Stuniverse

The women’s squad is largely unchanged for 2023/24. A couple of known departures leaves the squad with 15 players for sure- and sounds like there are a couple of new arrivals in the pipeline:
https://www.dcfc.co.uk/news/2023/07/derby-county-women-confirm-retained-list-ahead-of-202324-season

Agreed, and stops certain teams feeling they need a few more overage players in there to keep them up, you can give those moving up from U18s more time to bed in 

It actually sounds quite positive in terms of playing a wider variety of opposition and a knockout tournament if you qualify.
I'm sure it's the bigger clubs who want it so they can play younger players without fear of the ignominity of relegation. Their correct age group players are usually all out on loan! 
But it will help us as we rebuild, although it's difficult to finish any worse than bottom. 

Sir Jake of u21s.
 

I still believe we will land Rhoades btw, He was in Moor Farm on Monday being shown around etc, and I was told it was a done deal. 

The #12 looks like an overage U21 player to me 😂 but he did well at CB. He was talking all the time, talking Osayande alongside him through the game, and was very vocal especially when the defence needed to push out. I think he’ll be a good ‘un. At one point, Johnson gave the assistant referee a right ear bashing, telling him you could clearly see from the direction of travel of the ball that the Belper player touched the ball last… and that was for a throw-in.
The Derby County XI, both halves, looked disjointed, like they hadn’t played together much which, in fairness, they probably haven’t. Loach was solid in goal as you’d expect, defensively and in midfield I thought the young Rams more than held their own, but Belper Town were far too streetwise for our young attacking players and we didn’t create much for the first 70 minutes or so.
Their first goal I didn’t see very well as I was talking to someone I hadn’t seen in months. I saw an innocuous ball put into our penalty area which I thought our defence would deal with and then it was in the back of the net but I missed it as I was talking. I saw someone said it was a good goal but, I felt, we should have defended the ball better.
I was impressed with Bartley in central-defence, an upgrade there on last season for me, he’s vocal, looks like a leader, read the game pretty well, and looks like he can pass as well.
K.Robinson, alongside Bartley, also impressed but in a competitive match he could easily have been sent off. Robinson caught Bastos in the face and received a yellow card which, in a competitive match could easily have been a straight red, and he was involved in a couple of other physical incidents. On the plus side, good to see him getting stuck in against a physically strong men’s team.
The second-half cohesion was disrupted by a string of substitutions by both teams, but we did look more of a threat going forward in the last 20 minutes, although Belper had also used all their subs by then.
I was impressed by Oseni and Wheeldon worked very hard as well. For our goal, Belper were attacking, Wheeldon won the ball with a clean tackle just inside our half, he then took the ball forward about 10-15 yards, before slotting a lovely pass into the path of Oseni. Oseni burst into the penalty area, looked to go past the goalkeeper, and was brought down just wide of the six-yard box. Oseni dispatched the penalty with ease, although the goalkeeper did get a hand to it.
For Belper’s second goal, Bastos (the best player on the pitch for me) was just too fast and skilful. Bastos got past Osayande in our half of the centre-circle and sprinted away from him, our second-half goalkeeper made a half-save, I’d say, pushing the ball straight up in the air inside the six-yard box, leaving Bastos to follow up and head the ball into the net.
I did see Radcliffe, D.Brown and Cox at the match but they weren’t being risked and will probably feature in some part against Chesterfield. Thompson was also there.
Surprised that Jack Bates didn’t feature at all, I wonder if he’s injured.
Buxton was the one who was barking instructions from the technical area, with A.Robinson also there.

first goal from last night. Doesn’t really do it justice, it was a really good finish. 

The #12 looks like an overage U21 player to me 😂 but he did well at CB. He was talking all the time, talking Osayande alongside him through the game, and was very vocal especially when the defence needed to push out. I think he’ll be a good ‘un. At one point, Johnson gave the assistant referee a right ear bashing, telling him you could clearly see from the direction of travel of the ball that the Belper player touched the ball last… and that was for a throw-in.
The Derby County XI, both halves, looked disjointed, like they hadn’t played together much which, in fairness, they probably haven’t. Loach was solid in goal as you’d expect, defensively and in midfield I thought the young Rams more than held their own, but Belper Town were far too streetwise for our young attacking players and we didn’t create much for the first 70 minutes or so.
Their first goal I didn’t see very well as I was talking to someone I hadn’t seen in months. I saw an innocuous ball put into our penalty area which I thought our defence would deal with and then it was in the back of the net but I missed it as I was talking. I saw someone said it was a good goal but, I felt, we should have defended the ball better.
I was impressed with Bartley in central-defence, an upgrade there on last season for me, he’s vocal, looks like a leader, read the game pretty well, and looks like he can pass as well.
K.Robinson, alongside Bartley, also impressed but in a competitive match he could easily have been sent off. Robinson caught Bastos in the face and received a yellow card which, in a competitive match could easily have been a straight red, and he was involved in a couple of other physical incidents. On the plus side, good to see him getting stuck in against a physically strong men’s team.
The second-half cohesion was disrupted by a string of substitutions by both teams, but we did look more of a threat going forward in the last 20 minutes, although Belper had also used all their subs by then.
I was impressed by Oseni and Wheeldon worked very hard as well. For our goal, Belper were attacking, Wheeldon won the ball with a clean tackle just inside our half, he then took the ball forward about 10-15 yards, before slotting a lovely pass into the path of Oseni. Oseni burst into the penalty area, looked to go past the goalkeeper, and was brought down just wide of the six-yard box. Oseni dispatched the penalty with ease, although the goalkeeper did get a hand to it.
For Belper’s second goal, Bastos (the best player on the pitch for me) was just too fast and skilful. Bastos got past Osayande in our half of the centre-circle and sprinted away from him, our second-half goalkeeper made a half-save, I’d say, pushing the ball straight up in the air inside the six-yard box, leaving Bastos to follow up and head the ball into the net.
I did see Radcliffe, D.Brown and Cox at the match but they weren’t being risked and will probably feature in some part against Chesterfield. Thompson was also there.
Surprised that Jack Bates didn’t feature at all, I wonder if he’s injured.
Buxton was the one who was barking instructions from the technical area, with A.Robinson also there.

The #12 looks like an overage U21 player to me 😂 but he did well at CB. He was talking all the time, talking Osayande alongside him through the game, and was very vocal especially when the defence needed to push out. I think he’ll be a good ‘un. At one point, Johnson gave the assistant referee a right ear bashing, telling him you could clearly see from the direction of travel of the ball that the Belper player touched the ball last… and that was for a throw-in.
The Derby County XI, both halves, looked disjointed, like they hadn’t played together much which, in fairness, they probably haven’t. Loach was solid in goal as you’d expect, defensively and in midfield I thought the young Rams more than held their own, but Belper Town were far too streetwise for our young attacking players and we didn’t create much for the first 70 minutes or so.
Their first goal I didn’t see very well as I was talking to someone I hadn’t seen in months. I saw an innocuous ball put into our penalty area which I thought our defence would deal with and then it was in the back of the net but I missed it as I was talking. I saw someone said it was a good goal but, I felt, we should have defended the ball better.
I was impressed with Bartley in central-defence, an upgrade there on last season for me, he’s vocal, looks like a leader, read the game pretty well, and looks like he can pass as well.
K.Robinson, alongside Bartley, also impressed but in a competitive match he could easily have been sent off. Robinson caught Bastos in the face and received a yellow card which, in a competitive match could easily have been a straight red, and he was involved in a couple of other physical incidents. On the plus side, good to see him getting stuck in against a physically strong men’s team.
The second-half cohesion was disrupted by a string of substitutions by both teams, but we did look more of a threat going forward in the last 20 minutes, although Belper had also used all their subs by then.
I was impressed by Oseni and Wheeldon worked very hard as well. For our goal, Belper were attacking, Wheeldon won the ball with a clean tackle just inside our half, he then took the ball forward about 10-15 yards, before slotting a lovely pass into the path of Oseni. Oseni burst into the penalty area, looked to go past the goalkeeper, and was brought down just wide of the six-yard box. Oseni dispatched the penalty with ease, although the goalkeeper did get a hand to it.
For Belper’s second goal, Bastos (the best player on the pitch for me) was just too fast and skilful. Bastos got past Osayande in our half of the centre-circle and sprinted away from him, our second-half goalkeeper made a half-save, I’d say, pushing the ball straight up in the air inside the six-yard box, leaving Bastos to follow up and head the ball into the net.
I did see Radcliffe, D.Brown and Cox at the match but they weren’t being risked and will probably feature in some part against Chesterfield. Thompson was also there.
Surprised that Jack Bates didn’t feature at all, I wonder if he’s injured.
Buxton was the one who was barking instructions from the technical area, with A.Robinson also there.

The #12 looks like an overage U21 player to me 😂 but he did well at CB. He was talking all the time, talking Osayande alongside him through the game, and was very vocal especially when the defence needed to push out. I think he’ll be a good ‘un. At one point, Johnson gave the assistant referee a right ear bashing, telling him you could clearly see from the direction of travel of the ball that the Belper player touched the ball last… and that was for a throw-in.
The Derby County XI, both halves, looked disjointed, like they hadn’t played together much which, in fairness, they probably haven’t. Loach was solid in goal as you’d expect, defensively and in midfield I thought the young Rams more than held their own, but Belper Town were far too streetwise for our young attacking players and we didn’t create much for the first 70 minutes or so.
Their first goal I didn’t see very well as I was talking to someone I hadn’t seen in months. I saw an innocuous ball put into our penalty area which I thought our defence would deal with and then it was in the back of the net but I missed it as I was talking. I saw someone said it was a good goal but, I felt, we should have defended the ball better.
I was impressed with Bartley in central-defence, an upgrade there on last season for me, he’s vocal, looks like a leader, read the game pretty well, and looks like he can pass as well.
K.Robinson, alongside Bartley, also impressed but in a competitive match he could easily have been sent off. Robinson caught Bastos in the face and received a yellow card which, in a competitive match could easily have been a straight red, and he was involved in a couple of other physical incidents. On the plus side, good to see him getting stuck in against a physically strong men’s team.
The second-half cohesion was disrupted by a string of substitutions by both teams, but we did look more of a threat going forward in the last 20 minutes, although Belper had also used all their subs by then.
I was impressed by Oseni and Wheeldon worked very hard as well. For our goal, Belper were attacking, Wheeldon won the ball with a clean tackle just inside our half, he then took the ball forward about 10-15 yards, before slotting a lovely pass into the path of Oseni. Oseni burst into the penalty area, looked to go past the goalkeeper, and was brought down just wide of the six-yard box. Oseni dispatched the penalty with ease, although the goalkeeper did get a hand to it.
For Belper’s second goal, Bastos (the best player on the pitch for me) was just too fast and skilful. Bastos got past Osayande in our half of the centre-circle and sprinted away from him, our second-half goalkeeper made a half-save, I’d say, pushing the ball straight up in the air inside the six-yard box, leaving Bastos to follow up and head the ball into the net.
I did see Radcliffe, D.Brown and Cox at the match but they weren’t being risked and will probably feature in some part against Chesterfield. Thompson was also there.
Surprised that Jack Bates didn’t feature at all, I wonder if he’s injured.
Buxton was the one who was barking instructions from the technical area, with A.Robinson also there.

For what it’s worth, this is the best belper squad I’ve seen. They went up a couple of years ago and it all fell apart, lost the manager and most players. They then fumbled around with another manager before settling on Lee Attenborough around new year time. It was too late to stay up and they obviously came straight back down. 
This summer though, there’s only I believe 3 returning players then 2 others who had been here before. The rest are all new and look very good. Id have them up there as one of the favourites for promotion - which is tough with only 1 automatic spot at their level. 
As @Stuniversesaid, Bastos looks far too good for the level. The winger on the opposite side looked great, Cadman in the middle too. Not many teams will mess with South and Watt at the back either. 

The #12 looks like an overage U21 player to me 😂 but he did well at CB. He was talking all the time, talking Osayande alongside him through the game, and was very vocal especially when the defence needed to push out. I think he’ll be a good ‘un. At one point, Johnson gave the assistant referee a right ear bashing, telling him you could clearly see from the direction of travel of the ball that the Belper player touched the ball last… and that was for a throw-in.
The Derby County XI, both halves, looked disjointed, like they hadn’t played together much which, in fairness, they probably haven’t. Loach was solid in goal as you’d expect, defensively and in midfield I thought the young Rams more than held their own, but Belper Town were far too streetwise for our young attacking players and we didn’t create much for the first 70 minutes or so.
Their first goal I didn’t see very well as I was talking to someone I hadn’t seen in months. I saw an innocuous ball put into our penalty area which I thought our defence would deal with and then it was in the back of the net but I missed it as I was talking. I saw someone said it was a good goal but, I felt, we should have defended the ball better.
I was impressed with Bartley in central-defence, an upgrade there on last season for me, he’s vocal, looks like a leader, read the game pretty well, and looks like he can pass as well.
K.Robinson, alongside Bartley, also impressed but in a competitive match he could easily have been sent off. Robinson caught Bastos in the face and received a yellow card which, in a competitive match could easily have been a straight red, and he was involved in a couple of other physical incidents. On the plus side, good to see him getting stuck in against a physically strong men’s team.
The second-half cohesion was disrupted by a string of substitutions by both teams, but we did look more of a threat going forward in the last 20 minutes, although Belper had also used all their subs by then.
I was impressed by Oseni and Wheeldon worked very hard as well. For our goal, Belper were attacking, Wheeldon won the ball with a clean tackle just inside our half, he then took the ball forward about 10-15 yards, before slotting a lovely pass into the path of Oseni. Oseni burst into the penalty area, looked to go past the goalkeeper, and was brought down just wide of the six-yard box. Oseni dispatched the penalty with ease, although the goalkeeper did get a hand to it.
For Belper’s second goal, Bastos (the best player on the pitch for me) was just too fast and skilful. Bastos got past Osayande in our half of the centre-circle and sprinted away from him, our second-half goalkeeper made a half-save, I’d say, pushing the ball straight up in the air inside the six-yard box, leaving Bastos to follow up and head the ball into the net.
I did see Radcliffe, D.Brown and Cox at the match but they weren’t being risked and will probably feature in some part against Chesterfield. Thompson was also there.
Surprised that Jack Bates didn’t feature at all, I wonder if he’s injured.
Buxton was the one who was barking instructions from the technical area, with A.Robinson also there.

The #12 looks like an overage U21 player to me 😂 but he did well at CB. He was talking all the time, talking Osayande alongside him through the game, and was very vocal especially when the defence needed to push out. I think he’ll be a good ‘un. At one point, Johnson gave the assistant referee a right ear bashing, telling him you could clearly see from the direction of travel of the ball that the Belper player touched the ball last… and that was for a throw-in.
The Derby County XI, both halves, looked disjointed, like they hadn’t played together much which, in fairness, they probably haven’t. Loach was solid in goal as you’d expect, defensively and in midfield I thought the young Rams more than held their own, but Belper Town were far too streetwise for our young attacking players and we didn’t create much for the first 70 minutes or so.
Their first goal I didn’t see very well as I was talking to someone I hadn’t seen in months. I saw an innocuous ball put into our penalty area which I thought our defence would deal with and then it was in the back of the net but I missed it as I was talking. I saw someone said it was a good goal but, I felt, we should have defended the ball better.
I was impressed with Bartley in central-defence, an upgrade there on last season for me, he’s vocal, looks like a leader, read the game pretty well, and looks like he can pass as well.
K.Robinson, alongside Bartley, also impressed but in a competitive match he could easily have been sent off. Robinson caught Bastos in the face and received a yellow card which, in a competitive match could easily have been a straight red, and he was involved in a couple of other physical incidents. On the plus side, good to see him getting stuck in against a physically strong men’s team.
The second-half cohesion was disrupted by a string of substitutions by both teams, but we did look more of a threat going forward in the last 20 minutes, although Belper had also used all their subs by then.
I was impressed by Oseni and Wheeldon worked very hard as well. For our goal, Belper were attacking, Wheeldon won the ball with a clean tackle just inside our half, he then took the ball forward about 10-15 yards, before slotting a lovely pass into the path of Oseni. Oseni burst into the penalty area, looked to go past the goalkeeper, and was brought down just wide of the six-yard box. Oseni dispatched the penalty with ease, although the goalkeeper did get a hand to it.
For Belper’s second goal, Bastos (the best player on the pitch for me) was just too fast and skilful. Bastos got past Osayande in our half of the centre-circle and sprinted away from him, our second-half goalkeeper made a half-save, I’d say, pushing the ball straight up in the air inside the six-yard box, leaving Bastos to follow up and head the ball into the net.
I did see Radcliffe, D.Brown and Cox at the match but they weren’t being risked and will probably feature in some part against Chesterfield. Thompson was also there.
Surprised that Jack Bates didn’t feature at all, I wonder if he’s injured.
Buxton was the one who was barking instructions from the technical area, with A.Robinson also there.

I may not have these all correct, but I think the team v Belper Town first-half was:
1 Loach
2 Moore, 5 Bartley, 6 K.Robinson, 3 Richards?
7 ???? 4 Fapetu, 8 Hawkins
11 Nunn, 10 Lindsay, 9 Weston
—
In the second-half, Moloney came on at the break and there were three further substitute stoppages. The team that finished the match (apologies for any mistakes) I think was:
13 Shattell?
19 Osayande, 12 Johnson, 14 Moloney
18 Perry, 22 Simons, 16 Allen? 20 Gough
15 Wheeldon, 17 Davidson
21 Oseni
—
Football Webpages suggest 3 was Brown and 7 was Fatona (although they also suggest 13 was Evans, which he certainly wasn’t - well not Harry Evans any way).

Interesting to hear he’s done his badges with the club and been involved in coaching the u12s and u15s for the last couple of years. Hourihane is doing a similar thing with Villa which some people expressed concerns about, seems Johnson was able to balance those commitments with playing a big enough role for MK Dons last season, hopefully Hourihane can do the same. 

No. The only trialist I’ve seen confirmed is Charlie Lindsay (Rangers) but with reported interest from three Championship clubs, I’m not sure if Lindsay is still with us or not.

It will be interesting to see what team a Derby County XI select tonight. With the first-team playing at Chesterfield tomorrow, it’s going to be a mix of U21s, U18s, and trialists.
I’m looking forward to a good game of Guess the Trialist.
 

I’m going to go down to this, see what faces we see. 

No. The only trialist I’ve seen confirmed is Charlie Lindsay (Rangers) but with reported interest from three Championship clubs, I’m not sure if Lindsay is still with us or not.

It will be interesting to see what team a Derby County XI select tonight. With the first-team playing at Chesterfield tomorrow, it’s going to be a mix of U21s, U18s, and trialists.
I’m looking forward to a good game of Guess the Trialist.
 

Anybody watching the World Cup?