TheHomunculusLives

League One is a poor division this season, and even with all our challenges over recent years, we are still well funded and resourced compared to most or all of our rivals, and with the possible exception of Bolton we are the only club in this league with Premier League potential in terms of size, fanbase etc. 

After an understandable season of transition in 22/23, anything other than top 2 has to be seen as failure this campaign. If Warne doesn't have us in a strong position to achieve that by January, I'd look elsewhere.

We have probably the best midfielder in League One, a proven international, playing at right back. 

Jason Knight plays in midfield regularly for a very competitive international team in the Republic of Ireland yet he's a utility player for a third tier club team. He may be versatile but surely he shouldn't be wasted out of position when he's clearly a superior midfielder to a guy like Smith who is no more than a decent journeyman?

13 minutes ago, Big Trav said:

He’s had a suspended break from football, he has the support of the club but I don’t expect him to kick a football again any time soon 

Thanks Big Trav - thought it might be something of that kind.

Unless there are reasons that cannot be shared more widely, then I think the club should give supporters some sort of explanation, as his signing was greeted with high expecations that obviously haven't materialised.

Still contracted to us I believe, but not been seen or heard of for at least a year as far as I can ascertain. I wonder what happened and whether he'll ever reemerge?

9 minutes ago, Hanny said:

While I do believe finding another RB would be ideal. Seems odd you don’t even have Oduroh on your sheet there. Since he (even being young) will likely (and should) be seeing a fair amount of starts at RB this year…I’d imagine. 

I hope you're right about Oduroh, but I get the sense Rosenior will be going for experience over youth this season. I don't see Cashin or Thompson starting either.

7 minutes ago, Jimbo Ram said:

Naive selection more like ?

Some very ill-mannered people on this forum these days. Perhapts it's the heat.

5 minutes ago, Carnero said:

Stearman will not start a single game at right back this season.

He might have to unless we sign a senior right back. Naive comment I'm afraid.

Based on our signings so far and with a couple of assumptions (Forsyth to sign a new deal, Bielik to leave), what side will we likely start the season with?

I'm going for:

(4-3-3)

                           Wildsmith

Stearman    Davies     Chester    Forsyth

              Knight    Bird    Hourihane

    Barkhuizen    Collins    Mendez-Laing

Subs: Loach, Cashin, Roberts, Smith, McGoldrick, Sibley, Stretton

If we get off to a good start we should expect automatic promotion with the squad we have. We have more depth and proven quality than last season when we would have been a mid-table Championship side without the point deductions. 

Sounds to me like he's seen as another emerging talent in the position we don't want to see go the same way as Buchanan and Dylan Williams, and he's quite possibly been given assurances of first team opportunities

4 minutes ago, Stuniverse said:

Not many surprises in the U23 and U18 departures mentioned in this Festy Ebosele update: 

https://www.dcfc.co.uk/news/2022/07/ebosele-leaves-derby-at-end-of-contract-for-udinese-switch

I would have thought based on my limited knowledge of them that we might have kept McDonald and Wilson now we're in League One. McDonald in particular was in and around the first team squad quite a lot until the second half of last season.

Is there any chance that any of the Academy products we've lost recently will come back on loan? Or are we at too low a level now in League One for guys like Ebosele, Ebiowei and Plange?

I think this season could be make or break for Sibley as a Derby player. For whatever reason, he's never kicked on from his outstanding early performances in the first team, but with the departures this summer, he has a great opportunity to establish himself as our first choice attacking midfielder. Ability-wise, he should stand out at League One level if given the opportunity to play regularly, but I fear that if it doesn't happen for him this season, at 21 we might need to accept he isn't going to be the outstanding player at Derby we hoped he could be.

34 minutes ago, Ghost of Clough said:

That wasn't the argument being made.
What he previous poster said was "Clear message here, even if you don’t make it with Derby, we are now starting to see our youngsters have good professional careers blossom elsewhere".

My argument against your point is that they didn't get an opportunity in the first team. Getting first team experience at a young age is vital. The longer they're sitting around in the U23s the worse off they are as it's lost development time. Lowe and Hanson both performed quite well (when played in their preferred positions). But, they were then dropped for the high earner once they returned from injury because it was the easy thing to do. Lowe came into the side in 16/17, including a MotM performance against Wolves. It wasn't until 18/19 that he then got a good run in a professional side (loan at Aberdeen) and 19/20 when he got a run in our side. Hanson was a decent squad player in 15/16, only to then be cut out of the squad altogether. 

Do you feel any of the players listed now playing in the lower leagues could have become regular first team players at Derby in the Championship?

The fact that none of these players bar Riis Jakobsen are playing above League One level suggests Derby were right to let them go. Jordan Brown is probably another example similar to the names posted - he's into his early 20s and if he was Championship level he would probably have broken through by now in the way players like Bird, Knight, Thompson and Ebosele have. So the right thing for both parties is to let the player move on and hopefully have a good career at a slightly lower level.

While I wouldn't necessarily say Festy is the most entertaining player I've seen in a Derby shirt (I'm 46, so names like Saunders, Asanovic and Wanchope come to mind), I would say he is the most exciting of our current prospects, with natural athletic gifts that set him apart in our squad even at 19. If he can improve his decision making and overall end product, he could be a hell of a player in two or three years time.

I'd be gutted to lose Festy - I think he has the most raw ability of all our youngsters, and even at this early stage of his career, he already offers more pace and dynamism than anyone else in our squad. If he continues to improve and adds more end product to his game then we'll probably lose him eventually, but to see him go to Forest for 500K would be horrifying.

Can't see Kris Commons on your list?

Back in the days when Burton were a non-league club, I think a fair few Rams fans from around the town used to watch Burton as well as Derby without any perceived 'conflict of interest', due to the gap in status between the two clubs. But that all changed once Burton got into the Football League and ultimately the Championship where they actually played competitively against Derby!

I think some posters here think Dylan Williams has at least as much potential as Buchanan and could be given more opportunities, with Forsyth as an experienced alternative?

I'd sell Buchanan and Sibley if decent offers come in, and let Baldock and Marshall go so we can bring in new faces in squad areas where we need more bodies.

1 hour ago, Jram said:

I sincerely hope they let us play XV players- survival would be certain 

Sorry, am a rugby fan too!

Buchanan is the obvious one to sell for me - we could get a half-decent fee based on youth/potential, but to be honest, he's injured quite a lot, Forsyth is an experienced alternative, and we also have Dylan Williams may turn out to be as good longer-term anyway.