Andrew3000

Davies & Knight are out with contact injuries not strains, but of course that doesn't fit your argument does it.

Wildsmith 7 Not much to do, but some great passes to get us on the attack.
Chester 6
Cashin 8 Natural and combative defender, lovely passing, only struggled when briefly shifted to right of the 3 left footed CBs. I liked him in the middle, whether 3 or 2 CBs.  Imperious.
Forsyth 7 Defended well, passed well. Actually looked like a CB.
Mendez-Laing 6.5 put in a lovely cross early on.  Kept going. Hate to see him taking on people in our half though.
Smith 6.5 Good decisive passing, silly or perhaps 'professional' foul when he slipped? good at RB, defended well and got NML going a few times.
Bird 4 Jogged around. Barely touched the ball second half.  Looked unhappy and lost.
Hourihane 4 Too deep, too slow, too weak. When got into a rare advanced position in first half, he inexplicably played sideways and the attack broke down. For someone with his quality to do that was disturbing to see. Good free kick, corners nowt special. I thought he would be the most advanced midfielder because of his composed finishing. Wrong.
Roberts 7.5 He put in a ton of effort. Drove forward with purpose, set attacks up with Dobbin, won headers, controlled aggression to win tackles. Looked really good at left back. 
Sibley 6 Did OK but nothing came off. Made no sense to play him up top when we've 2 other fit strikers on the bench. Would've had more joy first half if we picked one of them, as Exeter were poor in defence.
Osula 6 Not much service, but glimpses of his pace and power.
McGoldrick 6 lots of effort, not quite match sharp but should have started.
Dobbin 6.5  Energetic, they couldn't live with his pace on the left. Iffy end product at times but can cause mayhem when played into space.  Nifty footwork to get away from man once or twice too.
 

Wildsmith 7.5 - one good save early on, great kicking & very secure under high ball. In great form recently
Chester 7 - was very steady until forced off by injury
Cashin 8 - fantastic all evening. Kept their front lads very quiet, great distribution & couple of superb forward passes
Forsyth 8 MOM - like Cashin, kept their very quick front men quiet. One excellent cross for Dobbin second half also
Mendez-Laing 7 - very prominent but was up against an excellent FB (Sparkes) & couldn't make that telling contribution despite plenty of breaks/runs down the right
Smith 6.5 - solid performance both in midfield & at right back. Didnt get tested much defensively 
Bird 5.5 - couple of good early passes but struggled to get into the game. Ball wasnt going through him & Exeter pressed well. Want to see him demanding the ball & making his presence felt
Hourihane 4.5 - last 15 mins were decent but first 75 mins were poor. Lacked energy all night & quality from set pieces was dismal
Roberts 7.5 - impressed with him tonight. His energy stood out in our apathetic display & kept Javani Brown relatively quiet
Sibley 5 - anonymous when playing centrally, he then got a silly booking which meant he couldnt stay left wing back for long. Dont want him in that position again though
Osula 6.5 - willing runner but struggling with lack of service & slightly heavy touch
McGoldrick 6.5 - not as much impact as other sub cameos but some nice touches & usual hard work
Dobbin 7 - played well left side & got past his full back a couple of times. Still struggling to make a game changing impact though

Tuned into radio Derby on the way home last night and you'd have thought we'd lost 5-0 to the Red Lion 2nd team.
It wasn't good but there was only one team trying to win it.
Some things are now obvious:
The quality of this league is pretty poor In the circumstances LR assembled a decent squad and, overall, they are under-performing, irrespective of formations or managers The standard of officiating in mind-blowingly poor on basic decisions and is a factor - for example, last night each wrong throw-in or corner lost us possession and about a minute of playing time - so you need to score first and early. I hope PW does well and I'm not going to join a pile-in on him at this early stage.
That said, his whole approach seems to be get forward quickly, get loads of crosses in the box and create loads of chances.........I have no problem with that.
Whether it's been 4 or 5 at the back, NML has delivered more crosses in and created more danger than any Derby winger in recent memory. 
However, on the other side, for a right footed winger, TB has done well with his left foot against weak sides but has dithered and gone to his right foot when under pressure.
Roberts did OK last night overall but he has a crossing phobia so is completely unsuited to LWB or attacking LB in a system that is based on getting crosses into the box.
The most prolific crosser in the squad is Fozzy - some are world class, some are rubbish but he's not scared of crossing and crossing quickly. Why not actually try putting a squarish peg in a squarish hole on Saturday and get crosses in from both sides? If he's knackered after 60 mins then take him off - you never know we may be winning, courtesy of one of his crosses.
I understand Roberts is actually a CB so why not let him play to his strengths?
 

Well it would be if I saw him demanding the ball, not wandering around and playing unadventurous return passes at every opportunity.
He hides when he has the talent to direct proceedings.
He’s not alone. Hourihane does the same. Last night was fairly typical, and  only Smith and Sibley seemed to want the ball and took some ownership.
Sibley again performed poorly when he had it but at least he took a few risks.
We seem to have lost the confidence to play a first time pass. Every player, including the supposedly creative ones, goes through a slow process of bringing it under control, switching from foot to foot and playing it sideways.
We must be so easy to play against.
Also, watch the speed at which players run. Few sprint into space. That makes playing the progressive pass much trickier. The team needs to work much harder and players need to be available for wall passes which will defeat any defence at this level.
Instead, players see a wave of static teammates and decide on a safer backward pass - cue jeers from the crowd.

Intercepting the ball isn’t a tackle, that’s an interception and reading the game. You can stay on your feet and tackle, of course you can, but I honestly can’t recall him doing that last night. I can’t recall him doing anything if I’m honest, which is kind of the problem. I guess I am crying out for a George Williams. He and Gregory never let games pass them by like Hourihane and Bird do and they certainly let the opposition know that they had been in a game. Bird is also not a captain. I saw Fozzy and Smith last night acting like captains but not Bird. Maybe the pressure is too great for him, I honestly don’t know what has happened to him this season. 

Not really. Bird once again managed to avoid the ball and went through 97 minutes without putting a tackle in. Hourihane took a nice free kick and that was it. Another player who bottled 50/50s. His corners were yet again crap as well. We had looked far better with Sibley taking them. We might not be playing a style of football that suits either of them but if you are playing centre midfield and don’t have any effect on the game then that is clearly going to be a problem. Shinnie in midfield would be a huge improvement. I can’t imagine him going through a game with, what was it at Ipswich, 19 touches of the ball that Bird had? I guess I am finding the performances of both of them hugely frustrating and have been all season.

There was no style last night, that is the worry. 
Warne insisted on playing players out of position - he says to get the best from them?! We've got a fullback on the bench, Odoruh isn't that bad and they weren't that good. So we could have left Smith in midfield where Hourihane was a passenger again!
We looked better without Hourihane when he was injured, Sibley's deadball skills were better than his and he can 'run'!

That was a rough watch, no hiding from it. 
Before the changes I thought the back 5 had no issues pointlessly playing the ball between themselves Rosenior-esque, it's just the 3 in central midfield were totally invisible (again) and therefor we as a team are unable to progress the ball up the pitch. That coupled with our attacking players who are rarely in the right position and can barely take a first touch worthy of us retaining possession, meant it was a pretty shambolic first 45. 
Bit better after the break but still too slow and no where near brave enough. Obviously we need some signings in defence as every man and his dog is having to dig in for us at the back but I don't think that is our area of issue. Midfield and attack, despite having the players and the names, are where we're tragically falling short.
Cashin should have been MOTM (again), not sure how they gave it Fozzy. If I was Warniola I'd get every single forward player to watch how Cashin plays because he sets the standard for intent, tempo and bravery. Worthy mentions for Roberts and the lively Dobbins too. 
Pride Park seems way more expectant now, not a lot of backing bar the 50 odd who don't stop in the South Stand. Good turn out though.

I honestly believe this is it.
Some people had a preconceived opinion of Warne that he is some plucky 'hoofball' manager and will not move away from this view until we are winning in style.
People look back on Rosenior as the messiah because he's a nice bloke and talks well and has a purist view on football. But in reality this football was passing it about in our own half. It was border line Cocuball and I found it largely dull.
There were a lot of games under Rosenior which were equally as bad as what we're seeing at the moment. Shrewsbury and Lincoln spring to mind. We also scraped past the likes of Peterborough and Oxford. 
Now I'm not saying that the football so far under Warne has been much more enjoyable but at least give him a few more games to figure out the squad and make improvements.

If I can join in on the post match chat and give an away fan’s perspective…..
I enjoyed the game, but only in the way I enjoyed our 0-0 at Accrington earlier this season, I enjoyed watching two teams battle it out with loads of endeavour, even if there wasn’t much creativity on show. I enjoyed watching my beloved little old Exeter playing in a proper stadium against a proper club with proper fans. And I enjoyed singing my heart out for the lads until I now sound like Barry White.
As for the game, if I was a Derby fan I would be disappointed. You were the better side and the referee was poor for you, amazing for us. I didn’t think our keeper should have been sent off due to the ball going left and our covering defenders, but he certainly should have been booked and a free kick given. Amazing decision - as were lots of goal kicks / throw ins, especially the one in the last minute which was just in front of us. Hilarious.
I thought you looked a solid side, you just couldn’t create much in the last third, so although I thought you were the better side you didn’t really trouble our keeper, apart from the free kick which drew an excellent save from him. 
The reason we celebrated the final whistle so much was not only that we’d come to the home of a genuine footballing ‘big club’ and got a point, but we’ve had horrendous defensive injury problems in recent weeks, two of our players are staring down the barrel of a court appearance after their actions on Saturday night (I’m on their side by the way), we’ve had a new manager for 24 hours and we’ve got a team full of academy graduates. 
Finally (thanks for humouring me), what did you make of our support? I’m always interested in the other team’s view of us - did our numbers surprise you? Could you hear us? Can never tell with stadium acoustics. I thought your support was great considering how low you are in the football league compared to your history and also considering it wasn’t the most exciting game to watch.
Anyway, thanks for letting me join in. I might pop back when we play you at home next Spring. Good luck for the rest of the season. COYR (works for Reds and Rams).

He took over a fragile side that couldn't win away. Rosenior had some pretty easy fixtures too, ones you'd expect us to win. To try and claim that there is any huge difference between the two so far is showing bias one side or the other. I think it's largely the same. Pretty inconsistent and fairly mid table so far.
We weren't close to the right balance with Rosenior. It's rose tinted glasses. We hadn't scored a goal away from home. Things are fairly meh at the moment, but I have some confidence in Warne that given some time and the right players, he can sort us out. I didn't have that with Rosenior. 

I think too many are looking at this as if Clowes has changed direction in what he wants, but has he?
He made it clear when he SAVED the club that he was going to take time to look at every aspect of the club, how it was run and how he could integrate his business philosophy/ethics into the club he's supported all his life, hence appointing Rosenior as INTERIM manager and allowing him to recruit players.
IMO this was a pragmatic business decision, we all agree we were behind everyone else with our shortened preseason and completely new squad, but we know that WR32, Rosenior and what recruitment set up we had were making plans in preparation of the club being SAVED, if he had instigated a clean sweep, touted for a new manager, spoke to several candidates, proor to appointing a new manager, we could well have not met the minimum requirements to even start the season, or should he have just selected the 1st candidate without due diligence? The reality is we would have been even further behind at the very best. 
Remember Clowes never wanted to be the owner, so he didn't have a plan, a prepared agenda on how he wanted to progress the club, he, like the vast majority on this forum have sat and endured the decline of our club under the previous ownership, and rest assured, he will want us to get back to a level of success, but most importantly,  stability and sustainability. 
I personally don't understand the comments that the players brought in can't play Warnes higher tempo football with a back 3 compared to possession at all costs under Rosenior, let's break it down:
We don't have 'ball playing' center halves, Davies, Stearman, Chester haven't played all their careers in possession based teams, and generally don't look comfortable with the ball at feet, Keogh, Tomori, fair enough, but not these old boys, Cashin is more adept but inexperienced.
Our lack of specialist full backs has been a sore point since Byrne and Buchanan slithered off to pastures new, so Rosenior and now Warne are making do with what they have available, the uproar in here about Knight at RB has quickly been forgotten.... both NML and Barkhauzen have stated they have played wing back previously, they don't enjoy it but at least it isn't totally unfamiliar. 
The vast majority have stated the midfield hasn't looked balanced irrespective of the manager,  yet Bird has had his better games this season under Warne, as has Sibley and oh, Knight is playing in midfield also, which most were crying out for.
Up front, how many goals did Collins score under Rosenior? For that matter, how many were scored by a striker period?
Warne requires his players to be high tempo, high energy and pacey, excluding the aged center halves I'd argue only Hourihane doesn't meet this criteria, and IMO he was poor for the vast majority of the possession based football we were playing prior to Warne, so no change there.
So, from the recruitment in the summer, only Hourihane and possibly Chester don't meet the requirement I believe Warne would be looking for,  Davies, Fozzie and Stearman were effectively already here.
I am certain Warne knew the qualities of the players on the books before he was asked to take our club forwards and he and Clowes both are looking for long term success, not get promoted at all costs this season approach, and, arguably not getting promoted until the business plan restrictions have expired is a better option anyway, otherwise we could go up, not compete against the bigger challenge in the championship and get relegated again as a result, hence a 4 yr deal to allow gradual progression. 
Just chill out a bit and reflect on the journey we've had in the last couple of years, then get behind the management and players irrespective of our own ideologies of how the game should be played, after all we are all Derby aren't we?

Watching the full 90 on Rams TV I thought it was a good contest that could have gone either way, both teams having periods in the ascendency. An uncharacteristic mistake cost us when Ipswich were largely nullified. I maintain we need to become more streetwise, having faced yet another team who were pretty dirty and worked hard on the officials to con them and avoid obvious cards of both colours. 
We need to tweak our selection. Don't play two novice forwards together. Without Collins, Warne has to start McGoldrick to get what he can out of him, before bringing on a sub. And he has to use one of Fozzy/Roberts on the left and one of NML/Barks on the right. Plus we need more self-belief on the ball. Just those changes and we'll be far better balanced as a team throughout the duration of the game.
 

Firstly, we have had our own Chris Martin, far more famous than yours! ?
Secondly, we tried to buy Ollie Watkins, but you wanted more for him than we offered and you said no. Then you sold him to Brentford for less than we offered. What was that all about, then? 
Lastly, I really enjoyed my only visit so far to St James Park, where I stood on the Big Bank. Your fans were very welcoming. Admittedly, you weren't playing Derby at the time! 

Ours would be Chris Martin of Coldplay (used to be a season ticket holder, his dad still is), Joss Stone (member of the Supporters Trust that owns the club) and Liam Tancock, the Olympic swimmer (born and bred in Exeter, still regularly goes to games).
I make that a draw, possibly an away win.
In case you didn’t know, and assuming any of you give a flying one, we are one of the very few clubs in the country that are owned by the Supporters Trust. So we have no external debt (other than to the Trust), but no real assets other than the players, particularly the young Academy players, which are the main source of keeping us going. We bring through youngsters and then play them and / or sell them.
Names you might know who came through our Academy and we sold for decent money:
Ollie Watkins, Matt Grimes, Ryan Harley, Jordan Storey, Jordan Moore-Taylor, Christy Pym, Dean Moxey (played for you lot), George Friend, Alfie Pond (just sold to Wolves for £500k), Jay Stansfield (sold to Fulham now back on loan to us), Ethan Ampadu, Mark Ellis, David Fox, Jordan Tillson, etc.
Just realised we’re great at producing really good Jordans.
So, we’re never going to win the Premier League, but we’re sustainable and trying to punch above our weight in a world of mega-bucks clubs. We’re the underdog’s underdog and we bloody love it.
That’s why seeing the lads walk out at Pride Park will mean so much to us. For our boys to be on the same pitch as a famous, proper club like Derby County will be wonderful to see. To win would involve several pairs of pants in the away end being soiled.
If you’ve read this far, thanks for humouring me.

Wildsmith 7
Chester 5
Davies 5
Cashin 8
Mendez-Laing 7
Smith 7
Sibley 5
Bird ? 6
Barkhuizen 4
Forsyth 6
Dobbin 5
McGoldrick 5
Osula 5
Hourihane 4
Thompson 7
I was at the game.

was at the game
 
                           Wildsmith-7.5
                           Chester-5.5
                           Davies-5.5
                           Cashin-8.5   gave everything last night, solid performance
                           Barkhuizen-5  a struggle for Tom last night
                           Smith-7.5 first name on team sheet for midfield imo
                           Bird-5.5  game passed him by
                           NML-7  our only attacking threat
                           Sibley-6 not as bad as some are making out
                           Dobbin-5 feeding off scraps
                           Osula-5  same as Dobbin
                           Mcgoldrick-6
                           Fozzy-6  get him back in the team
                           Hourihane-6
                           Thommo-6

First time I’d seen him from the start and seemed quite a tidy player. He did fade particularly after he got knobbled by that Ipswich player - if the ref had seen it should have been a yellow card at least, maybe a red

Whichever three (or two) we play in CM he should be one of them for me.

Some comments are bizarre, Warne has only just walked in the door, give him some time, cringeworthy to read the knives being sharpened after 4 league games, we have a serial League One promotion winner at the helm. My expectations for Warne are for next season where we expect to be competing right at the very top of the league (top 2 challengers), he has this season to figure out his moves to get there IMO. He will no doubt have players here he doesn't fancy and players here he needs to mould into his image and players he wants to bring in this Jan and summer. Be great if we could allow him to get on with this brief...
And I have no problem with the football, the intensity is great, Warne has said he wants us to pass it better so he is seeing what we're seeing too. And if it got Rotherham promoted it is good enough for me. Champagne football in League One, we tried it, nobly, with Rosenior and albeit we gave that limited time also, the difference is we now have a manager with a formula that is known to work to get teams out of this league - hopefully, our fans won't hound someone out after 10 games because we're not playing like Barcelona. 
 
 

Warne's not totally won me over as yet - not his fault really as many of our fans and all local media overhyped his personality so much when he arrived. Like when you're meeting someone new and everyone says you're going to love them. Makes me stubbornly think opposite so they have to be doubly good/nice to win me over.  But he left a cushy number where he was adored and mid- table championship and kept talking about the challenge. The ongoing constraints make it a challenge. 

I know it cant be an excuse forever but fans are really forgetting where we were at when the takeover was complete in the summer. For us to be able to sign most of the players we did there had to be a catch as we are discovering now (even if its really young and inexperienced).  Rose-spectacled Liam fans (and I did like him by the way) keep moaning about players being signed for his system forgetting fans have been slating Hourihane and Collins all season before Warne arrived and where was Osula?  Rather than totally slate Warne perhaps give Collins some of the sort of stick Laurence got last season for his silly sending off. So being contrary the moaning at PW is making me like him. 

But we have a club, people are moaning as we're not more competitive and about mr clowes' decisions when 5 months ago we were talking about starting in this division with negative points and facing instant relegation again or total oblivion. Just remind yourselves how you felt in the few days when the yank imploded, read the Administration thread again. 
 
We went last night (not far for us sorry) and enjoyed it - great crowd and atmosphere which did League 1 proud compared to sterile plastic premier league. It wasnt pretty by either team. Second in league who pundits are raving about were reduced to winning by a gifted goal. If we had got a point from 0-0 everyone would have been "great point away at Ipswich". 
 
And I have put a bobble hat on my christmas list as think I'll be wanting to wear one by then. 

True, I didn't. I still think the trend is that we mostly haven't controlled games.  Granted it may be more frenetic under Warne so far, but I don't think we are any more open to attack than we were.

We certainly had some stinkers under Rosenior. Several of the home games we completely lost control - sometimes we got away with it, like Barnsley, other times we didn't, like Plymouth.