Dean (hick) Saunders

This is excellent news, confidence will be soaring.  

No Bird. Story of my life.
 

Looping header into the far corner of the net

Best result tonight in terms of the Barnsley Bolton draw. A shame Peterborough are coming up on the rails. With Portsmouth off in the distance, it's turning into a 4-horse race for second spot:
There will be twists and turns, but we can't afford too many. Ten games to go. Seven wins and we're in the mix, eight wins and we're probably over the line. Obviously the Bolton game has massive significance and is "must not lose". 

My “because it’s the Derby way” gland says we will finish 3rd having spurned more opportunities for top 2.
But I’m sure many Bolton and Barnsley fans think the same though.
Getting Colo and Fozzy back could make a difference.

My “because it’s the Derby way” gland says we will finish 3rd having spurned more opportunities for top 2.
But I’m sure many Bolton and Barnsley fans think the same though.
Getting Colo and Fozzy back could make a difference.

My “because it’s the Derby way” gland says we will finish 3rd having spurned more opportunities for top 2.
But I’m sure many Bolton and Barnsley fans think the same though.
Getting Colo and Fozzy back could make a difference.

More often than not, the team with the best GD over the season will be in the top two. Keeping that stat between now and season I think will have us very close).
(last season this wasn’t true as it was Sheff Wed).

I think the PGMOL in conjunction with the FA should politely write to Forest reminding them that Clattenburg is no longer a referee and is therefore no more important than any other member of staff at the chitty ground - and if they continue to publicly challenge the authority of referees, they will be charged collectively with bringing the game into disripute and may be docked points accordingly....
 Florist are an utterly tinpot outfit that get more ridiculous by the week....

Currently on Dead Zone by Stephen King.
Oldie, but quite enjoying it. Read most of his other stuff, I think his best are sometimes the shorter ones.
My SK top 3 are:
1) Duma Key
2) Mr Mercedes (and all  Bill Hodges Trilogy)
3) The Green Mile
 

Gayle’s header was brilliant. 

Must-win games are something of a cliché, I suppose, but you'd have to think that anything less than 3 points today would be a serious dent in any aspirations towards the auto slots. Not just from a points perspective, but perhaps more importantly for the morale of the entire club and its fanbase. It's hard to understand or accept the way we have capitulated from bright starts over the last few games and I think the players and the coaches have to be putting down a clear marker today. I also think we've been very lucky indeed in that those immediately around us have underperformed too and the pack who were way back even a few games ago, are now right on our heels and we need to show vastly more character today than has been the case of late. The gaffer must lead the way in terms of how he sets up and what message he conveys to the players, likewise the lads themselves, who simply must be braver. I can't accept that experienced pros who routinely fail to execute the even basics, do so solely because of the coach. 
As for the team selection, I'll admit I'm finding it hard with the injury list still substantial and some players looking short of match sharpness. It's very clear to see how much damage the absences of both starting FBs has done and still it goes on with Ryan now crocked again and Fozzy only just back in training. My finger in the air selection with suggested alternatives / subs would be...

The formation would be a not uncommon variation on a 4-3-3, but with a focus on deploying players where they typically play best and with the aim of providing some balance whereby we have our lefties deployed on the left where possible, likewise the righties on the right. This means I have the mildly controversial pick of Joe Ward at RB, but I don't believe we've seen anything like the best of him as yet and I'd be reasonably confident that he is the best cover for the absent Nyambe, with Korey Smith starting in MF.
For much the same reason, I'd have Elder at LB. He's the nearest to like for like with Fozzy and like Fozz, he can whip the ball in early and at pace and that may well play to Gayle's strengths more than floated balls delivered from out wide. Nelson and Cashin pick themselves and Wildsmith retains my slightly diminished confidence in the 1 spot. Bradley drops from the starting line up as he looks best in a back 3 and I'm hoping that's not our preferred route today. Bradley has become a hate-figure for some, but he's shown he's a decent player. Sadly, the system he seems to need to prosper seems to suit him far more than any other current personnel. I don't mind a back 5 as an attacking set up, I just don't like it for us when we're trying to keep things tight and if I had to play one formation, it wouldn't be a back 5.
Midfield is an even bigger quandary and while I'll doubtless get pulled up over it, I've plumped for Bird and Smith either side of Ebou. Hourihane seems to wander too deep to make use of his passing ability and I think Korey and Max could do some damage today with Ebou screening the back four to give them the required freedom.
Up top, Barks starts on the left with doubts in my mind as to CBT's fitness. Neither has looked great in recent games, though CBT has clearly had an issue of some sort. I'd look to give him 30 minutes to show what he can do against tired legs, assuming that's not beyond him.
Gayle to start at 9 and notch his first goal for the Rams today, with Nate restored to the flanks where he most often prospers. Wags and Wilson to provide energy when Gayle and Nate tire, with Sibs a wildcard depending on how things stand. Louie's been trying hard to improve his team-play of late and I'd hope he'd continue to get gametime. He must show more than last time out though, as he won't get many more chances if he doesn't.
As it is, I'm going with a 3-0 win and Gayle to net first today, but in truth we simply must secure the win today, however we play. Anything less, is nowhere near enough, now we've squandered our advantage with back-to-back losses. A huge step up is then the order of the day and a resounding win with a clean sheet the aim.
So that's my pointless attempt to pick a team, which will doubtless resemble PW's selection not one iota 😂 
COYR

Well, after back-to-back defeats we've fallen to fourth place in the table that properly reflects points over the season:
It's been a big dropoff by us and Bolton with the 95 point target for automatics now looking a significant overestimate. Barnsley will fancy their chances and if poor form continues then Peterborough can come back into the mix.
All is not lost, but we need to put a run of results together quickly. If my auntie had balls she'd be my uncle, but what a missed opportunity this has been. We could have been well clear with Portsmouth...

Brenda from Bristol,,,,,,, ANOTHER ONE 

Really hope Gayle opens his account. A confident Gayle could make all the difference to our season.

3-2-4-1 in front of Wildsmith. 
 
Nelson - Bradley - Cashin
Adams - Bird
Wilson - NML - Barkhuizen - Sibley
Gayle

Looks like a man made out of Lego Sir and zero presence up front. 

That this forum is to be avoided from the point that the team is announced until at least 12h after the match has finished.
Win, Lose or Draw.
Discuss (and see you tomorrow 😘)

That this forum is to be avoided from the point that the team is announced until at least 12h after the match has finished.
Win, Lose or Draw.
Discuss (and see you tomorrow 😘)

That this forum is to be avoided from the point that the team is announced until at least 12h after the match has finished.
Win, Lose or Draw.
Discuss (and see you tomorrow 😘)

Think we got cup finalled by Barnsley today
Filled their stadium, got their fans riled up, made the most of the home advantage and we shrank into ourselves under the pressure in our biggest game of the season so far
But Barnsley also caught us at a bad time, we’re without a striker and Gayle wasn’t ready to start. That doesn’t excuse the headless passing but we’d have made more of our chances with Collo playing today. It was still a fairly even game.
We’ll have a similar situation at Pompey so we need to learn from this and get a result there to make up for today. We also need to make sure we’re the ones ‘cup finalling’ Bolton when they come to town.
Stopping the calls for the head of a manager who’s clearly not getting sacked would be a good start. 

We're second in the division. Why don't we deserve it? That makes zero sense.
We're not very good, but CLEARLY, neither is the entire division.
You don't fluke your way to 20 wins out of 33 games.

In the U21 games, I don't think there's much between Fornah and DRobinson
 
We had a couple of bad years with U18 intakes. Following the very succesful 2018 group which contained Cashin, Ebosele, Archie Brown, Sibley, Thompson and Stretton.
In 2019: We had Bardell (still with us but struggled with injuries), Nto (just returned to our U21s), as a well as the likes of Solomon, Aghatise and Cybulski. Delap would have been part of this group, but left prior to the season starting.
In 2020: We had Ibrahim and Borkovic. Williams was signed by Chelsea in Jan 2022
We are then into the 2021 group who are only 1st year pros this season so you can see why we've had a gap.
2021: Evans, Aideyan, Ryan Moore, Moloney, Sebagabo, DRobinson, Fapetu, Eze, Richards, Ebiowei, Nicholas-Davies, Kaide Gordon, ZDixon
2022: Shattell, Grant (joined Man City at U13/14 level), Cox, KRobinson, Perry, Gough, Hawkins, Simons, Kellyman, Sharpe, Davidson,DBrown, Wheeldon
2023: JThompson, Price, Osayande, IGordon, Banks, Gill, Eames, Tola, Allen, McAndrew, Osong, Agustien, Kaba, Scanlon, Oguntola
From having just a couple of 'high potential' players likely to play in the Championship or higher in 2019 and 2020 combined, we're back to having several players with a good chance of making it to that level in each year group - even with 9 players from the 3 most recent groups having been snapped up by other Cat 1 clubs

If we beat Bolton, it's in ours

Lee Gregory left out too. Thanks for nothing Wednesday.