Carl Sagan

4 minutes ago, StrawHillRam said:

They only had 12 men

Listening on Radio Derby now (via RamsTV) and they are just flabbergasted by the refereeing. 

Forgot it was early kickoff. Just logged on to see the team news!

Bart has now moved on to Solihull Moors for a month. 

Change the thread title! 

There is a new hat! The boss playing a (peaky) blinder. 

If this is as far as the ball rolled, the goal was the correct decision. Even if it's oh so very close:

2 hours ago, Rammy03 said:

Don't think there is too much wrong with Southgate's approach. He took us to a world cup semi final in 2018 when belief in the national team was at an all time low. And let's have it right, Croatia were just better than us at the time. They had better players than us. We were lining up with Henderson, Dele Alli, Lingard, Young in our midfield. We didn't have the fantastic attacking players we have now. We were inexperienced on the big stage and lacked big game players. Croatia had Modric, Rakitic, Mandzukic for example. It was just a step too far for us.

But things are different now. We were a penalty kick away from winning the euros. I believe we have the squad to win a major tournament. There are a group of teams that could win it and we are one of them. Let's see what happens.

I disagree. It was such a frustrating game to watch. When England scored after 5 minutes, Southgate just tried to defend the lead for the rest of the match. We had the likes of Kane, Vardy, Sterling, Alli (when he was good) and Rashford. 

On 28/11/2022 at 17:42, sage said:

Does my head in when they say 'great finish' then see it took a massive deflection, then try to still justify their original comment. 

That was going straight at the keeper and went in the corner instead. 

 

On 28/11/2022 at 17:56, DarkFruitsRam7 said:

See also when they say with confidence that something is/isn't a foul and then double down when the replay proves them wrong.

Just had a terrible foul by an Argentine player that Danny Murphy said was a great tackle (obviously not). On the replay you see the player slide in out of control and take the Polish player out and Murphy's response, "nothing wrong with that, just caught him slightly". 

Embarrassing, but not as embarrassing as the penalty decision. FIFA must really want Argentina through into the later stages.

Southgate has looked at past tournaments and identified that to progress through the group stages you should play defensively and cautiously. And as a result he has seen success in taking England further into tournaments than we have been used to.

His problem is he hasn't understood the amount of flair and talent you need to actually win tournaments. So he stifles his flair players, picks many more defenders than attackers, and then loses the key matches in the later stages, when you think if only he had unleashed the extraordinary attacking talent at his disposal, he could have overwhelmed the opposition.

But maybe he is learning his lessons and will change as we move towards the later stages? It is a shame he didn't take Tomori as the lack of pace he's imposed on himself at the back, means he's also tempted to play a back 5 to mitigate this. When a back 4 would allow him more attacking options. I believe in playing your best players wherever possible, and our better players are our attacking players. 

One of the questions people keep asking is "who plays with Kane?" I would ask the question "should Kane be a first pick?" Probably, but I think it needs to be asked.

Great opening post from @TigerTeddand discussion. Completely right that something has gone wrong and the promise of "progress" does not match the reality. I think this is down to structural, societal problems that have rendered us all powerless.

Hope we can shift the balance to empower individuals and communities rather than the corporate and bureaucratic machine and the tech giants. We are in a battle! 

13 hours ago, Foreveram said:

I was born in Annesley Woodhouse where the Sherwood tv drama was acted out. If you left school without qualifications it was a way of earning good money. Communities were destroyed and have never recovered. We are now surrounded by Amazon clearing warehouses and suchlike. I have lived in these communities all my life, so forgive me but don’t you live in central London.

12 hours ago, Archied said:

Usually agree with most stuff you post but the above is way off , men , families and community s had they’re lives destroyed, I could agree with you if safe healthy employment was grafted into those areas right away or even over a few years to replace mining but it wasn’t and that goes further back than the miners strike , we moved from the west of Scotland when I was 5 , just visit those areas even today and see the devastation that was visited on people , generations with no jobs , no money , no self respect and a culture of hopeless dependency 

I kind of agree with both of you, in terms of the power and importance of community. And back in the day it was the mines that created and defined this. I'm saying, looking back, there has to be a better way. You may well disagree - I do agree that communities were abandoned. My family were in Cotgrave for a while which was a big pit village, so I do understand to an extent. It's a strange feeling when we walk the country park and remember what it used to be, with plenty of vestiges remaining if you know where to look.

Well, Snoopy is currently flying around the Moon on the Artemis rocket as the zero gravity detector. First, here's a video about it:

And here you can see the little fellow floating in the Orion space capsule:

Happy Birthday, Charles Shultz!

Horrible times.

I was a teenager, frustrated by Scargill's tactics. He started off with a big union and a small house, but you'll all know the rest...

Closing the pits seemed an absurd thing to do back then, but the nostalgia for them seems misplaced. Everyone should be pleased that men (and it was men) don't nowadays have to spend their days working underground all day in horrendous conditions, risking their lives and their health. There have to be better ways to build communities.

59 minutes ago, Poynton ram said:

Who do we want in the next round? 
would love Spurs or Arsenal at Pp, likely to get Cov or Preston away

I'd like Spurs or Arsenal away as an opportunity for new, local-ish grounds. My only visit to The Emirates was for The Killers!

16 minutes ago, Inverurie Ram said:

Blow for blow game next week…….

Who's the Derby boxer? Well done her.

19 minutes ago, sage said:

The majority of the team are new. He picked a turgid defensive team and got a turgid defensive display.

Well only 5 of the starting 11 were here last season, but all 11 had been schooled in the Rosenior way since they arrived. But you're right that picking a midfield 3 of Bird, Hourihane and Thompson will inevitably lead to a turgid defensive performance with no control of the match. With these same personnel and formation, you could at least switch Thommo  to LWB and bring Sibley into the middle. And I feel Max Bird is pretty anonymous nowadays, so maybe switch him to RWB and bring Smith into midfield?

19 minutes ago, Caerphilly Ram said:

 

Like Rosenior, Warne talks a good game. But it's frustrating when we don't deliver. I like that he want's us to get forward and take risks and play at pace and not be safety first. I suppose it's made harder because all that's been coached out of us these past few years. But he should play players in their right positions. At least he seemed aware some of it might have been on him due to how he's setting us up. In which case, change it, Paul!

27 minutes ago, Ellafella said:

Wildsmith 7 That fantastic touch out of the forward's feet and some good distribution. And, again, good management highlighting the opposition dark arts at corners

Rooney 6 Unlucky to come off, but some players had to after that first half.

Dobbin 5 Thought he was very poor. Constantly lost the ball. Might have slightly redeemed his performance with a goal, but a woeful attempted finish.

Forsyth 5.5 I want him back at left back. Did his best out of position, but got caught out too often in the centre, and some poor distribution.

Cashin 6 Never hides. His strength is how involved in the game he is. Gradually improved after a very poor start.

Smith 6 Feel for him out of position.

Knight 6 Glad to see him on the pitch.

Thompson 6 A little better than early season, but still too keen to pass backwards.

Barkhuizen 6.5 Glad to see him on the pitch and a few decent moments.

Bird 6 Was he on the pitch? Hardly saw him. He does a great job of marking himself.

Hourihane 4.5 Saw him too much, constantly choosing the wrong option and giving the ball away, or hoofing it without looking.

Sibley 7.5 Saved us with a lovely goal and a lovely assist, despite being woefully out of position.

Collins 6 It was always going to be a battle and he's a battler.

McGoldrick 6.5 Mixed performance. He's quite selfish, but when we've been shot shy for so long that's not always terrible. 

Osula 6 Didn't get into the game, but at least their defenders knew he was on the pitch.

11 minutes ago, IslandExile said:

Well he could play a 442 system that better suits the players that we do have. 

Forsyth at left back but, admittedly, there is a decision to be made at right back.

Indeed this, and he could have played Rooney or Oduroh at right back. If Rooney, Stearman at centre half with Cashin.

Just now, Matchday Fred said:

How did Rooney go today ?

Unlucky to be taken off at half-time. We were utterly dreadful in the first half, but he was one of the least worse.

Pretty much all that matters is being in the 3rd round. Mission accomplished.

But not much to be happy about otherwise. At least Jason Knight and Tom Barkhuizen got back on the pitch.

So selfish from McGoldrick not to slip Osula through for a near certain goal. Hope that doesn't cost us the win.

9 minutes ago, Caerphilly Ram said:

McGoldrick is playing deep, almost in midfield. How many subs can we make today? I’d like to see Knight come on for him 

looks like Knight is coming on

McGoldrick pretty much always plays in midfield, but I don't mind so much as Warne isn't playing those midfielders there who would drive us forward up the pitch. Disappointed Knight is on for Smith, so now we have Knight at RB and Sibley at LB. No wonder we're ceding the centre of midfield.

Just now, Millenniumram said:

I will personally drive Hourihane back to Ireland, HOW MANY TIMES WITH THE CORNERS

Awful execution of the corner and a terrible setup. After Hourihane underhit the pass, Sibbo should have taken the booking if he could, given we seemed to have zero cover. Barks did well chasing back.

Surely McGoldrick can't run and needed to go off for Osula, not Collins?

Imagine how much better we might be if we had Sibley in midfield and not at left back. It's not rocket science.

Thommo and Rooney off for Barks and Dobbin