Millenniumram

Good to see McGoldrick getting a chance to show what he can do from the start. Collins has had plenty of chances and has made little impact thus far, McGoldrick has the opportunity tonight to show why he should be our striker instead. 
Forsyth deserves that armband as well. The loyalty he’s shown this club is remarkable - he’s got incredible experience with everything he’s been through here. Someone to look up to for younger lads like Rooney.

Sibley done a goal
 

Good to see McGoldrick getting a chance to show what he can do from the start. Collins has had plenty of chances and has made little impact thus far, McGoldrick has the opportunity tonight to show why he should be our striker instead. 
Forsyth deserves that armband as well. The loyalty he’s shown this club is remarkable - he’s got incredible experience with everything he’s been through here. Someone to look up to for younger lads like Rooney.

Good to see McGoldrick getting a chance to show what he can do from the start. Collins has had plenty of chances and has made little impact thus far, McGoldrick has the opportunity tonight to show why he should be our striker instead. 
Forsyth deserves that armband as well. The loyalty he’s shown this club is remarkable - he’s got incredible experience with everything he’s been through here. Someone to look up to for younger lads like Rooney.

Totally agree. I used to comment about Bielik that he was the one player in our squad that actually put any thought into his headers - he’d often knock it towards a team mate who was in a position to start a counter attack. It’s a very basic thing, but it was so important to us as a team, and no one else seems capable of it. You compare to Stearman, god bless him he tries, but duck me he really doesn’t put any thought into his headers - his job is done when he wins the ball in his mind, no matter where it ends up next.
I’ve also thought that the set up from our corners could be an issue too. Even when we get a good delivery in, there’s never anyone on the end of it. You look at where players are stood before a corner is delivered, and you never think “he’s gonna score here”, we’re far too easy to defend against.

It’s heading in general. Watch the teams we play against. They not only win headers, they direct them to team mates. We seem to put all our effort into heading it hard and it goes straight to the opposition.
That’s been the case for a while.
We should try getting bodies to the near post for a flick on. Can’t see any of the current team winning headers from a long ball.

Same and ive watched us 30 odd years. Its in our DNA no matter what division or year it is... that we have on average shorter players than the other teams. Dont ask me why. only one or 2 managers (usually not been here long) have tried to address this.

This. The only players in the team who are desperate to score, who would run through a brick wall to get a goal, are Collins, Sibley and Cashin. And maybe Mendez-Laing. Collins is starved of service, Sibley is overlooked as a starter and Cashin's a centre half. Everyone else is static and doesn't expect to ever score. 
Our only players who regularly shoot are Collins (16), Sibley (12) and Mendez-Laing (11). Hourihane's probably next with 8.

I’ve been watching Derby most of this century - and we’ve virtually always been s*** at set pieces. Barring the odd exception anyway - like when Harry Wilson was here, and Idiakez (though I was very young back then). So this really isn’t a “this season problem” - it’s pretty much in the DNA of Derby County. Our goals conceded to goals scored from set pieces ratio must be around 10:1, it’s that ludicrous - particularly when you include goals conceded on the counter from our own set pieces, which we’re especially guilty of.
We’ve got Conor Hourihane who’s a superb set piece taker, and it’s still as bad as ever. It’s like we’re cursed, and break every player who puts a ball down next to the Pride Park corner flag. I don’t know whether it’s coaching or what, but somethings up. It’s so frustrating when you have 12,13,14 corners a game and barely even muster a shot from one. Way too easy for the opposition to just give away corners and free kicks, because they know we’re no threat from them. 
Personally I think the players in the box need to do more with deliveries put in as well. No one ever really seems to have that desire to be the one who wins the ball and puts it in the back of the net. Don’t know whether it’s a confidence thing or what, but we just seem to lack belief that we can score from a ball into the box. We almost just stand there and wait for the opposition to clear it. I want to see players making that ball theirs - it’s only when we battle stronger than the opposition that we’ll score goals. All about desire and belief.

We’re likely to get knocked out here realistically, even if we play our strongest team. So we may as well rest some of our key players - with such a busy schedule coming up - and give some of our reserve players a change to show what they can do, and keep their fitness up. It’s a long season, and we’ll need everyone firing if called upon.
Loach
Knight Rooney Roberts Forsyth
Smith Thompson
Mendez-Laing Sibley Barkhuizen
McGoldrick

Wildsmith 6
Knight 6
Stearman 6
Cashin 7
Forsyth 8
Bird 6
Hourihane 6
Mendez-Laing 7
Barkhuizen 5
Collins 6
Dobbin 5
Subs:
Sibley 7
McGoldrick 5

I really hope so, Knight is never a RB - his talent is massively wasted there. My theory is that maybe (hopefully!) Rosenior is playing mind games a bit in the media. Trying to make out that we don’t need a RB so that we don’t appear desperate, and teams are more willing to do financially fair deals for players we’re interested in, for fear of a deal falling through if not.
I’ve always expected there to be a bit of a lull in transfer activity around this stage in the window, as we wait for the best loans to become available. That’s the trouble with only being able to sign frees or loans - players either have to come in very early, or very late. The transfer window closes in the not too distant future though, so I’d hope to see things liven up next week. We’re still 4 signings short imo.

Think it’s a bit harsh to lump all the games so far together.
Last night was the first performance that concerned me. In all the previous games, whilst we might not have scored enough goals, the chances were certainly there. The movement was good, the energy was good, and we were generally pretty incisive with our passing. It genuinely was only the final touch that was really missing, which isn’t hugely unexpected early in the season when players are lacking sharpness. Even after losing the Charlton game, I was confident that team was promotion quality.
I was incredibly frustrated last night however. In part, this was because I’d hope to see performances progress as the team becomes fitter, not regress. Also, let’s be fair, Shrewsbury are a poor quality side even in this League. To their credit, they're very organised and good at what they do (Cotterill has always been an underrated manager in my view) - but with the level of quality we’ve brought in this summer, we really should be beating that side if we want to challenge for promotion. It was very disappointing to see such a lacklustre performance. You can have all the possession you want, but if you don’t have the desire to score a goal, then you won’t win games. To a man, we were very passive last night, lacking energy, movement and willingness to make something happen (bravery, as the OP alludes to).
Its a team problem imo though, not individuals. I can’t look at last nights performance and pinpoint one player who was “at fault” for us dropping the two points. It’s a mentality thing, where the whole team needs to lose this cautious mindset we’ve had ever since Cocu joined, and attack this league - because there’s no doubt in my opinion that this squad is capable of winning League One. That has to start with the manager - the thing that worried me most was how pleased Rosenior was with last nights performance. Like that level of creativity is acceptable. He’s got all the tools at his disposal to get this club back to the Championship and he has to deliver - to do this, he  must be braver, and that will transmit to the team.
Appreciate I may be coming across overly harsh here, which isn’t my intention. Our start to the season hasn’t been far off where we need to be, and it’s only really one game where we’ve let ourselves down. Let’s hope it’s just a blip, and we start banging the goals in soon - it’s not impossible, based on what I’ve seen from this squad. It’s just Rosenior’s comments last night that concerned me and prompted me to write this post. I, and others, are probably reading too much into one game. Battering Fleetwood on Saturday would certainly do a lot to calm my lingering concerns over this season. Let’s hope we do and Rosenior proves he’s the right man long term.
P.S. As an aside, whilst I don’t think last nights performance was down to individuals, I do think there’s an issue in midfield. Smith and Hourihane just don’t work as a pair - both talented footballers no doubt, but both largely defensive minded. Having them both on the pitch leaves us with quite a negative midfield, which contributes to our lack of bravery on the ball. Sibley needs to be in there (or preferably Knight once we sign a RB), to add some balance and attacking threat in the middle of the park.

I wouldn’t worry too much…
No one gives us penalties on match days

I wouldn’t worry too much…
No one gives us penalties on match days

Think it’s a bit harsh to lump all the games so far together.
Last night was the first performance that concerned me. In all the previous games, whilst we might not have scored enough goals, the chances were certainly there. The movement was good, the energy was good, and we were generally pretty incisive with our passing. It genuinely was only the final touch that was really missing, which isn’t hugely unexpected early in the season when players are lacking sharpness. Even after losing the Charlton game, I was confident that team was promotion quality.
I was incredibly frustrated last night however. In part, this was because I’d hope to see performances progress as the team becomes fitter, not regress. Also, let’s be fair, Shrewsbury are a poor quality side even in this League. To their credit, they're very organised and good at what they do (Cotterill has always been an underrated manager in my view) - but with the level of quality we’ve brought in this summer, we really should be beating that side if we want to challenge for promotion. It was very disappointing to see such a lacklustre performance. You can have all the possession you want, but if you don’t have the desire to score a goal, then you won’t win games. To a man, we were very passive last night, lacking energy, movement and willingness to make something happen (bravery, as the OP alludes to).
Its a team problem imo though, not individuals. I can’t look at last nights performance and pinpoint one player who was “at fault” for us dropping the two points. It’s a mentality thing, where the whole team needs to lose this cautious mindset we’ve had ever since Cocu joined, and attack this league - because there’s no doubt in my opinion that this squad is capable of winning League One. That has to start with the manager - the thing that worried me most was how pleased Rosenior was with last nights performance. Like that level of creativity is acceptable. He’s got all the tools at his disposal to get this club back to the Championship and he has to deliver - to do this, he  must be braver, and that will transmit to the team.
Appreciate I may be coming across overly harsh here, which isn’t my intention. Our start to the season hasn’t been far off where we need to be, and it’s only really one game where we’ve let ourselves down. Let’s hope it’s just a blip, and we start banging the goals in soon - it’s not impossible, based on what I’ve seen from this squad. It’s just Rosenior’s comments last night that concerned me and prompted me to write this post. I, and others, are probably reading too much into one game. Battering Fleetwood on Saturday would certainly do a lot to calm my lingering concerns over this season. Let’s hope we do and Rosenior proves he’s the right man long term.
P.S. As an aside, whilst I don’t think last nights performance was down to individuals, I do think there’s an issue in midfield. Smith and Hourihane just don’t work as a pair - both talented footballers no doubt, but both largely defensive minded. Having them both on the pitch leaves us with quite a negative midfield, which contributes to our lack of bravery on the ball. Sibley needs to be in there (or preferably Knight once we sign a RB), to add some balance and attacking threat in the middle of the park.

Fleetwood? Paint dry you say? Make this your screensaver - it'll be cheaper than a RamsTV pass :

I wouldn’t worry too much…
No one gives us penalties on match days

I wouldn’t worry too much…
No one gives us penalties on match days

I wouldn’t worry too much…
No one gives us penalties on match days

I had exactly the same problem tonight. Always watched RamsTV on my TV in the past, but tonight it wasn’t playing ball. Reset everything, downloaded new browsers and all sorts but nothing worked. Thought I was going mad so wish I’d seen this thread earlier, I assumed it was an issue with my Xbox! Wasted about half an hour ducking about with that.
Seems the EFL must be tightening up on things this year, annoyingly. I’ll have to watch on my iPad.

Wildsmith 5
Knight 6
Stearman 7
Cashin 6
Roberts 5
Smith 5
Bird 6
Hourihane 7
Mendez-Laing 4
Barkhuizen 6
Collins 5
Subs:
Sibley 6
Dobbin 7
Forsyth 6
McGoldrick 6

I’ve never known a football team more likely to concede from their own corner than score from it, but Derby somehow manage it