Ramzabac

Thank you for the gracious comments.  I'm a bit *ahem* tired and emotional - it's been a relatively long wait for us to get back in to the second tier.  I'm rooting for you to get over the line and other results this evening appear to have been in your favour.  Good luck and raising a glass to B4.

Just watched the game on the Bolton EFL Lounge - they were camped in Shrewsbury’s half - had one cleared off the line and hit the post in the 94th minute - my ipad nearly went flying across the room!!!  Fair play to Shrewsbury - complete back to the walls display - and rode their luck - but have done us a massive favour!! 🐏 💪

That was actually the most comfortable afternoon at Pride Park for ages. Having said that, my heart sank when I saw the team sheet, because like a bad smell, Bradley was back in. My only surprise was that Warne's other boyfriend Hourihane wasn't starting, but like Bradley of old, he was the first sub to come on! But they guy done well. But as for CBT - he is clearly a confidence player, and almost vanished after the miss on Wednesday evening, so what better way to boost his confidence than to drop him. Nice one. I hope he gets a chance to shine before the season ends.
Getting to my seat before kick-off looking at the teams out on the pitch, and I felt confident of a win today, and indeed we simply had too much for them today. It was a good performance all round, no-one messed up, no-one failed to turn up, and no-one got injured, and for the modern game, that last one is a miracle! Stand outs were Thompson, who makes such a difference in the middle of the pitch, Cashin (as always) and Sibley, who had one of his best games for a while, and the defence was pretty sound, ensuring no shots on target I believe. And a big shout out to Wilson, who continues to do amazing things with the ball.
First half though, apart from the corners, there wasn't much of a threat on goal from us, either, although we looked the most likely to score. But as the game opened up in the second half we created a lot down our right. One particular move had Sibley flicking the ball over his opponent, a three man one-touch passage and a cross, with NML putting a deft flick on the ball which went inches of the top corner. What a goal that would have been. See - we can do it! (Play football, I mean).
There were some bizarre decisions from the match officials in the first half, which I put down to League One standard refereeing, but second half they managed to lower the bar considerably, but thankfully nothing match-changing.
And finally a BIG, nay HUGE shout out to the fans- the support was superb today, with large sections of North Standers joining in with the noise - Good Onya! And the Orient fans singing "National League Champions - you'll never sing that!" - Excellent!

Before others go off on tonight's matchthread tangent, I just wanted to say what an enjoyable afternoon at Pride Park. A cracking atmosphere, good football and a deserved win. 
I  had assumed Warne would revert to a back three, simply because it allows Sibley and Wilson to get forward more. I thought both were excellent,  but it was the inclusion of Thommo that made all the difference.  It gave us a midfield three with tenacity and bite. As a result, all the other parts of the team played better than midweek. Collins, especially,  looked so much better in the role today, and although Mendez-Laing's traditional wing play is sacrificed in this formation, he managed to get out wide at times, delivered good set pieces and could have had a couple of goals on the break.
Although I loved the set-piece goals, I do wish we could finish some of our chances created in open play, as it would do our confidence the world of good. 
Still, the defence was excellent,  snuffing out the few chances that Orient created, and providing the goals, too. 
It was difficult to choose a MOTM today as there are so many contenders. 
And as Warne said afterwards, no further injuries. 
Results went our way so automatic promotion is back in our hands. Play like this for the last two games and we are there! 
 

I am happy to report that the Sister-in-law’s boyfriend was allowed in the house and a very agreeable post-match curry was enjoyed by all! COYR!

And so matchday is upon us and despite believing we'll win this game, nagging doubts persist. Hard to know which Wycombe we'll face; will they be at their dogged and determined best, or will they be suffering from a Wembley hangover? Equally, the Rams haven't seemed to prosper coming off a break in recent seasons, or perhaps I'm just imagining that. I do think if we are switched on tonight and with the stakes so high you'd hope we would be, then we ought to have too much for them. 
So how do we see the game playing out? I don't see Wycombe flying out of the gates and off the back of a quick turnaround, there might be some heavy legs out there tonight. Their fans will certainly be up for it and I'd expect a decent showing from them even after their Wembley heartbreak and despite it being a mid-week game. They still see Derby as the devil incarnate and have somehow painted their owner's actions as charitable - yes really! - and inevitably, the recent history will almost certainly ensure a feisty game.
No doubt we'll hear more as the day progresses, but it seems likely Ward will be given more time having picked up a knock, but as @sage has pointed out, we might have Max and Barks back in the fold tonight which would give us plenty of options off the bench. With Joe's niggle likely to keep him out, I'd expect us to line up with CBT and Nate on the flanks and I'd hope that the latter will show up well for a return to his favoured slot. For me, the back 4 pick themselves at the moment, with Nyambe out for the season and Bradley still serving a ban and I'd be worried were we not to start Ebou and Korey in CM. Upfront I'd like to see Washington playing off Collo, given our fairly limited options right now. I think he has a slight pace edge over Waggy, who to my eye, still looks a way off the form we saw from him early season.
I did warn folk about the likely weather for Pompey in the last match thread, but fortunately tonight looks like being a positively balmy 12C and dry, so for the travelling Rams faithful, a rather more pleasant night, results and performance notwithstanding.
For my finger in the air guess, I'm going with a 2-0 win for the Rams, with Nate and Collo on the scoresheet.
Safe journey to all.
COYR

Hating the wait now. I'm normally not nervy about games as these are the matches that matter, so why not embrace them, but I am getting twitchy with all the hanging about. I don't rate Wycombe that highly, but they are precisely the type of team we have typically struggled against in recent times when we've not been 100% at it. They're big, they're strong and they are well organised defensively. I thought we were good against Pompey, but they wanted to play football and I think the Wembley game clearly showed the different kind of challenge we will face against Wycombe. They will look to disrupt and break up play at every opportunity and our lads will need to stay on their feet, in and around our area. It'll be interesting to see if Bloomfield persists with his bright young things, or whether some of the more experienced types are drafted back in. Sadly, I don't see fatigue being a major issue for them, despite the short turn-around.

Bradley’s better performances were as part of a three man central defence against weaker opposition.
Against anyone with strength he will struggle. 
He’s fine tidying up behind two proper defenders but he gets exposed when one on one.
 

Hey all, our new podcast is out now - recorded in real time at Pride Park on matchday v Bolton.
 
Join Chris and Cutch as they make a nervy trip up to Pride Park for the massive promotion showdown with Bolton Wanderers. A win would take Derby four points clear of 3rd place in League One, while defeat would pull the Rams back into the playoff mix.
Recorded in real time from the stands, our latest 'At The Match' podcast is an emotional journey through a tense and stressful encounter which ultimately ended in relief thanks to Kane Wilson's second half headed winner.

If the  CV likes a Gibb’s-White and the other players they massively overpaid for can’t claw them back 4pts then they deserve to be relegated. But then this isn’t a disincentive at all. They might as well by haaland for £200m knowing that he’s easily worth 4 extra points. 
if the league want to really disincentivise clubs from breaking the rules, they need to make the punishment such that relegation is inevitable. Like ours. 
everton and forest will both stay up, easily. So the punishment affects nothing. They’ll just lose a few quid for lost places. The league might as well have just fined them in the first place. 

I think a far higher number were always keen. I re-read Dwight's transfer thread last night expecting there to be loads of naysayers, as that was my perhaps uncharitable recollection of it, but in fairness, not many at all dismissed him out of hand. Most seemed switched onto the huge class drop and also that he's a man who has clearly looked after himself. 

Funny how situations can develop for the greater good. Losing Collins away at Exeter felt like a real body blow to our promotion chances at the time but picking up Dwight Gayle could well be the catalyst this side needs to secure promotion.
There's so much I like about Gayle - he is still very quick & mobile, he's always competing for balls with centre halves & as others have mentioned, seems happy to play with his back to goal and bring others into play. I didn't really expect the latter but it's enabling him to be a complete number 9. His finishing is still top drawer - 3 very different goals so far & shows his variety - one fantastic leap & header, a scruffy scramble inside the 6 yard box & last night's sublime touch & finish from a whipped in ball 25 yards away.
His mentality looks to be spot on too. He looks furious when he scores, like a man with a lot to prove & celebrates wildly when others score & when we won the penalty last night. Have also seen him berating team mates (Mendez-Laing against Port Vale I recall) which highlights his winning mentality.
Just goes to show the fallacy of quality players only being those who cost massive fees or wages. As Rooney's ragbag bunch of free transfers in 21-22 proved, there are a lot of quality pros out there who can be extremely effective as part of a unit. The way Gayle has already combined with Barkhuizen & Mendez-Laing is fantastic & bodes really well for a strong end to the season. Brilliant bit of business by the club & love that he's enjoying being here.
 

Looking at Peterborough fixtures between Saturday and the last game of the season, it may not be a bad thing if they beat Portsmouth....provided we beat Bolton!
It would put a lot of pressure on our game V Portsmouth but I wouldn't be wholly surprised to see Posh +1 go up in the autos with Portsmouth in the play-offs. Portsmouth have a horrible run-in.

Bristol Rovers vs Derby County
Saturday 9th March KO 3pm
Memorial Stadium (BS7 0BF)
 
Opponents Form: Decent recently with three wins in their last four matches including their last two. They currently sit 11th in the table albeit with no realistic playoff aspirations or relegation concerns. Whilst their home record in L1 this season is a reasonable W7-D5-L5 it should be noted that they have lost four of their most recent six matches on their own patch with wins over Carlisle (2-1) and Oxford (3-1) dampened by defeats to Blackpool (1-2), Exeter (0-1), Fleetwood (0-2) and Burton (1-2).
Opponents Bio: Rovers are managed by Matt Taylor who is in his third managerial role. After an impressive four years at Exeter he was the man chosen by Rotherham to take over the reins after the departure of our own Paul Warne to Pride Park. Taylor's spell there lasted 13 months before he parted company with the Yorkshire club in November 2023 as the Millers were struggling in 22nd place. Within three weeks, however, he found himself in the Bristol Rovers hotseat replacing the ever-delightful Joseph Barton. 
The club have played their home matches at the 11,000 capacity (3,000 seated) Memorial Stadium since 1996 after leaving their previous home in Eastville. They are officially known as the 'Pirates', reflecting Bristol's maritime history. Or because they just arrrr. Or maybe because their form is historically patchy. They are of course also known as the 'Gas', a nickname which was given them by opposition fans originally but was cheerfully adopted by the Rovers' followers who refer to themselves as 'Gasheads'. The name came about apparently due to their former stadium being sited next to a gasworks which produced a distinct aroma which would waft over the ground. Anybody who sits near a few of our more dedicated drinkers at Pride Park will no doubt relate to that.
Opponents Player Watch: Only one place to start here as the Rams go up against our former beau, Christopher Hugh Martin. The Wardrobe has scored 15 goals this season and is joint fifth in the top scorers chart for the division. Second top scorer after CM9 is Anthony Evans with half a dozen goals. Other notable players are ex-Rams youngster Luke Thomas, experienced former Swansea, Celtic and Preston man Scott Sinclair and Chelsea loanee Harvey Vale who I think we were linked with during the summer. I'm not sure if he's their number one or not but they also have a goalkeeper called Jed Ward who you can only sympathise with.
Rams Record vs Opponents: There have been three FA Cup ties between the two clubs but we'll focus on the 27 league matches there have been between Bristol Rovers and Derby County. The first meeting was on 29th August 1953 at Bristol so hats off to any Ram or Rover who remembers that match over 70 years ago. During the early years of the fixture it was Bristol Rovers who held sway with the Pirates winning the first three encounters, four of the first five and six of the first nine overall. Since then though it is the Rams who have had much the better of it. The overall league record for Derby against Saturday's opponents is as follows:
P27: W12-D7-L8
Away at Bristol Rovers our record  is: P13: W3-D4-L6   Whilst that isn't impressive it should be pointed out that we lost on our first five visits and since then we've gone W3-D3-L1 on their turf and are unbeaten in our last four visits.
Since our relegation to L1 for the 2022/23 season the Rams have recorded home wins against Rovers in both fixtures at Pride Park (4-2 and 2-1) whilst last season we conceded a debateable late penalty in a 1-1 draw at their place.
Other Saturday Fixtures Of Note: We will either be second or third going into the match depending on the outcome of Barnsley vs Bolton on Tuesday night. Peterborough are at home to Northampton on the same evening. On Saturday our priority is of course to earn three points in the south-west but we will be hoping for favourable results in at least one of the following games:
Blackpool vs Portsmouth
Exeter vs Bolton
Barnsley vs Lincoln
Burton vs Peterborough
Expected Team: My guess is that Derby will be unchanged from the 3-0 win against a desperately struggling Port Vale. With fit full-back options rarer than a salad in the City Ground boardroom I suspect it'll be a back three plus the two wing-backs who played well yesterday. 
 
Safe journey to those who make the trip and COYR.

We have one of the best squads in the league yet every game we set up to stop the opponent, how about we go all out and make them change for us? It’s like we’re scared of every other team 

Yes, this is infuriating me also - Warne seems utterly determined to keep Bradley in the side & to make our best CB move way is unfathomable. I get the sense he has a pre-determined agenda irrespective of the evidence on the park & the evidence thus far is that Bradley has at best been a disappointing signing & is lacking in a couple of key areas (technically & pace/movement). My guess is Warne seems him as his answer to Richard Wood - a relatively prolific big CB that scored plenty for Warne's Rotherham & as Warne has relatively few other tactical ploys, he is hammering this one until it works.
There are other highly questionable selections - Kane Wilson seems to be getting a free pass in this team but Barkhuizen (despite having far the superior goals/assists record) is constantly benched. I also can't understand why Liam Thompson is being underused - his form pre-injury was fantastic & even away at Oxford, he changed the game. Instead Warne seems hell bent on keeping more pedestrian midfielders in the team & then we all wonder why we're getting overrun in there. I'm also concerned about the start Blackett-Taylor has made at the club - a negligible impact so far for a marquee signing & although some may cite injury, I feel there's something going on there.
Re season ticket - I'm in a similar place. The quality of football is so far removed from what I enjoy watching, there seems little sign of progression/evolution & even the victories are so devoid of joy, it feels like a box tickling exercise. Granted I'm still fuming from last night but am increasingly questioning the wisdom of committing to 150 mile round trips every other week if this continues.

And had Warne done his job properly and stuck with the centre back pairing of Nelson and Cashin in a back 4 that brought all the 'success', then Bradley wouldn't have been in the team....

The ball control and passing are woeful at times. Do they just do set pieces in training?
And throw ins? Lost count of the times we threw to an unopposed Charlton player. Ludicrous.
I’m telling you, Sonny Bradley messes that team up. Take him out, let Cashin and Nelson do what they did so well. Play two proper full backs and have six players ahead of them who can create goals. It’s not rocket science.

The only thing I could hear in my head after Wildsmith's 'tackle' was Cloughie saying 'oh bloody hell, you need shooting'.
Just criminal. As stupid and brainless as anything you will ever see.
Always said it, Warne-ball is only acceptable when you win. First half was better and we were winning. 
2nd half was bloody terrible. All the chickens came home to roost. NML looked shattered, Bird was ineffective.  
Two shocking defensive errors and we are left just launching it aimlessly. 
Needs a big turn round.

Never have I been so pleased to see a set of cheating players, haranguing management team and arrogant fans go home with absolutely nothing!

Well I had a few extra today to anesthetise me against what we were about to watch, but it didn't work - it was still painful!
The match officials were awful, yet again throughout the entire match, with the frustrating things being the consistent offsides for virtually every time we seemed to have broken through their lines. It would be interesting for forum members who sit in the East and West stands who may be in line with the play to tell us just how many times we really are offside. Are we just that bad at beating the offside trap? Especially s the first time Shrewsbury break clear the player is 4 or 5 yards offside but Eddie the Eagle-eyed linesman didn't see it! But the biggest issue is the holding and wrestling at corner kicks. Twice the ref gave a warning to Bradley and his opponent for the day, the second time signalling  "I'm watching you", then watched Bradley being bear-hugged over 8 or 9 yards but gave nothing, followed by Barkhuisen getting the same treatment, this time with his shirt being pulled 2 feet away from his body. All three times the ball was in play, so should have been penalties. Then Adams got hauled to the floor, and no he wasn't wrestling back, just trying to move toward the ball. But the ref proved he'd got n o balls by carding both of them. And while Adams was lying on the floor he was deliberately kicked by another defender, which in the days of real refs and real football rules is a red card. Although Hourihane was very lucky to not get a red card for that stupid challenge in the second half
So we could, and should have had two penalties, but it wasn't the ref who cost us the match. It was Paul Warne. He admitted to getting his line-up wrong for the first half, and the changes for the second half turned the match on its head. We were "tearing them a new one" for the spell up until the goal, and suddenly the league positions weren't lying. "Oohh this looks good" I foolishly thought. "Carry on like this and we will win comfortably"! Not thinking for a minute that having looked like a tactical clever man we wouldn't follow through. But Warne "Billy Davis'd it and got us sitting back defending the lead. And as ever, it only takes one bit of poor defending and the points were down the lav. HOW STUPID! HOW ABSOLUTELY STUPID!!!
And apart from one bit of bd defending, I can't fault the players today, apart from being forced to do what Warne says. The loss of points is purely down to making the team sit back once we've scored the one goal, because we have done it so many times, and we have paid the price far more times than we should have done. In terms of late goals alone, someone has posted that we have thrown  9 points away. We could literally be several points clear in first place. And that without having really turned up for mor than a few minutes all season, its just that this league is so diabolically bad even a team that is playing as poorly as we do can still be up near the top. 
Listening to Warne's RD interview on the wat home, he did admit to getting his team selection wrong for the first half, but then put the blame for not going for the jugular on the players not being clinical enough. apparently it wasn't because he got them sitting back. He's dumped blame on the players before now, several times, but toward the end of the interview criticised them for not "Seeing the game out and taking our time". To me that is a giveaway that the players didn't fail because they weren't ruthless enough, but failed to "see the game out", which is another way of saying "sitting back on a 1 - 0 lead. Sorry Paul, this one is entirely on you. 
And before Paul Warne or the happy clapper moan about the fans turning on him too easily, think again. The support was stupendous today, probably the best its been for a while, because it carried on for the full 90.
Sorry guys - its automatic or bust this season. We are capable of winning the play-off final, but for that we'd have to turn up, Warne would have to use the right tactics, and crucially, having got those things right, we'd still be in the hands of the match officials. With decent refereeing our useless tactics wouldn't have mattered today.

I’m loathed to say anything as my lad has told me a few things he’s heard Max say, more so Sibbo. The pair of them were very proud to come through our academy, they are professionals and want the best career’s possible. One day many might hear a story, a younger Max wasn’t that complimentary about Cocu at one point “allegedly” I’ve heard, but he’s always sought to improve his game and why shouldn’t he want new challenges, maybe better money etc.
Some comments are so savage, like we’re entitled to own careers or gain promotions. The same kind of comments that wrote off Morgan Whittaker and said good riddance etc; yet it was clear he was still developing and now look. Just maybe Max needs to move to develop his game more too; after all plenty day he’s not suited to Warne’s style, similar to Hourihane, can’t play together you name it.
Why can’t people be happy we’ve developed a young lads career, enjoy what he gave and wish him well; more so if we made what the club feel is decent money!

I think this should be said - I hope Reading survive as a club and I really can't understand why any self aware Derby fan would feel any differently after what we went through

Probably cleaners left a light on

I mean to be fair he’s been flip flopping around formations like mad this season, so there definitely have been lots of tactical changes in there. However, the style of play remains the same - a focus on athleticism over football, with runners preferred to those with technical ability.
Now, whilst I’m well known not to be a fan of this (or Warne himself for that matter), this is fine so long as it delivers results. My concern is that there remain 2 main limitations with this idea of simply “out working” the opposition:
1. You run the risk of becoming “flat track bullies” - able to batter the poorer teams in the league, but come unstuck against those who simply outplay you in possession. We saw this quite clearly last season, and there is some evidence of it this time around too - with the game against Peterborough on Monday a fine example of when we simply can’t compete with an opponent who focuses on passing the ball well. That said, the league is weaker this season so it’s not quite as evident (and it also feels like we’ve dropped more silly points this season compared with last year).
2. This is my main concern - it kind of lends itself to a pattern of starting slowly while players build up fitness, hitting form and going on a massive run mid season, the running out of steam and collapsing at the end. This is exactly what happened last season, and seems to also be pattern with Warne’s teams in general. Our squad depth is better this season, but we are still an aging team overall, so I do still worry this will come to the fore in the coming months. 
The acid test for me will be how we contend with the next couple of months. We have a run of games against quite lowly opposition which we absolutely MUST capitalise on - can we deal with the relentless winter schedule and avoid our annual New Year collapse? We really need to establish ourselves a commanding position at the summit of the table - COYR