horizon

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.
 

This topic will be updated with the latest information, news and tweets on the current situation for those unable to follow the forum during the day.
Please help by forwarding any of the above to myself by private message only as I receive email notifications.  
Thank you.

Man of the Match Awards
3     Jagielka
1      Forsyth / Sibley / Lawrence / Roos
0.5   Davies / Bird
 
Podium Placings
6     Davies
4     Jagielka
3     Bird / Roos
2     Forsyth
1     Sibley / Morrison / Shinnie / Lawrence / Byrne / Buchanan
 
Top 10 Individual Performances
 1.    9.07     Roos       vs  WBA (a)
 2.   8.78     Davies     vs  Stoke (h)
 2.   8.78     Bird         vs  Stoke (h)
 4.   8.42     Roos       vs  Stoke (h)
 5.   8.33     Davies    vs  WBA (a)
 6.   8.27     Jagielka  vs  Hull (a)
 7.   8.18      Bird         vs  Hull (a)
 8.   8.08    Jagielka   vs  WBA (a)
 9.   7.95    Jagielka    vs  Middlesbrough (h)
10.   7.92    Byrne        vs  Stoke (h)  
 
Season Average Rating (minimum of 100 ratings)
 1.   7.47    Jagielka  (147)
 2.   7.23    Davies  (199)
 3.   6.90   Buchanan  (115)
 4.   6.84   Bird  (173)
 5.   6.78   Roos  (200)
 6.   6.61   Morrison  (149)
 7.   6.55   Forsyth  (136)
 8.   6.43   Jozwiak  (135)
 9.   6.35   Shinnie  (199)
10.   6.28   Sibley  (197)
11.   6.12   Byrne  (199)
11.   6.12   Baldock  (112)
13.   6.11   Lawrence  (121)
14.   6.08  Stretton  (121)
 
Others yet to receive 100 ratings
       7.40   Williams  (26)
       6.31   Stearman  (80)
       6.27   Knight  (26)
       5.82   Ebosele  (50)
       5.50   Watson  (40)
       5.43   Kazim  (52)
 
 

I'm writing this because I've been thinking about it for a little while and I feel that I keep see people misdiagnosing what we are trying to do and why it's not working. (Also because I'm a bit bored whilst a bit ill). This isn't necessarily an attempt to defend what we are trying to do or whether it's the best approach to take (although I do think there is merit) but more an attempt at explaining the tactical intent and why we aren't meeting that intent or at least not consistently. It's worth noting there is an amount of variation in what we have tried to do but I'll try to cover the gist of it and where and why it's varied a little.
The Intent
The primary goal of what Rooney is trying to tactically work towards is aiming to create a chasm of space in midfield in front of the opposition defence for the 3 attacking midfielders (Lawrence particularly) to exploit, with the secondary goal of if that doesn't work having an overload out wide. We do this by working the ball out from the back and having players drift from their starting positions into space we manufacture in turn creating more space where we want it. With that in mind we can look at the player's roles.
GK, CBs - Not much to really explain here and they aren't doing anything fancy. The important bit is that we expect the ball to move around between them a lot and so need to be comfortable on the ball and able to shift possession quickly and accurately. Also the centre backs may be called upon to cover the space wide that the full backs vacate so in an ideal world are positional aware and quick.
Fullbacks - Almost used as wing backs the idea is that when we are building possession they push very high and wide. This is to achieve a couple things; provide width, give an out-ball for CBs and GK or a switch ball for a midfielder and push the opposition wide players back and out of the way contributing to space opening up where you'd typically see the fullback. There has been a minor variant on this with one of the full backs playing high but narrow acting as a pseudo-midfielder with the attacking player in front of them providing the width.
DMs - With the space vacated by the full back the DM on the side possession is moving towards can freely move into that pocket of space hopefully dragging their opposite number out of position and if they aren't tracked they will have time and space to pick a pass. The idea is goes quickly into them and the quickly on either into the 10 or to a wide player on their side. By doing this it contributes to trying to moving the opposition around, get them out of position and ideally out of those central areas which brings me on to the next group.
AMs - This whole tactical system is designed to give these players a platform to play, with the movement of the fullbacks and the DMs the AMs should find it a lot easier (if the ball has been moved quickly) to find time and space in the centre of the park where they can turn and hurt the opposing team. My belief is that there is three nominal roles the left sided player operates as a wideish playmaker, the right sided player operates as the most direct of the three looking to run at the opposition or in behind and the central player is to be somewhat in between both whilst also being the primary target for most of the build up, possession and I suspect the player wanted to be on the ultimate end of the move. You'll notice that there is a big emphasis on getting the 10 on the ball as much as possible. Typically the wider players are inverted so they are more comfortable coming narrow.
CF - Unlike a lot of tactical set ups, the striker isn't here primarily as the focus of things and more as almost a decoy. The idea is they consistently make runs beyond dragging the opposition back and have them back peddling when an AM breaks into the space in front of them. The importance once again is all about disrupting how the opposition set up in order to create space.
Ideally in the build up you'd expect us to look like this (assuming an attack on the right)
 
      
 
And if you look at in that regard I believe you can start to see how we expect to create passing triangles in order to work possession. It then shifts to something closer to this further up the pitch (again assuming an attack on the right)
 

(Diagrams aren't perfect but I hope they get the point across)
The Execution
Whilst the above is the intent we often see it breakdown well before the final third giving the impression that we aren't going anywhere and it's partly we see some players end up consistently coming very deep. What's basically happening is to an extent we aren't able to execute what we are trying to do tactically and forever recycling the initial phase of it. The problem is rife throughout the team and there are a lot of players out there who are clearly unsuited to doing what is asked causing severe breaks in the tactical cohesion. 
GK Roos is actually perfect for the role in terms of his attributes. Whilst he may have his moments; at this level his distribution is excellent and he is fast off his line if somebody breaks beyond the defence. CBs Admittedly this feels a touch unfair to criticise and in fairness they've made about as a good a fist of it as can be expected but fundamentally we need CBs much more comfortable on the ball the Davies and Stearman if we want to build out from the back. Jagielka coming in will help this mind and if we can pick up Mengi as well we will be golden. Fullbacks  Forsyth just isn't really quick enough anymore to properly stretch the pitch and then return to position, Buchanan returning will improve this but I think we need start seriously considering bumping Williams up to second choice. Byrne whilst he has made mistakes is probably ok in the role with a couple caveats; ideally we'd have someone a little faster and more capable of drilling the ball into the box (as opposed to Byrne's floaters). Ebosele would fix some of the issues but is a little rawer in possession than Byrne. Also whilst Byrne is fine with the primary role, he is clearly supremely uncomfortable playing as an inverted full back as we saw against Peterborough. DMs Bird tactically and positionally completely gets what he should be doing and whilst it might look odd is following the plan set out for him to a T.  The ball comes into and back out from him quickly and reliably. The only minor problem is because of the position he is taking up the quick forwards pass is typically on his wrong foot  and he'd be far better off if he was playing on the left half of the pitch. Shinnie however is arguably one of the biggest issues in the current set up and blatantly unsuited for it. Tactical he looks unsure of his role and the number of times that one of the following happens when he gets the ball is significant; the momentum of the move is killed dead because he takes too many touches, he gives up possession or he passes in a such a way that the next player does. As much as he is liked if Rooney wants to tactically make work what he's trying to do, Shinnie has to come out of the side. AMs The system has been built with Lawrence playing at 10 in mind and whilst he hasn't perhaps pulled up any trees he does seem to tactically understand what his role and what he should be doing at a given time. Need a bit more creatively from him and I think we will see that once other things click into place. Morrison somewhat similar to Lawrence I feel was firmly in the coaching team's mind when thinking on how they want to play this season and does his role well The problem position is the RAM slot. The plan very clearly was to get Aluko in here. Jozwiak and Ebosele have started here but neither are really right for both being right footed and given that Byrne behind them can't play the compensatory role. The player very clearly most suited to it is Sibley but it's just a question of whether Rooney gets over his hangups with him as he looked like a clear fit when he came on versus Peterborough. CF This is also where there has been a bit of a problem. I really like CKR but this system needs someone energetic and spinning in behind to open up the space and keep the opposition honest and it's just not his game. It wasn't surprising to me that the game seemed to change when he got injured and Stretton came on because suddenly spaces started to appear. I'm relatively convinced Baldock was being brought in with this in mind and was going to be earmarked as first choice. Personally however I think Stretton looks a better fit and I suspect is more likely to be clinical when it comes to chance creation.  Whilst it might not look great now with perhaps a couple signings/players returning to fitness it could quickly click into place, it's just down to Rooney and Co to realise why it's not working and fix it. For example a theoretical line up along the lines of the following would likely execute the plan set out pretty well 

Did we spend this much time speculating about Paul Simpson's worth? Jody Morris's? 
No.
Management teams are just that. Teams. There will be assigned roles that should bring out the best skills from each member. There will be one boss. The strength of the team lies in how the boss manages the team to support the objective. We'll see how that goes as the season progresses.

Would appear a tweet I made blew up in a way I never expected tonight as some of you saw.
Needless to say many have been blocked, no time for it. 
Was never intended to be attention seeking, looking for followers or some how trying to tease fans.
There was a conversation taking place regarding the release of the minutes, thought I was being helpful by letting them know it would write ups only as no minutes were being taken. That’s it. 
I was on a train with patchy 3G signal and expected to respond to a poo ton of people.
I have started the write up on my phone, well aware even more so tonight of fan frustration, just stepped off the train now, home in 20 and honestly, I’m off to bed and if that pisses more people off, so be it. 

I've given Lawrence the benefit of the doubt season after season but he is just such a passenger in our attacking play and we are a better team without him. I would pick Sibley, Jozwiak, Aluko, Morrison, Watson all ahead of him

I've given Lawrence the benefit of the doubt season after season but he is just such a passenger in our attacking play and we are a better team without him. I would pick Sibley, Jozwiak, Aluko, Morrison, Watson all ahead of him