chadlad

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
 
 

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.

Also we have played 3 teams who are amongst the strongest in Lg 1. Oxford we’re good & very tactically astute. Barnsley also looked a Vg footballing side. But I demure to @Carl Sagan above: our midfield just isn’t right…please Liam get a right full-back in and get Knighty in right-midfield. This will relieve the defensive onus on NML to track back and give us more of a platform. Get Bird, and Knight together more and the pressure on our defence will reduce. It ain’t rocket science. 
Yes we saw the game out yesterday but Barnsley could’ve punished us; they missed 2 opportunities. I expect to see the next signing being a right full-back; if not, we will continue to rely on key individuals and not the Team as a unit winning games. 
 
Fitness is a factor but an unbalanced formation is too.

My ratings
Wildsmith 7 not much to do, unable to react to deflection on their goal
Knight, 7 out of position but did well
Stearman, 7 steady
Cashin, 9 excellent, my MOM
Roberts, 7 played well
Sibley, 6 bright first half, couldn’t get on the ball 2nd half
Bird, 8 captains performance 
Hourihane, 7 has qualty
Mendez-Laing, 8 great goal gives him an extra mark
Barkheuizen, 7 his best performance so far
Collins, 6 missed a great chance for 3-0. Worked hard without the ball, team player
Corey-Smith, 4 i may be missing something but I don’t see what he contributes 
Dobbin, 6 good effort
Forsyth, 6 not on long

Wildsmith 6 Delected goal not his fault. Kicking iffy at times.
Knight 7.5 The usual high energy shift.
Stearman 7 Some good blocks and headers
Cashin 9. Different gravy. Headed, blocked, controlled. Robust & skilful. Unlucky to be booked. MOTD by a country mile.
Roberts 7.5 Solid. Simple passes. 
Sibley 6 Didn’t thrive in the heat.
Bird 7.5 Very solid but needs help in midfield.
Hourihane 7 Superb corner for the goal.
Mendez-Laing 8 Pile-driver of a goal. 
Barkheuizen 7. Busy and effective.
Collins 7.5 Unlucky not to score. Combative.
Corey-Smith 6. Looks sharper but lightweight.
Dobbin 6 Raw & energetic. He’ll settle. 
Forsyth 7 Gave reassurance in last 10 minutes.
Job done against a well drilled Barnsley. No frills - we can play better. Midfield isn’t right Liam. Get in a fb and get Knight back in. 

I rate Roberts more as a LB than a CD but i am surprised that he’s not been considered as a stopgap RB. He’s good defensively, decent in the air and looks to be reasonably two footed.
Seen a few right footed left backs in my years supporting DCFC.
 
 

I rate Roberts more as a LB than a CD but i am surprised that he’s not been considered as a stopgap RB. He’s good defensively, decent in the air and looks to be reasonably two footed.
Seen a few right footed left backs in my years supporting DCFC.
 
 

I still think Roberts best position is at CB as things stand, he’s still got a tendency to drift into his more natural central position when defending at full back. That’s to be expected though - Rosenior clearly wants to convert him to a LB (possibly Brighton do as well hence why the move was agreed), so hopefully he should get more used to it over time. He’s certainly got the ability on the ball to play out there, and his lack of height is less of an issue out wide as well, compared to at CB. My only real concern is a bit of a lack of pace, but let’s be fair, Forsyth doesn’t exactly have much either these days, so it might not be an issue.
Don’t want him on the right side though. There’s the odd exception out there, but in my time watching football, I’ve very rarely known a defender switch sides successfully. A left footer should stay on the left in my view, I think he’d be very uncomfortable at RB. Granted, we’re currently playing Knight there, which is huge wasteful. We really need a senior RB ASAP.

Wildsmith. 7 Pretty good but some a couple of poor parries and his kicks seemed to get longer and straighter as the match went on
Knight. 6.5 Felt he didn't want to be playing there. And although Bird's cross came from an unusual angle, he had to bury that header.
Davies. 7 A couple of moments but our leader.
Cashin. 7 Felt he was composed at the back, always wanting the ball. And quite positive with it.
Roberts. 6.5 Lacking penetration when we need more from our fullbacks
Smith. 6.5 Quiet game.
Bird. 8 Felt he was the class midfielder on the pitch, really helped when Sibley was on with him. MotM
Hourihane. 6.5 Very low-energy second half.
Mendez-Laing. 7 Always an outlet but pretty much zero end product. Not on the same wavelength as the other players. In the second half we would run into cul-de-sacs instead of giving it Sibley when it was crying out for that ball to be played inside.
Barkheuizen. 6 Ineffectual. Surprised how little impact he seemed to have on the game.
Collins. 7 Led the line very well but missed two good chances. 
Subs:
Sibley. 7.5 Full of energy, purpose, running and so much stronger than before. Has become a man and our main attacking midfielder. Has to start.
Dobbin. 6.5 Signs of inventiveness and positivity. 
Forsyth. 6.5 A step up in creating danger from the left compared with Roberts.

Strangely, now we've been saved by St. David of Clowes, I'm really pleased, in the bigger picture, that we are now in Division 1.
Back to old school football. Back to being a big fish in a small pond. 
We tried, under Mel to turn up at the casino that was the Championship with a big F off stack of chips to intimidate other players at the table. Spent fast and loose - and lost.
We needed a total reset and we got one. I can't lie, it's hurt. Being threatened with extinction was a very real prospect.
Now we've cleared the football cache and cookies, we're back to a fresh start.
I'm still haunted by the memory of all that money we wazzed up the wall. Even the least of the excesses was Anya. £4m and and £20k a week over 4 years, ergo £8m over 4 years. There were 4 or 5 others that cost £10m+ in transfer fees and salaries over 4 year contracts.
£60m minimum wazzed up the wall on 5 or 6 players, not to mention our merry go round of managers that resulted in the amount of debt that threatened our very existence. Covid didn't help, but the aforementioned was the real problem.
Certain individuals that had Mel's ear and were administrators at our club were also abusing their parallel self-interests as agents to sell us pup after pup.
Now we're back to football reality. It's amazing what team we've managed to piece together on frees and modest wages.
Loving our new reality. We can attract decent players at this level, where if we spend within our means, which is significantly above most of our competitors, we can perform well at this level. 
If we continue in this manner, we can grow organically.
What's not to love? A fantastic academy that should finance our rebirth. 30,000+ crowds, that again should finance our rebirth and perversely the EFL reining us back to a financial plan that we absolutely NEEDED. Didn't want, but definitely needed.
Oh and being rescued by the 'quiet man of football' - DC.
What a time to be alive! I'm falling back in love with football again.
The only way is up...

He can play right back very well but in terms of contributing to the team he would provide much more in centre mid.
As a box to box midfielder he will run all game, he has an eye for goal and he can break up play. Pretty sure he was MOM in the last game for his country.
Good in a two or in a three, I would play him as the runner between DM and AM. A midfield three of Bird, Knight & Hourihane would be excellent in L1 imo.

He can play right back very well but in terms of contributing to the team he would provide much more in centre mid.
As a box to box midfielder he will run all game, he has an eye for goal and he can break up play. Pretty sure he was MOM in the last game for his country.
Good in a two or in a three, I would play him as the runner between DM and AM. A midfield three of Bird, Knight & Hourihane would be excellent in L1 imo.

Not for me. It’s a waste as he’s got so much energy and he’s good on the ball. we need him involved as much as possible. 
He played really well at RB but he has so much more to offer. 

He can play right back very well but in terms of contributing to the team he would provide much more in centre mid.
As a box to box midfielder he will run all game, he has an eye for goal and he can break up play. Pretty sure he was MOM in the last game for his country.
Good in a two or in a three, I would play him as the runner between DM and AM. A midfield three of Bird, Knight & Hourihane would be excellent in L1 imo.

He can play right back very well but in terms of contributing to the team he would provide much more in centre mid.
As a box to box midfielder he will run all game, he has an eye for goal and he can break up play. Pretty sure he was MOM in the last game for his country.
Good in a two or in a three, I would play him as the runner between DM and AM. A midfield three of Bird, Knight & Hourihane would be excellent in L1 imo.

Agree totally! Told smith can cover right back too, swap them over next game if we don’t have a right back in by then.

What a day. Shocking traffic to and from Derby but totally worth it. Felt emotional when Steve Bloomer's watching came on which is odd as not that mad on it! 
Team played far better together than expected. Few teething issues but generally seems better balance and bit tougher on the ball. NML and Knight linked brilliantly (and just love NML's shoulders!), Bird was given a tough game but played well but most pleased for Louie Sibley who was a result changer today. 
Finally was really watching Liam on the touchline and very impressed with how he was trying to get them to play forwards with energy and positive runs. Good energy from him. Nice touch going right round the pitch at the end too to thank all fans

Based off todays game & current signings, again will assume Forsyth stays, in a 4132 -
Wildsmith - Smith Chester Davies Roberts - Bird - NML Hourihane Barkhuizen - Collins McGoldrick
Loach, Forsyth, Cashin, Thompson, Knight, Sibley, Stretton

So if we had a back four of 3 black players, and 1 white, and someone was too not know the white lads name, and come out with.....that white lad.....would we get the same response

Sadly it does sound very condescending.

6/7/1952 .
Have a good day 
PS I was born in Queen Mary’s Maternity/ Chaddesden 

I just think the whole pub thing with Keogh gets in people's craw a bit with Lawrence. The way he mostly got away with it, it took a lot of focus of the field and wasted a lot of time and money. Okay he had sad reasons but it still happened. Was he Derby's worst player? No, did he play a lot of games and shine in some? Yes. Did he ever live up to his transfer fee or be the player he could have been? I'm not sure. But maybe for on feild and off field reasons other teams haven't come in for him until he was free. I'm sorry but I won't miss him.

?Dry your eyes mate.... ?

Probably has another job lined up. DCFC couldn’t afford his wages in League 1.
Main thing is we get this takeover done.