VulcanRam

Evening Rams, first time poster on here and a Charlton fan with a bit of a soft spot for Derby. 
I just wanted to share my thoughts, vlog, and get some ideas for the fast approaching away tie (first visit). Unfortunately, I lived in Nottingham for 3 years and never quite ventured to Derby, only for a solo house viewing once. What's some good spots for away fans and what are the good touristy things that represent your city in a good light, I like to try and capture the place I visit on my vlogs if I can.
Congrats on the win, I didn't think there was much in it, and thought it was a classic away performance, you slowed the game, frustrated us and had a moment of quality on a mistake to seal the 3 points. My thoughts on Warne are, I believe he will get you promoted, whether it's this season or the next, but I think he'd have yous struggling in the championship. I think back to how good yous were in the early 2010s, and it's night and day. I remember a game at the Valley where we won 3-2 but you played liquid football at times, I've seen a few of your fans say the football is negative and hard to get behind, I'm always stuck in two minds if results matter more though overall.
Anyway here's my vlog: 
 
My uncle Antnony features on here and he's a life long Ram, not sure if he'd be a familiar face. 
 
Always had a soft spot for yous for two reasons, the first being we shared an FA cup final (way before my time of course) and that I actually donned one of your kits when I was younger. It was the away strip from the late 90s, my uncle was trying to convince me to be a Derby fan and bought me it. Funny story is, I ate too much pizza one night and threw up all over it, resulting in it having to be thrown away, a week later I attended the Valley and the rest is history! I was probably one bad pizza party and a trip away from Derby to being a full time Ram haha.
 
All the best for the season, I hope to see some of yous at Pride Park and look forward to my visit. Good luck in the hunt for promotion, hope yous can do it 👍🏻

Just as I was disappointed for Jason Knight that he couldn't attract better interest than Bristol City, same with Max Bird, who not long ago was being linked with Chelsea. If he's going to leave, I'd rather see him play at a higher level than a team who might only be as good as us next season.
Equally, maybe he was waiting for more/better offers in the summer but we've forced his hand because we need the money now we know he won't be staying.  
But I'm not really sure about the loan back. He hasn't been that important a player for us this season given the way we play, and if he won't be here next season I'd rather see us giving more game time to Sibley, Thompson, Adams and Fornah. 
 
 

You've done a good job trying to explain the wider context on several posts. Nothing about the way we play, in and out of possession, can surely make anyone think Warne believes the midfield to be a key area of the team.
Add this to things Warne has said after (at least) a couple of games (it might be more, I don't listen to too many of his interviews) where he refers to only wanting the midfielders to take a couple of touches before moving it on, to actively avoiding the midfield area in certain games.
Add this to what we see with our own eyes when teams just run through our middle. Where does any of that tell you he thinks the midfield area is critical to what he wants to achieve? 
That's not to say he doesn't value Bird/Hourihane, doesn't see a role for them or wants them to leave or anything like that. If he wanted a holding midfielder, or indeed another midfielder, I presume he would have said so by now, instead of just focusing on the wide areas and a striker.
For what it's worth, if he wanted to change the midfield dynamic he has Fornah, Sibley and Thompson, all of whom could help affect change in there regards setup, style and tactics, but clearly he doesn't, and that's fine, he's the manager and its his choice. He's clearly happy with what he's got and how he's deploying them.
I don't see any point adding to the midfield if, as it seems, nothing will change. It'll just be another player bought and wasted. 

This is an interesting point. From a good vantage point high in the South Stand on Saturday I spent a bit of time focusing solely on Max Bird's positioning (let's face it, there wasn't much else of interest going on). 
There were a few times when, in possession coming from the back, the most blatantly obvious thing to do was for Bird to drop into the huge vacant space in midfield to receive the ball yet he deliberately stayed, or even moved into, a position further wide; further away from his midfield partner, into an area where there were other players, and leaving this hole in the middle of the park.
I couldn't work out why the first time but then after watching him for a bit longer this exact thought occurred to me - he's not using his intuition or natural footballing brain/ability here, he looks like he's following strict orders, even if his movement doesn't seem (to me, anyway) to make much sense. 

You've done a good job trying to explain the wider context on several posts. Nothing about the way we play, in and out of possession, can surely make anyone think Warne believes the midfield to be a key area of the team.
Add this to things Warne has said after (at least) a couple of games (it might be more, I don't listen to too many of his interviews) where he refers to only wanting the midfielders to take a couple of touches before moving it on, to actively avoiding the midfield area in certain games.
Add this to what we see with our own eyes when teams just run through our middle. Where does any of that tell you he thinks the midfield area is critical to what he wants to achieve? 
That's not to say he doesn't value Bird/Hourihane, doesn't see a role for them or wants them to leave or anything like that. If he wanted a holding midfielder, or indeed another midfielder, I presume he would have said so by now, instead of just focusing on the wide areas and a striker.
For what it's worth, if he wanted to change the midfield dynamic he has Fornah, Sibley and Thompson, all of whom could help affect change in there regards setup, style and tactics, but clearly he doesn't, and that's fine, he's the manager and its his choice. He's clearly happy with what he's got and how he's deploying them.
I don't see any point adding to the midfield if, as it seems, nothing will change. It'll just be another player bought and wasted. 

You've done a good job trying to explain the wider context on several posts. Nothing about the way we play, in and out of possession, can surely make anyone think Warne believes the midfield to be a key area of the team.
Add this to things Warne has said after (at least) a couple of games (it might be more, I don't listen to too many of his interviews) where he refers to only wanting the midfielders to take a couple of touches before moving it on, to actively avoiding the midfield area in certain games.
Add this to what we see with our own eyes when teams just run through our middle. Where does any of that tell you he thinks the midfield area is critical to what he wants to achieve? 
That's not to say he doesn't value Bird/Hourihane, doesn't see a role for them or wants them to leave or anything like that. If he wanted a holding midfielder, or indeed another midfielder, I presume he would have said so by now, instead of just focusing on the wide areas and a striker.
For what it's worth, if he wanted to change the midfield dynamic he has Fornah, Sibley and Thompson, all of whom could help affect change in there regards setup, style and tactics, but clearly he doesn't, and that's fine, he's the manager and its his choice. He's clearly happy with what he's got and how he's deploying them.
I don't see any point adding to the midfield if, as it seems, nothing will change. It'll just be another player bought and wasted. 

Quality of football & entertainment can be two very different things. Derby simultaneously score & concede a fair amount at the minute/lose late leads or gain late leads which could be described as 'entertaining' to the neutral but certainly is not high quality. Conversely Paul Clement delivered high quality play but some fairly dull matches. 
You're missing the point though. People are primarily annoyed that a supposed automatic promotion contender has so little control of the match & is heavily dependant on flashes of quality by individual players to overwhelm poorly resourced but better coached teams. The issue isnt that they're bored...its frustration at how poor we look the majority of the time.
Comparing previous managers by entertainment value, many of whom operated under far harsher circumstances than Warne, doesnt strike me as that instructive. In terms of your obvious frustration that folk don't appreciate the job Warne is doing, maybe a more useful comparison would be Derby managers ranked by meeting/exceeding expectations or building a team greater than the sum of its parts. IMO Warne would be very near the bottom.

Maybe he knows players at Derby and they told him the fans often behave like spoilt babies, even when in the hunt for automatic places - who knows?

"One thing I didn't get" is the start of a sentence that could go on for a very, very long time.
 
 

Even a badly defending Ward which allows Wilson to play on the wing is better than playing Wilson at RB. We've only got 2 creative players anyway, now one of them is lost to defence, leaving us NML, and as we saw last night, if he's not on it, we struggle to create.
I'd put Ward back in and play Wilson higher up against Cheltenham. Other than NML, he'd walk into my team ahead of anyone in that position.
The potential reward outweighs the risk.
 
 

Some great memories in here. Can anyone spot themselves?
https://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/gallery/derby-county-81-wonderful-memories-4033920
(Scroll down, don't click on the arrow on the right)

Keep it. Yes it's a bit twee but not nearly as bad as some other club songs (Everton take a bow). It's the only thing that gets the whole ground clapping and engaged before kick off. Get the timing right (and don't ambush us with a third verse) and it creates a huge "Derby" right around the ground. 
@CongletonRam wumming that Bloomer is "some dead footballer who no one really knows" shows two things: his/her idiocy and the importance of keeping the song, something that celebrates not only our leading goalscorer of all time, but one of the greatest footballers of his generation. He remains the most successful Derby County player ever.
No-one wants to live in the past, but we should always treasure our heritage, especially a player like him. 

I think some of the criticism he gets is harsh. He’s not the long term answer in midfield, but Bird and Hourihane can be equally if not sometimes more frustrating in the quality v consistency stakes.
I do think he will find it hard to get back into the team, simply because we can’t afford to have players playing their way into form or fitness at this stage of the season.
However I get the sense he’s a really good pro though and that is important. He really stepped up to the plate and was very reliable playing at right back last season.
From videos and clips on our social media channels, you also get the feeling he’s a good character and good to have in the dressing room and around the club.
If he moves on be it in January or the summer, he should go with our well wishes.

Dare I say, in the mad rush to apportion blame for everything, Burton's second goal was an absolute belter. When our cross went into their area Hugill was on the edge of his own box and was about the furthest forward Burton player. We had at least three players directly between him and the half way line.
If you look at the Burton player who comes away with the ball - he's facing and running towards (broadly) the west stand. As soon as he gets it Hugill is off in another direction - more towards the centre spot. 
Elder, as the last man, is following the trajectory of the man with the ball and looking to cover that area, not realising at that stage that Hugill is running on his blind side and approaching his territory. As the ball is being played, he has to change direction, change his body shape, and try to get across to the ball. Plenty of times he might have managed that, but for two things. 
Firstly it was an outstanding ball from the Burton player to Hugill, absolutely pinpoint and virtually the only spot he could have put it to allow Hugill a straight run on goal. Secondly, look at Hugill's first touch, it was sublime. Any element of close control, stopping it, scuffing it and Elder is on him, but his first touch takes it out of his feet and directly towards goal, giving him the run on Elder. Also, he started that run from the edge of his area as soon as possession was turned over. Brilliant play. 
Yes we can ask questions about Elder (I thought he had a decent game tbf), and maybe Hourihane's positioning and movement if we want, but I just thought it was an outstanding bit of play by Burton. Good finish too.
  

Dare I say, in the mad rush to apportion blame for everything, Burton's second goal was an absolute belter. When our cross went into their area Hugill was on the edge of his own box and was about the furthest forward Burton player. We had at least three players directly between him and the half way line.
If you look at the Burton player who comes away with the ball - he's facing and running towards (broadly) the west stand. As soon as he gets it Hugill is off in another direction - more towards the centre spot. 
Elder, as the last man, is following the trajectory of the man with the ball and looking to cover that area, not realising at that stage that Hugill is running on his blind side and approaching his territory. As the ball is being played, he has to change direction, change his body shape, and try to get across to the ball. Plenty of times he might have managed that, but for two things. 
Firstly it was an outstanding ball from the Burton player to Hugill, absolutely pinpoint and virtually the only spot he could have put it to allow Hugill a straight run on goal. Secondly, look at Hugill's first touch, it was sublime. Any element of close control, stopping it, scuffing it and Elder is on him, but his first touch takes it out of his feet and directly towards goal, giving him the run on Elder. Also, he started that run from the edge of his area as soon as possession was turned over. Brilliant play. 
Yes we can ask questions about Elder (I thought he had a decent game tbf), and maybe Hourihane's positioning and movement if we want, but I just thought it was an outstanding bit of play by Burton. Good finish too.
  

Dare I say, in the mad rush to apportion blame for everything, Burton's second goal was an absolute belter. When our cross went into their area Hugill was on the edge of his own box and was about the furthest forward Burton player. We had at least three players directly between him and the half way line.
If you look at the Burton player who comes away with the ball - he's facing and running towards (broadly) the west stand. As soon as he gets it Hugill is off in another direction - more towards the centre spot. 
Elder, as the last man, is following the trajectory of the man with the ball and looking to cover that area, not realising at that stage that Hugill is running on his blind side and approaching his territory. As the ball is being played, he has to change direction, change his body shape, and try to get across to the ball. Plenty of times he might have managed that, but for two things. 
Firstly it was an outstanding ball from the Burton player to Hugill, absolutely pinpoint and virtually the only spot he could have put it to allow Hugill a straight run on goal. Secondly, look at Hugill's first touch, it was sublime. Any element of close control, stopping it, scuffing it and Elder is on him, but his first touch takes it out of his feet and directly towards goal, giving him the run on Elder. Also, he started that run from the edge of his area as soon as possession was turned over. Brilliant play. 
Yes we can ask questions about Elder (I thought he had a decent game tbf), and maybe Hourihane's positioning and movement if we want, but I just thought it was an outstanding bit of play by Burton. Good finish too.
  

Dare I say, in the mad rush to apportion blame for everything, Burton's second goal was an absolute belter. When our cross went into their area Hugill was on the edge of his own box and was about the furthest forward Burton player. We had at least three players directly between him and the half way line.
If you look at the Burton player who comes away with the ball - he's facing and running towards (broadly) the west stand. As soon as he gets it Hugill is off in another direction - more towards the centre spot. 
Elder, as the last man, is following the trajectory of the man with the ball and looking to cover that area, not realising at that stage that Hugill is running on his blind side and approaching his territory. As the ball is being played, he has to change direction, change his body shape, and try to get across to the ball. Plenty of times he might have managed that, but for two things. 
Firstly it was an outstanding ball from the Burton player to Hugill, absolutely pinpoint and virtually the only spot he could have put it to allow Hugill a straight run on goal. Secondly, look at Hugill's first touch, it was sublime. Any element of close control, stopping it, scuffing it and Elder is on him, but his first touch takes it out of his feet and directly towards goal, giving him the run on Elder. Also, he started that run from the edge of his area as soon as possession was turned over. Brilliant play. 
Yes we can ask questions about Elder (I thought he had a decent game tbf), and maybe Hourihane's positioning and movement if we want, but I just thought it was an outstanding bit of play by Burton. Good finish too.
  

Dare I say, in the mad rush to apportion blame for everything, Burton's second goal was an absolute belter. When our cross went into their area Hugill was on the edge of his own box and was about the furthest forward Burton player. We had at least three players directly between him and the half way line.
If you look at the Burton player who comes away with the ball - he's facing and running towards (broadly) the west stand. As soon as he gets it Hugill is off in another direction - more towards the centre spot. 
Elder, as the last man, is following the trajectory of the man with the ball and looking to cover that area, not realising at that stage that Hugill is running on his blind side and approaching his territory. As the ball is being played, he has to change direction, change his body shape, and try to get across to the ball. Plenty of times he might have managed that, but for two things. 
Firstly it was an outstanding ball from the Burton player to Hugill, absolutely pinpoint and virtually the only spot he could have put it to allow Hugill a straight run on goal. Secondly, look at Hugill's first touch, it was sublime. Any element of close control, stopping it, scuffing it and Elder is on him, but his first touch takes it out of his feet and directly towards goal, giving him the run on Elder. Also, he started that run from the edge of his area as soon as possession was turned over. Brilliant play. 
Yes we can ask questions about Elder (I thought he had a decent game tbf), and maybe Hourihane's positioning and movement if we want, but I just thought it was an outstanding bit of play by Burton. Good finish too.
  

The extent to which Bird and Hourihane carry the team is relative to their area.
I would agree that the back 4 have been our strongest area, but in terms of midfield Bird and Hourihane, despite their faults, are way ahead of the others. 

No, you have to look at the colour of the text, as opposed to the colour of the bars.
So he's in the Elite category for Progressive Carries and Acceleration with the Ball, as expected. And Above Average for Aerial Wins and Smart Passes.
But Below Average for defensive contributions (and Crossing as well).

And that's the concern. Collins remains, and will do for some time as things stand, our only fit player capable of playing 90 mins and scoring goals. JJ is feeling his way back into regularly playing. Washington back next month training means what, being fit to play 90 minutes 3 weeks after that? We might not see him til March at the earliest in any kind of meaningful capacity. Waghorn, we don't know so its conceivable it won't be til towards the end of the season. NML and Barks don't score anything like the amount of goals we need for promotion, particularly if we are pushing for autos. 
I agree that if Collins is injured we'd really struggle for enough goals to consistently win games. I guess it's down to what our ambition is but I'd say signing a player who is capable of being competition to Collins and can come in and play 90 minutes from the off is crucial to maintaining the promotion push.  

Supporters were not motivated enough to turn up.
Players were not motivated enough to turn up. 
Seems no-one likes playing L2 opposition in front an an East stand-only crowd, whatever competition it's in.
We can have an inquest and/or a meltdown but I'd just forget about it and move on. Far bigger fish to fry this season and our league form is good. 
 
 

I'm still far from convinced that anything has significantly changed.  When teams have stood off us and we've been able to play out from the back, we've looked OK.  When we've been significantly ahead in player-quality terms, we've mostly looked OK.  When teams have sat deep against us, we've huffed and puffed, struggled to create chances, but quite often got away with it (because NML pulls a goal out of nowhere or something).  When teams have pressed us aggressively, we've struggled.  When team are bigger and stronger than us, we've struggled.  When teams have been better than us player-quality wise, we've struggled.  That's been pretty consistent over the whole season IMO.  We've just had a run of games against opposition that played in ways that suited us.
Last night they were bigger and stronger than us, pressed us aggressively, plus had 2 guys in and around our DM area, and we never got to grips with it.  First half, when we tried to play through Fornah, they closed him down quickly and he couldn't deal with it.  Then when they won the ball back, they always had spare men in that area to play to.  Both Sibley and Thompson were pushed too far forward (and too wide at times) to help him out too.  So we ended up resorting to long balls forward that we never really competed for.
Second half, with Bird and Hourihane in there, we looked a (little) bit better.  We managed to play out a bit more, and certainly got more balls and bodies into their final third, but never really managed to create many actual chances.  At least in part because our final ball was dreadful.

Supporters were not motivated enough to turn up.
Players were not motivated enough to turn up. 
Seems no-one likes playing L2 opposition in front an an East stand-only crowd, whatever competition it's in.
We can have an inquest and/or a meltdown but I'd just forget about it and move on. Far bigger fish to fry this season and our league form is good. 
 
 

Supporters were not motivated enough to turn up.
Players were not motivated enough to turn up. 
Seems no-one likes playing L2 opposition in front an an East stand-only crowd, whatever competition it's in.
We can have an inquest and/or a meltdown but I'd just forget about it and move on. Far bigger fish to fry this season and our league form is good.