Ellafella

Was expecting a broad brogue so the Scouse “overrr the Moooon like ta bee fairrr” was a wee surprise. 😲

Li-schensed to schkill...

Crikey...Collodiniho...left-foot, curler

8 years ago to the day when we smashed their first team 5-0.

Bradley done there. 1:1

Indeed, Warney has pulled Brown off at half-time.

Did well to "toe poke" it too. Warney likes a toe poke allegedly.

Derby totally lack any sort of control when we get into / around the opposition box. Just "hit and hope" crosses that invariably find a defender or sail everyone by. Oh for the days of Bryson/Hughes/Hendrick/Martin & Ward (J) when we weaved our way through defences like a hot knife through butter.

Isn't that Becky Thingy at far side Lino? She's panting heavily!

Apologies for the quality of the visual but they don't copy and paste very well. If you click on it you get a clearer version. Table 2 shows average ranks by players after 15 league games. The table gives Rank after 15 games and compares with rank after 8 games so you can see the "movers & shakers". I'll let you absorb the detail at your own will - apart from Nyambe who stays at #1; Bird 🐦has started to fly up the table and has elevated 11 places; Nelson has advanced 2 places; Waghorn has dropped 8 places...and so on. The ranks/scores do seem to have "face validity" ie they fit in with my perceptions of players over recent games. The potential surprise is Hourihane who have advanced 3 ranks but still overall attracts a "below average" score - although by a very tiny amount.

Once again thanks to those of you who take the trouble to post your player ratings each week - you're brilliant. I've caught up with the punching of all the data from the first 15 League games and Fig 1 and Table 1 give the numbers of the average aggregate team ratings for those 15 League games *. Fig 1 is an SPC chart (statistical process control). SPC charts show "common cause" and "special cause" variation in data - basically if there are significant differences in trend data. You can see from Fig 1 how the average aggregate ratings vary over the weeks - from 2 lowest scores of 86.7 (Oxford home and Stevenage away) up to 113.27 (Blackpool Away). What does that tell you? Probably just that ratings tend to be highest when we have won well and lowest when we have been roundly beaten (Oxford and Stevenage). In Fig 1, the heavy dark line is the overall average - so you can see when the Team has been rated "below average" (dots appear below the line) and "above average" (dots appear above the line). The dotted lines are the "control limits" (in an SPC x-bar chart, these lines are the average moving range of scores between the games. Any dots that appear "beyond" these limits, either above or below, show statistically significant differences. We will probably only see those if the Team's form shows a sustained improvement or a big reduction in performance. I've also calculated SD, Minimum, Maximum and Range so you can see how scores vary. So, when we won handsomly at Blackpool, there was still a difference of 12 between the highest and lowest aggregated rating. * Definition: The sum of ratings for all players given by each rater, divided by the number of ratings. I'll post some more analysis during this week - including the average ratings for each player over the 15 games thus far from which we can see the ("statistically") best Team, based on DCFC Fans' Forum ratings. @sage noted this based on the 8 game point. Those of who who posted specific questions, I will look at those later this week, and post some answers.

1Wildsmith 6.5 No fault for the goals; good save at the near post 2nd half. 24Nyambe 6 Stout game but ponderous when attacking. 17Sibley 6 Late sub. Fed NML for the assist. 35Nelson 7 Calm and assured. 5Bradley 5 At fault for the second when he failed to clear. 6Cashin 7.5 Had a notable impact on the game with incisive passes. 3Forsyth 5.5 Some sloppy passes and should’ve tracked their centre forward for the goal. 2Wilson 7 Pace and proactivity and troubled their right-back; some effective delivery. 4Hourihane 6.5 Equalised at the death. Lots of possession but slow and ponderous. 12Smith 6 Lots of possession but cannot play the pass to unlock the defence. 7Barkhuizen 5.5 Pace but no product today. 20Ward 6 Some delivery which found a Derby shirt. 8Bird 7 Sole creative type but nothing quite worked today. 11Méndez-Laing 7.5 Tireless threat but too many poor aimless crosses. Missed a sitter of a header when totally unmarked. Made amends with his goal. 14Washington 6 Grafted but nothing worked. 9Collins 5.5 Goal chalked offside. Doesn’t occupy the box enough. The game stats reveal that Derby should’ve won comfortably today but we’re actually lucky to have scraped a draw. Clearly Northants papered over the cracks and unless Warne gets a striker we will continue to fire blanks. I also don’t believe that Bradley is up to the job so another CH will be needed (assuming Cashin departs).

Half-marks allowed; please rate all subs. Closes Thursday @ 18:00. Results by Thursday 22:00. Average is 6.00. Therefore, when a sub steps on the pitch he is on 6 - that's the baseline. Also indicate ATG (at the game) or TV (Tv). 1Wildsmith 24Nyambe 17Sibley 35Nelson 5Bradley 6Cashin 3Forsyth 2Wilson 4Hourihane 12Smith 7Barkhuizen 20Ward 8Bird 11Méndez-Laing 14Washington 9Collins

I wonder who his favourite character is? 😲

“…the thrupnys…”. Wonderful coin of phrase. One for the over 50’s there. Short for “thrupenny bit”. Pl. Thrupenny bits; Cockney rhyming slang for a loose bowel. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Threepence_(British_coin)#:~:text=The British threepence piece%2C usually,⁄4 of one shilling.

On the subject of scran {inevitably the voice inside my head says that in a strong scouse accent}, I got this at PP last night: picture doesn’t do it justice really and did enjoy it. Since when did we become all cordon blue? 😲

Lovely; and I agree. Thanks.

You're quite right @David but it isn't just an element of snobbery. I can expand (Oh May-tron! etc). 1. Initially, I have been underwhelmed with PW's transfer business. Admittedly, as has been debated, we don't know the detail {budget-constraints, EFL cap, mal-influence of agents, state of the market etc} but nevertheless underwhelmed. Apart from pre-season Stoke and last night, Sonny Bradley looked "shot/jelly-legs" and accident prone. Elder, injured and invisible when played. Ward, not mobile. Fornah I like and he has a future, but J-J injured. Nelson looked iffy to begin with (but now a tank) and Washington initially looked quite mobile but off the pace still and with no obvious skill-set above being a squad-man. Last night Washington looked 15 yards quicker; that drop of the shoulder as he outpaced their defender was sublime, an expression from a footballer very much "in the zone" and his finish proved it. Was it a flash-in-the-pan - we'll see. 2. So the "Rotherham" thing was a question-mark about PW's horizon really; not an expression of snobbery {though there may be that from some fans}. Some, including myself, have questioned whether Warne has been somewhat institutionalised by his Rotherham background and that he may have a tendency not to see beyond what he experienced/learned and believes as a result. His outward appreciation of Steve Evans last week {not a problem per se} was also a Rotherham link but in hindsight not good given what his team then did to us; His warm-words then looked obsequious and starry-eyed especially given the view that most fans have of Steve Evans from his rather "Neanderthal" dealings with Nigel Clough. 3. Having been a big supporter of PW, my jury is now out and it is since Stevanage ; last night really helped me to begin to re-evaluate again and more consistent displays of good team-based football playing through midfield will put PW back in with me. 4. That said - I don't like to hear PW say words to the effect of "fans must accept and "get real" that Derby County is a mid-table Third Division side". That and words to that effect obviously suit his agenda of building realism but are very ill-advised to use because it implies that he is accepting of that deep down when he is the one chap who should, of all the people in Pride Park stadium, least accept it and convey to the players that being a mid-table 3rd division side is NOT at all acceptable. Again, it implies that his horizons don't extend beyond 45.5 miles north of Derby. Derby County is a big club, with a huge history and has a defining place in the history of football in England. It's not conceited to say it, and to lead it in 2023 requires a Big Club mentality. I have questioned of late, if PW has a big enough "vision" to understand that. In contrast, I warmly remember a young, handsome Peter Taylor, circa 1968/9 looking in to the camera and saying "I'm Peter Taylor and I'm going to the very top with Brian Clough and Derby County". He didn't say "Derby County fans must realise that they are a mid-table 2nd Division side and wind their necks in because I'm not used to being criticized, because back in Rotherham I won 3 promotions and they think I'm Pep". It's a privilege and an honour to manage Derby County; the current atmosphere of tension is actually positive if it drives the Club/team forward - and it can be the catalyst short-term to do that. If it produces more games like last night, then it will have been a very healthy week indeed.

Great comments as always @Ian Buxton's Bat and you have identified a key FACTOR for me which is the kernal of the Warne-Ball debate: we saw a transformed Derby last night; Bradley's passes through the lines (circa 35-40 yards to midfield) and other players' passes (quick, one-touch, give & go) were reminiscent of the MAC#1 era. So, why suddenly do we see those? Is it: 1. Simply because Northampton stood off, gave us space and time in which to play whereas other teams don't. 2. A change of instruction from Warne to Team to play differently (ie proper football not Hoofball). 3. Some other reason ie the players just spontaneously started to behave like a good football team. If 2, did David Clowes have any influence ie Did he say something like "The Derby footballing public are very knowledgeable football set and won't really tolerate 45 yard punts from Cashin into "air-space . Also, you perhaps ought to think about younger players coming through an academy which costs £5M a year to run and maybe start to show some intent (ie Brown needs some encouragement). I'm using a bit of poetic license here with the DC thing and not trying to provoke mischief but I'd like to think it's No. 2 because I can't bear industrial football (ie Charles Hughes Manual); suspect #1 has a part in it but really do hope this is the start of a pattern. We looked like a team with desire and finesse last night - was it a one-off in your view?

You’re right @David you definitely didn’t avoid an essay 😏

1Wildsmith 6. Watched the grass grow. Caught a cross in the 67th minute. 24Nyambe 6.5 Solid. 23Ward 6. Dinked in some nice balls. 35Nelson 6.5 Imperious. 5Bradley 6.0 Saw plenty of possession early doors & looked polished; Bullet header wide 2nd half with the net gaping. 3Forsyth 6.0 Busy. Some angled crosses begged to be bagged. 4Hourihane 6.0 Mobile & cultured passes. 22Fornah 6.0 Back on it & looked hungry though the game was done. 12Smith 6.0 Wisped about a bit. 7Barkhuizen 7.0 Stretched them and looked a threat. 8Bird 🦅 8.0 MOTM Guile & endeavour. 39Brown 6.0 Late show and competed. 11Méndez-Laing 6.0 Busy. 16Wilson 6.5 Energy and intelligence. 14Washington 7.0 Very bright first half. 9Collins 5.5 Needs to occupy the box. 4 goals, 3 points & a clean sheet but Northampton were poor tonight and really didn’t muster any kind of opposition. I doubt they’ll be that bad again this season.

Half-marks allowed; please rate all subs. Closes Thursday @ 18:00. Results by Thursday 22:00. Average is 6.00. Therefore, when a sub steps on the pitch he is on 6 - that's the baseline. Also indicate ATG (at the game) or TV (Tv). 1Wildsmith 24Nyambe 23Ward 35Nelson 5Bradley 3Forsyth 4Hourihane 22Fornah 12Smith 7Barkhuizen 8Bird 🦅 39Brown 11Méndez-Laing 16Wilson 14Washington 9Collins

Thanks to those of you who take the trouble of providing your player ratings. Figure 1 and Table 1 gives the running average after the first 4 league games of this season {Wigan, Burton Albion, Oxford Utd and Fleetwood}. I will in due course update to show all of the games but it is good to see how the ratings change over time. A brief summary: See Figure 1 & Table 1 above. After 4 games, Rooney topped the average rating table with 7.13 {he of course only played in 2 games before his knee injury}. The first column in Table 1 and the chart is sorted in descending order so as you can see Forsyth is second best, followed by Thompson, Wilson and so on. The "average rating" is the average score out of 10 that forum members have given to players after each game. Some players have played fewer games; the average score is a 6.0 so those players with a score above 6.0 (Bird upwards in Column 1, Table 1) are "above average" after 4 games. The other columns in Table 1 show variations around the average. Ratings are of course essentially subjective and what is notable even within games is that the same player can receive quite a range of scores depending upon the poster. The Standard Deviation (SD) is one form of average deviation from the mean of ratings received by the player. So, it's notable that Rooney has the smallest SD (0.51) suggesting there has been a better consensus amongst posters of his average rating than say for Collins, who has attracted the largest SD. In part, that's because Collins was awarded a score of 1/10 by one poster for 1 game. The maximum & minimum show the highest and lowest ratings that the player has attracted {and hence the Range}. I will resist analyzing this to death; it's not a pure measure of performance; player favourites, and the confounding effect of match result along with other "noise" will detract from it being anyway near perfect, but the logic is also that some kind of consensus should emerge the more ratings are provided as the season unfolds. The next analysis that I'll post should be interesting because of course some players have attracted significantly higher ratings in the later games (eg Nelson, Waghorn). If you click on the images, you should see a clearer pop-out. Any additional analyses requests, just let me know. I will get into greater detail as the ratings build. @Boycie or @David - please can this be pinned near the top so that I can add to it to build the picture as the season progresses.

I know...it's probably been done to death but...oh it was special... How apt: the very final game at the famous old Baseball Ground was against the Arsenal. I am minded of a game some years earlier against the same opposition, for it was an occasion that really brought home to me just how special the place was; a true theatre of football: The date: 8th September 1979. A sultry sunny September Saturday of an Indian summer. Sweat, cig-smoke and the smell of alcohol-breath fused with hot-dog onions filled the Pop Side air. Arsenal were in town, a side replete with silky, star-studded names that dripped from the tongue like golden syrup: Pat Jennings, Liam Brady, Sammy Nelson-the bum-show-er, O’Leary, Hollins, Rix, Talbot, Stapleton and Alan Sunderland, all perm and moustachioed; the latter two had, in May, ripped the FA Cup from Man Utd in the final of the century. For Derby there was no longer a Gemmill, a Hector, a McFarland or Todd, or even a Charles George. In rapt contra-distinction we had a ring of Irish: Aiden McCafferey, Vic Morland, David Langan, Andy Crawford, and a liquorice-assortment of stalwarts like David Webb, Steve Powell and Steve Buckley, all honest triers but in truth it was thoroughbreds v also-rans, giant oak trees against mere saplings. We did though have John Duncan, Scottish International all handsome and broad, and neat, and the winger called Gordon Hill, who had killed Rams at Hillsborough in the FA Cup semi just 3 years before. The Baseball Ground was synonymous with trench mud but even that was no more. But there wasn’t a blade of grass either. Instead the surface was 35 tonnes of hard golden sand; had the ref entered the arena carrying a beach-ball nobody would have batted an eye lid. In the pre-match kick-in, wisps of disturbed sand danced on the air. The first half was a foregone conclusion long before 45 mins was up with Arsenal commanding a 2-0 lead. Then during the break, something strange began to occur. As sun and heat and alcohol combined, the Pop Side found its voice and songs of deep Derby irony began to fill the air...”You need SAND to hold a lit-tul bay-bee, you need SAND to wipe away a tear...” and “Mr SAND-Man, bring me a dream (bung, bung, bung bung...”). At first, it was a mere ironic acceptance of the Derby team’s fate, but as the 2nd half kicked-off, with Rams attacking the Ossie End, what started to unfurl was a truly remarkable 45 mins. If only we could get one back. Suddenly, Buckley, with lump-hammer left peg, drove the ball at Jennings from 30 yards. The ball, zipped, and dipped, and hit the ground, leather travelling and bouncing on sand, and, smacked the back of the net with Jennings flapping on the floor; 1-2, Pop Side all erupting in Vesuvian delight, a deafening Derbyshire din of high decibel noise. The sound became a continuous stream; the sun, sand and black and white, wall-to-wall volume, a crescendo-ing cacophony of a collective consciousness was stirring the Rams to gargantuan efforts. Arsenal began to cower and fear took hold. I don’t remember Vic Moreland’s equaliser, but I do remember the rocket-propelled roar and the terrace surge as pure pandemonium broke out in the Pop Side. Now, with clock ticking down, 43 minutes had flashed by, we sung to kingdom come. Last minute, Langan...to Carter...Carter in the corner, crosses to Duncan and bullet-header...Jennings’s dustbin-lid sized hand parries...on to the post... and out for a corner....Ohhhhhhh! How we re-coiled.... But wait...Carter’s corner, inch perfect...Duncan again...bullet forehead, ball bulges onion-bag...Goallllllllllllll, the roar again...3-2...mayhem....Final Whistle....Oh fffffff...foot-balll! As I walked from the ground, outside an Arsenal fan exclaimed, “Liam Brady walks on water, but he can’t run on sand!”. I’d been to the Baseball Ground many times before, but now as a 14 year old, I properly realised how the combination of the architecture – tight, compact stands that trapped the sound, sending it ping-ponging around the entire ground, the proximity of the pitch, and how the fanatical Rams fans, touched by the memory of magic, Real Madrid floodlit nights, - could all combine to fuel an energy that transmitted from the terraces to the men in white just yards away. Outside, I watched as the Gooners’ team coach drove away...Pat Jennings saw me stare from his front window seat and tipped me a wink. Monday’s Daily Mail match report described how Arsenal bemoaned that Derby had transmitted the sound of the 16,429 fans through the PA system, in amplification. As if... It was just a special place; and I was there. What's yourn?