Zag zig

I enjoyed last night's Sport scene, particularly because it didn't have anyone from the fan panel (some of whom are great, but some of whom get away with saying things which are inaccurate or just plain wrong), though the caller who questioned whether Adams had been "found out" had me pulling my hair out.
As for the Rams TV coverage, I think it's far superior to anything I've seen at this level and is probably better than most clubs at Championship level.

Puts it into perspective - I had 20 years unbroken season ticket up until Covid happened. I then held off renewing because it was far from clear as to when the restrictions would be lifted. Then I got ill and had a major op that left me unable to do anything for a year or so.
Since I've been back on my feet I've been going to maybe every other Saturday home game 
I'd sort of told myself that next season I'd get back on board with a ST, but for me and my lad it's £600 behind the goal (which I'm not a massive fan of) and £800 on the side. Not having had a pay rise in all that time, and the cost of living soaring - there's absolutely no way I can afford it now 😞
Not going to have a dig at the club - but football in general is becoming completely unaffordable for families. 

Yes... Me!
That's why I've gone for it on day one, so I don't change my mind!  🤣

Have you watched RamsTV, Jay? Because that isn’t what you get on RamsTV.
 
Not quite sure why you feel the need to bring that in. 

I actually like Eric Steele.
I don't want happy happy joy joy, if want that I'll read the threads on here.

Yeah and he lets us know about it often enough. I just think he's a bit of an old fart. I think Malcolm Christie is great though

I think Eric has become as big a dinosaur as Ian Hall was to be honest. 

Whenever I hear Malcolm Christie, even if after the game, in terms of punditry his analysis seems good, you’re given a feel he knows what he’s talking about but he’s far more upbeat.
Steele may have been a good goalkeeping coach, knows his onions but boy us he dull on the radio this season; he’s full on grumpy old man.

Whenever I hear Malcolm Christie, even if after the game, in terms of punditry his analysis seems good, you’re given a feel he knows what he’s talking about but he’s far more upbeat.
Steele may have been a good goalkeeping coach, knows his onions but boy us he dull on the radio this season; he’s full on grumpy old man.

I went yesterday and wasn't too disappointed. I've not read through the thread so sorry if this is repeating what others have said. I thought we lacked a focal point and this challenged our attacking menace. However, once we got our 1st we easily could have had a 2nd in the next 5 mins. I think if we'd have gotten that we'd have won easily in the end. Midfield wise Adams was class with Bird and Hourihane not having great games. Bird's passing especially was pretty poor as was his decision-making when he did get forward. Gayle once he gets some service and minutes will bag goals in this division easily. Even though he was offside for the chance towards the end the way he peeled off their defence was great. 
I did question our pressing. Their big CB didn't know what to do with the ball and could not clearly pass or control it but instead of putting Laing on him to harass him into making errors we just kept off him until someone eventually broke our marking and he had an easy 5 yard pass on. It was quite infuriating to see this pattern in the second half.  We ran out of steam around the 70-minute mark and it showed. 
If we get these lot in the playoffs I fancy our chances tbh. I thought they looked really poor overall and don't have the players for the game they play. Another day we win that game 2 or 3-0 i think and at home we'll batter them.  Usually, I'm down about Warne and quite critical. Yesterday, we did shoot ourselves in the foot but if that's who are our biggest challengers we should come out on top in the long run. 

Spent yesterday in London with my family over from the States. My uncle is a massive Rams fan and probably played the most influential role in my fandom alongside his dad, my maternal Grandfather, who was at Wembley in 1946.
He and I made our excuses and legged it back to his hotel in time to watch on Ramstv just as the game kicked off.
 
I thought it was a good game for the neutral with both teams open at the back. Barnsley didn’t strike me as anything special and think we lost yesterday due to too many of our lads having an off day. Wildsmith and Cashin didn’t seem as composed as normal at the back, Hourihane and Bird were largely ineffective, Wilson, NML and Sibley showed plenty of endeavour but no real composure. I think we missed a striker and we couldn’t seem to string any passes together. 
Their first was well struck but came from a poor ish defensive header and a lack of closing down which allowed him time to set himself and hit it well. The second came from a set piece we are normally solid at defending. Plenty of effort to win it in the end but it felt like we didn’t quite have the bounce of the ball and Barnsley defended well with a number of well hit efforts being blocked. Wilson got into so many great positions and then overplayed which was infuriating at the time, hopefully he can get those decisions right in future…just drill the cross in please Kane 🙏 
Disappointed to lose but glad I got to watch it with my uncle, second match I’ve watched with him this season after we made it to Pride Park for the Fleetwood game. Still plenty of points to play for, and players to come back in, onto the next one! 🐏 

Lovely to have you back Royetta. Also lovely to see you reinvigorated by yesterday's loss too. 
#silverlinings

I think we should replace the match thread with a discussion on Paul Warne's pre and post game comments. That's what we all care about, the onfield action is just a subtext to the main event.
Anyway, Charlton next, I wonder what Warne will say pre-game?

He didn’t look too bad in the stands today. Think if we’d have won he’d have started the bounce.
Good to see him, Vickers and Jake Rooney in the away end supporting the lads.

Just got back and don’t understand the real negativity. We were ok, they scored a worldie, it wasn’t a bad performance for me, just lacked killer instinct when we got in front. Stuttering start 2nd half and bizarrely got better towards end without creating clear cut chances.
Seen a lot worse performances at Barnsley away. Still all to play for.

We have great crowds every week which rarely drop below 26k (and mostly well above) despite "the football".
If its were going to drop off,it's taking a long time,he's been here nearly two seasons.
The doommongers and anti warne brigade live in their own world on this forum,I'd be surprised if many actually go the games.

Watched the game on RamsTV as per... I have to say it was a thoroughly enjoyable game to watch. Both sides looking to play attacking football, both defences playing well enough to allow only 16 shots the whole game, 6 for them, 10 for us. Both sides had 4 on target and they enjoyed 58% possession.

I was happy to see Bobby Madley had been replaced as the ref to avoid any semblance of bias. His replacement did well. Not a perfect display but he was even handed with what he let go.

Towering header from Bradley for the 0-1. Good goal line header to prevent Cash getting our 2nd. Header away from Cash then fell to Phillips 20 odd yards out and nobody on him, easy chance put away well giving JW no chance. Same player headed home their 2nd. A game either side might have won, they did, IMO a draw would have been the right result. Results elsewhere didn't "punish" our loss.

Back 3 or 4? In a 4 Cash and Nels have been immense all season. Bradley is finally showing why we bought him. A 3 puts Nyambe out of the equation which is a shame as he's a very good RB. 3 allows us 2 wing backs and more attacking options and gives us 2 up top (strikers hunting in pairs, the way I like to see them). With players starting to become available again following injury, PW will have a fair few selection headaches.

4 of the next 5 games are at home. Blessing or curse? Hopefully we'll see big crowds getting behind the team and a plethora of points. We start with Charlton and Port Vale and I'd be looking for 6 points from those games. Brizzle Rovers away another 3. Reading at home, yes, they do seem a bit of a bogey side but time to lay that one to rest. Then it's Bolton, 32K crowd, buzzing stadium, simply a don't lose game. I'm looking at either 13 or 15 points from the 5 games and that would keep us in with a good shout of top 2.

Apologies in advance if this just sounds like a load of waffle.
My issue with Paul Warne is that I don’t feel like he’s getting the most out of what he has available. Yes, we have lost our target man but you adjust accordingly and change the style to suit what you have. He seems to have a certain way of playing with very little ability or willingness to tweak it.
He’s a nice enough bloke. I don’t like his interviews and try to avoid them as they often make me cringe. 

I don’t think he has much ability for developing players, if anything it’s the opposite. How many players have been bit parts or seemed to have disappeared, for example Smith and Fornah etc. These are players he’s signed, if they don’t end up in and around the squad he’s basically wasted wages.
Yesterday was hard to watch when we were going toward. First half NML and Sibley were basically playing as wingers, out wide, expected to beat their man, try and cut inside and left with limited options. There was no runners from the midfield. Second half the only threat was Wilson from the right wing, who wasted multiple opportunities to play a ball into the box after doing the hard work.
We seem to have no ability to open team up with intricate passing. Everything is play it out wide and whip a cross in. With no height in the box, unless you play that ball across the floor likelihood is it will be cleared and us put back on the counter. I absolutely hate the fact that we can no longer pass a ball more than four times without losing it and 3 of those passes will be sideways or backwards.
The midfield was all wrong yesterday. Bird and Hourihane were guilty of far too many side and backward balls. It completely neutralises the attack. Get your head up and look for NML and Sibbs who should be waiting to be fed the ball and charge at the defence or hold it up for the midfield to catch up. 

For me, now we have Adam’s covering the middle of the park we have no excuse to not use players like Thompson and Fornah ahead of him to drive the ball forward. Both are capable of carrying the ball and trying to find a forward pass.
If we try and play how we do when Collins is in the team then signing Gayle will have been a waste of time and money.
The Academy is another concern, Paul has no interest in seeing players feed through. Weston for example was bright when he had his chances, only to disappear back to the academy not to be seen again. Fapetu and Robinson as well looked like very good prospects. 
 
I don’t feel like Paul’s using any of the resources he has available as well as he could, the style of play isn’t particularly interesting to watch, I won’t argue that we are in a good position for the final stretch of the season but also feel like this squad is capable of a far more exciting style of football and would definitely compete towards the top end of the league. 

Well,like you, I attend most games. I quite like to hear the little snippets about people's experiences at the game, what they thought of the referee, that chance for Gayle at the end ( was it really a chance? It hasn't had a mention on here). 
Why should I avoid this thread?  Mods need to do their job and delete all the off-topic stuff or move it to the Warne thread, which I can easily avoid.

This was always marked down as one of our toughest games remaining and so it proved.
We have dug in and won some very tough away games recently where others have stumbled, so we were probably due a fall and again, the margins were fine.
There is no shame in a narrow loss against a promotion rival. Barnsley, Bolton and Peterborough will push us all of the way and each game left will feel like a cup final as the pendulum swings.
The important thing really is to just get back on the horse as quickly as possible. One loss isn’t fatal to our hopes if we bounce back quickly. Two home wins and a few Gayle goals this week and the belief will be right back.

You are solely looking at the results angle & everything about Paul Warne is pure short term focus leaving little else to justify his tenure here. What you're overlooking is his long term unsuitability & that also has to be factored into conversations about whether he stays or not. The quality of football is poor & a sizeable section of the fanbase do not enjoy watching it (with potential knock on effect for future PP crowd numbers), he doesn't particularly improve players, there is a misalignment with Academy pathway (refusing to even use EFL Trophy matches to give youngsters game time) & preferred transfer strategy in order for the club to achieve sustainability. Warne wants the likes of Sonny Bradley & Conor Washington to secure his promotion (and Michael Smith given half a chance)...the club will struggle to be sustainable with these types of signings. We brought in Mark Thomas last year to identify cheap, develop & sell high...Warne is not suited to this model.
Clowes appointed Warne to get us a quick promotion & that was the expectation of everyone when he was appointed (and why Rosenior was let go). To take your most extreme hypothetical scenario, as the pure remit for Warne being here is a short term focus of promotion, then defeat at Wembley would still be complete failure with no guarantee of promotion the next year & need to continue down the highly paid experienced pro with no resale value route that Warne prefers. I suspect Clowes will be considering how much longer he can tolerate that misalignment with the long term DCFC strategy come May should we faill to go up.

Does every matchday thread when we don't win have to deteriorate into the same tired debate about Warne? There's a thread for that.

If we’re not going to finish top 2 then who is? Bolton? The team who have just been smashed 4-1 and whose fans are probably in meltdown right now. Barnsley? Need to win their game in hand (against Bolton) just to be level with us, a team who not so long ago fans were also in meltdown wanting their manager out (sound familiar). The reason no one is running away with it (I think Pompey will be pulled back) is because all the teams at the top have flaws and are not quite good enough to dominate the league. Barnsley are back in the top 2 race now yet didn’t look any better than us, Bolton have been everyone’s pick and rightly because along with Pompey they’ve been the most active in the transfer market and spent the most money, yet they’re struggling right now. This will go to the wire and we have absolutely as much chance as the other teams. 
Big week ahead, Port Vale we absolutely should be banking on 3 points, anything else not good enough given they’re one of the poorest teams in the league right now. Charlton will be tough, they’ve taken points off Bolton and Pompey in the last two games, beating them will actually be a marker for our competitiveness. 
 
I think we can get top 2 but I don’t think we’re in the top 2 sides in this division. People can ignore this until they are blue in the face, the likes of Pompey Bolton and even Barnsley have had an advantage on us due to our restrictions. There’s a reason the average age of the squad is as old as it is. Yes we have a budget to be competitive and we are being competitive but that doesn’t mean top 2 should be a guarantee, and the playoffs as we all know are a lottery. 
 

11 goals/assists in 11 U18 league games this season and he's still only 16 (until tomorrow).
I think it's a really special crop of players and wouldn't be surprised if we challenge for the title next season. 9 of today's starters are only first year scholars. 

Bradley might play well but it’s the effect his presence has on Cashin and Nelson that bothers me.
They were imperious as a pairing but seem unsure of their positioning in a three.
We also lack a good third midfielder to complement Bird and Adams.  Someone with more energy and power than Hourihane. Sibley might be the best option.