, it just seems like there is a cloud over the club at the moment compounded with that Warne interview. If we hadn’t banned our entire budget on experience, it probably wouldn’t be so disappointing. The truth is that we’ve made a very significant investment on getting promoted this season and we look absolutely miles off it. 
Where we go from here, that is the question? My opinion is that any Bamford who doesn’t want to be here can get to f***, we’re literally talking about League One footballers - I care slightly more about some more than others, but ultimately I can’t wait for the day where this level of player simply can’t get a deal at Derby County. As I said, it’s just a shame we’ve invested most of budget in players here for one or two years to get the club up rather than spend our time developing something.

Its the style he wants to play with the players he has available that concerns me. Talk of working harder when most of the squad are the wrong side of 30 and have dodgy injury profiles and don't have the legs. Over-committing players forward when we have no pace in the defensive side of our team. We are a car crash waiting to happen on the break when we lose it and it doesn't even take much quality to exploit the weakness. 

We are ahead on the only stat that matters