chadlad

As an Academy graduate I think that Max is very under appreciated by the average Derby fan. Even overheard one  say that Korey Smith is a better player!

As an Academy graduate I think that Max is very under appreciated by the average Derby fan. Even overheard one  say that Korey Smith is a better player!

If I were Max I would be off to Hull pdq, a Manager and Assistant who know him well and no doubt appreciate his attributes.
Let me say that Max Bird is NOT a number 10, but he is a very good defensive midfielder with the vision to play a killer pass.
I don’t understand why we would try to convert him into an attacking, pressing number 10. Play your best players in their best position- it’s not rocket science!
 

IMO it feels like Warne and his team have worked well on the most important factors of a successful team: teamwork, leadership, trust, and cohesion. Obviously, it matters do we have good enough player material to challenge for automatic promotion but it's hardly the only factor whether we are successful or not. 
I have high expectations, I think the team is good enough for challenging for promotion, and during the long season, it's the mental side (annual Feb collapse) that matters even more than the quality of the players (Chelsea last season).

Warne's Pittsburgh Pirates baseball cap in the post match interview seemed out of character.
Could he have been replaced by an MLB doppleganger? Could he have been brought back as part-cyborg - i.e. RoboWarne™?

Knight has been a great servant for the club. Played in multiple positions for the team, never moaned, worked hard in game and in training, kept his mouth firmly closed during all the chaos at the club, thrived at international level and gave his all.
As fans we will see many players that can do what knight does. I will always rate him as a good player, who unfortunately his strengths will always be his limitations. His versatility and work rate will see him shifted about to "do a job". Its what he does. He won't let you down, can be trusted and his work rate will always have the fans onside.
I knew he was going to leave. I'm amazed it has taken this long. When we were having our pockets picked, many clubs could have picked him up for peanuts as the admins would have snapped their hands off, yet as the vultures circled knight wasn't picked clean. Wonder why?
Will he step up a level, even though he has played there before? Of course he will.
Will he kick on and get a prem move or a promotion? Only time will tell.
Will he get a warm welcome if he ever comes back to play at pp? Of course he will.
Thanks and good luck Jason. Hold your head high. You deserve to.

Remember Wildsmith's comments? Always the easy one to criticise and drop due to being an academy graduate.
Not a single person wil comment on Smith's lack of end product. He only has 11 career goals, spent most of his career in the Championship, yet Bird is the one who needs to add more goals to his game to be good enough for a L1 midfield.

Bird was good last season, for the most part. He was a key component in our unbeaten run last season, equally his injury coincided with our downturn and that Harvey White, who came in to help cover him, wasn’t up to much.
I was more disappointed in Knight and Sibs. Bird was at least showing up as one of our best players, albeit momentarily. Knight played his best football ‘out of position’ earlier in the season. You would hope that all three would do well in the proposed formation. Sibley in an advanced role behind the striker, Bird and Knight in midfield playing box-to-box. It’s unlikely we will get to see it, but if all three could pull themselves together then you’ve got a brilliant midfield to build on. 

You're regurgitating the same old rubbish as many others. 
In terms of end product, Bird's end product is exactly what you expect from a holding mid in a 3 man midfield.
From open play, he was only 4 goal contributions behind Hourihane (1 more assist) despite playing as the deeper of the two.
A lot of people keep suggesting Brannagan due to his end product, yet 6 of his goals and 1 assist came from set pieces. He has fewer open play contributions than Bird (8) despite playing a role further up the pitch closer to Hourihane's. Wing is another one - 7 out of his 14 contributions came from set pieces.
Bird matched Plymouth's best CM, whilst only Morsy bettered him from Ipswich's squad (10),
I've also gone into great detail to show out 2 man midfield of Bird and Hourihane matched anything Plymouth and Ipswich had last season. Both in terms of goals/assists and defensive contributions. That's before we factor in the other midfielders who contributed when Bird and/or Hourihane weren't on the field.

New contracts are as important as signings to be honest. Our restrictions meant that we could only offer 2 year deals so we have a lot of our key players going into the final year of their contracts now.
We can’t have summer upon summer of having to sign 10+ players, so hopefully we can get some of that done this summer too.

Smith was played out of position for most of the season due to no RB, when he played CM he generally controlled the game better than Bird did

Out of our young players. Knight, Sibley, Cashin, Bird. 
The only one I'd really hope we keep is Cashin. The rest can go for me.
Knight, I'm resigned to it anyway. Always going to go. 
Sibley. Can almost count on one hand how many good games hes had here? How many managers has he played under? None have consistently picked him. I don't think it helps that he's a bit stupid. Makes stupid decisions, makes stupid unnecessary tackles and gets needles yellow cards, managers can't trust him. I remember one game this season where he was left back and got booked in the first half. Warne took him off at half time because he can't trust him not to get another yellow. I can't even see anyone coming in for him at all.
Bird - 3 goals in 139 appearances. Flatters to deceive so often. I come out of games and question what he's offered? Surely a midfielder that is as good as some of our fans think he is should be dominating games in this league? He offered nothing and in a lot of games got bullied. 
I just don't think Sibley or Bird will amount to anything other than average Championship players at best. Says a lot that the only club he's linked with is Hull.
I think because they've come through the academy some of the fans think they're better than what they are. 

A fee comments on it, and I didn't intend to make this thread on Hourihane turn into a Bird and/or Thorne thread, but my comment was in direct response to "doesn't score anywhere near enough goals and doesn't assist either".
As a current DM who is heavily criticised for his end product (Bird), I drew a very direct comparison with a DM whose goal contribution output was never commented upon. I was not saying Bird is as good as Thorne.
It also links directly with comments made by Wildsmith on why he had to move away from Sheff Weds, regarding him being an academy product and easily moved aside for someone who was brought in. It's a common theme for some people to judge a players' overall contribution, even if they made their debut aged 16.

Meanwhile, the saintly ascended beings of the DLF progress naturally to Nirvana, for as much as the trees and stars they have a right to be there

You say it isnt but it reads as if it is. These sort of threads can haunt the OP just ask @David 😉

The expectation for any side is to not finish below any team with a smaller budget, because if you do then you have to ask yourself the question how a team with fewer resources were able to out perform you. 
We’re not sure, exactly, what that looks like but I’d be surprised if we aren’t top 3 in terms of budget next year - therefore that’s got to be the target. 

In financial terms Knight is our MVP by a mile and for good reason.
 
‘Not nailing down a position’? Any sane manager starts him right attacking midfield. You seem to be blaming him because the manager thinks he’s good enough to start in a position that doesn’t suit him. I think he’ll go. If he does I really wish him well but we’ll have done very well if we have a better player next season 

Shame that the ball is never on the grass…😂

Shame that the ball is never on the grass…😂

Oh my god, Jonah’s started another jinxed thread again, will he ever learn?

Oh 100%. I’d quite happily sell Jason Knight in the summer as well, a great engine but severely lacking in end product. Played his best games this season at RB

An accusation you could also throw at Knight when he took on the keeper at the near post, instead of pulling the ball back into a well-populated penalty box. 
And McGoldrick and Mendez-Laing on numerous occasions this season. But no, let's just insult Sibley.
"Severe lack of football intelligence"? Mmmmmm.....

Sorry but you don't speak for me here, I certainly didn't enjoy it.
As a football fan I pay to be entertained at matches, not watching time wasting and grown men rolling around pretending to be hurt.
Its really beginning to spoil my enjoyment of matches.
I know there's the argument of 'everyone else is doing it so why shouldn't we', that's how it started when foreigners introduced diving into our game too and look how bad that has got.
We've regularly called out players for cheating this season so it would be hypocritical not to do the same when its our players doing it.

16 points from 14 games since the Morecambe 5-0 home win.
Can’t decide whether to blame PW for his tactics or David for his EFL post. 😂
 
 

Players are still human beings though, there's a limit as to how much effort they can actually produce.  If you look at a Guardiola team, for example, they also press really aggressively, but they can afford to do that because when they win the ball back, they keep it for 50 passes and let the other team chase it.  We literally do the opposite - press aggressively, win it back, then give it away again so we have to start all over.  It's the good old "work smarter, not harder" thing - so much of the effort we put in is just wasted by immediately lumping a big ball over the top back to their keeper.