kevinhectoring

The RD post Lincoln interview was crazy stuff. It was all about how the players are letting us down. Any reference to the last minute calamity vs Wycombe (there have been a few) is a shot at Ward. Managers can play it a few ways - harp on about the mistake, say nothing, or say hey we all make mistakes. Subbing Ward was itself harsh criticism but no effort was made to take the sting out of that. The Wigan pre match was on similar lines. Warne - despite our current run - continues to be criticised for not achieving consistency and for not getting the best football out of his squad. I think we are seeing him in the press turn on the players (‘maybe this is all they’ve got’). Maybe it’s a clever motivational approach that will work. Or maybe it’s merely deflecting attention from Warne. But there’s a danger that if he attacks the team and the team does not respect his coaching, then he just demotivates them Yes I’d like to see 3 CBs, Fozzie, Cashin and Nelson. Problem is sales in jan might make that difficult, if Bird and Cashin go. In any case we now lose a lot if Fozzie is not at CB. If he does play at CB now, I think he’ll be able to do the same next season whichever league we’re in

Your memory is doubly faulty. I’ve massive respect for Collins’ work rate so most of my posts about him have been positive. As well as commending his energy, I’ve said that his ball striking (when he gets it right) is excellent. Except with his head So why should he be dropped?: well, a forward press by one player is not effective, his ability to link with others is limited (not least because his first and his last touch is frequently poor), and his ability to find himself in the right place in the box - that crucial weapon in the striker’s armoury - is uncommonly absent. Also important to note that when we find ourselves leading, Collins can be an excellent game-closing sub in the second half. On account of his work rate I don’t think we’ll overtake the Portsmouths and the Boltons without playing good football. So I think Warne needs to fashion out of this squad a unit that does that. In my book Collins isn’t part of that starting line up

Agree with this. Warne has told the fans a couple of times : I’d have delivered 8 wins on the trot if Ward hadn’t had a moment of madness v Wycombe. Blaming players; and we will see a lot of that if we stutter in the race to the automatics. The fact is, Ward carries the ball as well as anyone, he links well with others and his defensive frailties are no secret. So use him higher up the field. Fozzie on the other hand is our most experienced player and Warne is playing him in a role that requires far more athleticism than even he can now muster. To get the best out of him we want him at CB - to play him elsewhere or to drop him is a massive waste

We’ve got plenty who can score goals and he’s not a better goal scorer than say NMl or Barks. I think playing better football is the best route to promotion and JC for all his effort and running does not promote fluent football

Wildsmith Nelson Fozzie Cashin Bird Tommo Ward Fornah Barks NML JJ

There was a big misunderstanding here. I spoke to a voting councillor after last night’s game. They thought they were awarding him the freedom of Derbion

You’re right that bird should be playing where Hourihane is. And of course Hourihane can on the odd occasion score fine goals like that but it’s not what we want. He’s now like Rooney in his post cake phase and we’re a stronger with him on the bench.

But we didn’t play crap. Was all a bit odd really. Warne’s RD interview was certainly weird. We played pretty well overall imo but PW was very downbeat. I wonder what games are being played with the players’ minds. We had some fabulous passages of play on the left in the top third. (I feel the criticism of Barkhuizen is unfair.) But mainly we again lacked connectivity between the players. In possession players find themselves in static, isolated positions - Fozzie especially - they have no support and they end up with a back pass or with a speculative ball forward which usually doesn’t work. Every once in a while we find an overload but most of the time it’s the opposite. We had several throws in the first half when embarrassingly the thrower had zero options. Partly it’s fitness. But more it’s the positions players hold when we’re in possession which leaves us too spread. I think it’s maybe driven by an obsession with width and wanting always to keep the long ball an option . I fear the lack of a cohesive midfield might be our downfall

The keeper is about 7 foot. A schoolboy would know he has to pull it back

I thought Warne intimated that those funds would be used largely to cover operating losses

Presumably the Italians all call him out for cheating, running that fast in Serie A

A little hard on the players

I didn’t think you were the one

Where does it come from, this notion that the ref needs to be 100% sure before awarding a penalty ? Seriously, is there any written basis for it anywhere in the rules of the game, or in guidance to refs? Does a different rule apply to other decisions, and if so why? And are you certain you’re not living in a Matrix ?

The driver for women refs should be discipline not diversity. Many of these players have grown up in environments where their primary relationships with males (mates, brothers, fathers) are all based in machismo and aggression. Hence ‘f-ck off ref’ every time the whistle goes. The authority figures in their lives however are often mothers and particularly grandmothers, and these are the relationships where they show most respect. So it doesn’t need rocket science to predict that players will show more respect to women refs than to male ones. The problem is the thinking needs to be followed through. Women refs should be less than 5’4”, at least 20 stone, they should be between 50 and 60 years of age and required to officiate in a large hat suitable for a wedding. Then we’d see quite a dramatic improvement in the game’s culture

I wish people would stop posting these portentous sunset pictures. It just begs the unsettling, metaphorical question : what is the sun setting on ? It’s surely too majestic simply to mark the end of a winning run. Not setting on Max Bird’s career as a Ram I hope - tho he doesn’t look especially happy in a Derby shirt these days. Maybe it’s setting on a period of mediocre, inconsistent form and the new dawn will herald in JJ as our talismanic striker and young Tommo as a bedlington terrier-like ratter in midfield, and together they will spearhead an assault on the automatics and beyond. Or perhaps it signals the demise of the testicled referee? It’s all very unsettling

I fear age is finally catching up with Fozzie and his days as a utility player are fading. I would have him at CB.

Why? We were awful today until we changed it, then we got better

He’s picking the wrong team for a start. Barkhuizen and Fornah both need to start. Then he needs to set us up so we can actually play the ball through the midfield instead of putting everything long or wide. Hourihane sitting that deep makes no sense. Aerial crosses to Cashin, Nelson, whomever, at set pieces are fine. Crosses in open play are - with our front line - largely a waste of time. Amazing to hear our manager describe today’s result at home against Wycombe as ‘a well-earned point’.

2 thoughts - with this squad we should be better: Nelson, Ward, Bird , Cashin, Fornah, NML, Barkhuizen, Wilson, Wildsmith, Fozzie - you don’t win the play offs if you don’t manage games well

We were much better in the second half. Much better with fornah and Barkhuizen, and Fozzy had a really really poor game (has age caught up with him finally)?). And Hourihane is a passenger and increasingly error prone under pressure. As you suggest the problem in the 2nd half was the foolish notion that crossing well into an empty box is the way forward

Sadly the Jan window is more likely to see the departure of Bird and Cashin and the reinvestment of the funds in ultra runners. If there were points for pretty kicking of a football whilst under no pressure, Hourihane’s place would be assured. For my money he’s not a starter and hasn’t been all season. If there’s an option to drop him in January I’d exercise it

Biggest error was the Collins yellow. Apart from that she was well above average. As for the pen a clever defender would have realised that with jw in goal best option after the schoolboy error was to marshall the rebound We made our own bed

Better than the first best players not starting Manager not getting the best out of the squad

Barkhuizen Should start