lrm14

I'm a reasonably diplomatic, boring, steady middle aged bloke.
I'm reasonably well educated and can write reasonably well so try to choose words on this forum that express an opinion that may be different to others, without deliberately causing offence. I certainly don't have 'poor writing' or 'poor vocabulary' as anything like an excuse if I were to cause offence.........but, without being patronising, I do understand not all so-called offensive posts are intended to be offensive.
However, it's apparent that I'm not alone in finding it tiresome that almost every single thread deteriorates into a game of point scoring, oneupmanship and, increasingly, forum archeology, in order to be unpleasant to one another.
There seems to be, in equal measure, deliberate attempts to cause offence and seek offence and it's just not great reading. I'm not in the slightest bit supportive of closing down debates or censoring differences of opinion but the number of personal spats with unpleasant language is getting beyond a joke.
I can't blame the mods because, individually, most of these posts fall below the threshold of complaint but, collectively, they make this forum so much worse than it could be.
I came to this forum for camaraderie when we nearly went under as a club - and it was a source of great comfort, information and humour.
It's got to the point where I'm considering signing off and and using the Telegraph and Radio Derby as my main non-matchday links - they have limitations but they are civil.
Any ideas what we can do?

I think the players feel pretty together at the moment. From Smith last night: 

That's not quite fair. Criticism was for the style of play being poor and having very inconsistent results. The results have improved dramatically, whilst the quality of play isn't quite there over a full game yet. To be honest, i'm not sure we'll fix that until weHowever, I now believe we will have enough to get us over the line at the end of the season, especially if we add a couple of the missing ingredients in January.
This is also the first time in close to 40 games where our 6 and 12 game rolling averages have been top 2 worthy. We spent close to 20 games showing only mid-table form! We need to maintain our current form over the rest of the season now.

I don't often comment on posts, but this to me shows why people on forums get into arguments, the point made seems skewed and doesn't seem to understand our position! We were in league one long before the squad was assembled. We have the squad we do because we are in League one, we are not in League one because of the squad we have! A subtle but very important difference! 

I think the "luck" came with having an official present who saw it and didn't ignore it. We've had some appalling decisions and non-decisions go against us in this division that it's always a surprise when we get a correct one that benefits us.

Having watched the extended highlights back, a few comments to stir the pot.
Those saying Sibley could/should have laid in Max Bird instead of shooting (and Paul Warne said so in his post match interview), I disagree. When Sibley gets the ball, Bird slows down and doesn’t bomb forward- or turn his head/scan to see their left back moving over fast to cover. A sign to me that Bird isn’t a natural 10. If Sibley releases to Bird there, a goal is very unlikely so I think it’s the right decision. Can’t we just give Sibley credit for a well taken goal?
It’s a red card. 3:55 of the RamsTV highlights. You only get a 4 second snippet of the act, so eyes peeled, but the defender does sneak an elbow and (unbelievably) catches Collins flush, despite not being able to see exactly where JC was behind him. 
Those questioning the triple change: personnel wise it seemed like for like rather than defensively minded, with Nelson at full back to replace Ward. At 2-0 they have to press forward, so I am guessing the tactic was to soak that up and counter, with fresh pace of TJJ and Barkz, and NML too. It worked! Almost worked twice (how funny was it to see Bradley among the charge in that final chance?! He looked like he just joined in a run with the lads, no idea where he was going 😂 ). Sometimes inviting pressure late in games backfires, and it can make the fans nervous, but with a two goal cushion you can afford one slip up and it creates chances to kill the game on the break.
James Collins was inches away from two goals today, but fine margins make all the difference- both to the result, and people’s perception of him on this forum. I saw a post from Derby Retweets that said, across English domestic competition, only three players have scored more goals than James Collins since he started his career in 2009/10. Thats Harry Kane (251), Jordan Rhodes (226) and Sergio Aguero (217) all better than JC’s 202. Billy Sharp with 190 and Charlie Austin with 188, for reference. Not bad company… and proof that he DOES score goals. As well as work hard, gets in good positions (mostly) and- crucially- he stays fit. With Wash, Wags And TJJ all either recently or currently injured, I think people simply don’t give JC enough credit. I’m not saying he’s a world beater, and he does miss chances- but he brings a lot to this team in League One.
As soon as the third went in, Warne should have pulled NML for Brown. That’s a very small criticism for Warne after a great run of results, some sound team selections in the face of injury troubles, some slightly better subs, and better tactical play. This is where our squad depth is starting to show and will hopefully separate us from the pack as injuries and suspensions thicken over the busy Christmas period.
I didn’t know B4 personally, but after 5 league wins on the spin I can’t help but think about what he’d be posting on here today. We should enjoy this while it’s good. And hope it stays good.

As someone who took on a fair amount of criticism for arguing we weren't playing that badly a few weeks ago...I thought we were pretty poor first half tbh.
We constantly gave the ball away and were probably the scrappier of the two teams.
One moment of magic out of nowhere gave us the lead. Orient missed a couple of good chances and so did Collins. 
So imo we were fairly fortunate to be in the lead. A stupid red card really put them in the cart and a sweeping move a minute into the 2nd half suddenly gave us a comfortable situation.
I didn't think we shut them out as well as we could and they alnost got back into it.  They eventually tired and over committed and we then could have scored 4 or 5.
So a strange game really. We could have won even more easily but at times we played quite averagely and all the big moments went our way.
Just as a few weeks ago I was saying we weren't that bad, I'm saying yesterday we weren't that amazing. Little moments are going our way more and we are moving into a great position with more in the tank. 
We can play much better than yesterday - and probably will do and not win, that's football. 

Early on when Oxford merely messed with us there was a feeling that we were miles off where we should be to challenge at the top. Frustration was increased by glimpses of what the team was capable of before crashing back to the dreadful stuff that typified the first part of the season, and the “Warne-outers” hit maximum volume after Crewe and Stevenage - quite rightly, because we were terrible. We were watching players getting more in a week fir under achieving than many fans earn in an entire year for working hard for 40 - 60 hours a week, and who, if they under achieved like our beloved footballers would be out of work in no time.
The vocal criticism if Warne and his tactics surfaced, but a week or so layer we started on this terrific run. And the difference? Some point to Smith being unavailable, which might have a bearing because our pace and tempo is much higher. But mainly we have started to play football on the floor, and we are involving our midfield. Which us all the disgruntles fans were asking for.
There is still more needed, but today we reaped the benefits of playing football instead if embarking on an aerial bombardment without any missiles.
To my eyes, and to his credit, it seems that Paul Warne has listened to the criticism and changed how were are doing things.
So in an even first half we could have been two down, but could just easily ended up 3-2 ahead. The red card helped us, but without hitting any peaks we ended up comfortable winners, even allowing fir the numerical advantage.
Well done you Rams!

A group of average players for this division by definition will get you somewhere in the middle. By any statistical analysis you care to name, fifth is significantly higher than average. 

It's my birthday today and this is turning out to be a lovely present,cheers Paul warne and the boys,I am very happy 😁

Excellent run of form we’re putting together. Long may it continue (and it needs to, as everyone around us will keep winning!). Well done all. Particularly Mendez-Laing today, excellent performance from him.

Depends if you think it’s good to have a go at people for offering opinions on a website designed for people to offer opinions I suppose. 

Another Saturday game gone? I’m sick of this. Football is nothing without the fans they said during COVID. What a pile of w*** that was. No one gives a s*** about us who actually go. 
Sky TV is f****** s***, Sky TV is f****** s*** 
I will let the filters do their job. 

Wonderful result. 
Easy to say the first goal was against the run of play, and it probably was, but you have to expect teams to come flying out at us at home early and we have to be able to get through that storm. 
Sibley showing why so many of us have wanted more minutes for him. One of the few players we have who can shift it and shoot on target from anywhere. Glorious finish. 
Sending off helps. Leigh Curtis adamant it was a deserved red from footage he’s seen which wasn’t on RamsTV so I will bow to that. 
Collins with two really bad misses to make the game super comfortable at half time, but perfect second half start to really kill them straight after the restart. 
I have no words for the third goal. They had nobody beyond the D of our box from a corner and they play it short to that man… we were clean through from inside our own box. Absolutely mental, it wasn’t the 95th minute. Bafflingly stupid football. 
All in all, another chalked up and we are really cooking right now. 

Watched on TV, we had alot more in the tank, could have been 6, they also missed a couple, but I will take 3-0, Mendez head and shoulders the best player on the pitch, also thought Kane, Cashin and Nelson played well, great to see the away end bouncing, looking forward to Wycombe at home now. 

Taking the high ground, are we?😅
Trolls gonna troll

Quite a few comments in this thread which must have been choked through gritted teeth.
Give it a rest, some of you. You know who you are.

This in spades. Many folk have such a fundamental misunderstanding of how to achieve success in football - it is all about thinking smart. Proper structure behind the scenes (so not dependant on one manager), an elite academy, hiring & firing in line with agreed values and style of preferred football & of course, savvy recruitment. Money helps but is not the dominant criteria & the idea we'd want a fan to sell us to a 'benevolent' billionaire who will of course have our best interests at heart, is naive in the extreme.
A club the size of Derby is perfectly capable of being a competitive side in the division above whilst operating sustainably - we will be top 5 in terms of crowd numbers & commercial revenue and only dwarfed income-wise by sides recently relegated from the Prem. From then on, it is a case of slowly building the squad for a Prem promotion push - buying cheap & selling expensive and developing own talent. This is not a short term fix though & I fear that is the crux of the OP's post.

And we all have of our interpretation of the games, which is of course valid. But the exact reason I personally find xG interesting as it removes my personal bias away and provides more objectivity, which I find makes it very useful. 
Fair enough if it isn't your personal cup of tea. 

Mate, folk aren't really wanting explanations because their minds are already made up and frankly, if folk can't see a use for statistical analysis in sports, then you're wasting your time trying to explain it. 

Yeah, I'm fighting a losing battle with many on here. Going to try keep fighting the good fight, purely because I think it's an interesting way to view our performances with biases removed, but I accept it'll always be dismissed by a lot of posters as it seems to make them irrationally angry or annoyed, not entirely sure why! 

I’m not a big fan of many stats but over a long period this is a good one eg for telling you how sharp you are in front of goal. ( Thought Collins looked pretty crisp in front of goal vs Fleetwood )

God that was appalling, was thinking about that the other day
He was fantastic when he came in at the end of that season and rightly won the shirt but was never going to find that form again because the fans literally would not let him

It reminded me of when Roos was here and some of our 'fans' used to sarcastically cheer whenever he caught a cross. Truly weird behaviour and I've never understood it.