Alty_Ram

Oh I'm definitely still enjoying it, I just think it was closer at the start of the season but I guess what I am seeing is a gap seems to be emerging and I don't think that Mercedes have a plan for this season to close that so I suspect that the last race will become more the norm than some of the closer races earlier on. Agree completely re the gap between the drivers. Max and Lewis manage to wring out every last bit from their cars and that's what makes the difference. I just hope that Mercedes can make a few tweaks to give Hamilton a car that will keep him in the mix rather than just hoping for a Verstappen/Red Bull mistake.
I've been really looking forward to a point where we have such parity in the cars that it's a nail-biter every race but the needle just seems to have swung a little too far the other way as it stands. Hope I'm wrong, I really want to see these two going at each other.

Mistakes have been made no doubt about it but the EFL seem to be obsessed with getting the harshest and most damaging and inconvenient penalty for us and there is seemingly precious little we can do about it. Surely nothing will be sorted ownership-wise while this nonsense is going on so it looks like we are set for a world of pain for the immediate future.
I'll just have to comfort myself with a thought of some future date when we bounce back, win the Championship playoffs at Wembley and to an ear-splitting massively public rendition of 'Feck the EFL' by thousands of Rams fans, the Derby skipper, 'Local lad X' receives the EFL trophy and just chucks it on the ground and just walks off to celebrate with the fans.

Mistakes have been made no doubt about it but the EFL seem to be obsessed with getting the harshest and most damaging and inconvenient penalty for us and there is seemingly precious little we can do about it. Surely nothing will be sorted ownership-wise while this nonsense is going on so it looks like we are set for a world of pain for the immediate future.
I'll just have to comfort myself with a thought of some future date when we bounce back, win the Championship playoffs at Wembley and to an ear-splitting massively public rendition of 'Feck the EFL' by thousands of Rams fans, the Derby skipper, 'Local lad X' receives the EFL trophy and just chucks it on the ground and just walks off to celebrate with the fans.

I really wish I could share your optimism but it seems to me that there is a hell of a lot to do just to get back where we were at the end of the season and that was barely enough. The squad is woefully inadequate as it stands. We're desperately short of numbers, cover and quality and I just don't see this team being suddenly a lot better than it was just because it is a new season.
If this squad as it stands finishes mid-table then they probably deserve a bus top parade of the city. We desperately need quality bringing into this side and cover (and first choices) for positions where we are beyond threadbare. How on earth we will be able to do that with everything hanging over us is another matter though.

I really wish I could share your optimism but it seems to me that there is a hell of a lot to do just to get back where we were at the end of the season and that was barely enough. The squad is woefully inadequate as it stands. We're desperately short of numbers, cover and quality and I just don't see this team being suddenly a lot better than it was just because it is a new season.
If this squad as it stands finishes mid-table then they probably deserve a bus top parade of the city. We desperately need quality bringing into this side and cover (and first choices) for positions where we are beyond threadbare. How on earth we will be able to do that with everything hanging over us is another matter though.

If we are favourites to go down it won’t be because our wingers are the very recently Wales capped Lawrence and the currently playing in the Euros with Poland Jozwiak.
Every football forum in the championship will be saying the same thing about their wingers being frustrating...If either had got 15 goals and 20 assists then they’d be in the prem! 
 
we barely have any players it is, wanting to get rid of the ones we do is madness.
 

How can we possibly sign him, even if we were interested. we are on a transfer embargo, and cannot pay any money for players. 

We haven't seem the best of him without a doubt. Are there some flaws in his final product and decision making, yes I think there are. Equally, a neutral audience have just rated him as the 3rd best Polish player on the night and I have no reason to take any real issue with that. Even 2nd half there were a couple of runs 2nd half where he ran at and beat 3/4 players and goodness knows we have precious little of that ability in our squad. To describe him as 'awful' or 'rubbish' on the basis of that performance is baffling to me.
This is great experience for him, let's just be glad that we have Derby players taking part in a major tournament and not looking out of place eh ?

We haven't seem the best of him without a doubt. Are there some flaws in his final product and decision making, yes I think there are. Equally, a neutral audience have just rated him as the 3rd best Polish player on the night and I have no reason to take any real issue with that. Even 2nd half there were a couple of runs 2nd half where he ran at and beat 3/4 players and goodness knows we have precious little of that ability in our squad. To describe him as 'awful' or 'rubbish' on the basis of that performance is baffling to me.
This is great experience for him, let's just be glad that we have Derby players taking part in a major tournament and not looking out of place eh ?

We haven't seem the best of him without a doubt. Are there some flaws in his final product and decision making, yes I think there are. Equally, a neutral audience have just rated him as the 3rd best Polish player on the night and I have no reason to take any real issue with that. Even 2nd half there were a couple of runs 2nd half where he ran at and beat 3/4 players and goodness knows we have precious little of that ability in our squad. To describe him as 'awful' or 'rubbish' on the basis of that performance is baffling to me.
This is great experience for him, let's just be glad that we have Derby players taking part in a major tournament and not looking out of place eh ?

Stats wise, he came out as their 3rd best player. Thought he had a decent enough game myself. Certainly not a player that should be singled out for any kind of criticism 

Hopefully they'll realise that this club is a Sleeping Beauty and if this happens then it's really important this time to have a bit more transparency and that it Snow White(wash) and then we need to crack on with our recruitment and sort our poor goalscoring record out - get A-lad-din from the lower leagues who is an up and coming star or we'll just end up Tangled in another relegation fight because some of the younger players were just Bambi in headlights last year.

Hopefully they'll realise that this club is a Sleeping Beauty and if this happens then it's really important this time to have a bit more transparency and that it Snow White(wash) and then we need to crack on with our recruitment and sort our poor goalscoring record out - get A-lad-din from the lower leagues who is an up and coming star or we'll just end up Tangled in another relegation fight because some of the younger players were just Bambi in headlights last year.

Aha ! The final nail in the coffin... The EFL announce their new approved ball for the coming season and then Gibson tells them that DCFC have been playing with a slightly different ball for years now and that we should be deducted 1000 points, chucked out the league or just declared insolvent. It's all part of the plan I tell you....

Aha ! The final nail in the coffin... The EFL announce their new approved ball for the coming season and then Gibson tells them that DCFC have been playing with a slightly different ball for years now and that we should be deducted 1000 points, chucked out the league or just declared insolvent. It's all part of the plan I tell you....

Normally I'd be starting to get a little bit of anticipation by now and be wondering about when players will report back for training or who we might sign etc now but I'm finding it hard to get too enthusiastic because we have so much hanging over us that it completely undermining the next season. A team that was barely good enough to finish ahead of 3 teams (including one team that had a points deduction) but is now weaker due to loans returning to their own clubs and might get weakened further by departures which we'll see very little if any of the cash for as it will surely just go to service debt. It's hard to get too 'up' for next season.
Whether you rate him or not, Rooney has a really tough job on his hands to make a team that can compete without his hands tied behind his back by behinds the scenes financial stuff. In fairness he seemed pretty blunt about all this needing sorting ASAP so I wonder if he will lose patience and find something else to do rather than risk any further reputation damage by taking a woefully understrength squad through another season. It's not just that we are lacking star quality, we are lacking basic numbers.

It's unfortunate with Morgan Whittaker. He left for a better opportunity and who can blame him for that because it just wasn't working out here for various reasons. He certainly received a load of unnecessary grief from the cesspit of social media but most folk on here and other forums totally understood his reasons for leaving and wished him well.
However, a specific goal celebration for scoring against a team is always going to be interpreted as a dig at all fans of that club though, whether they were supportive of your decision to leave or not. No issue with him celebrating at all, I don't expect him to walk solemnly back the the centre spot shrugging off his team mates but I just felt that the 'chuff you' gesture was a bit unnecessary and he could have shown a bit more of the class that I'd expected of him due to his good off field stuff at Derby. I still broadly wish him the best but leave out the mardy stuff eh ?

It's one of those where you are probably never going to have a solution that ticks all the boxes and keeps everyone happy so it is all a matter of priorities as you see them. When the ball hits the net I just want to celebrate and not wait for technology to make a 'perfect' decision where part of someone's kneecap is offside.
Football (for me) is just too spontaneous a sport to have every goal analysed in minute detail to see if we can find some reason, however marginal, to disallow it. I am fully supportive of goal-line technology because it is an instant decision and doesn't have everyone stood around hands on hips waiting to see if it stands. In the time it takes for a player to turn to the ref to claim that the ball is over the line, the ref already knows whether it was or wasn't so I have no issue with that and consider it a big improvement.
Sure, we've all celebrated goals down the years where you look around after a few seconds of leaping around and then you notice the flag is up and it's gutting but late flags were few and far between and rarely impacted a game. Now it just seems that we have an awkward artificial phase with a significant proportion of goals where we try to find a reason why a goal shouldn't stand and for me it inevitably detracts from the moment that your team score a goal as that doesn't mean anything yet until VAR has given it it's blessing.

Others will feel differently but ultimately I just feel that the spontaneous nature of football is more important than forensic analysis to get a technically correct incredibly marginal result every time.

It's unfortunate with Morgan Whittaker. He left for a better opportunity and who can blame him for that because it just wasn't working out here for various reasons. He certainly received a load of unnecessary grief from the cesspit of social media but most folk on here and other forums totally understood his reasons for leaving and wished him well.
However, a specific goal celebration for scoring against a team is always going to be interpreted as a dig at all fans of that club though, whether they were supportive of your decision to leave or not. No issue with him celebrating at all, I don't expect him to walk solemnly back the the centre spot shrugging off his team mates but I just felt that the 'chuff you' gesture was a bit unnecessary and he could have shown a bit more of the class that I'd expected of him due to his good off field stuff at Derby. I still broadly wish him the best but leave out the mardy stuff eh ?

There are technically much better players in the squad but in a season where survival at all costs was what was required, he never hid and always gave it his all which is not something that you can say about all of them. It was between him and Byrne for me and would have been happy enough with either. Bielik's brief contribution was vital to our season and I totally understand people voting for him but I just don't feel that you can give the award to someone who played so few games.

It's unfortunate with Morgan Whittaker. He left for a better opportunity and who can blame him for that because it just wasn't working out here for various reasons. He certainly received a load of unnecessary grief from the cesspit of social media but most folk on here and other forums totally understood his reasons for leaving and wished him well.
However, a specific goal celebration for scoring against a team is always going to be interpreted as a dig at all fans of that club though, whether they were supportive of your decision to leave or not. No issue with him celebrating at all, I don't expect him to walk solemnly back the the centre spot shrugging off his team mates but I just felt that the 'chuff you' gesture was a bit unnecessary and he could have shown a bit more of the class that I'd expected of him due to his good off field stuff at Derby. I still broadly wish him the best but leave out the mardy stuff eh ?

There are technically much better players in the squad but in a season where survival at all costs was what was required, he never hid and always gave it his all which is not something that you can say about all of them. It was between him and Byrne for me and would have been happy enough with either. Bielik's brief contribution was vital to our season and I totally understand people voting for him but I just don't feel that you can give the award to someone who played so few games.

I'm not a big watcher of the womens game to be honest but I have watched a fair few England matches and a few club games. It seems to me that there are differences to the male game, some of which are largely matter of physics. For example a 6ft 4in male goalkeeper is really not that unusual. That changes the dynamic a bit as there is a better chance of lobbing a female keeper who is typically several inches shorter. It's not just the difference in head height either, it is the proportional extra arm length that comes with being taller too, meaning that with a womens keeper there is typically a lot less keeper to beat so it seems to me that from games I've watched that you see greater success rates of more speculative ranged shooting.
Anyway, differences in the game aside, I'm not sure that I really understand the resistance to female pundits and commentators. We have had some male pundits/commentators with bags of footballing career experience who simply lack the skills to articulate their point. Equally, some of the best known and loved male commentators down the years like John Motson were not footballers but he has years of experience watching and commentating on the game at varying levels. It's not their 'maleness' that makes them good or bad.
One key thing for me is that a commentator role is slightly different to pundit in that it is partly just describing what you see and partly just capturing the essence and drama of the moment and putting on a performance. A pundit however will be put on the spot to provide an analytical assessment of why a team just threw away a 2 goal lead in a game that seemed won. That's why I guess you see a far higher proportion of ex players as pundits because they've been there and done that and can provide insight into how a game can swing and turn on a moment.
I've never played football at anything other than the most basic of amateur levels but I can remember frustration as a keeper as the defence in front of me started creeping back deeper and deeper to defend a lead and suddenly I'm having to gather crosses through a crowd of players or anticipate a shot through a forest of legs. I'm not sure that I would have even that limited insight if I hadn't played at all but in my own head it does give me at least some level of insight. Quite why then that people should think Alex Scott who played 140 games for her country is not qualified or up to the task is a little baffling. If you just don't think she's any good then that's different and all fine, we all have an opinion on football related matters and it's a game that creates strong opinions.

I'm not a big watcher of the womens game to be honest but I have watched a fair few England matches and a few club games. It seems to me that there are differences to the male game, some of which are largely matter of physics. For example a 6ft 4in male goalkeeper is really not that unusual. That changes the dynamic a bit as there is a better chance of lobbing a female keeper who is typically several inches shorter. It's not just the difference in head height either, it is the proportional extra arm length that comes with being taller too, meaning that with a womens keeper there is typically a lot less keeper to beat so it seems to me that from games I've watched that you see greater success rates of more speculative ranged shooting.
Anyway, differences in the game aside, I'm not sure that I really understand the resistance to female pundits and commentators. We have had some male pundits/commentators with bags of footballing career experience who simply lack the skills to articulate their point. Equally, some of the best known and loved male commentators down the years like John Motson were not footballers but he has years of experience watching and commentating on the game at varying levels. It's not their 'maleness' that makes them good or bad.
One key thing for me is that a commentator role is slightly different to pundit in that it is partly just describing what you see and partly just capturing the essence and drama of the moment and putting on a performance. A pundit however will be put on the spot to provide an analytical assessment of why a team just threw away a 2 goal lead in a game that seemed won. That's why I guess you see a far higher proportion of ex players as pundits because they've been there and done that and can provide insight into how a game can swing and turn on a moment.
I've never played football at anything other than the most basic of amateur levels but I can remember frustration as a keeper as the defence in front of me started creeping back deeper and deeper to defend a lead and suddenly I'm having to gather crosses through a crowd of players or anticipate a shot through a forest of legs. I'm not sure that I would have even that limited insight if I hadn't played at all but in my own head it does give me at least some level of insight. Quite why then that people should think Alex Scott who played 140 games for her country is not qualified or up to the task is a little baffling. If you just don't think she's any good then that's different and all fine, we all have an opinion on football related matters and it's a game that creates strong opinions.

It wasn't necessary really but apparently there were some very specific areas of wear, particularly at the back post where opposition strikers have been standing around unchallenged all year.