VulcanRam

2 hours ago, Tamworthram said:

Were you not at the Northampton game?

The Barnsley game was much better. Northampton were pathetic, there was no atmosphere and the game was over after half an hour. It was a great result, but the second half was frankly boring. No criticism at all of the players and coaches - Warne did exactly the right thing when we were cruising by making a load of subs, but as a spectacle it killed the game.

Barnsley felt a lot better because here was us putting a top six side - and one with a great away record - to the sword. They are a much better team than Northampton yet we made them look ordinary. And after last season it was very satisfying. First time in a long time, and certainly first time this season, I was buzzing when I left the ground.  

46 minutes ago, MadAmster said:

It's about getting to your seat early for the Remembrance game so you don't need to get others moving to let you get to your seat during the silence and its preamble.

It's a thing called respect.

Oh ok, well I got there as usual at five to, nothing happening so no problem. I know when the remembrance stuff takes place and was in place for the teams coming out and the commemorations. I hope that's ok, but if you want me to get to my seat earlier in future because it suits your agenda, do let me know.

Sorry for the sarcasm and the bite but I can't abide this sort of preachy attitude. 

5 minutes ago, Anag Ram said:

The ram took a dump.

I'll make sure I'm there next time.

Anyway, in the spirit of and in honour of B4 - that was the performance and result I've been waiting for all season to make me believe we are capable of getting promoted. I thought we were excellent.

5 hours ago, Ghost of Clough said:

I agree. From the replays, where the camera is in the West Stand, you can barely see contact at all - partly because the camera is behind Collins and the defender. However, from my position in the South Stand, you could clearly see his hands were raised. The way Collins fell onpy looked possible from a push.

Yes likewise, from the SS it looked a clear push as he was preparing to head the ball. Good decision from the ref as often you don't get those. 

On 11/11/2023 at 11:05, MadAmster said:

Never served, always donate to the Appeal via the Neppy. I remember on my first visit to the Netherlands aged 21 or 22. Visited the War Cemetery in Arnhem. Seeing the ages of the fallen brought tears to my eyes. They were almost all younger than I was and had made the ultimate sacrifice. I, for one, will never forget them nor the sacrifice they made. 

I would dearly love to see everybody in their seats a good while prior to kick off today and to appreciate the ceremonial happenings. That last pre match beer/cola/pie/burger.... that can be taken a little earlier than usual. IMO, not being in your place by 10 to 3 today would be showing total disrespect to the fallen.

Why, what happened at ten to 3? 

On 11/11/2023 at 06:34, AndyinLiverpool said:

The poppy has been used as a weapon for quite a while

And it's the reason I don't wear one. Fully supportive of Remembrance Day, minute silence etc but the warriors who get so upset and angry if you don't wear one annoyed me to such an extent a few years ago with their virtue signalling that I just stopped out of principle.

Very sad news. Scraves and flanges will remain the greatest thing anyone has ever posted on a forum. He always made me smile with his sometimes ludicrous, sometimes unrealistic, sometimes fair but always highly passionate posts - a positivity that sometimes we could all do with a bit more of. His rallying calls were always crazy and brilliant. 

He'll be missed and as others have said, I hope the kind words on this thread will bring some comfort to his family. Top man. 

Likely to be:

Wildsmith

Nyambe Nelson Cashin Forsyth

Hourihane Smith Bird

NML Washington Barks

But if he's feeling adventurous maybe a 4-2-3-1

Hourihane Bird

NML Sibley Wilson

Washington.

But little or no chance. 

Regardless of whether Cashin is off in Jan, we should play our strongest team in every league game and he's ahead of Bradley by some distance. Bird might be off, Nyambe might be off, we still need them to play as they're our best players.

Collins did well in midweek but hasn't shown enough in the league to warrant a start and you'd imagine his game would be meat and drink to a team like Barnsley.

Anyway, it has the feeling of a big game in this league so hopefully will be a good atmosphere and a good game.

43 minutes ago, May Contain Nuts said:

Sorry, what?

Praise/Defend (delete as appropriate) the performance by all means, but come on now.

This is League Two Crewe's reserve team we're talking about.

 

It was, and on the day, in a one-off 90 minutes, they defended very stoutly, better than plenty of league one outfits. These games can be tricky. Chesterfield of the national league beat Portsmouth, statistically the best team in league one. Cray Valley Paper Mills have just got a draw away at Charlton Athletic. 
 

Sometimes it’s not as straightforward as we might believe it should be.  

1 hour ago, DRBee said:

We are slow and predictable   ... and could easily have lost this game. Crewe surrendered possession  to us. Sibley and or Wilson should have been brought on earlier  to provide more variety in our attack. . The large number of shots could been seen as negative given as so many of the crosses and shots we had were ineffective, predictable  often not on target and caused their goalkeeper no problems  until the very end.. 

they could be seen as a negative if you are determined to see them as a negative. 

Haven’t read through the thread so probably an unpopular opinion, but I thought in the main we played well. Certainly better, even at 2-0 down, than in some recent league games.

The game showed up very well where we are strong and where we need to strengthen. Our approach play was excellent. Warne cannot legislate for Foz falling asleep or Bradley being unable to hold off his man. Or some of the poor quality pull backs from promising attacks. We all know we need a decent striker in the window. If cashin goes we will need a first choice centre half as well. We should have had the game with by half time but we didn’t, and as soon as we gifted them the second they just parked the bus.

To be able to play through 11 human beings camped in their area it requires the technical skill of a good Premiership team - as I type this watch how Liverpool are struggling to get through Luton - as we are a reasonable to good league one team.

Rather than just moan and think we should be smashing a team who are good as at least a quarter of league one teams, I’d praise the fact that they stuck at it and managed to get a result which looked highly unlikely at 88 mins. 

1Wildsmith 6 nowt to do really

24Nyambe 7 had his man in his pocket and covered well on the odd occasion he needed to

23Ward 6 got into good positions but crosses weren't great

35Nelson 7 solid, easy game

5Bradley 7.5 similar, though an extra half point simply because of the troubles he's had. 

3Forsyth 7 see Nelson

4Hourihane 6.5 great assist for Bird's second, kept the team ticking over

22Fornah 6 neat and tidy

12Smith 6 combative in the midfield but a but hit and miss

7Barkhuizen 7.5 our liveliest outlet, thought he had a really good game, looks as fit as at any time in his Derby career

8Bird 🦅 8 two great goals, some lovely interplay. 

39Brown 6 Little chance to impress

11Méndez-Laing 7 Busy and scored a good goal

16Wilson 6 Didn't impact the game

14Washington 7.5 Led the line well, scored a good goal

9Collins 5 Missed a sitter, did all his work outside the box, didn't provide much of an outlet so our attacking play faltered. I don't know what the answer is.  

40 minutes ago, David said:

Is insisting they are a good person a bad thing?

You don't want to throw a ticking time bomb into the dressing room surely, regardless of individual talent. 

It's got to be number 2 on the checklist.

1) Can we afford him

2) Are they a good person

3) Are they good enough for the team

Probably goes more in depth than that, but yeah, good person is super important. 

A good character is important but no way would I put it ahead of a player's impact on the team.

The job of this manager is to put together and manage a team to get promoted. Limiting that to nice guys ahead of football capability might make your job easier (or not as has been apparent), but would I want a bit of a dick if he was likely to score 30 goals? Absolutely I would, and it would be my job to manage him and his behaviour.

I really hope we've not lost decent players, better than the ones we have, because they're not deemed to be a good enough person. 

13 minutes ago, RoyMac5 said:

Could it be that we played it to feet and didn't just have him running the channels? No blame is meant anywhere and I hardly dare ask obvs.

Yes, maybe and possibly. Equally, he was allowed to do whatever he wanted as for the first half it was the equivalent of a training game. We didn't need to play it into the channels because everyone was unmarked all the time. Will we have the courage to do the same against better teams?

He's been very average to below average so far so let's not get carried away, but last night was a much better performance from him. Let's hope that's the real Washington. Deserves to keep his starting place for Sunday.

5 minutes ago, bcnram said:

I wouldn't think he has, that would be daft. Bradley did bring some calmness to the defence which was good. He also played excellent passes into midfield which was a positive. 

The good thing is that assuming that Cashin goes in January, there is more comfort in playing Bradley after his dodgy start. The bad thing is that Mr Warne thinks that he can he can play three centre backs again and we are back to square one.

 

Agreed, Bradley played well last night and gave us a glimpse of what he might bring. Equally he won't have an easier league game ever I wouldn't have thought, so we need to see whether he's put his early season jitters to bed in a far tougher environment. It was good to see him play though, we need him and an up-to-speed Bradley will be a real asset.

But there seems to be a polarised view among some that if we think Bradley is great and we kept a clean sheet it must mean Cashin is rubbish (along those lines), or that he seems to have been singled out for some our poorer disaplys; some of the criticism I've seen of him on here and on socials seems really unfair. I think, for a young player in only his second season of regular football, is doing really well. 

I'd love Cash to stay, I'd love it if Bradley had an epic rest of the season, and Nelson keeps up his form. I'd also love it if we could keep Nyambe after January. With Foz always solid, that's a very good defence. 

And to your last point, I'd like to think that if he goes back to a three after seeing Bradley there earlier in the season and the difficulties he had, then he'd need to have an almighty good reason for doing so. 

And sorry, I might have missed this as have not spent time on here recently, but when did Cashin become the new hate figure?  Ridiculous. 

A decent win last night, but I didn't come away buzzing and I can't say it has changed much unless we do it on a consistent basis. Northampton were woeful and while you can only beat what's in front of you, the game was over in half an hour. Lose at Crewe and it's back to square one and Warne your football is s***

However, some positives:

A good game for Bradley to get 90 minutes in as he hardly had to do anything and his confidence will hopefully improve. 

Washington looked better than he has done.

Good to see Brown, he should be ahead of Collins in the pecking order for now so we can get a better look at him.

Bird and Barks get better the fitter they are becoming after his long lay off.

Northampton fans did well in the face of a pathetic performance, particularly the last 20 mins. 

There was a small group of South Stand fans who were having a go at other South Stand fans last night, and then at the drummer. Interesting. I wonder if this is the same collective who hate Warne when we let in a goal and adore him when we score. 

12 minutes ago, LoadofCobblers said:

However Brady has recognised that he is comfortably our best finisher, meaning he is now less involved in build up play but much more in the final 3rd which has seen his goal tally rocket.

What plenty of people have been saying about James Collins (minus the comfortably best finisher bit) but most of the time he's still everywhere except the penalty area when chances emerge. I think he'd be a much more effective finisher and player for us if he was told to cut out the build up the play, which he's not that good at anyway, and goal hang a bit more.  

56 minutes ago, CongletonRam said:

Nope. The majority I talk are behind Warne as, aside from the turgid football, they can see the bigger picture and they recognise just what a difficult ob he has when you go through the many extenuating circumstances.

He needs and will be given time. I'll say it again, a few disgruntled fans won't change Clowes mind. He gave Warne a 4-year contract for a reason.

I think this is fair. Fans' views of Warne are based on what they see/hear once or twice a week. DC and SP's view and experiences of Warne and where the club is regards the rebuild are daily. 

I said in the mists of time when the first of a thousand threads/polls came out that I'd review at Christmas but most likely give it til the end of the season. At the moment it's pretty bad, I'm not enjoying it and it doesn't look great for him, but I've not changed my view; I'd still give him the full season to see what he can do. We're talking about a man's job and his family's livelihood here, you have to be fair.

If Clowes, who has a far more in-depth knowledge of what's happening behind the scenes than anyone here and can therefore take a far more holistic view, decides to make a change then no problem, I wouldn't be mourning his departure. But that's for the owner to decide, not us. 

1 hour ago, Eatonram said:

Been supporting since 1968. Seen the lot from ecstasy to despair. This could be my last season ticket. Not because of Warne or Clowes or our current style of play but because of our toxic and frankly moronic minority of supporters who try to hound managers and players out of the club. ( I mean constantly hiring and firing managers has worked so well for us over the last 10 years)..if social media existed in 1995 Jim Smith would have been getting crucified. We were about 6 from bottom at this stage of his promotion season. 

I agree, I’ve stopped going away for exactly this reason, too many people far too drunk or off their heads on drugs shouting stupid stuff. The adult who was effing and blinding at hourihane in that video really needs to have a long look at himself.

Those same fans who were singing “Paul Warne your football is s***” At the end of yesterday’s game will no doubt be giving it the League one guardiola the minute we’re ahead next time. 
 
I watched on rams tv but caught up with the RD today and was pleased to hear it was only a minority of people behaving like this. 

1 Wildsmith 8

24.Nyambe 6

35.Nelson 6

6.Cashin 6

3.Forsyth 6

5. Bradley 5.5

12.Smith 5

14.Washington 5

22.Fornah 5

4.1Hourihane 6

17.Sibley 5

8.Bird 7

7.Barkhuizen 6

11.Méndez-Laing 6

9.Collins 6

10. Waghorn 5

1 hour ago, ram59 said:

Let's look at some of the so called 'big clubs' that others have compared us with. All of the following played to sell out crowds in the Premier, but look at their attendances after dropping down to the Championship, never mind lg1. 

Teams like Cardiff, QPR, Stoke, Boro are all playing in front of 1,000s of empty seats, you can only imagine how many more empty seats there would be in lg1.

It's difficult to define a big club, some have compared transfer fees paid out, it's hardly surprising that we can't compete after not being in the Premier for so long, but if a team like Man U ever fell down the leagues for many years, they would always be a massive club. In my opinion, it takes a sustained period of time for a club to become a 'big' club and likewise a long period of time for a club to completely lose that status. Teams like Bolton with a history further back than us, still hold some kind of 'bigness' from that successful time many years ago.

Teams like Stoke, QPR and Cardiff have won the fairly recent lottery of promotion to the Premier and the fortune of being owned by very wealthy people. If they came down to lg1, their crowds wouldn't compare with those at PP, the away support from small clubs wouldn't compare with those at PP and those small club's home attendances wouldn't match those when Derby were the visitors, the reason being that none of those clubs are as 'big' as Derby. Success is the only thing that those clubs had going for them but success isn't everything, are clubs like Fester and Wigan bigger than Newcastle and Spurs because of fairly recent trophy wins?

I have no idea what point you're trying to make there and there is a lot of assumption dressed up as fact, but my point is this, which you actually back up with your second paragraph: Derby in L1 play in front of the same amount of fans than they have done historically. Obviously when we're doing well more people come, and when we play well supported teams they bring more fans so gates are higher. You mention Cardiff, QPR etc - they too are playing to the same sort of crowds they always have done. 

My point wasn't ever about comparing us to other clubs - there are a million reasons why clubs attract the numbers they do; social, economical, geographical - but was to present a counter view to those who think we're massive or something amazing because we play in front of the same amount of supporters, more of less, than we always have done. But that was several pages ago now, and it really wasn't worth this much discussion.

21 minutes ago, sage said:

We are on TV. We are massive. We are bigger than QPR.

😀

But not as big as Cray Valley, who get the prime BBC slot!