horizon

Mid table - maintain our hard to beat defensive success whilst building a squad of young hungry players that can see us challenge for top 6 the following year

Mid table - maintain our hard to beat defensive success whilst building a squad of young hungry players that can see us challenge for top 6 the following year

I understand there is a facility to add additional members to the squad during the summer.
 

I thought that Smith could have been a useful squad player for next season, he seemed to add something to midfield towards the end of the season and as a bonus could cover at RB.
He seemed to be quite an intelligent player, seeing passes that others didn't, unfortunately his actual passing ability didn't always match his vision, with a number of passes not reaching their target.

Dropped out of the team….following the knee injury he suffered on the pitch against Bristol Rovers on 25/11/2023 and subsequent recovery time of several weeks? Having been involved in all 17 league one matchday squads up to that point including playing 90 mins in 10 of those games? The same Korey Smith who seems to be a well liked and respected member of the squad and has from the outside seemingly always conducted himself as a top pro and played out of position for the cause? 🤔 

Bit of a contradiction there Bris. First, you describe a big part of tactics and in the next sentence, you dismiss it. 
To answer the original question:
I'm not sure if talking only about Warne is fair as coaching is strongly a team effort.
 I've seen Warneball being called physical, so why did he have a midfield of Hourihane and Bird for about half of the season? Or that Warneball is putting crosses in? What kind of tactics would you choose if you had Collins upfront? Crosses maybe? Or the other way around, did Didzy score countless goals because we put a lot of crosses in? Nope, we played to his strengths. If I'd describe Warneball to an outsider, I'd call it pragmatic, fluid, and mixable while using our strengths and making the most of our opponent's weaknesses. Attention to detail is a strength when we talk about football management.
Just to highlight how fluid our tactics are: I've seen us defending with 5-3-2, 5-4-1, 4-5-1, 4-4-1-1 all in the same game. Well, we all have because it happened often when Bradley was brought on. 
I think he has only two aims when setting his tactics. Firstly, how to get the most out of the striker (how much Didzy, Waggy, Collins, and Gayle have scored, I think he's got that right). The second aim is how to help our keeper to keep a clean sheet. (The least goals conceded in EFL is some achievement). If these two are not about tactics, then what is? And tactics need coaching. With confidence and some experience, I claim that is not an easy part of coaching. 
So, tactics are a massive part of coaching and they have excelled. Another would be increasing the player's ability and that's tougher to measure. I haven't seen as fit team as the current one is in ages and it's part of improving the player's ability. Yes, it may have caused some injuries, but that's football. Also, they managed to teach Sibley to play as LWB. On the first try, he was horrible at it but played okay as fullback when he had a player in front of him. It's a testament to Sibbo and the coaching team, and during the run-in, his performances as LWB turned out to be one of the developmental highlights.
It'll sure be an interesting summer ahead. Will we build a midfield like Hourihane-Bird or Adams-Smith-Thommo? They don't have much in common, but the question is, will they continue to be the ones who'll be sacrificed when we aim to be at our best in both boxes?
I think Warne has shown to be an excellent manager, who seems to be able to build a bunch of individuals into a cohesive group and I really appreciate that. At the same time, my personal preference would be much sexier, quick short-passing champagne football. Maybe it'll come when we have the players for it.

Summer window:
 
Curtis Nelson 10
Callum Elder 6
Joe Ward 8
Sonny Bradley 7
Josh Vickers 7
Kane Wilson 10
Martyn Waghorn 7
Conor Washington 6
Tyrese Fornah 5
Elliot Embleton 2 
Ryan Nyambe 8
Tyreece John-Jules 6
 
Winter:
 
Ebou Adams 10
Dwight Gayle 6
Corey Blackett-Taylor 7
Max Bird* 9

Sadly this will be my last match today. My first was in 1956 as a 13year old, My dad used to take me before that but he stopped going when we went down to the third division north. My mate and I would catch the 12 oclock bus from Melbourne and be the first in the ground. We stood in the Normanton end pigeon loft, I think it was 3 shilling. To this day I remember that team. We were champions in 1957 and I ran onto the pitch after the last match against Southport, Ray Straw scored 37 goals that season, The next ten years saw me start work, get married and have two children, I had moved to Derby, and after my family, the Rams were the most important thing in my life I never missed a home game in those ten years even though we were only an average second division side. And then in 1966 after England won the world cup my mate and I decided to have a season ticket, Little did we know what would happen that season, I was at work one day and a Rams supporting work mate told me we had signed a player from Bradford Park Avenue, his name was Kevin Hector I'd never heard of him but he was without doubt the most wonderful footballer to grace the Baseball Ground I had ever seen, and because of this we wanted to see more players like him which led to Tim Ward getting the sack and BC becoming Manager, what followed was ten years of unbelievable success and enjoyment. And then things started to go wrong off and on the pitch and I stopped being a season ticket holder during Peter Taylors time as manager, i still loved The Rams of course and when I turned 65 and retired my old mate from Melbourne and I bought season tickets again. But sadly covid left my best friend of 80 years with a dementia problem and he know no longer knows me. For the last two seasons I have been going alone to the match but its just not the same for me. Therefore I am calling it a day, as I write this I am welling up as I will do this afternoon. Thank you Derby County for every thing I will love you till I die.     

Thanks 👍 I've purposely been avoiding this thread / twitter updates so I can get my own take on it 

Thanks 👍 I've purposely been avoiding this thread / twitter updates so I can get my own take on it 

Here you go 
 

It's supposed to be available at some point this evening. I hope so as there's been nothing to watch this week with the flaming international break.

This is great. I've put the posts about his international call-up in the Academy thread. 
Good to see Gateshead making such a fuss of him. 
 

1Wildsmith - 7.5 
 
24Nyambe - 6
 
5Bradley - 6.5
 
35Nelson - 7
 
6Cashin - 8
 
3Forsyth - 7
 
4Hourihane - 6
 
7Barkhuizen - 7
 
17Sibley - 6
 
12Smith - 6.5
 
8Bird 🦅 - 6.5
 
11Méndez-Laing - 7
 
2Wiloson - 7.5
 
9Collins - 8
TV

What are fans of the other teams saying about the League One run in? 
Currently top we have Sheffield Wednesday who have OwlsTalk. They have an "end of season prediction" thread and a promotion run-in thread.
Next up, the Plymouth forum is called PASOTI. They seem a sensible bunch and even have a "Derby County's form" thread.
In contrast to PASOTI, the Ipswich forum, TWTD, is a bit all over the place and rather in meltdown after their recent loss of form! It's a random mix of footy and non-footy topics. But some Rams fans can probably relate to the thread entitled Keogh Why?
There's no obvious very active Bolton forum (unless you know better). Perhaps The Wanderer?
Then Barnsley have their club forum which has an idea to take scarves to the Derby game as well as another thread on us which is largely about McGoldrick's wages
I'm not going to link to the Wycombe forum. They don't deserve it.

Sponsors are the biggest factor in whether I buy a shirt or not. They are often the most visually striking part of the shirt and take up the most space
My personal stance is that I will not be a walking billboard for something that clearly has a negative impact on the health of others.
Maybe it's hypocritical because I drink and smoke and gamble, but I am fortunate enough to be able to do so within reason and I don't shove it in peoples face.
To wear it as some kind of badge of honour front and centre on my outfit just feels wrong.
I want a Derby shirt, not a 32red shirt.
In an ideal world, the Ram would be the centrepiece with sponsors dotted around the outside, but I can't see that kind of change happening...at least until the Ram becomes the global fashion brand it deserves to be ?

Just existing will cause salt levels to increase within fans bloodstreams this season. 
As we know, too much salt is not healthy, so I feel it's important to raise awareness this season by highlighting fans that have dangerously high salt levels.
So let's kick it off with this Oxford United fan that hasn't taken losing today well.
 

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