RodleyRam

The guy in front of me was screaming at their manager about this. I think we absolutely harried them with our press and forced them to give us possession but they had absolutely no out ball. Very naive I thought but happy they took that approach!

Got home a while ago, if just finished chewing my wife's ear off about the game. She has zero interesting in football but I think she recognised the need to nod along until the adrenaline wore off. First 20 I didn't even think we were bad. Two goals from breaks that hit the right lines and bam we're staring down the barrel. I was about 10ft away from the dugout and Warne was bouncing away to get them to force the pace of the game. The press was outstanding tonight and we moved the ball really well most of the game. He was urging them on and really positive throughout. Cashin was outstanding in all departments, we have to find a way to keep hold of him in January. Bird looked more comfortable sitting deeper and Hourihane looked much better further forward. Fozzy, Nyambe and Nelson were excellent. Barks improved second half and Wilson, Collins and NML didn't give them a moments peace. Subs outstanding too. All in all jolly good. Hopefully they can take that energy into Monday and hound Peterborough to death too. Didn't know there were so many Rams sitting silently with the home fans. We all did incredibly well to go undetected after a performance like that, it was tough to keep schtum and not join in the bounce! Great noise from the travelling fans tonight, even at 2 down. Great night to be a Ram!

OUTSTANDING win. Fully deserved too, we were utterly dominant. That's a statement victory if ever there was one.

First away game of the season for me, just down the road. We have been on top the whole first half to be honest. Two goals on the break, vulnerable with Hourihane and Bird in the middle and two poor challenges, two set piece goals. No excuses for that but not reflective of the threat they have which was fairly limited to counter attacks. Barks hasn't been at the races so far, expect him to be subbed off at half time. Hourihane hasn't been at his best but stepped up as the half went on. Hourihane and Bird outnumbered. Our goal was coming, hit the bar, few dangerous crosses across the face with the goal wide open. It's well within our ability to pull this back and win it, just got to watch the sucker punch on the break. Next goal will decide the 3 points, early one for us would be a real boost. Sitting by the dugout with the home fans, Warne is screaming at them to up the tempo. COYR

Nelson - consistently excellent NML - when he's good, we're good Cashin - all round modern centre half In that order for me. It's nice to see other players coming into form to take on the baton, hopefully they can help to take the form forward.

Oxfart 1 - 2 Rams FRGS Wilson

Wigan 0 - 2 Rams NML FRGS MSc D.Litt MBE NWA ABBA DCFC

Well that was a little too easy... Come on guys, I was being jovial!

I'd be both surprised and delighted with 8 points from these three games

I've only just twigged B4 was the same age as me and it's really hit me. Amazing how many people he influenced in his all too short time. Definitely puts things in perspective and makes me want to look on the bright side much more often and be less of a grumpy sod! Rams are doing you proud lad.

Yeah Sunderland is the one I'm thinking of that's up there as one of the most memorable moments in my Rams career (although clearly not that memorable as I couldn't remember who it was against or what the score was... I've drunk a lot of whisky recently but I'm sure that's not related)

That's a great effort, let's hope it's one of those special pre-Christmas games that put the fear into the rest of the division. I remember a game under TBE when we went top before Christmas, it was a real statement and magical atmosphere (I'm aware we can't go top tonight before anyone chimes in... Boo Warne Out etc.)

3 keys to the autos 1. Grind out results when the nights are dark and the going is tough. This is an area we typically struggle with and it's about bouncing back from a bad result as much as anything else. I think we have a solid base, so I don't expect us to lose many but we need to find a way to get 3 points rather than 1 when teams make it really difficult and don't find ourselves 3 or 4 games without a win. 2. Keep our players as fresh as possible. We need to rotate key players where the opportunity arises and limit injuries as much as we possibly can. 3. Add quality in January. There is a balance to be struck between injecting some impetus and destabilising. Last year's window was hugely undercooked, I hope we learn that we simply have to add some depth and quality in January. I would like to think we can keep hold of Bird and Cashin but if that's not possible I do think we need to replace them AND add one or two. Although no-one really wants to accept it the 4th point is that we need a massive slice of luck...

I note you're not refuting what he says though 😜

Agreed. Our midfield has been crying out for a Eustace type player for ages. I can see the merit in playing Hourihane as captain and for game management but I just don't quite think he's got the physical presence or the pace to compensate for it. When he's good he's really good but I don't think he's ever going to dominate in that deep role or quite creative enough to play as quarter back. I like look of Fornah and Bird has obvious strengths the balance is just a bit off in the middle for me. We have a number of all rounders with strengths in some areas but I don't think there's clear enough separation/specialists.

Rams 3 - 0 Lincoln FRGS Collins

It's that kind of negativity that will see us stagnate under PW. Drop Cashin for Collins, one at the back is more than enough.

I understand the point but the last 'hurried' sale was from a position of total fragility hence why it went to s*** multiple times. We were a basket case attracting basket cases or a white knight, fortunately we got the latter. There's a fine line between success and failure, boom and bust. I guess I'm happy with us being boring for a bit and being run properly before we seek the next billionaire who gambles the club we love for a shot at the big time. With DC I would argue we have a long way to go to out ourselves into a position of strength to sell and we should be inwardly focussed by building our own sustainability etc. Once we are in that place, a buyer can add value. I don't see us being in that place for two years at least and if we are sustainably run and an attractive proposition in our own right then we should have the pick of suitors. I accept at some point we will sell, I just think openly planning for it right now would be a sign of desperation but that's just my gut response. I think I have just had enough of all that drama, I am happy with the status quo and a period of stability. A future sale should happen because it's the right decision for the club long term rather than something we're desperately seeking to do right now.

I think you can understand why so many fans don't really want to think about the next owner and will want to avoid an 'ambitious' billionaire who just throws money at the club though. Been there, done that, got the points deduction. There are as many, if not more, pitfalls of having a club that suddenly has an epic injection of cash. Lots of clubs have landed themselves in a mess as a result of this, and money doesn't necessarily buy success at all, there are as many examples of things going tits up as there are of Champions League trophies. The whole fabric of the club changes, the culture gets thrown out of the window and decisions are made seemingly based for PR rather than football reasons. You only have to look at Birmingham for an example of that, there are many more where everything that came before gets thrown out of the window just because someone is willing to throw some money around on players. I don't disagree that DC will want to sell at some point but given that his stated values include integrity and sustainability, I would seriously hope that the eventual sale will be done with utmost care to retain the stability and culture of the club that he will have built from the ground up. I don't think you should be surprised that loads of us don't really want to engage with any club ownership chat at the moment. We should know more than most how chasing the dream can come crashing down so I for one hope that DC is with us for a good few years before we get back into the circus tent.

Rams 0 - 1 Wycombe Sucker punch

I think mostly it's good humoured on here and people step back from the precipice when they need to, not always! I think the worst thing is the same old repeated points and point scoring back and forth but if you really look at it, there are a minority of posters on different sides of the argument who are 'guilty' of this. It's annoying and negative but if you skip past the times when it degenerates into that kind of pettiness, the forum is a really funny, generous place full of decent folk from many walks is life who have the Rams in common. I like the idea of the B4 emoji but think we have to be careful that we don't accidentally cause angst by using it as another tool to point score. For me 'be more B4' is about challenging ourselves to pause for a couple of moments and think about whether a different and more positive outlook might shift one's own mindset and in doing so encourage others do do the same. His positivity was infectious and if we all took that outlook into our core just a tiny bit, it would change the atmosphere when things start to get negative. I think it's a really important OP and fair play for raising it as lots of us think it and disengage from some thing we enjoy when threads descend into tired old squabbles. We are all on the same side at the end of the day, we should remember that.

Thanks for the analysis on this. I think most of us would say we started slowly and are now accelerating. If we can maintain the kind of form in more recent months, then we should be looking to improve on our average PPG so far. However, whilst many have said it's a weaker league, the gritty relentlessness of L1 will always throw up disappointing results and dips in form. We have to bounce back from disappointment better than last season. I stand by my pre-season prediction of a play off spot, which I think would be a decent season. I really don't buy into the 'anything less than promotion is a failure' narrative. Anything beyond playoffs is within our capability but I would see as a happy bonus.

Quite a lot of chatter about Warne's comments about players. Are they jokes? Is it a bit of leg pulling? Is it passive aggressive? Does it point to something more toxic? Personally I don't see any issue with it but I get that it's not everyone's pint of Bovril. I think it points to a closeness with the players and a confidence and trust that they won't go on strike off the back of some ironic comments. He extracts the urine out of himself as much as anyone else, it's just who he is. If the players take offense to this, I would be very surprised and I imagine they probably bounce off it as a group. On to Warne and the improving Derby County... Like most of the pro-Warne camp I've expressed concerns about certain things we were doing that seemed to make little sense. About 5 games ago I was feeling really frustrated and I think I said I wanted to see an improvement over the next 5 games or I would be joining the ranks of serious doubters. As it stands we have improved with more consistency and another gear or two to go. I hope we can take that into the next 5 games, which will be tougher tests. We seem to have found different ways to win, a trait which is needed in a good promotion challenge. Hopefully we go into 2024 looking down the table beating off the chasing pack with some strong performances. Oh and let's not capitulate in February like we do every other year...

The last time we were good at recruitment under Nigel, we had almost no non-UK and Ireland based players. As much as I love the prospect of unearthing exciting talent from the Moroccan Premier League, I just don't think it's particularly feasible at this level unless you invest heavily in scouting. Probably the area we'll have the most return on investment will be poaching players from others' academies and carefully selecting premier league academy cast offs...

Reckon we'll win this if we stick Djiboutin COYR - B4's black, white and pink army!