66DegreesNorth

'' Fi Fy Fo Fum, I smell the fun of a Championship run..''

I think having the likes of Collins, Adams and Nelson as the spine of the team is a bonus for games like this. They’ll set the tone for the rest and make sure we’re not bullied as easily as we have been in the past….i hope 🤞 

Good point that... perhaps could have been more. Give us a point before the game, we´ll take it.
But... 2-1 up at half time, not seeing it through. We could of have won that, put real pressure on the chasing pack.
Still, very proud of our boys tonight, fancy we'll see it through.
On to the next.... COYR !!!

Wildsmith should have saved that.

My daughter has put her foot down and made an impassioned case for us to make the 200 mile round trip on a school night. We'll be there, COYR!

Derby County vs Reading
Tuesday 12th March
Pride Park   KO 1945
 
Opposition Bio: Reading have made more headlines off the field than on it in recent times as they find themselves in financial strife as a result of incompetency by their owner. Sound familiar? 
The EFL have seemingly cut them more slack than they did with ourselves but their patience must be wearing thin as deadlines to deposit sufficient funds regularly pass. The latest failure to pony up saw them docked further points and their season deduction now stands at six points in total. 
There was a further deduction of three points doled out, albeit suspended, after their understandably fed up supporters invaded the pitch and caused the early abandonment of their home match with Port Vale, the latters best result in recent months.
Where we had Mel Morris, Reading have Dai Yongge. This proves the old adage of being wary of baldies or fake Welshmen baring gifts.
Any sympathy we have for them should be tempered though by the thought that they are probably still laughing at us paying £3m for Nick Blackman.
Reading FC are known as the Royals, a distinctly naff nickname acquired after a young Prince Albert played a dozen games for the club before marrying Queen Victoria. Plus they hail from the royal county of Berkshire. They are also known as the Biscuitmen due to the town's association with the biscuit makers Huntley & Palmers. 
They are managed by Spaniard Ruben Selles and, having been relegated last season, will be looking to secure League 1 survival this season and kick on in 2024/25 under different ownership and without points deductions.
Reading are the proud holders of two notable records. In the 1985/86 season they recorded 13 straight victories at the start of the season in what is now this division and they also hold the record for the highest points total for their whopping 106 points in their 2005/06 Championship campaign. 
Opposition Form: Not too shabby in fairness. In the ten matches played since they beat us 1-0 at their place they have won a further four games with three draws and three defeats.
They arrive at Pride Park on the back of a 2-1 home defeat to Wycombe and in 18th place with a record of W12-D9-L16. It should be noted, however, that without their points deduction they would be in 14th position. 
Their away record is perhaps misleading as the bare stats of W3-D5-L10 needs to be looked at in the knowledge that they contrived to lose their first eight matches on the road. They all count obviously but their more recent form away since then reads W3-D5-L2. 
Their away wins have been at Wycombe (2-1), Stevenage (1-0) and Carlisle (3-1). They have also managed decent draws at Oxford and Peterborough.
In those 18 away games they have only failed to score on four occasions. Promisingly from a Rams perspective, they have only kept the one clean sheet on their travels.
Opposition Players: Going purely off the stats it would appear their chief dangermen are top marksman Harvey Knibbs (10 goals, 6 assists), Sam Smith (9 goals, 10 assists) and possibly Femi Azeez and Lewis Wing. They also have Robbie's son Charlie Savage, the experienced Harlee Dean and the wonderfully named youngster Jacob Hammond-Chambers-Borgnis who I hope gets a runout as I'd love to see if they put his triple-barrelled name on his shirt.
Rams vs Reading History: This will be the 48th league clash between Derby and Reading and the 54th in all competitions. The clubs' first meeting was a League Cup clash in October 1965 (1-1) but it wasn't until 22nd September 1984 that the Rams and the Royals met in a league fixture for the first time and the long wait proved barely worthwhile as we played out a goalless draw at their previous home, Elm Park. The return fixture would prove to be more memorable, for us at least, as Reading's first ever league visit to Derby in April 1985 saw the Rams win 4-1 with goals from Bobby Davison, Steve Buckley, Trevor Christie and Gary Micklewhite in front of a bumper crowd of 7,945 (really?).
That was not a taste of things to come in this fixture though as Reading have had by far the better of it. Our record on their turf is especially poor with just four wins in 24 visits. On Derby soil, though better as you'd expect, it is still deeply unimpressive. Our last victory at home to them was a 1-0 success in September 2021 but our overall home league record against Reading is W10-D3-L10. 
Expected Team: Same again one might think. Possibly a change in the middle to give more legs with Smith or Thompson in for Hourihane. 
Other Fixtures of Note: Something similar to Saturday would be nice. A Derby win and at least one of our rivals for automatic dropping points please. Their games midweek are:
Portsmouth vs Burton
Bolton vs Oxford
Carlisle vs Barnsley
Peterborough vs Stevenage (Weds)
COYR
 

I’m loathed to say anything as my lad has told me a few things he’s heard Max say, more so Sibbo. The pair of them were very proud to come through our academy, they are professionals and want the best career’s possible. One day many might hear a story, a younger Max wasn’t that complimentary about Cocu at one point “allegedly” I’ve heard, but he’s always sought to improve his game and why shouldn’t he want new challenges, maybe better money etc.
Some comments are so savage, like we’re entitled to own careers or gain promotions. The same kind of comments that wrote off Morgan Whittaker and said good riddance etc; yet it was clear he was still developing and now look. Just maybe Max needs to move to develop his game more too; after all plenty day he’s not suited to Warne’s style, similar to Hourihane, can’t play together you name it.
Why can’t people be happy we’ve developed a young lads career, enjoy what he gave and wish him well; more so if we made what the club feel is decent money!

Bradley

...look at the bright side I suppose. Not going to be a lot of interest in Mr Cashin based on the last 2 hours in a Derby shirt.

Trading Warne for Ainsworth would be like trading dog turd for cow dung. 

I'd ring wayne only to ask him for the phone number of Rosenior 

In my working life I publish books, and I'm lucky that some are by the world's finest thinkers. When I first got a job like this, naturally I read a book about how to do it. Written by a woman, and acknowledging the sexism in the advice she was being offered in a similar position to me, by a publishing grandee, he told her:
"Authors are like women - they love to be asked."
It's advice that has stood me in very good stead and I think it does no harm to apply it to managers. I've published books by three Nobel-prize winning physicists and many other prestigious people, who other editors probably didn't dare go and talk to. Graham Potter would probably be the first name on my list, just in case I could sell him on the idea of falling in love with the Derby project. Proving himself as one of the managing greats, by taking us through the divisions into the Premier, and able to challenge at the top. He'll likely say no, but what if he says yes? What if there's some quirk in his upbringing that sees him want to come here - follow in Cloughie's footsteps? It's my job as an editor to try to find what might make someone want to write for me, and it's Clowes' job to do the same with managing Derby. Find something they have in common - show Potter how much Graham would enjoy working together at Derby. Sell him the dream, and hope he buys it.
 

Extenuating circumstances?
Oh come off it. The above applied to Cocu, Rooney, Rosenior. Warne is managing in the best situation since Lampard. Probably even before then.
This is an ideal situation for any manager to build the club the way he wants. Are fans really in the wrong for expecting much better from a supposed promotion expert in this league.
This should be an exciting time for the club and we are on the brink of losing all the goodwill. There are many posters on here whose footballing opinion I greatly respect and I don't see much love for Warne. 
Clowes gave the 4 year contract because he believed Warne would grow with the club, that Warne would step up. The only thing I see is a man struggling to handle the situation, the size of club, the pressure the expectation brings. I don't believe he can shake the shackles of being an underdog.

Mike te Verik  - Hollander

Mike te Verik  - Hollander

The defender needs to makevan attempt to win the ball

Boro one up
 

We are 2nd in the ´points taken from losing positions´ table available from transfermarkt.
Still in it....

He’s shown some lovely touches this game, for me I’d say he’s done really well up to that last incident. I think Portsmouth’s midfield are winning the battle second half. We could do with a more physically imposing player in their, like they’ve got Pack.

...starting to think I have Tinntius. How can the locals put up with that sodding bell.

...starting to think I have Tinntius. How can the locals put up with that sodding bell.

Didzy is outrageously good.....

Fozzy the Fantastic today and just how many people has Wildsmith peeved off this week, Brilliant !