Deej

How many senior players should we have had in each position? Up until summer 2018, at was always at least 2.
18/19
Along came Roos to be Carson's backup.
Bogle as Wisdom's backup.
Lowe was 3rd choice LB.
Bennett 5th choice winger.
Bird 9th choice CM.
Those players only got in due to injuries, and only Roos, Bogle and Bennett kept their roles in the first team due to form.
That doesn't sound like Mel forced any academy graduates into the team to me.
19/20
Roos and Bogle rightfully retained their places as starters. No other graduate is either first choice or backup.
Lowe is 3rd choice LB.
Bird 7th choice CM.
Knight 5th choice winger.
Others are even further away from the starting lineup.
Lowe ousts Malone out of the LB position due to form, later to be ousted by Forsyth once he returned from injury. Bird comes in due to an injury crisis. Knight's performances moves him up the pecking order. Limited game time. Sibley gets a run at the end of the season with little to play for, after being the best player by some distance in the U23s. 
Did Mel force injuries upon the squad to get Bird and Lowe in the team?
20/21
Roos back down to being a backup. If Bielik and Rooney were fit, they'd probably have started as backups too.
Due to finances, Lowe is sold, Malone is loaned out to save on wages, meaning Buchanan is now an unexpected choice as backup.
Sibley2nd or 3rd choice AM.
Whittaker 5th choice winger, possibly even 6th or 7th given we preferred Holmes and Knight there.
With Bielik a long term absentee we have 5 from Bird, Knight, Rooney, Shinnie and Holmes to choose from. Holmes was completely out of form, Rooney missed a couple of games due to injury, so the team picked itself. Rooney became manager, as Bielik returned from injury coinciding with Bird dropping from the team. Bielik picks up another injury meaning Bird eventually battles his way back in. 
Buchanan's performances merited becoming 1st choice.
Sibley gets a few minutes here and there.
Roos gets in when Marshall is injured, plays well, only to get dropped again.
 
Considering the club's financial restrictions, which players has Mel forced the managers to play?

Yes. It was stated as an aim, a target, an aspiration. Not an absolute must. Interesting that Rooney is typically only fielding 2 at a time.

THE POINT is that the squad is weak - we both agree on that. You claim that's because Mel forces the managers to play academy graduates.
Up until Lampard joined, those academy graduates only played due to several injuries in each position. For example, Hanson had to fill in at LB even though we had Forsyth, Olsson and Warnock at the club.
Even during Lampard's season, Lowe was the 4th most used LB. Bird was used less than 8 other CMs and Bennett was out 5th most used winger (Wilson, Lawrence, Jozefzoon and Waghorn)
Cocu initially only used his 3rd choice LB because he was one of only 2 fit full backs available. Bird came into the side when he was 7th choice CM.
This season, the injury to Bielik and Rooney's unexpected role change meant we have been 2 men lighter in midfield than we had hoped resulting in more game time than perhaps we would have hoped for Bird, Knight and Sibley. Whittaker, Gordon and JML have been 5th choice at best on the wings this season (Jozwiak, Lawrence, Waghorn, Ibe, then Roberts in Jan). Kazim, Waghorn, Rooney, Gregory and Marriott have all played more at CF than Trialist, Stretton and Cresswell (combined).
 
THE PROBLEM isn't giving academy graduate game time. We've been limited in our recruitment for the past two seasons in particular due to historic recruitment. In 16/17, we used Bent, Vydra, Nugent, Martin and Wilson up top. We also used Ince, Russell, Weimann, Anya, Camara and Blackman on the wings. Can you not see why we're in this position?

15/16 - instead of Hanson filling in at CM/AM, we either go 442 with Bent up top, or push Baird to CM/AM instead. A few injuries later in the season so we're forced to play Bryson at DM. We continue with an out of form Christie or play Keogh at RB. Injuries to Forsyth and Olsson means that Shackell or Johnson have to play LB. This was all in the season when we had 30+ players on senior wages. Maybe we should have doubled down and signed another LB (on top of Forsyth and Olsson), another RB (on top of Christie and Baird) and another DM/CM/AM (on top of Hendrick, Hughes, Butterfield, Johnson, Bryson and Thorne, with Baird also capable of filling in)
16/17 - Injuries to Olsson and Forsyth gave Lowe a chance. Perhaps we needed that 3rd senior LB afterall
18/19 - Let's sign another RB when we already have Wisdom. Bogle may be good enough but that doesn't matter. We've already got Lawrence, just got Wilson on loan, bought Jozefzoon and Waghorn. But let's sign another winger because we don't want an academy graduate to be 5th choice on the wing, or 4th choice CF!
19/20 - Bogle may have established himself as an excellent RB in this league, and Wisdom is capable backup, but let's sign another anyway? That 3rd choice LB on senior wages we signed back in 15/16 can play a few games again now that Malone and Forsyth are both unavailable. Plus that DM we signed in the same season and hasn't played since can now fill in for the first time since that season because 5 first team options in that position are all injured. We don't want an academy graduate to fill in as 6th choice for 2 positions. Let's continue to play the rubbish Jozefzoon and Anya rather than give a reliable player such as Knight a go. Dowell's doing poorly, but let's not cut his loan short as we don't want Sibley playing.
20/21 - Well with no income from Lowe and Bogle, we can't recruit that exciting young winger from Poland. Anya and Jozefzoon can stick around. We also need to cave in to Huddlestone's demands and give him a 2 year deal on £20k pw just t o prevent Bird playing. Good job we've kept Malone at the club otherwise we'd be forced to include Lowe or Buchanan in the matchday squad.

So the inclusion of which academy player(s) has prevented us from strengthening the squad?

But on current form are we?

Going back to my post yesterday regarding minutes to academy graduates, this is the list of players (and season) where they got anything meaningful...
Hanson (15/16) - Behind Hendrick, Hughes, Butterfield, Johnson, Bryson, Thorne and Baird. Got in due to injuries and even played at LB and RB.
Lowe (16/17) - Injuries to Olsson and Forsyth gave him a chance
Bogle (18/19) - Started the season as Wisdom's backup because we couldn't find a suitable loan. Once in the team he was too good to be dropped.
Bennett (18/19) - A squad player who had a massive impact off the bench. A vital member of that squad.
Bogle (19/20) - Deservedly in the squad due to 18/19
Lowe (19/20) - Started the season as 3rd choice behind Malone and Forsyth. His first 8 games were all at RB because Bogle was injured. He impressed Cocu so much in those games he earned a starting spot over Malone when Bogle returned from injury. Pretty much remained that what until he picked up the red card, which coincided with Forsyth returning from injury - back down to 2nd choice.
Bird (19/20) - Behind Bielik, Holmes, Dowell, Shinnie, Evans and Huddlestone as one of the two CMs. Came in to the side due to an injury crisis but deservedly retained his spot due to form once they were all fit.
Knight (19/20) - Used as a utility player based on where we had a gap on any particular day - CM, AM, RW, LW. His performances merited staying in the team though.
Sibley (19/20) - Head and shoulders the best player at U23 level out of all teams. Deservedly got a chance in the league and scored 5 in 11 games.
Knight (20/21) - Deservedly in the squad due to 19/20
Buchanan (20/21) - Felt like he was given a shot a bit too soon. However, the fact his performances merited an U21 callup, he's clearly good enough for this level.
Bird (20/21) - Deservedly in the squad due to 19/20
Sibley (20/21) - Deservedly in the squad due to 19/20
So who affected recruitment?
Bogle I guess, because we couldn't loan him out and we would have got someone cheap in as cover for Wisdom - thank duck for that.
Knight in 19/20 at a push, but P&S restricted how much we could spend on wages and I'm guessing the budget was empty
Buchanan in 20/21, but the fact  our transfer business was was it was in the summer (and then in January) also indicates the P&S budget was again empty.
Once working as it should, the team grows as the academy graduates grow. Yes, some players will outgrow the team and be snatched by a bigger club. Either the next academy graduate steps up or you buy a new player in of a similar ability straight away. That specific position may be weaker, but the rest of the young team continues to improve with a net positive result.
I bet Leicester are kicking themselves for spending all that money on their academy just to produce and England quality LB for Chelsea... Idiots

I think the decision to change so many players after the forest game for the Cardiff game has had an effect on performances. 

Barnsley, Brentford and Reading have 3 if the 4 youngest squads in the league, but are in the top 7. The rest of the top 7 in the league are Swansea (8th), Bournemouth (9th), Norwich (12th) and Watford (14th). Kind of suggests younger squads do better.
The 6 oldest squads are: Birmingham, Millwall, Wycombe, Sheff Weds, Forest, Cardiff

We as a fan base seem to be incredibly quick to write young players off and chase this mystique of experience.
There is so much I dislike about football currently. The money is stupid, the diving and theatrics are embarrassing. The use of VAR is a joke. It is a hollow soulless sport currently. What still seems real and something I can support is our own young players representing us.
 

What utter rubbish. Our Academy is our only bright light. 
You do remember we blew crazy money for a championship club on signing average, or below par players? Bennett being a squad blocker is a joke statement. We signed Nick Blackman to play upfront, we signed Anya, spent 4million on Butterfield, 6 million on Johnson, Plus many more, oh and they didn’t even leave for a profit. I think you would also find that with the except of Vydra, the only players sold for a good profit come from the academy. 
 
We would be screwed without our academy. We should look very closely at our recruitment strategy though. 

It's the only conceivable reason that I could think of that people would be so dismissive of the idea that we're in danger of it. 

What concerns me are four key things. 
1) our defending from set pieces- in our last 3 games we've been woeful defending from set pieces, Luton, Reading, and Norwich have all had 2 or more chances from corners or crossed free kicks. We've given away numerous free headers and have had a few lucky handballs waved away- against teams like Preston, Birmingham etc. this is a critical area we need to tighten up on. 

2) Our lack of creativity- It's not only that we don't score many we don't create many guilt edge chances either. We are too often reliant upon a shot 20 yards out to get a goal rather than creating 1 vs 1's or a clear shot inside the box. We're chronically poor in our chance creation and composure in the final third. 

3) Our lack of goals- CKR is quickly reverting back to the player we thought we'd signed after his initial purple patch. Apart from him we have Gregory who doesn't ooze goals either- essentially we've got 2 strikers whose skill set is pretty much exactly the same (great at hold up not to so great at scoring). Our wide players and midfielders don't contribute much to the goal tally either- at this point I'd welcome back Waghorn just because he can take a good freekick now and again. 

4) Our current form- Our form has absolutely nosedived in the past dozen games or so.  We're simply not winning games or getting enough points on the board atm and we've got 5 games to turn it around. We played well in the second half against Norwich and Luton but I can't remember the last time we looked solid and played well for 90 minutes. Both Blackburn and Preston are in as bad as form as us so winning at least 1 of these games is imperative but I can't say I'm confident we will. 

1 win in 10 with a worse goal difference than the team in 22nd, at least they're not being complacent. 

Just realised that it’s actually not technically in our hands to stay up!
Quite frightening...

Other than the win against Luton, the last win we had before that was vs Huddersfield on the 23rd of February. Draws aren't good enough now, and I honestly cannot see where our next win is coming from. 

Amuses me that on this thread there are still people delusional enough to think we're not in deep, deep trouble. 

Rotherham have produced a big result at a big moment.
To be honest, I would like Rotherham to win on Thursday, so it might actually jolt us into life.
We have been playing like the season is over since the start of March.
It is time for us to start performing.

Pretty damning for Derby to be relying on Rotherham to lose games to be safe. I think we'll drop into the bottom 3, we're in awful form. 

Rotherham score goals - we don’t. That’s the concern. 

Not the same at all, we have a good chance of staying up but the repeated not a chance in hell can we go down is  total nonsense...

Might wake up some on here to the reality of the situation.....

I didn't like it much when it went quiet during the Sheik takeover.
I don't really like it much when Alonso talks about £20 million players and the Champions League
I have decided to confine my immediate worrying to avoiding relegation this season, once we are safe, I will review my options and pick something else to worry about, there always plenty of choice when you support Derby. ??
 

Rotherham aren't dead and buried, yes they have fixtures piling up but they won't lose them all. If they win 1 and draw 1 they'll still move within 4 points of us which is too close for comfort. Sheffield Wednesday are 8 behind but have a game in hand and play us on the final day. As they play us on the final day they just need to get within 3 points of us to make it competitive. That could mean clawing anywhere between 5 or 2 points from the remaining 4 games on us depending on their game in hand results. I think 5 might be too much but they have good games at home so a couple of good results and we could be staring into the abyss very quickly. 

Rotherham have 9 matches left. I think it’s between Derby Coventry and Huddersfield but I’m starting to think we’ve had it after watching our last few matches.