Carl Sagan

Derby women had come from behind to be leading Liverpool Feds 1-2, but the game was abandoned with 10 minutes to go after what must be a serious injury to Derby's Megan Tinsley Hope she's OK.

I had forgotten he even existed. Very much hope we can cancel the loan now the window is open.

600 up for John Brayford. And an excellent player for us.

Original story comes from Nixon in The Sun: https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/25271364/danny-ward-sheffield-united-transfer-news-leicester-euros/ "Elsewhere, Derby are watching Blades midfielder Ollie Arblaster, 19, who is back from a loan at Port Vale. Arblaster may be out for a month with a gashed knee suffered in the Carabao Cup against Middlesbrough last month. So the Rams will have to leave it late to check on his recovery."

I think having a cup competition is excellent for keeping the full 18 fit, giving them extra confidence and blooding a few youngsters. So far this season it's really helped us. Academy players have got game time and for instance, I'm sure Collins' goals in the league were helped by freely scoring in the earlier rounds.

Bear in mind this is the division of haves and have nots where you need to be flat-track bullies to have even a whiff of going up. Last season ended up: 1 Plymouth 2.20 ppg 2 Ipswich 2.13 ppg 3 Sheff Wed 2.09 ppg 4 Barnsley 1.87 ppg So 1.96 isn't too shabby, but is only playoff form and still some way off the automatic pace (Bolton, currently in second, are on 2.13 ppg).

Because we're chasing so this is from the position we were in, to ending up in the autos. As I said, from here that guarantees us 97 points. Not enough for automatic last season, but would probably be enough this season.

Obviously my favourite Thunderbird and the one I had as a kid - we're heading into orbit! Fair play to Max for creating the two goals today. Showed what he can do. Needs to do it more. Any win is a good win. Bolton have a game in hand on us they're likely to win, putting us 4 points behind second and 5 behind first place. That's still a significant gap. In this division, to be at the top you have to keep winning 8 out of every 10 games. We've done that once and it's landed us in the chasing pack. Now we have to do it again to catch the leaders. And then again to pull away. 16 more wins from the final 21 games probably gets us over the line.

Perfect for TJJ. We start him and he plays an hour to build his fitness. But he doesn't score a hattrick, so there's no Arsenal clamour for his recall. Let those goals start flying in as soon as the window closes! Meanwhile, are we struggling because we're playing into the low winter sun? Fleetwood have come much more into the game. Vickers oddly without a cap.

The handball in the first half and the foul on John-Jules were two clear penalties. I thought the Rooney rugby tackle on Collins was a third. Is it terrible, terrible officiating, or is it more than that? Last year it cost us the playoffs. And, no, it certainly does not even out.

Indeed we could! Perfect timing. The Collins nearpost header and what remains unfathomable to me, but is the football fashion - no men on the posts at corners to stop soft goals. Why? (yes I know it's about playing offside quickly, but I still think it's daft.) Fozzy swapped for Elder at HT. We need to keep it tighter at the back - they had two very good chances in the first half.

NML scores from open play - the only way we will having just had a clear penalty for handball not given! Nil-one - come on you Rams!

Collins is playing really well. Clever attempted flick from an excellent Wilson cross, but couldn't get enough power on it. John-Jules can't seem to get in the game. He seems to be playing in midfield with NML up alongside Collins! Excellent play from Wilson just now to win a corner (clearly demonstrated on tv), but the ref and lino gave a goalkick. Think Fozzy has started very well, when I wasn't sure if he'd have the legs.

A borderline red card foul on Bird, yet not even a yellow given. Yet another utterly appalling freekick from "set piece expert" Hourihane, lofted gently into the keeper's arms. Could be a frustrating lunchtime.

Understand the selection, as it was an obvious opportunity to go three at the back. Hope NML has the energy. At the start of the thread my team was similar but with more legs, with Sibbo in for a rested Mendez-Laing, and Fornah in for an ineffective Hourihane. Expected Warne would wait for the cup to swap goalies - but Wildsmith needs the challenge. Good to see Fornah at least make the bench. Come on you Rams!

This. Have our recruitment people somehow only just stumbled upon him? Surely they track every young player coming through, and especially those who might have a connection with the club. It would be so amateur now if we pay a fee for him when he went as a free transfer a few months ago.

He lived in Derby for a while after his release. I think I suggested to him he should ask to train at the club to stay fit, and try to impress Cocu. I've wondered if a decision was made that some young lad called Sibley was coming through who was an even better prospect as a left-sided goalscoring midfielder, and there was only a pathway to the first team for one of them? But Timi did seem our best academy player back then and it still rankles that the people who should have known didn't see it.

And we all thought he should be, yet unfathomably Lampard arrived and binned him off (IIRC).

Don't see him as an improvement on Fozzy/Elder. I say old news.

If we're to challenge for the automatic places, with three teams above us, we have to be relentless and average a fair bit over 2 points a game (if we're going to lose to rivals like Peterborough). Really we need to be aiming for and expecting 15 points from these 5 games, which puts us back in the mix. But football is not straightforward and things can go wrong, so we might not manage that tally. However, as @Ghost of Cloughsays, and because of the big gulf in quality he mentions, anything less than 13 points will be a disappointment. It will also likely see us fall a little away from the race for automatics. You cannot ease off in this division or you'll find your rivals are away over the horizon.

Adding this from @Eoghan1884here as it was originally in another thread.

With Nyambe away at the African Cup of Nations, we will again try the switch to three at the back. Given that, we should make our fullbacks wingers, and I think NML should have a well-deserved rest. Wildsmith Nelson Bradley Cashin Wilson Fornah Bird Forsyth Sibley John-Jules Collins Bench: Vickers Ward Elder Hourihane Thompson Barkhuizen NML There's an argument for starting Thompson who I don't think is fit (understandably) instead of Fornah and replacing him when he runs out of gas. I'd like to see John-Jules start, but you can't drop Collins after two goals, so why not try them both together? Sibley brings oh so much more to the set piece table than Hourihane, yet it's what Hourihane is meant to be in the team for. Wildsmith has had two poor games in a row so there is an argument for Vickers, but I would retain the keeper as we're mucking about with the rest of the defence somewhat. If Fozzy hasn't got it in his legs, then Barkhuizen or Elder are good options.

Former West Ham midfielder scoring for fun in League 2, while on loan at Swindon. Has now been recalled by MK Dons. Lots of talk that the reason for this is because we're in for him. Such as:

A genuinely excellent suggestion. I wish I had a route to Rooney to suggest it. Surely he doesn't need the money?

As someone who used to watch The Killers when there were only 50 of us in the audience, I was thrilled to hear we'd started using this. Then I turned up at the ground full of expectation, only to discover it was the weirdest "mashup" of Mr Brightside and Sweet Child of Mine. How to absolutely massacre two great songs. Whoever did that should be ashamed of themselves and never allowed back at Pride Park. I love how you're like someone from an internet message board from twenty years ago, putting "FACT" on your posts as if that makes it true. This was exactly what I was going to suggest. Or the other way around. Two songs connected to Derby. Treasure what is ours.