jono

That is such a brilliant teal talk. I hadn’t realised he had that side to his character. We are going to do this AND carry it forward to next season. I think it kind of explains how, after poor performances, we have bounced back so often and so well, rather than withered as so many “form” teams do. 
can’t wait for Saturday 🐏🐏🐏🐏🐏🐏🐏🐏🐏🐏🐏😎

That is such a brilliant teal talk. I hadn’t realised he had that side to his character. We are going to do this AND carry it forward to next season. I think it kind of explains how, after poor performances, we have bounced back so often and so well, rather than withered as so many “form” teams do. 
can’t wait for Saturday 🐏🐏🐏🐏🐏🐏🐏🐏🐏🐏🐏😎

I have watched some highlights of Carlisle games recently including their loss to Wycombe yesterday & they are woeful in defence including at set pieces. I think if we go at them with pace & energy early doors we will get 1 or 2 goals to calm everyones nerves. That way this PBoro vs Bolton game is irrelevant

Lets also give Simmo a warm welcome. A decent player, ex assistant manager and he has also beat cancer. Well done to him.

I expect one of Bolton or Peterbrough to win big next saturday, if posh lose in midweek i expect it to be Bolton, but if posh win their midweek game, they might just have one of thier days.
I expect us to be bag of nerves being shredded by a nerve shredding machine as time ticks away at nil nil. I think we'll prevail, but i expect the absolute wringer before we do. Obviously, it'd be nice to blow Carlisle away and be 3 up by half time, but, that's not why we love Derby County.

Forget the Reading game, forget what happened to Forest, those were 2 out of form teams trying to grimly hang on to 6th place. This is an in-form team riding high in 2nd with 1 defeat in 10 and only 4 goals conceded. No comparison.

The problem with offering opponents the opportunity to take a draw is that football is full of cheats, and nobody can be trusted. 
No disrespect to Carlisle specifically, or indeed their much respected manager, but they'd probably nick a winner in the dying moments, then point and laugh at us!
Kill em off early I say.  Win, win, and thrice win!

Assuming Peterborough win in the week, what a stinker of a game for both clubs last game.
Both would have a chance of top 2, albeit a slim one.
Both would know realistically that Derby should be beating Carlise and both would have an eye on the playoffs.  Neither would want to risk losing key players to injuries or suspension going hell for leather for a slim chance of automatics.
This surely is our time.
 
 

This one?
 

Give it one of them Saturday Warney

That's my kind of team talk...

We all want to be entertained but we probably all have different definitions: I find the 50 yard defence splitting pass collected with one touch a thing of great beauty. Others detest the tactical naivety.
But for any supporter I think it depends where you are in the league. If you want to avoid relegation any point will do, no matter how you get it. If you want promotion ditto. The points are the important thing.
Only if you have nothing to play for do your priorities shift to being entertained.
On Saturday grind out a 3 goal lead and then and only then start to party carefully---Man U Coventry!

A pretty good analysis, Jono, although Warne was obsessing about getting lots of crosses in before our midfield deficiencies became apparent. And in many ways our midfield deficiencies was largely because he kept playing a 2-man midfield, but without a ball-winner in there. Oh, and by-passing it whenever possible.

I am not sure I agree with this angle. We certainly have better players than many; but the best ? I think that is debatable. Look at the midfield. The arrival of Adams has made a huge difference but prior to that I reckon or midfield was average. Bird is wonderfully talented but in this league often got out muscled and his skill wasn’t always enough for him to win those battles … so better or just good  ? Hourihan 6 years ago, yes a better player, but our Hourihan ? The one who gets caught napping against athletic sides ? A good player but “better” than the rest ?
The only areas where I think we had demonstrably better players was defence and out wide. We Haven’t got the better strikers and we hadn’t (until Adams) got the best midfield. 
 
Warne had “better” wide players and made best use of them to support our  lack, for much of the season, of a dynamic striker. This leads to a form of football that by necessity involves getting the ball in to danger areas via the wings and making good use of set pieces. All to create the greater number of chances to address those areas where we didn’t have “the best” players.
 
Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to see one touch midfield interchanges crafting chances with slick passing ; but too many of our players didn’t demonstrate enough of those skills either due to ability, age, or the type of opponent / type of football played in this league. 

Thanks, and Aye, but what I am saying is we didn’t really have the natural  ball winner and the 2 weren’t really suited to rough a tumble league 1. So what was he to do ? Then add in that his mission is to get us out of this league, he had a proven system.
I think he was a touch obsessive early season, was desperately wanting to make wingers in to wing backs and play 3 at the back. The new players that could do that got injured, the remaining flank players were somewhat aging in the leg department or not very adept in the defensive component of their game. At that point he’d barely been in the job for a year.
When we had that good run mid season it was when he switched to 4 at the back because of the players he had left. It  showed me he could change his spots .. he still hankered after his preferred system, true ! but was pragmatic enough to accept he couldn’t have it. …. The ball winner you mentioned, arrived in the form of Adams. At least that’s how I see it 
I suppose it’s easy after the event to be sage and analytical. Just hope we can have a party on Saturday and for me he has a clear run without threat for at least half a season, as long as we are mid table”ish” on an improving curve; I am saying what I said 7 or 8 months ago. Patience before pitchforks 

Thanks, and Aye, but what I am saying is we didn’t really have the natural  ball winner and the 2 weren’t really suited to rough a tumble league 1. So what was he to do ? Then add in that his mission is to get us out of this league, he had a proven system.
I think he was a touch obsessive early season, was desperately wanting to make wingers in to wing backs and play 3 at the back. The new players that could do that got injured, the remaining flank players were somewhat aging in the leg department or not very adept in the defensive component of their game. At that point he’d barely been in the job for a year.
When we had that good run mid season it was when he switched to 4 at the back because of the players he had left. It  showed me he could change his spots .. he still hankered after his preferred system, true ! but was pragmatic enough to accept he couldn’t have it. …. The ball winner you mentioned, arrived in the form of Adams. At least that’s how I see it 
I suppose it’s easy after the event to be sage and analytical. Just hope we can have a party on Saturday and for me he has a clear run without threat for at least half a season, as long as we are mid table”ish” on an improving curve; I am saying what I said 7 or 8 months ago. Patience before pitchforks 

Thanks, and Aye, but what I am saying is we didn’t really have the natural  ball winner and the 2 weren’t really suited to rough a tumble league 1. So what was he to do ? Then add in that his mission is to get us out of this league, he had a proven system.
I think he was a touch obsessive early season, was desperately wanting to make wingers in to wing backs and play 3 at the back. The new players that could do that got injured, the remaining flank players were somewhat aging in the leg department or not very adept in the defensive component of their game. At that point he’d barely been in the job for a year.
When we had that good run mid season it was when he switched to 4 at the back because of the players he had left. It  showed me he could change his spots .. he still hankered after his preferred system, true ! but was pragmatic enough to accept he couldn’t have it. …. The ball winner you mentioned, arrived in the form of Adams. At least that’s how I see it 
I suppose it’s easy after the event to be sage and analytical. Just hope we can have a party on Saturday and for me he has a clear run without threat for at least half a season, as long as we are mid table”ish” on an improving curve; I am saying what I said 7 or 8 months ago. Patience before pitchforks 

Thanks, and Aye, but what I am saying is we didn’t really have the natural  ball winner and the 2 weren’t really suited to rough a tumble league 1. So what was he to do ? Then add in that his mission is to get us out of this league, he had a proven system.
I think he was a touch obsessive early season, was desperately wanting to make wingers in to wing backs and play 3 at the back. The new players that could do that got injured, the remaining flank players were somewhat aging in the leg department or not very adept in the defensive component of their game. At that point he’d barely been in the job for a year.
When we had that good run mid season it was when he switched to 4 at the back because of the players he had left. It  showed me he could change his spots .. he still hankered after his preferred system, true ! but was pragmatic enough to accept he couldn’t have it. …. The ball winner you mentioned, arrived in the form of Adams. At least that’s how I see it 
I suppose it’s easy after the event to be sage and analytical. Just hope we can have a party on Saturday and for me he has a clear run without threat for at least half a season, as long as we are mid table”ish” on an improving curve; I am saying what I said 7 or 8 months ago. Patience before pitchforks 

I don't agree with that statement. It's fair to say we've been outplayed a few times, but clearly not as frequently as you say, otherwise we wouldn't be second. Maybe it's the fact that we haven't scored 4 goals more than a couple of times, and allot of victories have been narrow, but we're in the top 4 scorers, with the joint most wins and the tightest defence. Now you're complaining that we should have got there sooner, but if you read the Peterborough and Bolton forums, you'll see them complaining that they should too. Most of them aren't saying "yeah, but wasn't the football great". Ask them if they'd be happy to be promoted playing like we do - I think the honest ones would say "absolutely".

Check out the Bolton forums. Many calls for Evatt to go. They want practical winning football not occasionally brilliant but ultimately failing football.
who would be a football manager !
  

Which obviously isn’t working too well 😂

I am not sure I agree with this angle. We certainly have better players than many; but the best ? I think that is debatable. Look at the midfield. The arrival of Adams has made a huge difference but prior to that I reckon or midfield was average. Bird is wonderfully talented but in this league often got out muscled and his skill wasn’t always enough for him to win those battles … so better or just good  ? Hourihan 6 years ago, yes a better player, but our Hourihan ? The one who gets caught napping against athletic sides ? A good player but “better” than the rest ?
The only areas where I think we had demonstrably better players was defence and out wide. We Haven’t got the better strikers and we hadn’t (until Adams) got the best midfield. 
 
Warne had “better” wide players and made best use of them to support our  lack, for much of the season, of a dynamic striker. This leads to a form of football that by necessity involves getting the ball in to danger areas via the wings and making good use of set pieces. All to create the greater number of chances to address those areas where we didn’t have “the best” players.
 
Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to see one touch midfield interchanges crafting chances with slick passing ; but too many of our players didn’t demonstrate enough of those skills either due to ability, age, or the type of opponent / type of football played in this league. 

I am not sure I agree with this angle. We certainly have better players than many; but the best ? I think that is debatable. Look at the midfield. The arrival of Adams has made a huge difference but prior to that I reckon or midfield was average. Bird is wonderfully talented but in this league often got out muscled and his skill wasn’t always enough for him to win those battles … so better or just good  ? Hourihan 6 years ago, yes a better player, but our Hourihan ? The one who gets caught napping against athletic sides ? A good player but “better” than the rest ?
The only areas where I think we had demonstrably better players was defence and out wide. We Haven’t got the better strikers and we hadn’t (until Adams) got the best midfield. 
 
Warne had “better” wide players and made best use of them to support our  lack, for much of the season, of a dynamic striker. This leads to a form of football that by necessity involves getting the ball in to danger areas via the wings and making good use of set pieces. All to create the greater number of chances to address those areas where we didn’t have “the best” players.
 
Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to see one touch midfield interchanges crafting chances with slick passing ; but too many of our players didn’t demonstrate enough of those skills either due to ability, age, or the type of opponent / type of football played in this league. 

Two of David Clowes’ aims when he took over the Club were to bring integrity and also establish ourselves in the Championship within 5 years. We didn’t get promotion last year, much to many fans angst. On reflection, it was probably a good job we didn’t. We would still have been working to a strict business plan which would have tied our hands in the transfer market to some degree and made the season very difficult.
We have recruited quite a few players this year who will be able to play in the Championship next year. Some recruits haven’t been quite so successful. We will have a reasonable pot for transfers this year we have been told. Probably, Wildsmith, Nyambe, Cashin,Nelson,Elder,Ward,Wilson,Mendis-Laing,Blackett-Taylor,Sibley,Forsyth,Rooney should be ok in the Championship - I personally have more concerns about Smith, Collins, Barkhaizen, Thompson, Fornah, Gayle, Washington, Vickers.  We will lose Bird and Adams (for now?)
I think, with some shrewd business, we should be able to put together a competitive squad.
in terms of integrity, I think our progression has been amazing. There has been hardly any, if at all, negative news regarding our club in the media. The Management team all absolutely appear to be working together to a common goal. We have recruited (not to everyone’s like) good people, who want to play for the shirt, not just here for the money, as in the past. The Academy has made good progress in its rebuild and the are a few players who look to have good futures, hopefully as Derby players.
At our best and most confident, we do play some exciting football, score goals and don’t concede many. Yes, we would like to see more of the exciting times but our main aim has been to get out of this difficult league this year. Too often in the past we have had a soft underbelly and have struggled against strong, aggressive teams. We currently have a side, which mainly, doesn’t buckle against this type of side.
So I am happy with the progress of Derby County this last two years and look forward to what will happen next. David Clowes is a quietly shrewd business man and I think Paul Warne is an intelligent manager, who is a lot shrewder and football wise than many give him credit for. Not only this but he is a fantastic man-manager and team spirit builder.
Can’t wait to see what happens next.