FKANorwichExile

What a game of football so far! We're hardly prime Barcelona, but both sides playing some decent stuff.

I've been saying for a while that if I was a betting man, I'd have good money on us and Posh going up automatically and Lincoln to cause an upset in the playoffs. I wasn't expecting Lincoln to score 16 goals in 3 games, mind. Barnsley aren't clinical enough, Bolton have weaknesses at the back and injuries everywhere else and Portsmouth have an awful run in. It just feels like experience will be the key factor here, and whoever hits the playoffs in form gets the third spot.

The "that's why I love this club" at the end warmed my cold, dead heart. What a man. We must sign him.

You have to credit Warne for seemingly building a great culture at the club. He’s achieved something that he talked about from day one.

The "that's why I love this club" at the end warmed my cold, dead heart. What a man. We must sign him.

The "that's why I love this club" at the end warmed my cold, dead heart. What a man. We must sign him.

The "that's why I love this club" at the end warmed my cold, dead heart. What a man. We must sign him.

The "that's why I love this club" at the end warmed my cold, dead heart. What a man. We must sign him.

The "that's why I love this club" at the end warmed my cold, dead heart. What a man. We must sign him.

What a game. Proper blood and thunder stuff at times, but we also played some good stuff in brief spells. The whole back 4 were immense and Adams was a force of nature. He looked shattered by the end, same with Smith who did a good, professional job in getting a boot in and slowing things down when we needed it. We look so much better when not carrying Hourihane. CBT had an excellent first half and Washy gave a good account tooi. It was so good to see Collo again, just being a handful and a nuisance.
A word for the ref, too. I thought he had a really good game, which is probably the only time this season I've said that.
A point at Pompey please!

What a game. Proper blood and thunder stuff at times, but we also played some good stuff in brief spells. The whole back 4 were immense and Adams was a force of nature. He looked shattered by the end, same with Smith who did a good, professional job in getting a boot in and slowing things down when we needed it. We look so much better when not carrying Hourihane. CBT had an excellent first half and Washy gave a good account tooi. It was so good to see Collo again, just being a handful and a nuisance.
A word for the ref, too. I thought he had a really good game, which is probably the only time this season I've said that.
A point at Pompey please!

The "that's why I love this club" at the end warmed my cold, dead heart. What a man. We must sign him.

Well deserved 1st half lead. Cash and Nels both rocks. Ebou brilliant 1st half. CBT showed why we bought him in the opening 45 minutes. Both he and Ebou were a tad quieter in the 2nd half. Subs did their jobs well. The rest were all adequate or better.
Are we starting to learn the dark arts? JW down on one knee when we're under the cosh?
I will claim responsibility for the poor results of the chasing pack. 3 game accumulator on Trotters, Posh and Tykes to win. Best €5 I've ever lost 🙂 

What a game. Proper blood and thunder stuff at times, but we also played some good stuff in brief spells. The whole back 4 were immense and Adams was a force of nature. He looked shattered by the end, same with Smith who did a good, professional job in getting a boot in and slowing things down when we needed it. We look so much better when not carrying Hourihane. CBT had an excellent first half and Washy gave a good account tooi. It was so good to see Collo again, just being a handful and a nuisance.
A word for the ref, too. I thought he had a really good game, which is probably the only time this season I've said that.
A point at Pompey please!

One of us... One of us...

Sorry I've not got a link to any of the written part of the article just a picture in his current location. He looks happy enough.

I really wanted to like the guy because I'd heard so many good things about him but let's be honest, he's had maybe two good games since joining us and in the rest he's been poor at best.
He's huge, but he barely wins headers. He's muscled off the ball by any striker with physicality. He's got a bit of vision for a pass, but has made so many horrendous mistakes on the ball that you just can't trust him. 
If he, the marquee signing brought in to be a leader, has intentionally headbutted a guy during the most important run of games in the season, then he should never play for us again. A few players have built up a bit of good will and can be excused for emotional outbursts, but he's not one of them. It's beyond disgraceful.

I really wanted to like the guy because I'd heard so many good things about him but let's be honest, he's had maybe two good games since joining us and in the rest he's been poor at best.
He's huge, but he barely wins headers. He's muscled off the ball by any striker with physicality. He's got a bit of vision for a pass, but has made so many horrendous mistakes on the ball that you just can't trust him. 
If he, the marquee signing brought in to be a leader, has intentionally headbutted a guy during the most important run of games in the season, then he should never play for us again. A few players have built up a bit of good will and can be excused for emotional outbursts, but he's not one of them. It's beyond disgraceful.

I really wanted to like the guy because I'd heard so many good things about him but let's be honest, he's had maybe two good games since joining us and in the rest he's been poor at best.
He's huge, but he barely wins headers. He's muscled off the ball by any striker with physicality. He's got a bit of vision for a pass, but has made so many horrendous mistakes on the ball that you just can't trust him. 
If he, the marquee signing brought in to be a leader, has intentionally headbutted a guy during the most important run of games in the season, then he should never play for us again. A few players have built up a bit of good will and can be excused for emotional outbursts, but he's not one of them. It's beyond disgraceful.

Could you not have given us more than the 10 mins of additional time? Maybe till we scored?

Seeing as 50% of prem teams are struggling with ffp. Ditching their #2 or 3 keeper on £30-40k pw and hiring a competent replacement on a free offering £15k could be quite attractive?

I'm not worried about the 4/7 points gap to third. I'm more interested in making up that 5 points gap to the top. Should only be one team we care about now.
#bemoreb4

It's a thread started by a young, Derby mad fan known to us as @B4ev6is, B4, or Daniel. He passed away recently which broke many a heart among us Rams as he was as sweet a lad as you could wish to meet and the most fervent and loyal supporter of any club, not just Derby, that I've ever met. His spelling however was shocking, but as a result of learning difficulties, hence the jokes about 'scraves and ballions' you'll find all over the forum. We bumped the thread as part of an effort to keep him close to our hearts and the title was left as was out of respect to Dan and his family. In its own way, it kind of sums up who he was and why he such a favourite among us Rams faithful. No disrespect is intended.

As Dom Dietrich might say, these are “take it or leave it” stats. Below is my attempt at showing the league position of the opponents our direct competitors face on the run in:
Portsmouth- 12 2 17 3 5 11 7- average 8.14
Derby- 14 9 1 12 10 20 24- average 12.9
Bolton- 8 18 13 1 17 23 4- average 12
P’Boro- 24 10 23 6 22 13 21 3- average 15.3
Barnsley- 20 19 16 8 18 1 9 14- average 13.1
I haven’t considered home or away ties, but on the face it Portsmouth have by far the hardest run in, playing us, Bolton and Barnsley. My personal preference would be for them to beat Barnsley and Bolton, let them take the title, and it gives us more breathing space on the final day. But looking at it another way, if we can beat them on 2 April and other results go against them, might we be looking at a title push?? I would love that, for B4 if nothing else.
Peterborough have the easiest run in and face all three bottom teams, although I noticed they are one of only four teams to play midweek before the final game of the season- which for them is a massive 6-pointer against Bolton.
Our games seem to get “easier” as time goes on, whereas others are more mixed. Portsmouth finish against one the form teams of Europe (I’d guess?) in Lincoln. Let’s see if the Imps are still averaging three goals a game by then- if they are, they might well finish 4th or 5th!
Final point- our GD is 4 better than Portsmouth, 7 better than Bolton and P’Boro and 13 better than Barnsley. That could well be the half point advantage that makes a difference come 27th April…