vonwright

Such a committed press. Attitude looks absolutely spot on (credit to Rooney as well as the players)

There's a lot to like about Lawrence as a striker if we are going to play this style

Some of Morrison's touches are different class

Also, can see why they signed Max Lowe. What was the left back doing?

Although also: who cares

Cracking goal. Lawrence reborn as captain and striker! 

1 hour ago, Turk Thrust said:

People do get confused with libel and slander. Basically if I told someone that you are a murdering thief who has carnal knowledge of your aunt then it’s slander, but if I published it, it would be libel.  Unless it’s true. I think. It doesn’t help that I’m sitting in my garden quaffing my third pint of Guinness West Indies Porter.

Yeah basically libel and slander are two forms of defamation. Libel broadly refers to the written word (traditionally newspapers but now also websites, even tweets) while slander refers to the spoken word (including I think radio broadcasts, as well as stuff said in the street).

You defame someone if what you say would tend to reduce their standing in the eyes of a reasonable person. 

Interestingly you can still technically libel/slander someone even if what you say is true. It's just that truth is a complete defence, so there would be no point someone trying to sue you - except that in British courts the burden of proof is on the defendant, so you would have to prove what you said was true, rather than your target having to prove it was false. Which is annoying and probably unfair. 

12 minutes ago, Tyler Durden said:

I can't see any slating on here only perfectly reasonable comments that the club could just make a one line statement saying revised accounts now submitted to EFL, the club will make no further comment at this stage. 

Hardly difficult is it and would then cut out a lot of the guessing. The club has proven to be extremely reticent to do anything like that in the past as though they think it's not important, they seem totally out of touch with the fanbase. 

I agree. The club know full well how worried fans are, and how attention has been focused on today's deadline. You'd think they'd say something; they knew the EFL would be saying something, and they've had weeks to plan. 

For what it's worth, I'm extremely happy with Rooney. Positives: attitude (he's a natural born winner); contacts (no Rooney, no Morrison, for instance); real-life experience (he knows the difference between good and exceptional, he lived on that fine margin and played with others who did the same). I'd also argue his interviews show he's someone with a much deeper understanding of tactics and man-management than I would have given him credit for. Another massive positive: attitude. He's stuck around at Derby despite all the chaos, bit his tongue, bided his time. You can say 'ah well but he has no choice!' but I don't believe that. He's Wayne Rooney and frankly he'd could get a better paid gig with better prospects somewhere else. Bottom line is he's done better than Cocu - a far more experienced manager, someone more obviously suited to running a club. 

We have many, many problems but Rooney isn't one of them. I'm incredibly grateful he stuck around.

Edit: there's this assumption with people like Rooney (or Beckham) that they are simply lucky, 'naturally gifted' kids who no nothing about football or graft etc etc. It's nonsense. The two things all top players have are a) supreme dedication and focus and b) a will to be the absolute best. That doesn't guarantee they will be great managers but it's a damn good place to start.) 

Early days but - given the circumstances under which he's been operating, the limit on numbers, the massive wage restrictions - he's shown great creativity and a real eye for a player who can not only improve the squad but bring the best out in other players. 

No one would have chosen the embargo but it's quite possible we look back on this window as far more successful than some of those in which we wasted millions upon millions 

29 minutes ago, rammieib said:

We tried too hard at times to fall into a set piece. It was almost like ice hockey for those who understand the game. Start with the puck behind the goal and run a set play.

For Derby its start at the back or reset it, and eventually work it to one of the deep lying mids who takes the spot of the full back who has pushed forward. The opposition doesn’t know which player follows.

Forst half especially this was too pedestrian like. Second half, Morrison dropped deep and the centre backs spread. This allowed full backs further up and allowed Watson to be further up.

Interesting. Worked well second half, meant Watson was getting the ball in a decent amount of space, and meant Ebosele spent most of his time going forward. 

Couldn't quite work out where he was playing. Seemed to play largely behind Williams in the first half and largely behind Ebosele in the second. Almost like a playmaking fullback rather than a 'proper' midfielder. 

Great performance, didn't understand why people seemed to think he was playing badly on the match thread. 

Combination of his position and his price tag: people expecting way too much and not crediting the work he does. When he plays for Poland no one expects him to win games single handedly. He's just an effective cog in the machine. 

He had an excellent game today, highly involved, positive and intelligent. 

Well played lads. Real character. 

Further unpopular opinions:

Joz has played well

Sibley needs to contribute more than shots from 25 yards

Terrible decision but what was Forsyth doing? Thought he'd had his one terrible error per game earlier on, and got away with it.

All the kids on the pitch and no one makes me more nervous than him. He's not, never will be a central defender.

I'm obviously in a minority of one but I think Watson's been good. Not everything coming off but playing at tempo, head up, always wants the ball. Looks completely comfortable at this level to me. 

Edit: he also seems to have been asked to play left back and right back as well as DM, which can't exactly be helping him!

Morrison, Sibley, Joz missing in action (at least Joz looks like he cares). Hutchinson, Brown struggling at this level. Forsyth never a centre back. Stretton lightweight. Allsop... did that. 

Ebosele looks good though. Watson's at least trying to play with his head up. 

Pitch looks alright.

This season is all about trying to stay up any way we can, then hopefully rebuild when there is some (any!) financial stability. So at the moment I'd rather keep him, even if we lose him for nothing in a year. There's currently no indication that if we sold him that we'd be able to use either the money or the wages on a player of similar calibre; in fact there's no indication we'd be able to sign more than one replacement player on 4.5k a year. It feels like a lot of people are simply _hoping_ that the money from a Lawrence or Jozwiak would mean we could bring in several of the remaining triallists and others linked to the club, but what is this based on, really? And other than perhaps a 39 year old Jagielka, how much will they offer? These aren't normal times and I'm with Rooney: we can't afford to be losing senior players. 

Do we really want to be losing players like this at a time when it's not clear who, if anyone, we could bring in as a replacement? Joz has shown flashes for us, looked really good for Poland, seems to have a good attitude. If he comes good this year he could come really good. I can see why Mel would want to sell but I find it strange to see fans so sanguine, given the players we've looked to sign so far. Would people swap him for Jagielka, say? Or Carroll? I wouldn't. He's the kind of player we should be looking to sell when we are in a position to reinvest the money and wages on something other than a strictly limited number of bargain basement gambles. 

So basically we get all the cheap ones we don't really want and none of the slightly more expensive ones that we do. Ugh, this season is going to be horrible

5 hours ago, 86 Hair Islands said:

I think this is a tad harsh to be honest. He's definitely had his head turned by a rather grubby agent in the past, but he's been posting videos over the beak of him doing some extra wok on his own and given he's elected to stay and fight for his future at the club, let's just see how things go. I agree he's up against it but it wouldn't be the biggest surprise to see him prove us all wrong.

You might be right about it being too harsh. I guess he's still a young man, and was younger still when he left Liverpool. In any case i'd be very happy if he stays and makes an impact, but there's very little in his footballing career that makes that likely. 

There's very little in Bobby Duncan's footballing history over the last few years - including his time with us - to suggest we should care whether he stays or goes. I'd love him to prove me wrong, but he doesn't seem the type who would bother, even if he had the potential, which I have no reason to believe he does. More the type who reaches thirty, and finds himself boring his pub team with stories about how he'd have been an England regular if he hadn't been so hard done by 

I'd probably prioritise Mengi of all the CBs. It's a big risk to assume Davies will get through the season, Jagielka is 39 and Stearman doesn't fill me with much confidence. Wisdom would be second on my list but I'd prefer Mengi. I think we are going to need to take a few gambles this year on players who might turn out to be really good rather than players who will know will be fairly solid 6/10 types. (Morrison obviously falls into this category too.) Wisdom isn't great and isn't going to get any better. We need to be better than we were last season. Are Morrison and Menghi the answer? Probably not. But we know Wisdom isn't. 

3 hours ago, The Scarlet Pimpernel said:

He ran fast two or three times as well to be fair 

Was Anya even that fast, or was he just one of those players who looks to be moving faster than they are because they are - to put in bluntly - short?

I remember when he came up against Ryan Fredericks (a genuine flyer) in the play off semi against Fulham in 2018. They tested each other for pace a couple of times. The results were... not good.

I appreciate there are more disappointing things about Anya's time at Derby! But for me he goes on the list of "nippy but not actually fast" players. We've had a lot of those. 

Has anyone clarified the rules on long-term injuries? Seems odd to count Bielik. Maybe that's why some are saying five rather than four (he said, hopefully).

Hard decisions to be made on Brown, Hutchinson, even Watson. Are we going to try to survive the season (in which case experienced players would contribute more)? Or are we planning for a future, and betting that these players would a) stay with us in League One, and b) make a difference at that sort of level?

Not sure the EFL rules make a great deal of sense, even as a punishment. They are ultimately punishing not just the club but more specifically a bunch of young, inexpensive players who are neither causing nor contributing to the financial mess.

Surely would make more sense to say "no more than 23 players on more than x salary", where x is either a raw number, or a percentage of average championship wage, or something like that.