Rambling

That was absolutely stupendous. I have to admit looking at Bristol's recent run I was expecting a tough match, maybe even a defeat, but they hardly got a look in! I think that the pace we played at was an important factor, with the main one being the right formation. And playing 4 at the back meant that Mendez-Laing and Dobbin were playing further up the pitch, so they could attack better, and it mean that our midfield boys had mor options when passing the ball. Simples, hey?
I think Tuesday night's hair drying session had its effect - to see Hourihan run half the length of the pitch to cut out a cross was, I think unprecedented at Pride Park! And without the 3 goals, man of the match would have gone to Mendez-Laing. He was awesome! But the rest of the team were up there as well! The penalty aside, the only things Derby players got wrong were things like Bird playing the thrown in ball back to the taker too hard, twice. Don't you just hate Warne-ball? Oh, and the defendding for the two goals conceded. But apart from tht, and the shot which Wildsmith had to save in the second half, Bristol didn't get a look in.
There were a load of dubious decisions by the ref, with the 50 - 50 tackle by Hourihan being harsh, especially with the card given to him, but was still probably one of the better refs this season. Not that there is much competition - the bar is set so low that all he had to do was avoid tripping over it  as he stepped forwards! The penalty was a penalty for sure, although I was expecting at least one more which never came. But how often have we seen a ref book 3 players for time wasting? Especially as we have had to watch about 35 hours of wasted time over the last two and a half seasons going virtually unpunished? Although I cold see why Roberts got carded. He had taken his time at throws several times, including pretending to drop the ball a couple of times. So all the Bristol player did was throw the ball at him hard so that Roberts dropped it for real. He forced the ref to get the card out. Which reminds me - several times we had players in numbers surrounding the ref, one time leading to a booking for a Bristolian! Progress!
The fans were really good and loud, and there was good banter with the visitors, and all in all it was a great day out. This could be a watershed moment - we can kick on from this, especially as we seem to have found a way to get the team playing well.

I made this point on the matchday thread yesterday:
Remember the '86 world cup. It was only after injuries to 'key' players, that Bobby Robson started picking the right team.
Going to 4-4-2 wasn't a decision by Warne, it's been forced on him by injuries. Let's hope he sees the benefit.

Shout out to the ref. First professional performance we’ve seen from an official this season. 

Great first half performance and a very solid second half performance to manage the game and see it out.
McGoldrick and NML will get the plaudits for their incisive attacking play and rightly so, both we’re superb!
However Collins and Bird both had cracking games. Collins put in a great CF performance closing down, pressing and linking up play.
Bird had a brilliant game. Pressing hard, good positioning and strong in the tackle mixed in with all the good things we know Max can do!
Lets hope we can build on this!

This is a great summary. 
Of course, we will know whether Warne will prove to be flexible in the short term on Saturday.
I am accepting that it's going to take two transfer windows at least for Warne to transform the squad into one he wants to work with. And to get the academy to work differently too. It's not going to be easy as there's always that niggle in some minds (mine included)
"Were we that bad that we needed a total reset?" Or "Could Rosenior have done it quicker?" We'll never know.
I think another factor in our current situation is that  we have also lost the goodwill that Rosenior and his mismatched squad generated as the link with that season when we were all in it together. That goodwill has gone. I'm seeing it at matches now. Warne said 95% of fans clapped the players off at Ipswich, sorry, it was more like 50% - and I'm being generous at that.  Way down on similar situations at Charlton, Fleetwood etc. And the grumbling is back big time.
So Warne has got to work really hard to make us a new "something" that we match-going fans can buy into while he builds a new squad in his image. Will that be a never stop running, never say die mentality? Will we have a style? Will it be enough? 
I take your point about a Board review but at the moment that Board is still David Clowes and two accountants, none of whom have run a football club before. I know the process to recruit a Chair has begun, as has head of recruitment.  
There's such a long way to go to build us back up again. The new owner deserves the utmost credit for rescuing our club, but it is probably only now that the enormity of the task he has undertaken is dawning on him. 

Ours would be Chris Martin of Coldplay (used to be a season ticket holder, his dad still is), Joss Stone (member of the Supporters Trust that owns the club) and Liam Tancock, the Olympic swimmer (born and bred in Exeter, still regularly goes to games).
I make that a draw, possibly an away win.
In case you didn’t know, and assuming any of you give a flying one, we are one of the very few clubs in the country that are owned by the Supporters Trust. So we have no external debt (other than to the Trust), but no real assets other than the players, particularly the young Academy players, which are the main source of keeping us going. We bring through youngsters and then play them and / or sell them.
Names you might know who came through our Academy and we sold for decent money:
Ollie Watkins, Matt Grimes, Ryan Harley, Jordan Storey, Jordan Moore-Taylor, Christy Pym, Dean Moxey (played for you lot), George Friend, Alfie Pond (just sold to Wolves for £500k), Jay Stansfield (sold to Fulham now back on loan to us), Ethan Ampadu, Mark Ellis, David Fox, Jordan Tillson, etc.
Just realised we’re great at producing really good Jordans.
So, we’re never going to win the Premier League, but we’re sustainable and trying to punch above our weight in a world of mega-bucks clubs. We’re the underdog’s underdog and we bloody love it.
That’s why seeing the lads walk out at Pride Park will mean so much to us. For our boys to be on the same pitch as a famous, proper club like Derby County will be wonderful to see. To win would involve several pairs of pants in the away end being soiled.
If you’ve read this far, thanks for humouring me.

Warne's not totally won me over as yet - not his fault really as many of our fans and all local media overhyped his personality so much when he arrived. Like when you're meeting someone new and everyone says you're going to love them. Makes me stubbornly think opposite so they have to be doubly good/nice to win me over.  But he left a cushy number where he was adored and mid- table championship and kept talking about the challenge. The ongoing constraints make it a challenge. 

I know it cant be an excuse forever but fans are really forgetting where we were at when the takeover was complete in the summer. For us to be able to sign most of the players we did there had to be a catch as we are discovering now (even if its really young and inexperienced).  Rose-spectacled Liam fans (and I did like him by the way) keep moaning about players being signed for his system forgetting fans have been slating Hourihane and Collins all season before Warne arrived and where was Osula?  Rather than totally slate Warne perhaps give Collins some of the sort of stick Laurence got last season for his silly sending off. So being contrary the moaning at PW is making me like him. 

But we have a club, people are moaning as we're not more competitive and about mr clowes' decisions when 5 months ago we were talking about starting in this division with negative points and facing instant relegation again or total oblivion. Just remind yourselves how you felt in the few days when the yank imploded, read the Administration thread again. 
 
We went last night (not far for us sorry) and enjoyed it - great crowd and atmosphere which did League 1 proud compared to sterile plastic premier league. It wasnt pretty by either team. Second in league who pundits are raving about were reduced to winning by a gifted goal. If we had got a point from 0-0 everyone would have been "great point away at Ipswich". 
 
And I have put a bobble hat on my christmas list as think I'll be wanting to wear one by then. 

Would have been a free kick and at least a yellow card without a doubt if a Derby player did that.

Warne has said about fighting to the end. He had a go at half time even though we were winning.  This quote on the AS forum stood out:
"What did disappoint me ....was seeing in the 90th minute Derby County's Captain demanding more from his players , irregardless of the score.. Whilst our stand-in leader was wandering around aimlessly seemingly having given up the fight !"
Says it all. 

Actually I’m offended listening to the spice girls whatever they’re singing.

I just want to say how lucky you are to have Paul Warne as manager. I've supported the millers for 69 years. Obviously, I've seen managers come and go during that period. As far as I'm concerned, and many other fans Warne is the best manager we've had.
Like Derby fans we went through some dark times. Administration points deducted, lost our ground, forced to play in Sheffield in an athletic stadium. No atmosphere, 4 years in the 4th division.
Paul has many qualities. Excellent staff management, a workaholic. He's articulate, honest and will live and breathe Derby County.
I thank him for all the memories, 3 Wembley wins 3 promotions and I wish him well and as a consequence wish the Rams well. I've never had a second team, but for the first time Derby County will be my second team. I look forward to seeing Paul succeed. 
Hopefully Derby will be promoted and we survive in the championship and look forward to see you at the New York stadium.
All the best.
 
 

He's here, he's there, he's asked us not to swear, John O'Hare.. 

Thought the chant was Charlie born is the King of Derby?

Their right back did it very early doors. He went down in a challenge like he’d been shot and lay there for several minutes - until the ball passed near during our next attack, and he was up and running like Jesus had just done another miracle.  That seemed to set the trend, although I am sure Ainsworth does that when he tells his team they will be working on cheating and time wasting on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Friday mornings.

Was a good call by Rosenior to take his captain off. Bird has the ability to play between the lines more than he does at times, healthy competition for Smith to come on and stake his claim, couple of incisive balls to break lines, made the difference today.

Well played Derby. Excellent start to the season all considered. Really enjoying watching the way Liam has them playing and although its frustrating currently I'm absolutely sure we are going to have a very enjoyable season. UTR

There aren't half some bedwetters on this forum, talk about being melodramatic. 
Two months ago we had basically no players, now we're absolutely dominating teams, having 20+ shots every match against teams that come out specifically looking to defend first and attack second. 
Have a bit of patience - Rome wasn't built in a day. All that's needed are tweaks to the system. It's not like we're creating zero chances and struggling to get hold of the ball.
We're already vastly improved on last year where we struggled a lot, especially away from home. If we keep this dominance up over the course of the season I'm sure we'll be at the right end of the table.
 

Didn't even look like a foul from my seat in the south stand

Sibley barely touched the ball second half. Bringing Smith on made sense, to freshen it up.
The idea was to control the game.
But in the space of five minutes, we missed a glorious chance for 3-0 and then Barnsley scored from nothing.
We lost control after that. But Smith used his experience well to win free kicks and slow the game down.
That’s how it will be in this league.
I’m sure we will batter a few teams by three or four at some stage, but games like today was just getting over the line and Smith helped us get there.

All day long 

Cashin MOM by a country mile

Cashin my MOM, absolutely majestic in defense. Won every header, battles for everything. What a player.

We just keep giving them the ball back.

Smith has not been great since coming on, Cashin has been playing exceptionally.

Result is largely irrelevant. It was a good workout to build fitness, get some minutes into the fringe players and allow Rosenior to assess his options in a competitive game.
The win was just an added bonus.
Expect about 8 changes for the weekend.