Carl Sagan

For some reason the dcfc explanation of streaming for this season (linked earlier) seems to have been removed from the official site, but you can access it here: https://web.archive.org/web/20220803060705/https://www.dcfc.co.uk/news/2022/07/202223-streaming-information-ramstv-key-details

Reading this suggests to me that those who couldn't get Shrewsbury tickets don't have to travel abroad to watch the game but can stay in the UK and watch on RamsTV. Is that right?

On the Shrewsbury forum they're recalling a Cup Game from 50 years ago. Oh for this Derby team now!

50 years ago, we lost 2-0 to this team in an F.A. Cup tie at the Baseball Ground. Kevin Hector scored both the goals, and we fielded my favourite forward line of all time - Roberts, Andrews, Wood, Groves. I was there.

Colin Boulton
Ron Webster
Roy McFarland
Colin Todd
John Robson
Alan Durban
Archie Gemmill
John McGovern
Alan Hinton
Kevin Hector
John O'Hare

Currently we've Krystian Bielik at Birmingham in the Championship and Jack Stretton at Carlisle in League Two. As we bring more players in I'd expect those numbers to grow.

Bielik's not yet fit enough for Birmingham so isn't playing at the moment.

Stretton came on for the last 20 minutes in a home game against Swindon and had one chance on the turn where he put it over the bar:

Sibbo has to start and I hope stays on. Give him a run of games. Will Rosenior do what's right or what is the easy call for him based on reputation and not performances, and put Smith back in midfield?

When we played Max Lowe at right back he did well. Roberts looks two-footed enough to solve the issue there and free Knight up for the midfield role. My team (with Davies and Chester not fit):

Wildsmith

Roberts     Stearman     Cashin     Forsyth

Bird

Mendez-Laing     Knight     Sibley     Hourihane

Collins

Subs: Loach, Oduroh, Smith, Thompson, McGoldrick, Barkhuizen, Dobbin

***********

Rosenior's team:

Wildsmith

Knight     Stearman     Cashin     Roberts

Bird     Smith

Mendez-Laing   Hourihane    Barkhuizen

Collins

Subs: Loach, Oduroh, Forsyth, Thompson, Sibley, McGoldrick, Dobbin

18 minutes ago, sage said:

I agree about the midfield three. You can't start Sibley and Hourihane in a midfield three IMO

I think you can but in my proposed selections I've been proposing a midfield 4 of Bird, Knight, Sibley and Hourihane with one winger starting likely replaced by the other, rotating wings and lots of rotation and movement in the rest of the midfield. 

Very good of you but I suspect the best option is to post it back to the club. 

Think it's mainly a fitness thing, but it is alarming and could be addressed better. When we didn't have a proper pre-season people are saying we won't get up to match fitness until October. 

For me our fittest player is Knight and we need him in the heart of midfield to give us more energy there. I think the physical transformation in Sibley this season is amazing and we also need his physicality in the middle of midfield. 

Neither of our two new wingers has the stamina right now and it seems the wrong approach to start them both and have them run out of steam by half-time. If we want consistent energy throughout the game it makes more sense to rotate Mendez-Laing and Barkhuizen rather than play them together.

Wildsmith 6.5 Some decent keeping. Played several very dangerous balls and needs to claim more in the box to take the pressure off the defence.

Knight 6.5 Not his fault - out of position.

Stearman 7 Solid deputy when two central defenders are injured. Some great blocks.

Cashin 8.5 Continues to bolster his reputation with a MotM performance. Proper defender. 

Roberts 6.5 Tidy for the most part, but sometimes plays us into trouble

Sibley 7 The grease that makes the team tick properly. Always available, always looking forward, prepared to shoot, strong and creative, uses possession well. Found great pockets of space to link midfield and attack. A quiet 5 minutes and was hauled off after 55 mins. At which point we tried to see the game out bereft of a midfield outlet.

Bird 7.5 Showed we only need one defensive midfielder.

Hourihane 7 Faded but contributed more in this game.

Mendez-Laing 7 Took his goal excellently. Always a threat but needs better decision-making, especially when Sibley is so often a good option he doesn't use.

Barkhuizen 6.5 Great assist for the second goal, but not involved enough.

Collins 6 Leads the line well but missed yet another great chance. How badly does he need a goal. Really like him.

Subs

Smith 5 OMG to be under pressure in your own penalty area, go down and grab the football without the referee blowing is utterly crazy and could very easily have lost us the match. His introduction saw us lose our way.

Dobbin 5.5 Needs to do more, but tough because we had retreated to the edge of our area to see the game out.

Forsyth Not on for long enough to rate.

The disquieting thing in Rosenior's Radio Derby interview was that he's making decisions based on reputation. Paraphrasing, it was something like:

What can I do? Sibley deserved his chance and took it and played well, but the problem is I have Korey Smith sitting on the bench and he's one of the best midfielders in the league, so I had to bring him on. 

This is all wrong and you got the feeling Rosenior might have realized it was an error of judgement. He got away with it. Hopefully he'll learn from it.

What a relief. 2-1. Great to have back-to-back home wins and 3 wins out of 4 in all competitions to start the campaign. But boy did we make it hard for ourselves. Too much dicing with danger at the back and the wrong changes from the coach.

On to Tuesday. 

18 minutes ago, kevinhectoring said:

Not what we want. About 20 mins ago we wanted Fozzy on and Knight in midfield 

Knight in midfield should clearly have been the first sub. I'd have said with Barkhuizen coming off who'd taken a knock and was struggling and not contributing. But I'd have gone either Smith or Oduroh at right back. 

10 minutes ago, Duracell said:

I don’t see it that way, Sibley was blowing cold. More likely to keep the ball with Smith.

9 minutes ago, cosmic said:

Think it’s more about putting on a player who can retain the ball. Not been in control for a while. 

It's a crazy decision. We saw Barnsley score because someone was prepared to buy a ticket and shoot, and it hit Stearman and went in. 

At the other end Derby played it in front of the Barnsley defence for a minute or two and no one was prepared to shoot. 

You want to retain the ball? Sibley almost never gives the ball away in a position dangerous to us (unlike the rest of the team). He sometimes gives it away in their box because he knows (unlike the rest of the team) you often have to take risks to score. 

So fed up. It's all Barnsley as we've retreated to the edge of our box.

FFS. Rosenior takes Sibley off for Smith. We're going to defend for the final 40 minutes. 

More strange refereeing or have the rules changed? Barnsley forward down for a minute or two for treatment on his leg after a foul by and booking for Cashin. Then the forward gets up goes into the box and contributes to them nearly scoring. Fans outraged that he wasn't made to leave the pitch. 

Meanwhile, Barnsley starting the half very much on top. Ref giving the Rams nothing at all. Barkhuizen just had treatment after not getting a freekick. Ref makes him leave the field and stay off. Think ref has lost the plot a bit, out of his depth. 

There's been some terrible refereeing. Half a dozen decisions in a row that should have been for Derby but the ref gave them the other way. Maddening they can be so incompetent. 

Mendez-Laing has a weird tendency never to pass to Sibley. It's quite striking. Just then he missed the the opportunity for a simple ball to slip Sibbs in and tried a silly extravagant cross field pass instead. Against Charlton he did the same half a dozen times. 

Gorgeous Mendez-Liang goal, picked out in acres of space on the edge of the box by Barks. Picks his spot right in the corner. 2-0!

Barnsley have a penchant for handball. Several times in our box but now that's a clear pen to us not given. Hourihane's cross, the defender 10 yards away flicks it out for a corner using his hand. All the Derby players appesl. Useless ref gives a corner. 

2 minutes ago, kevinhectoring said:

He needed to dink not shoot  with the first one 

Sibley needed to do do something creative anyway with the keeper right on top of him. 

Meanwhile it's a drinks break. Rosenior says to blame him if we make mistakes playing out from the back. OK, Liam. You're an absolute idiot. We keep trying to give the goal back to Barnsley with utterly stupid passes. Just stop it. 

Another og but it's 1-0 to the Rams. Barnsley keeper having a mare. This time he missed a corner, it hit the defender (being challenged by Stearman) and in it went. 

We're again playing Russian roulette at the back. Sibbo's already had 2 shots. Hurrah for this thing called shooting. Sibley also played a gorgeous cushioned header into Barkhuizen's path who was away. And is meant to be fast. Yet Barks criminally turned round, stopped and played the ball all the way back to Roberts. I would sub him off for that. Once the line is broken you charge. And you don't stop. 

Three corners so far. All more dangerous and better worked than the 14 against Charlton. 

A hot day like today is all the more reason to have Knight and Sibley's energy and running in the heart of midfield. Exiling Knight to full back and Sibbo to the bench will be the wrong options. Interested to see the team. I'm in Dubrovnik today which is not as warm as Derby, but still lovely. With the added bonus of being able to watch on RamsTV.

21 hours ago, AndyinLiverpool said:

Begin the day with a friendly voice
A companion unobtrusive

Plays the song that's so elusive

And the magic music makes your morning good

In case people haven't seen, tickets are £5 for concessions and £10 for the rest of us, with a £1 booking fee per ticket when buying online:

https://www.dcfc.co.uk/news/2022/08/carabao-cup-ticket-information-west-bromwich-albion-h

West Stand is closed with only 3 sides of the ground being used. 

52 minutes ago, HorsforthRam said:

It’s gonna be hot. Very hot. All the subs will be used. Could be very uncomfortable in the east stand lower. I wonder if the league has considered postponing some games because of the extreme heat?

Postpone games? Please no. It's called summer. It's part of the test of fitness and skill to be able to adapt to different conditions. Given it will be warm, we will attempt to keep the ball and force Barnsley to chase around, wearing them out more quickly because of the heat. And then we pounce. 

It's also a tactical test for the managers in terms of when to deploy their substitutes to greatest effect. 

I expect there will be a drinks break midway through each half and players will be able to take on fluids as and when. 

Taking Aussie friends to see ABBA tonight. It is one of the futures of entertainment. For 80% of the time it's very hard to believe these aren't 4 solid, living, breathing band members on stage in front of you. Even if you don't like ABBA it's worth seeing for the extraordinary CGI technology. This will be my 5th time. Mrs Sagan is quite a fan (as she spent a long time explaining to @i-Ram!).

13 hours ago, Mucker1884 said:

I used to go out with a girl who was born in March. 
Her twin sister’s birthday is in July. 
 

true story. ??

March in Cambridgeshire?