DavesaRam

That was actually the most comfortable afternoon at Pride Park for ages. Having said that, my heart sank when I saw the team sheet, because like a bad smell, Bradley was back in. My only surprise was that Warne's other boyfriend Hourihane wasn't starting, but like Bradley of old, he was the first sub to come on! But they guy done well. But as for CBT - he is clearly a confidence player, and almost vanished after the miss on Wednesday evening, so what better way to boost his confidence than to drop him. Nice one. I hope he gets a chance to shine before the season ends.
Getting to my seat before kick-off looking at the teams out on the pitch, and I felt confident of a win today, and indeed we simply had too much for them today. It was a good performance all round, no-one messed up, no-one failed to turn up, and no-one got injured, and for the modern game, that last one is a miracle! Stand outs were Thompson, who makes such a difference in the middle of the pitch, Cashin (as always) and Sibley, who had one of his best games for a while, and the defence was pretty sound, ensuring no shots on target I believe. And a big shout out to Wilson, who continues to do amazing things with the ball.
First half though, apart from the corners, there wasn't much of a threat on goal from us, either, although we looked the most likely to score. But as the game opened up in the second half we created a lot down our right. One particular move had Sibley flicking the ball over his opponent, a three man one-touch passage and a cross, with NML putting a deft flick on the ball which went inches of the top corner. What a goal that would have been. See - we can do it! (Play football, I mean).
There were some bizarre decisions from the match officials in the first half, which I put down to League One standard refereeing, but second half they managed to lower the bar considerably, but thankfully nothing match-changing.
And finally a BIG, nay HUGE shout out to the fans- the support was superb today, with large sections of North Standers joining in with the noise - Good Onya! And the Orient fans singing "National League Champions - you'll never sing that!" - Excellent!

That was actually the most comfortable afternoon at Pride Park for ages. Having said that, my heart sank when I saw the team sheet, because like a bad smell, Bradley was back in. My only surprise was that Warne's other boyfriend Hourihane wasn't starting, but like Bradley of old, he was the first sub to come on! But they guy done well. But as for CBT - he is clearly a confidence player, and almost vanished after the miss on Wednesday evening, so what better way to boost his confidence than to drop him. Nice one. I hope he gets a chance to shine before the season ends.
Getting to my seat before kick-off looking at the teams out on the pitch, and I felt confident of a win today, and indeed we simply had too much for them today. It was a good performance all round, no-one messed up, no-one failed to turn up, and no-one got injured, and for the modern game, that last one is a miracle! Stand outs were Thompson, who makes such a difference in the middle of the pitch, Cashin (as always) and Sibley, who had one of his best games for a while, and the defence was pretty sound, ensuring no shots on target I believe. And a big shout out to Wilson, who continues to do amazing things with the ball.
First half though, apart from the corners, there wasn't much of a threat on goal from us, either, although we looked the most likely to score. But as the game opened up in the second half we created a lot down our right. One particular move had Sibley flicking the ball over his opponent, a three man one-touch passage and a cross, with NML putting a deft flick on the ball which went inches of the top corner. What a goal that would have been. See - we can do it! (Play football, I mean).
There were some bizarre decisions from the match officials in the first half, which I put down to League One standard refereeing, but second half they managed to lower the bar considerably, but thankfully nothing match-changing.
And finally a BIG, nay HUGE shout out to the fans- the support was superb today, with large sections of North Standers joining in with the noise - Good Onya! And the Orient fans singing "National League Champions - you'll never sing that!" - Excellent!

Nice observation Eddie. Sibs didn’t produce a champagne moment (cut in, left foot bullet top corner ) but he was aggressive, alert, positive and all in all played his heart out for the team. MOTM ? Dunno, but he he was up there and played with skill and commitment. … in playground picks based on today, we’d all want Sibs. Take a bow Louis 

Think if we get promoted Warne might go for physicality but hopefully the quality of player will be higher than at Rotherham. Either way if it happens we will have to see.
One piece of great news, we now have plus 1 Derby fan, my friends lad loved his first game even doing some bouncing in the West Stand, choosing his favourite player: "The guy with the shoulders" Nate, obvs! and wanting to go again as soon as possible. It made today exceptional for me, you dont get to introduce a new fan everyday.
Anyway, pressure is on Bolton now they've got to win the last 3 in a row surely. Impressed with Thompson today, might see the 3 central midfield combo for the last two now, Bird, Thompson Smith, Adams, 3 out of those four should dominate possession in L1. Less attackers maybe but pragmatism will be the order of the day.

Impressed Warne went with 3 at the back and that he backed Bradley - that was brave. Delighted for Tommo. We’re going up 

I like reading most of your posts, but your first paragraph today is really poor.
2 games to go and promotion in our hands and it still feels like so many of our 'supporters' have personal axes to grind.
Very sad times and I'm not sure some of our fans actually deserve the promotion that we may achieve. 

That was actually the most comfortable afternoon at Pride Park for ages. Having said that, my heart sank when I saw the team sheet, because like a bad smell, Bradley was back in. My only surprise was that Warne's other boyfriend Hourihane wasn't starting, but like Bradley of old, he was the first sub to come on! But they guy done well. But as for CBT - he is clearly a confidence player, and almost vanished after the miss on Wednesday evening, so what better way to boost his confidence than to drop him. Nice one. I hope he gets a chance to shine before the season ends.
Getting to my seat before kick-off looking at the teams out on the pitch, and I felt confident of a win today, and indeed we simply had too much for them today. It was a good performance all round, no-one messed up, no-one failed to turn up, and no-one got injured, and for the modern game, that last one is a miracle! Stand outs were Thompson, who makes such a difference in the middle of the pitch, Cashin (as always) and Sibley, who had one of his best games for a while, and the defence was pretty sound, ensuring no shots on target I believe. And a big shout out to Wilson, who continues to do amazing things with the ball.
First half though, apart from the corners, there wasn't much of a threat on goal from us, either, although we looked the most likely to score. But as the game opened up in the second half we created a lot down our right. One particular move had Sibley flicking the ball over his opponent, a three man one-touch passage and a cross, with NML putting a deft flick on the ball which went inches of the top corner. What a goal that would have been. See - we can do it! (Play football, I mean).
There were some bizarre decisions from the match officials in the first half, which I put down to League One standard refereeing, but second half they managed to lower the bar considerably, but thankfully nothing match-changing.
And finally a BIG, nay HUGE shout out to the fans- the support was superb today, with large sections of North Standers joining in with the noise - Good Onya! And the Orient fans singing "National League Champions - you'll never sing that!" - Excellent!

Now we’ve only got two more chances to throw it all away! Woo Hoo!

Pompey fan here, back for a brief visit.. Well done today, a convincing win for you. 
Hopefully our draw at Bolton did you a massive favour. 
Good luck lads, see you all at fratton next season 

Well done on your win and putting things back in your own hands.  I thought we were fortunate at times today, for some reason our early goal seemed to send us in to our shell; Bolton have some decent footballers, who exploited that for the rest of the first half and we were lucky not to go in behind.  Second half a bit more even.
All the best for the run in - as I've said elsewhere I'm hoping we'll both end up in the automatic slots now; but I do think you're probably at the stage where you can't afford any slip ups in the last couple of games.
I've just poured a large glass of red. Enjoy your evenings, Rams.

Thankyou for your usual warped agenda driven insight. (Pssst your just voicing an opinion not stating fact )
 Did you by any chance see the flicks and one touches on the right touchline in the second half ? Did you see Sibs and Wilson roasting full backs ? Did you see Smith spotting outlying runners and dropping meet balls in to their path when under pressure ? Did you see Tommo and Wilson doing give and goes ? Clearly not from the drivel you just posted.

Now we’ve only got two more chances to throw it all away! Woo Hoo!

Legend has it Van Dijk has a Sonny Bradley poster in his bedroom

Us, lovely cross by sibbo and a deft flick by Nat is just over

Would have been goal of the season that

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. 
 
 

Its not so much we don’t know how to play through the middle, it is more that the players are not allowed to.

I notice Warne has been blathering on about some of the players being off par, and seems oblivious to the effect of how he sets the team to play.
Last season it was dire until injuries forced him to go 4 at the back and we went on a good run. But as soon as he could he went to a back 3 again - - - and the run ended. This season it took the fans kicking off before he let us start playing somewhere near ground level, and using midfield a bit, and we went on another good run. But gradually he slipped us back to going wide and cross it, going full on at Northampton, who demonstrated that teams had  rumbled us. All they had to do was double up on our wide men and we are stuffed, which is all Wycombe had to do to us last night.
The latest rash of injuries should have hurt us big time, but forced us to play 3 in the middle and we did ok. So why the hell did he go 2 in the middle plus “Wang it wide and punt the crosses in” last night? Wycombe doubled up on the wide boys and yes, we were stuffed - - - again! 🙄
Yes the players have a lot to answer for, but  when you are asked to do your job in a way that you know is no good, but you have a gun at your head that says “that way or the highway” it is demoralising - I know from personal experience.
For the remaining matches can we have a giant flag made to wave at Warne that says. “4 AT THE BACK AND 3 IN MIDFIELD PLEASE, PAUL”?

Thanks for that, mate! Actually Wycombe were better than you have just described, although our defence was fairly solid. And yes, you have moved away from the dark arts, although you were time wasting from the very start - but then so were we!  Ut you started committing a lot of quite cynical fouls once the substitutions happened, and your ball boys were very naughty when it came to giving the ball to one of our players.
Unfortunately our manager’s tactics are so one dimensional that even a sheet of paper looks like rough terrain, and you quickly worked out how to stifle us. If because of last night we end up in the play-offs, we won’t get promoted. 
 
I actually enjoyed the football you played once you had woken up, so once you get rid of your ambulance-chasing chairman you should start to go places.

I notice Warne has been blathering on about some of the players being off par, and seems oblivious to the effect of how he sets the team to play.
Last season it was dire until injuries forced him to go 4 at the back and we went on a good run. But as soon as he could he went to a back 3 again - - - and the run ended. This season it took the fans kicking off before he let us start playing somewhere near ground level, and using midfield a bit, and we went on another good run. But gradually he slipped us back to going wide and cross it, going full on at Northampton, who demonstrated that teams had  rumbled us. All they had to do was double up on our wide men and we are stuffed, which is all Wycombe had to do to us last night.
The latest rash of injuries should have hurt us big time, but forced us to play 3 in the middle and we did ok. So why the hell did he go 2 in the middle plus “Wang it wide and punt the crosses in” last night? Wycombe doubled up on the wide boys and yes, we were stuffed - - - again! 🙄
Yes the players have a lot to answer for, but  when you are asked to do your job in a way that you know is no good, but you have a gun at your head that says “that way or the highway” it is demoralising - I know from personal experience.
For the remaining matches can we have a giant flag made to wave at Warne that says. “4 AT THE BACK AND 3 IN MIDFIELD PLEASE, PAUL”?

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.

Not sure the addition of Bradley and Hourihane will 'freshen it up', or much else to be honest. Dropping Smith for the latter in particular, seems akin to an act of self-harm. We've looked ok defensively, having reverted to a back 4 and I'd fear a complete meltdown amongst the fans if we bring in the two slowest players on the roster for a game we absolutely need to be winning.

I notice Warne has been blathering on about some of the players being off par, and seems oblivious to the effect of how he sets the team to play.
Last season it was dire until injuries forced him to go 4 at the back and we went on a good run. But as soon as he could he went to a back 3 again - - - and the run ended. This season it took the fans kicking off before he let us start playing somewhere near ground level, and using midfield a bit, and we went on another good run. But gradually he slipped us back to going wide and cross it, going full on at Northampton, who demonstrated that teams had  rumbled us. All they had to do was double up on our wide men and we are stuffed, which is all Wycombe had to do to us last night.
The latest rash of injuries should have hurt us big time, but forced us to play 3 in the middle and we did ok. So why the hell did he go 2 in the middle plus “Wang it wide and punt the crosses in” last night? Wycombe doubled up on the wide boys and yes, we were stuffed - - - again! 🙄
Yes the players have a lot to answer for, but  when you are asked to do your job in a way that you know is no good, but you have a gun at your head that says “that way or the highway” it is demoralising - I know from personal experience.
For the remaining matches can we have a giant flag made to wave at Warne that says. “4 AT THE BACK AND 3 IN MIDFIELD PLEASE, PAUL”?

I notice Warne has been blathering on about some of the players being off par, and seems oblivious to the effect of how he sets the team to play.
Last season it was dire until injuries forced him to go 4 at the back and we went on a good run. But as soon as he could he went to a back 3 again - - - and the run ended. This season it took the fans kicking off before he let us start playing somewhere near ground level, and using midfield a bit, and we went on another good run. But gradually he slipped us back to going wide and cross it, going full on at Northampton, who demonstrated that teams had  rumbled us. All they had to do was double up on our wide men and we are stuffed, which is all Wycombe had to do to us last night.
The latest rash of injuries should have hurt us big time, but forced us to play 3 in the middle and we did ok. So why the hell did he go 2 in the middle plus “Wang it wide and punt the crosses in” last night? Wycombe doubled up on the wide boys and yes, we were stuffed - - - again! 🙄
Yes the players have a lot to answer for, but  when you are asked to do your job in a way that you know is no good, but you have a gun at your head that says “that way or the highway” it is demoralising - I know from personal experience.
For the remaining matches can we have a giant flag made to wave at Warne that says. “4 AT THE BACK AND 3 IN MIDFIELD PLEASE, PAUL”?

Thanks for that, mate! Actually Wycombe were better than you have just described, although our defence was fairly solid. And yes, you have moved away from the dark arts, although you were time wasting from the very start - but then so were we!  Ut you started committing a lot of quite cynical fouls once the substitutions happened, and your ball boys were very naughty when it came to giving the ball to one of our players.
Unfortunately our manager’s tactics are so one dimensional that even a sheet of paper looks like rough terrain, and you quickly worked out how to stifle us. If because of last night we end up in the play-offs, we won’t get promoted. 
 
I actually enjoyed the football you played once you had woken up, so once you get rid of your ambulance-chasing chairman you should start to go places.