Lokidoki

It’s not the soccer Gods, it is the fact that we played three in the middle, with good shape and total purpose. It sped the game up, made the passes more incisive and we were a structured team. This,  coupled with the fact that everyone looked like they knew where should be on the pitch made the game flow.
A good midfield should protect the defence and engineer chances for the attack, this we did throughout, perhaps until CH was brought on and for five it looked like we were going to stagnate again but then Corey moved into the middle and we got on the rails again.
it’s just a pity that in the past, a lot of us have seen the hole in midfield , when just two are played their and almost cried out for this to be noted and changed, to no avail.
I do hope that we can just maintain this for the final two and that lessons are learned.
COYR
 

It’s not the soccer Gods, it is the fact that we played three in the middle, with good shape and total purpose. It sped the game up, made the passes more incisive and we were a structured team. This,  coupled with the fact that everyone looked like they knew where should be on the pitch made the game flow.
A good midfield should protect the defence and engineer chances for the attack, this we did throughout, perhaps until CH was brought on and for five it looked like we were going to stagnate again but then Corey moved into the middle and we got on the rails again.
it’s just a pity that in the past, a lot of us have seen the hole in midfield , when just two are played their and almost cried out for this to be noted and changed, to no avail.
I do hope that we can just maintain this for the final two and that lessons are learned.
COYR
 

I agree. I think Smith was hugely influential throughout the game. Adams breaks play up, the enforcer, Tommo never lets anyone breath but it was Smith as the fulcrum. Quick to pass, not too many touches, sees the ball that unglues things and sets us going forward. I can’t comment on away games but every time I see him at PP he does it right and makes us look more polished as a unit. 

It’s not the soccer Gods, it is the fact that we played three in the middle, with good shape and total purpose. It sped the game up, made the passes more incisive and we were a structured team. This,  coupled with the fact that everyone looked like they knew where should be on the pitch made the game flow.
A good midfield should protect the defence and engineer chances for the attack, this we did throughout, perhaps until CH was brought on and for five it looked like we were going to stagnate again but then Corey moved into the middle and we got on the rails again.
it’s just a pity that in the past, a lot of us have seen the hole in midfield , when just two are played their and almost cried out for this to be noted and changed, to no avail.
I do hope that we can just maintain this for the final two and that lessons are learned.
COYR
 

It’s not the soccer Gods, it is the fact that we played three in the middle, with good shape and total purpose. It sped the game up, made the passes more incisive and we were a structured team. This,  coupled with the fact that everyone looked like they knew where should be on the pitch made the game flow.
A good midfield should protect the defence and engineer chances for the attack, this we did throughout, perhaps until CH was brought on and for five it looked like we were going to stagnate again but then Corey moved into the middle and we got on the rails again.
it’s just a pity that in the past, a lot of us have seen the hole in midfield , when just two are played their and almost cried out for this to be noted and changed, to no avail.
I do hope that we can just maintain this for the final two and that lessons are learned.
COYR
 

Difficult for me to say C86. I have not watched many of our performances of late, other than highlights, but notwithstanding I wouldn’t hold Paul Warne to account for any specific game in isolation, whether it Wycombe (A), Northampton (A), or Charlton (H). All 3 of them poor performances recently, with vital points lost, when a win could have created real pressure on teams around us.
I think he had really limited options on Wednesday, but part of that I feel is because he ‘breaks’ players. How many players have we had on the treatment table this season with niggling injuries to soft tissue, hamstrings, calf pulls, etc.  He works players too hard in my opinion, prioritising stamina and athleticism over ball retention and passing finesse. Fortunately we have a good, deep squad funded by Clowes, because we need it to cover for the number of injuries that are being sustained. Didn’t I read that he was saying on Tuesday how the players didn’t look right, and how some were jaded on Wednesday evening. I wonder whether he ever thinks it’s because he wears them out with his demands.
I am not a fan of his ‘tactics’ either - conceding midfield and hitting the ball quickly to the wings to get crosses in is ok, if we had a really decent (old fashioned) centre forward to get his head on most of the crosses, and if it wasn’t our only actual tactic (other than loading up at free kicks and corners). Seems to me that when the tactic isn’t working that we just try to do more of the same, but more quickly, with our players treating the football like it’s a hot potato.
In answer to @G STAR RAMand @YorkshireRam being second, per se, is not the problem, and he may well get us up. If he does it would be churlish for me not to say well done, you did your job. The players too. However, he disappoints me as I think we have the best squad overall in the league, and that the league is at its lowest quality for years. When I say in spite of Warne, I mean that I think a decent coach could have got this squad promoted by now, keeping the players fit through better rotation and the use of a few younger lads near the end of games, and playing a better brand of football suiting better the skill set of a number of our players. Rather than having a nail biting finish, we could and should be well clear of the third place team in my opinion.
And that is all it is, my opinion. Not concerned a jot if someone, or everyone, doesn’t agree with it, or doesn’t understand it. Equally I don’t feel the need to strongly debate it either. As you say I have been pretty consistent with my opinion on him since he joined, and I haven’t seen much over the last 18 months that that changes my viewpoint. 
 
 

Not trawled through all the matchthread (gave up around p40) but I think last night was a game that has summed up our season.
Take both those early chances and we would have been celebrating another "get the job done" win and admiring a disciplined second half defensive performance. 
But we all know to score two, we need six chances, not just two or three.
To create six chances, we need the football to flow. Ward makes that happen in recent games. He's injured, so we replace that role with Collins, playing out of position.  He's a striker, not a midfielder. We leave Tommo on the bench, who would have been the natural link between our deep sitting midfield two and the attack, would have been available for the pass from Wilson and Sibley (who were both desperately looking for feet to play into and finding no-one there) and who can press and harry just as well as Collins.
Warne needed to select either Washington or Collins, not both, and play an attacking midfielder. If he doesn't rate Thommo, he could have put Hourihane in there. 
He didn’t,  and we faltered. I wish Warne would stop trying to create new systems and patterns and just do the simple stuff sometimes. 
Footballers are a bit simple too. They play instinctively in patterns that are ingrained from an early age.
Take them out of their natural positions, play them in different systems and they have to think more quickly in order to be successful.  It fails more than it works. 
Add in the factor that our forwards aren't world beaters, we need to be giving them all the help we can to play their natural games. 
I think we were one player choice away from that routine win last night. So disappointing. 
 

Sounds like you know a bit about football. Don’t let Paul Warne read this or he’ll have you banned from the forum.

Only a tactical genius would do that.

So having calmed down (again), here we go: First half I was ok with the Rams, because we had been competent overall, aided by Wycombe's terrible start. They were awful. Even so, we should have been 2 or 3 nil up. But most of our threats came from a long hoof upfield (the only times we played through the middle?), but there still were some concerns. We did have one move of very slick, one-touch passing which sliced them wide open, I think ending up with NML trying to convert the rugby try! But after 30 minutes or so Wycombe seemed to change things up and were getting into the ascendency. This continued in the second half when they went up another ger, and we were left chasing shadows for much of the half. The highlight of the the half was Smith's performances, with 2 or 3 "Gorgeous George" through balls - delightful. What was he doing playing the ball through midfield? 
The real issue is yet again we treated midfield as though that is where you go to catch the plague. So yet again we find a way to play that works, and then we slither back to the tied and trusted methods which we have proved over and over again don't work. Our main gambit is still "get it wide and cross it in", and just as Northampton did, Wycombe simply doubled up on our wide men, and it was effectively game over. And when we did cross it, there was only 1 or 2 of ours in the box. Were we holding back to guard against Wycombe catching us on the break? Will they did anyway, because we only had 2 men in midfield. So having played with 3 in midfield and avoided the collapse which our crop of injuries should have brought us, we went back to 2 in the middle, and spent much of the match being over-run there.
Add in that a number of players yet gain didn't show up in a crucial match and in the end a draw was seemingly a good result. Only it wasn't. I wonder if the no-show performances is because the players know that no matter how hard they try, they are being asked to play in a way that doesn't work?
And for anyone who wants to have a go at people who have the temerity to criticise what is happening: as I said earlier in this thread, with this bunch of players it should be Portsmouth who are fighting for second place, not us.

For it to be effective though it's got to be getting to them quicker, and part of that problem is we don't have a CM Infront of Adams and Smith that can pick that pass quick enough.

I'm not going to go on about the management team not learning but after 15 minutes it was obvious we had a hole in midfield. If I can see it these that earn the money should. Period.
Even if you get it wrong it's soon correctable but never until 60 minutes...it just pains me.
 
Crass, naive, stupididity. Not because of, in spite of.
Sorry - I keep trying to support this crew but it's my pension that has paid for next years ticket. Every big event they let me down. That includes Portsmouth too.

Absolutely how I feel in most home games - successful maybe - enjoyable as a football spectacle, no chance 

That wasn’t quite my point earlier on. The players can in some respects be excused, unless they stupidly head-but the opposition, they are mostly old or nowadays journeyman, they are third division players. Therefore at times poor football is to be expected.
What I was alluding to is that the most inconsistent team member(s) is the coach and his team. They get picked over tactically by lesser teams too frequently and this goes back to last season. We are not learning lessons. The games that we do well at is when the opposition allows us to play.  
When PW and his team use midfield correctly and use the footballing common sense they must have (to have got this far in their careers) then the result is usually acceptable. Dumb sticking to the original plan when it isn’t working, until too late, is what cheeses me off. And that is my point, learn by mistakes, coaching team, please.

As I see it, the main issue is that PW has far too many off days, particularly against opposition that we should be beating. It is obvious tactically. Analyse the match, the pitch was narrow but we set with 5 at the back and a midfielder that should’ve been in the middle playing totally out of position. We have a ball playing midfielder on the bench, when it is obvious to see that CH was playing badly and has no strength in defence longer, the two legged jump, the standard procedure to frighten the opposition, being totally ineffective and not scary in the least.
Then we have the so called most able attacking player in this division, sat on the bench.  Instead of subbing early, we bring 5 on after 65. 
as I have stated in my other posts it’s the inconsistency, one match good, another like a rabbit in headlights. I don’t expect every ball to go in the net at this level but I do expect us to limit the opposition by understanding their setup and doing things in mitigation and this should be done quite early in the game, thus our chances should go further. However, I simply cannot see it game after game and it is this that really concerns me.
on a weekly basis we see managers of lesser teams making these changes more consistently and effectively and that has been my charge all the time. Lack of obviously learning from mistakes, making a good decision one week and repeating an old one the following week.
I hope that for the last few weeks, we do not have to continue this Groundhog Day. I just want success.

As I see it, the main issue is that PW has far too many off days, particularly against opposition that we should be beating. It is obvious tactically. Analyse the match, the pitch was narrow but we set with 5 at the back and a midfielder that should’ve been in the middle playing totally out of position. We have a ball playing midfielder on the bench, when it is obvious to see that CH was playing badly and has no strength in defence longer, the two legged jump, the standard procedure to frighten the opposition, being totally ineffective and not scary in the least.
Then we have the so called most able attacking player in this division, sat on the bench.  Instead of subbing early, we bring 5 on after 65. 
as I have stated in my other posts it’s the inconsistency, one match good, another like a rabbit in headlights. I don’t expect every ball to go in the net at this level but I do expect us to limit the opposition by understanding their setup and doing things in mitigation and this should be done quite early in the game, thus our chances should go further. However, I simply cannot see it game after game and it is this that really concerns me.
on a weekly basis we see managers of lesser teams making these changes more consistently and effectively and that has been my charge all the time. Lack of obviously learning from mistakes, making a good decision one week and repeating an old one the following week.
I hope that for the last few weeks, we do not have to continue this Groundhog Day. I just want success.

As I see it, the main issue is that PW has far too many off days, particularly against opposition that we should be beating. It is obvious tactically. Analyse the match, the pitch was narrow but we set with 5 at the back and a midfielder that should’ve been in the middle playing totally out of position. We have a ball playing midfielder on the bench, when it is obvious to see that CH was playing badly and has no strength in defence longer, the two legged jump, the standard procedure to frighten the opposition, being totally ineffective and not scary in the least.
Then we have the so called most able attacking player in this division, sat on the bench.  Instead of subbing early, we bring 5 on after 65. 
as I have stated in my other posts it’s the inconsistency, one match good, another like a rabbit in headlights. I don’t expect every ball to go in the net at this level but I do expect us to limit the opposition by understanding their setup and doing things in mitigation and this should be done quite early in the game, thus our chances should go further. However, I simply cannot see it game after game and it is this that really concerns me.
on a weekly basis we see managers of lesser teams making these changes more consistently and effectively and that has been my charge all the time. Lack of obviously learning from mistakes, making a good decision one week and repeating an old one the following week.
I hope that for the last few weeks, we do not have to continue this Groundhog Day. I just want success.

As I see it, the main issue is that PW has far too many off days, particularly against opposition that we should be beating. It is obvious tactically. Analyse the match, the pitch was narrow but we set with 5 at the back and a midfielder that should’ve been in the middle playing totally out of position. We have a ball playing midfielder on the bench, when it is obvious to see that CH was playing badly and has no strength in defence longer, the two legged jump, the standard procedure to frighten the opposition, being totally ineffective and not scary in the least.
Then we have the so called most able attacking player in this division, sat on the bench.  Instead of subbing early, we bring 5 on after 65. 
as I have stated in my other posts it’s the inconsistency, one match good, another like a rabbit in headlights. I don’t expect every ball to go in the net at this level but I do expect us to limit the opposition by understanding their setup and doing things in mitigation and this should be done quite early in the game, thus our chances should go further. However, I simply cannot see it game after game and it is this that really concerns me.
on a weekly basis we see managers of lesser teams making these changes more consistently and effectively and that has been my charge all the time. Lack of obviously learning from mistakes, making a good decision one week and repeating an old one the following week.
I hope that for the last few weeks, we do not have to continue this Groundhog Day. I just want success.

I'm neither. I don't expect success. But I don't want turgid football either. I'd rather play well and achieve nothing (as we have for the last 20 years or so, give or take) than play awful and achieve nothing.
The best we can hope for as Derby fans is the odd blip of success, the odd sniff of the premier league every few years, maybe even a few seasons there every now and then. Hope is that key word. It's like only fools and horses, "this time next year lads, we'll be in the prem"....
I'm not sure if it's the manager, the players, league one, administration, some combination of all of the above, but that little flicker of hope in me has gone. I don't see us as a temporarily embarrassed premier league team any more. Games like Saturday have absolutely ground that kind of thinking out of me.
I don't honestly care if we go up or not this season, or if we win lose or draw etc. I just want something to look forward to next time I watch the match, and that's pretty much gone for me at the moment.
Sorry for the essay.

I think it's fair to say that's what most of us want but I would also suspect that, for the majority of supporters, the need for success when following our Club isn't the be all and end all.

As I see it, the main issue is that PW has far too many off days, particularly against opposition that we should be beating. It is obvious tactically. Analyse the match, the pitch was narrow but we set with 5 at the back and a midfielder that should’ve been in the middle playing totally out of position. We have a ball playing midfielder on the bench, when it is obvious to see that CH was playing badly and has no strength in defence longer, the two legged jump, the standard procedure to frighten the opposition, being totally ineffective and not scary in the least.
Then we have the so called most able attacking player in this division, sat on the bench.  Instead of subbing early, we bring 5 on after 65. 
as I have stated in my other posts it’s the inconsistency, one match good, another like a rabbit in headlights. I don’t expect every ball to go in the net at this level but I do expect us to limit the opposition by understanding their setup and doing things in mitigation and this should be done quite early in the game, thus our chances should go further. However, I simply cannot see it game after game and it is this that really concerns me.
on a weekly basis we see managers of lesser teams making these changes more consistently and effectively and that has been my charge all the time. Lack of obviously learning from mistakes, making a good decision one week and repeating an old one the following week.
I hope that for the last few weeks, we do not have to continue this Groundhog Day. I just want success.

Actually I've calmed down a bit, and the players did let themselves down, and the let the club down, and more than that they let the fans down. So apologies, your point accepted.
But it was underpinned by the tactics used today, which were woeful. When it has taken this far into the season to find that we need a third man in midfield, especially if Hourihane has to be in there (I don't remember Richi Sunack passing a law that he must always play unless injured, but it would seem to be the case), only to go with a two today. It crippled us,  especially when he took Adams off, not Hourrihane. And I don't know if you noticed or not, but we were back to the "whack it ide and lob it into the box" methodology that has never worked, and that didn't work today. When as players you know there is a much better way to play, and that you are capable of winning if only we would do it, but are forced into this sort of crapology, is it any wonder they were a bit half-arsed? Yes the players were poor, but they'd had their hamstrings snipped as they walked onto the pitch today.

Unfortunately, I am beginning to believe that on genuine evidence PW and his team are woefully inadequate. Tactically naive, they allow other managers and their coaching teams to take total advantage of any and every strategic tactical decision. I was never expecting Pep, but this is bettered on local playing fields by many a under 8's coach.
Basically it lets us down. Even if by fluke we get promoted, I am sorry that we cannot sustain this. I have never been anti Warne and Co but did note my reservations and concerns quite a while ago (these were quite obvious, so everyone else noted them) but no-one in the coaching team appears to learn.
I'm not a spring chicken having watched Derby For around 63 years and I 'm not saying I remember that much in my early years (but I have seen a lot of football, in my time)  but an older guy said to me tonight, after the match; that the manager is just a PE teacher and his only answer is to get quicker, unfortunately, the technicians have caught up. This is 2024, this I am afraid is a cul-de-sac.

Totally agree, not the players fault. Tactical naivety. Wildsmith was in error but the situation should not have arisen had Warne not got the team shapeless. These are errors you see with managers of 8 year olds on the Racecourse on a Sunday.
it happens too frequently to be accidental, this is what PW and his team is paid for.  Unfortunately too much belief and too little ability. No admittance of errors.  The list gets longer I’m afraid.

My sons Sunday morning coach was quite decent. At least he went out and tried to win games…