Carl Sagan

"This is the way the world ends

This is the way the world ends

This is the way the world ends

Not with a bang but a whimper." 

T.S. Eliot, The Hollow Men

Reluctantly, watching Brown at Gateshead, I think he's likely better finishing the season there. But it's a close call. If Warne had prepared to play a little more youth earlier in the season, we might know better.

Will Gayle or Collins make the bench? It's unlikely but would give everyone a fillip. Without Bradley or Fozzy, and without decent strikers, this is going to be four at the back and then it's almost anyone's guess for the remainder.  My guess would be:

Wildsmith

Smith     Nelson     Cashin     Elder

Wilson     Adams     Thompson     Blackett-Taylor

Sibley

Waghorn

Subs: Loach   Ward    Radcliffe   Hourihane    Robinson   Washington   Weston 

Obviously very disappointing, buckling yet again when having the opportunity to pull away and put one foot in the Championship.

Warne's substitutions prioritised experience over energy, which seemed the wrong approach. I get that Adams was having an off day, but still twice he came closest to scoring. Sibs always has a goal in him whatever position Warne puts him in, as well as picking out Waghorn with an amazing ball, only for it to be smashed over. We had to keep Adams on and move Sibley into a more advanced role. And as I said at the start of the thread, I'd have had Weston on the bench for a youthful attacking option, given our lack of strikers. 

I've watched and rewatched the highlights. Was it really a headbutt from Bradley (I couldn't see anything) or yet more gamesmanship from the opposition? People on here saying he was a fool - was he, or just a victim? 

For their goal, Wilson was probably fouled, Bradley should probably have stopped the cross, and Wildsmith should probably have been better positioned to come and claim the cross. 

Never easy being a Ram, as the injuries stack up.

3 hours ago, Ambitious said:

I was able to jump on the betfair exchange and lay (bet against) Derby getting promoted £133 returns £240 profit. I bet against Derby every game anyway, but I lost £80 on the Bolton game alone so this just seems like a more stable way of monetising my depression.

Obviously Betfair is going to be better for serious gamblers, but I've never used it. Instead, I saw I had a "free" £5 "build a bet" on Sky about to expire so I went for Northampton winning and us not scoring (as I figured we were unlikely to concede 2). For which they gave me 9/1. Really all that does is add money to the account which can all be lumped on us losing a more crucial match nearer the end of the season, should it come to the worst.

Please let us go up automatically and have me lose all my gambling funds!

On 16/03/2024 at 17:22, Carl Sagan said:

Guaranteed a top 10 finish! Tenth is our lowest possible position.

Alas it's the same as last week, not having gained any ground. 

11 minutes ago, Turk Thrust said:

It’s also on Talksport2. Still sounds crap though

@Owen87ITKhas explained there were tech issues with the Radio Derby feed. TV commo without pictures might force me to switch away from him. Meanwhile...

Washington and Ward on for Mendez-Laing and Waghorn.

All 5 subs suddenly made.

Sibley, Tommo and Adams off!!!!!!

Smith, Blackett-Taylor and Elder on.

On the face of it, these are bizarre changes. Let's hope they somehow work.

2 minutes ago, Ghost of Clough said:

Bradley and Hourihane off for Smith and Blackett-Taylor asap

The game is slipping away and nothing sounds to be being done about it. Odd after Warne's early changes last week.

It's weird that instead of Radio Derby commentary, the audio feed is Rams TV. Listening to TV commentary on the radio is incredibly uninformative. They were saying they thought Elder was coming on. Though it hasn't happened yet. I presume that means either Tommo or Hourihane are coming off and Sibley is moving into midfield to offer more goal threat?

Well done Ben Radcliffe for his place on the bench. Wondered if Weston might have made it given our lack of attacking options. Like last week, let's hope we can find a way to win.

Come on you Rams!

2 minutes ago, i-Ram said:

@Jourdan Sorry to put a dampener on your day, but your Carpet Right delivery has had a glitch. Tell the Mrs she will have the carpet now first thing Monday morning, but in better news she can have her underfelt tonight 👍

I wondered where that one was going!

As long as @Jourdanhas remembered the PENALTY for bigamy.

Two mothers-in-law! 

8 hours ago, Jourdan said:

A good test to see whether the manager and the players read the forum…

Will they do a throwing confetti celebration if we score a goal?

My wedding starts at kick off. 😆

Have a beautiful day, which hopefully includes a result that sees us all dancin'.

11 hours ago, ram59 said:

Each and every game now will be the most important game of the season, until something is decided, one way or another.

People will think I'm being over dramatic, but these are some of the most important games in our history. We've never spent more than two consecutive seasons in this god-forsaken league. Fail to get promoted again this season and there could be a downward spiral. Crowds will fall away, good players will leave, the academy will be ransacked again...

Make it out and maybe we'll look back in a few years and pinpoint this moment as when everything changed, and Derby County rose up the leagues to restore themselves and their reputation among England's footballing elite.

I was with family in Iceland on a coach tour of the fabulous "Golden Circle", while listening to the Radio Derby commentary via the bus's excellent free WiFi. What an afternoon, with geysers, glaciers, extraordinary waterfalls and a famous 5-0 win. Followed by northern lights in the evening.

I can't find it now, but the club ran a very half-baked contest for something, and I wrote the afternoon up as a story, which led to me winning Craig Bryson's signed and dated boots from that day. Can it really be ten years ago already?

Are there no more polls? I'd seen other people comment on not being able to post one and presumed it was down to their incompetence - then I was going to run one on the new England strip, only to discover it no longer seems an option to create one?

Or is this down to my incompetence?

Edit: now I see it above me in the thread. Seems odd as I'd have thought they drive engagement/traffic

1 hour ago, JaLoRam said:

https://www.englandfootball.com/articles/2024/Mar/21/england-mens-under-19s-morocco-match-report-20240321

 

Looks like Kei Robinson got 20 mins for the England u19s. Omari Kellyman started too

Kellyman played the whole match. So frustrating to have these talents snatched away. Great that Robinson had 20 minutes, and hopefully more game-time in the next match. 

Warne knows winning is everything in this division, and we will need goal threat. In the absence of Collins and Gayle, he will rejig the team to move Sibley further forward and more central. I think we'll line up:

Wildsmith

Nelson     Bradley     Cashin

Wilson      Adams      Hourihane     Forsyth

Sibley

Mendez-Laing   Waghorn

Subs: Loach  Ward  Elder  Thompson  Smith  Blackett-Taylor  Washington  

If it were up to me, I would probably go 4-4-2 and include Weston on the bench, with

Wildsmith

Smith   Nelson    Cashin    Forsyth

Wilson    Sibley     Adams    Blackett-Taylor

Mendez-Laing   Waghorn

Subs: Loach  Ward  Bradley  Hourihane  Thompson  Washington  Weston

Probably lots of twists and turns yet. Nothing with Derby is easy, and here we are again without a centre forward, playing on Saturday. If we can overcome that hurdle I'll be much more confident about not putting these dates in my calendar.

Apparently Google DeepMind have been using AI to help Liverpool with their corners. Anyone for TacticAI? 

1 hour ago, David said:

On your plate or in a separate pot?

On the plate. Anything else is an abomination.

3 hours ago, Reggie Greenwood said:

Is Fireball XL5 on there ? 

9 minutes ago, Ambitious said:

For what it's worth, I can see why we would want to upgrade the goalkeeper position ahead of next season. Wildsmith has been good for us, often very good, but Vickers is clearly the number two in mind and had the number one shirt prior to his injury. It's not uncommon for teams, especially after promotion to League One, to upgrade their goalkeeper. Ipswich did it last season, where Christian Walton was outstanding - 23 clean sheets, 35 goals conceded in 46 games.... he hasn't started a league game this season. 

Wildsmith was beyond excellent in our biggest game of the season, he deserves all the credit, but he's not been faultless this season.

Agree. I'd like to keep Joe, but his rushes of blood leading to two penalties have been odd. I feel his overall confidence and command helps the defence, meaning I'm extremely happy he's regained the shirt. And his game management when we've needed it has been excellent. But if he does want to leave he's not irreplaceable. 

We got him for next to nothing, as was the same for Ryan Allsop who I thought a better keeper. It's a position where there is always another one along if you need. 

Things are starting to ramp up properly. COO Gwynne Shotwell was talking at a meeting today and said 6-7 weeks until Test flight 4. She added that key things for this test would be to get closer to landing both the booster and the Starship, so they wouldn't be carrying and launching any Starlink satellites just yet.

@angieramhas been posting the international call ups for our Academy youngsters, as and when, in that thread. But I thought not everyone looks in there and we have nine kids away on this international break. An amazing achievement. Or have I missed others? The future's looking pretty bright. Here they are:

Jack Thompson (GK) England U18

Keilen Robinson (defender) England U19

Dan Cox (defender) Wales U19

Cruz Allen (midfield) Wales U17

Darren Robinson (midfield) N Ireland U21

Niall McAndrew (midfield) Ireland U17

Charlie Lindsay (forward) N Ireland U21

Carlos Richards (forward) Gibraltar U21

Dajaune Brown (forward) Jamaica U23 (he's only 18 and is also eligible for England)

Pixies tonight at the Town and Country, aka the "O2 Forum". Sadly it's apparently one of those weird album tours where they don't play their hits.

Just give the punters what they want!