lrm14

I'm home and just cracked open a nice bottle of German Christmas beer in celebration.  Guess it has all been said, but nights like tonight make the life of ram all worthwhile, this was better than Port Vale last season. I hope I get my voice back tomorrow, maybe the beer will help.

Well a terrible start. Or was it? Wildsmith made  silly mistake when the striker was already diving, and an excellent free-kick from a soft free-kick. Get used to them, they'll be a feature of the match. But in reality we were still at least equal to them in those opening minutes. I noticed there was much talk form Oxford about our pressing and closing down, but it was they who were buzzing around anything in a white shirt at the start, but evidently it couldn't last. But the picture soon emerged of who was controlling the game, with Derby only coming short on end product. But so on top it was unreal. I noticed the ref clamped down on Nyambe for stealing about 4 yards for a throw, but let Oxford steal ten every time, until late on in the match. He gave them free kicks for next to nothing, but let lots go the other way. NML was hurled ot the floor just before half time but nothing was given, and he let them kick the ball away loads of times without reprimand. How many yellow cards have we had recently for that offence? The only surprise is that his surname isn't Simpson.
But actually none of that matters because of the relentlessness of the team, who found just a bit extra zip in the second half. I had a few moments when I thought this was going to be one of those nights when the ball just won't go in, around Wilson's miss, but apart from that momentary blip it felt inevitable that we would score again, so yet another rival, posing quite a threat on paper, have been made to look quite ordinary, although Oxford were a better "ordinary" than many others. But doing it is something we are getting rather good at.
I admit I was one foot into the Warne out camp a while ago, justifiably, but credit to Paul Warne for sticking with 4 at the back, because it works. Credit to him for being prepared to go that way, instead of insisting on reverting to his preferred 3 at the back. It takes courage to do that, but it is paying off. I worried when Bradley made his customary appearance - I often do, and for a few minutes while we made the adjustment we were wide open to the counter attack, but it did push us further up the pitch and the onslaught increased. Great substitutions, typified by Cashin being involved in our attacking moves from the substitutions onwards. He was virtually a midfield player. 
Highlight for me was the impact JJ had - suddenly we have a striker who knows the right place to be, and has the ability when the ball arrives slightly in the wrong place to make something of it. I really hope he can get a load of game time in, especially if he goes back to Arsenal early. I also hope we can hold on to him, because he could be the huge difference we are looking for in the next window. And it would budgetarily favourable as well (if such a word actually exists).
We have now entered a period where we don't need to worry bout who we have got to play. We can let them worry because they have got to play us, so the only difference between the teams we face will be the colour of the shirts.
And this feeling is reeeeaaaaallllyyyy good!
COME ON YOU RAMS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Got home a while ago, if just finished chewing my wife's ear off about the game. She has zero interesting in football but I think she recognised the need to nod along until the adrenaline wore off.
First 20 I didn't even think we were bad. Two goals from breaks that hit the right lines and bam we're staring down the barrel.
I was about 10ft away from the dugout and Warne was bouncing away to get them to force the pace of the game. The press was outstanding tonight and we moved the ball really well most of the game. He was urging them on and really positive throughout.
Cashin was outstanding in all departments, we have to find a way to keep hold of him in January. Bird looked more comfortable sitting deeper and Hourihane looked much better further forward. Fozzy, Nyambe and Nelson were excellent. Barks improved second half and Wilson, Collins and NML didn't give them a moments peace. Subs outstanding too. All in all jolly good.
Hopefully they can take that energy into Monday and hound Peterborough to death too.
Didn't know there were so many Rams sitting silently with the home fans. We all did incredibly well to go undetected after a performance like that, it was tough to keep schtum and not join in the bounce! Great noise from the travelling fans tonight, even at 2 down. 
Great night to be a Ram!

Limbs etc.  
 

I think there were quite a few of us in the home stands too. We like to help out where we can!

2 convincing performances in a row and you still want to come on here for a dick swinging contest with those who were critical when things weren’t good enough. Just enjoy the win ffs…

I’d say you need to ask Wildsmith why he did what he did if there was no danger.

Yet we have scored 1 or less in 12 of our 22 games resulting in just 13 points. It's in these games where we need more options to breakdown those defences - a couple of players who can score or create different types of goals to our existing squad.
Aside from Mendez-Laing, our other wide mids/forwards have just 4 goals combined. Our attacking mids have just 4 assists.
John-Jules returns to Arsenal in January, Washington is out until March and Waghorn is probably going to be hit and miss for the rest of the season. Relying on just Collins to see us through to the end of the season would be a risky move, especially after going into the 2nd half of last season with just Collins and McGoldrick proved costly.

Late subs and the 'hold what we have' mentality we have late in games are my only complaints against Warne at the moment. He's totally turned my opinion around in the past month or so and in all honesty he's done a great job. Some of the football we played in the first half was lovely to watch. Get something out of the next two games and we'll be the team everyone else is worried about. Roll on Friday!

Nervy ending but fully deserved win over the 90 mins. Onto Oxford!

"Technically", that was a first class away day job done by all involved.
A tad disappointed we didn't capitalise more on our first half superiority.
And in fairness, that nervy last 20 minute watch was based more on history than what was actually happening on the pitch, but that doesn't make it any less nervy.
Still... correct score on the prediction thingy, another 3 points on the board, and Pompey, we really are coming for you.
Happy Boxing Day, fellow Rams.
🐏🍻
 

Nelson and Cashin are a joy to watch, both today were solid as usual but looked so, so confident on the ball. Whatever else is going on the pitch, they seem to never lose their composure
They are the bedrock of our promotion push

Late subs and the 'hold what we have' mentality we have late in games are my only complaints against Warne at the moment. He's totally turned my opinion around in the past month or so and in all honesty he's done a great job. Some of the football we played in the first half was lovely to watch. Get something out of the next two games and we'll be the team everyone else is worried about. Roll on Friday!

So annoying that Bolton and Oxford scored late on 😩
Good away win, played them off the park first half and despite them getting a bit more territory and pressure second half the lads stood firm. Would have preferred Warne made subs earlier to secure the 3 points sooner as I nearly soiled myself waiting for the final whistle but what can you do eh?! 🤷🏻‍♂️ 
22 points from the last 24 available, 7 wins and a draw in the last 8 games…not a bad festive season so far 😁 
Up the blinkin’ sheep shaggin’ rams! 🐏 

We don’t tend to rise to the big gates some times and the atmosphere can also be worse. Maybe that’s anecdotal, but that’s how it seems. 

Me. I just wish he was doing it here.

Premier League Thurs 21/12/2023
Crystal Palace 1 - 1 Brighton & Hove Albion
Attendance 24,171
 
EFL Sky Bet League One
Derby County 3 - 1 Lincoln City
Attendance 27,192
 
…………no further comment required. 👍🐏

i dont think the ref made bad decisions by the laws of the game,for me it was the refs lack of authority that allowed ww to play to their strengths with the dark arts. shirt pulling and pushing in both goal mouths,every tackle their players went down as if they were shot,every free kick or throw in they gained ground,every chance they got they stopped play for as long as they could,they ignored direct commands,and the ref was complicit in allowing it to happen

Warney doesn’t seem to learn though does he? Tactically he is left wanting at times. In my view once fully fit Thommo should play. He fills the void of energy and pace we currently lack in midfield.

No,  yesterday wasn’t the system that gave us a long winning run, it was the one from before that which earned us naff all for mist of the season so far.
I hope its a one-off or he’s gone to start getting flack like he got after Stevenage and Crewe.

For me, the biggest disappointment was that I felt she hadn't lived up to the standard she'd set in previous games. Perhaps the late appointment meant she couldn't do much homework on the two teams and was a little unprepared for a tetchy affair? Sometimes a ref's performance is as much about how they referee as it is about whether individual decisions are correct. I think it contributed to a scrappy, disappointing game, but the opposition and our own sloppiness were equally to blame for that .

Was very frustrated last night, particularly with the ref.  But we didn’t have our best game and Wycombe came to stop the rhythm and disrupt us.
Technically, her bookings were right, but her management of the game - which previously has been spot on - was poor.  Sometimes a word would have sufficed and the fact that all the booking came so close together didn’t help.  The Sibley and Collins one frustrate me.  Sibley should know that kicking the ball away is a yellow card this season, we’re nearly halfway through now and that should be basic knowledge.  I get Collins was frustrated but he ran from the middle of the pitch to have an argument he didn’t need to have.
The trouble is, due to poor management of the game, the players played within themselves.  They became too scared to make a tackle.  And the inconsistency made it worse.  She should have booked the Wycombe player in the first half after, rightly, playing advantage.  Taylor should have been booked for ambling off the pitch.  She walked 5 yards with him and he completely ignored her.  I’m sure there are others but they’re 2 that spring to mind.

Warne has some weird love for 3/5 at the back. It’s never once worked for us but his arrogance and persistent for it will be his downfall eventually. Youive found a winning formula stick to it 

One thing i noticed v Orient and again today, Ward can't defend..yes he can put crosses in the attacking third..but he leaves a massive gap when we are defending.
When fit, I'd play Nyambe all day long..and stick to a back 4...if we don't keep Nyambe, i worry about us achieving promotion.

Couldn't resist could you....pretty ironic in a thread about tiresome oneupmanship don't you think?
Why don't you offer the OP some constructive advice instead?
Shouldn't have really expected anything less.