Ambitious

Mendez-Laing potentially done for the season too? outstanding.

I struggle to remember a time I’ve been so incensed by a performance or a result. I feel absolutely conned for finally allowing myself to believe in Derby County in their current form. I felt physically sick at the performance from the first 30 minutes that I just wanted to remove myself from watching the game. It was a disgusting display. A horrible game. I watched the Mansfield and Colchester game before hand and both of them were MILES ahead of what I had to endure in that first half. Warne fell upon a system with Gayle upfront and it all started to click, when you see the performance today it’s apparent that he knows what he wants to achieve but doesn’t have a plan on how to achieve it. Gayle was an easy solution at the time, I’m sure all things being well that he wouldn’t have signed him. Today really played out all my worst fears - I’m just glad that I was able to monetise us not winning promotion whilst we sat in our best situation. I have absolutely no faith in this team and less so in the manager to find a solution. I like him as a person, I even find his management and coaching not without merit, but why waste the best part of £10m on keeping an category one academy when you have such a short-sighted approach in the first team. It makes no sense to me. If we fail this season, there is absolutely not way he can remain as the Derby County manager for the next rebuild. Get him gone.

10 years, wow. One of my favourite games and one where you just saw a very highly capable team absolutely purring and putting in one of the best performances I’ve seen live.

I've also seen they're missing almost every full-back at the club too, so will be down to playing back-up centre backs out of position. You would have to think that Warne & Co are aware, because this could be a perfect platform for CBT to come into the team and have an impact and a platform for the following 6 games. NML will be a problem for Northampton on Saturday - if you want a 'first goalscorer' bet.

How do you force limited companies to share revenues with other limited companies? It's another voice at the table, ultimately a powerful one, but there is going to be a long-drawn out war before anything is decided. For what it's worth, I can see why we would want to upgrade the goalkeeper position ahead of next season. Wildsmith has been good for us, often very good, but Vickers is clearly the number two in mind and had the number one shirt prior to his injury. It's not uncommon for teams, especially after promotion to League One, to upgrade their goalkeeper. Ipswich did it last season, where Christian Walton was outstanding - 23 clean sheets, 35 goals conceded in 46 games.... he hasn't started a league game this season. Wildsmith was beyond excellent in our biggest game of the season, he deserves all the credit, but he's not been faultless this season.

'hear the fallout' - doesn't actually mean hear about a fall out.. it just means hear about the points raised/discussed from the fan forum lol.

I understand that we were in for him at the same time as Bolton, in fairness it sounds like we were in the right ball park for players in January but couldn’t get them over the line. Lang has been a difference-maker for Portsmouth too.

Yeah, Rowett will make sure Birmingham are safe. All said and done, he's a good manager - at the very least he can organise a side and make them compete as a unit. I'd like to see Stoke relegated anyway (providing we're promoted).

I'd say a coincidence, but I'm just playing devil's advocate. As technically good of a player as Bird is, I do wonder how much he moves the needle (so to speak) in terms of our performances. In terms of impact on our team, performances, etc. If you offered me Bird to play in all seven remaining games, but it meant we had Adams in three of the remaining seven OR you said Bird wouldn't play in any of the remaining seven games but we could ensure the latter available then I'd 100% take the second option as I imagine 90% of supporters would.

Ahead of his move to Bristol City, I thought it would be interesting to note that Bird has not played in 10 games this season and we’ve won 8, drawn 1 (Portsmouth) and lost 1 (Bolton).

Northampton are pretty poor form: three losses in their last four. The only point was against a dire Cambridge side who are currently on the worst run of form in the league. A win will see us climb to seven points ahead of third, albeit artificially with a game in hand, but the points on the board can induce panic in others. Every win is going to be significant but this could be huge for the mindset of others.

With the injuries, we really could do with him stepping up now. Leyton Orient, Blackpool, Wycombe, Carlisle & Cambridge are all teams he's had goals/assists against this season, so we could do with him reproducing that going forward.

I’d be embarrassed about being a Bolton fan coming on here talking about how they battered us: xG was 0.46 to 0.49. They were unlucky not to get a draw, but sideways passing between the centre backs, occasionally rotating into midfield and back to the centre backs, isn’t exactly the ‘battering’ you think it might be.

I was on cloud 9 after the win yesterday, it was really gritty and everyone played their part. I really feared the worse when Gayle went off as I don’t think Waghorn is looking as sharp as he did earlier in the season and understood why Warne went with Smith, although it was an eyebrow raiser at the time, it sent a message to graft and not lose the game. It’s something that we will need to manage going forward, assuming Gayle is out for a while (or for the season) we are going to need find a solution for the remaining part of the season. In terms of quality football, it was a typical League One game. Bolton played the ball between both centre backs and Sheehan (who Warne was absolutely right to make life difficult) but they were unwilling to really throw men forward and honestly I think they froze in the big moment. Up against a team who they needed to beat, who had no striker on the pitch, they couldn’t find a solution. Nelson, Forsyth and Cashin gave them nothing. Aside from the header in the first half, they really didn’t create anything clear cut either. A few potshots, but the xG tells the story that neither team really could’ve complained with a draw or losing. A proper job, Warne deserves a lot of credit for navigating the team through it after Gayle went down. We do need to find a solution for the remaining games, if Gayle is done, Waghorn hopefully can start against Northampton and do a job. Collins will hopefully be back for the run in against Wycombe, Leyton Orient, Cambridge & Carlisle. I do worry about going in undercooked against Blackpool and Portsmouth, though.

They will look to starve us of the ball, for sure, but I do wonder how high their back line will be - I’d suspect a mid-low block and a lot of emphasis on Sheehan (their DM) to play through the lines and control the space between midfield and defence. I’d like to see us get a man on him whenever they have the ball, make them play longer passes. Of course that all changes if they play with a high line but I just don’t see them doing that with Barkhuizen, NML and Gayle upfront. A huge risk that they don’t need to really take.

I read somewhere Couhig is looking for an exit strategy from Wycombe, this is a method whereby he adds a fairly significant asset to the book value of the club he's looking to sell and also removes a fairly significant asset away from a much bigger club within a similar location who could attract potential buyers. It's a no brainer for someone who is strictly business driven. This is a huge blow for Reading, though, who will undoubtedly see their academy picked apart and dismantled soon. I'd be surprised if they're able to avoid liquidation and don't have to start again. They don't see 160 years of trading IMO.

At their very best, I would have Bolton as aesthetically the best team in the league but they do have a soft underbelly which has shown itself constantly this season. I'm intrigued to what the messaging to the players is going to be from our management staff - do we take confidence from the last three games and go toe-to-toe as we've hit our stride OR does Warne ensure we remain solid, robust and look to hit them on the break? Both approaches have merit, but feel that Bolton naturally don't like being on the back foot and so I would be very strong in that we continue to play how we have been the last few games. I do suspect that we will see Forsyth come in for Sibley and the 3-4-3 will resemble a 4-4-2 for the most part, though. I honestly don't care how it happens on Saturday, just win.

I love centre midfield players that have the ability to be ‘there’ and he has it in an abundance. It’s a great trait and transferable at every level. It’s a different kettle of fish to Gorgeous George who had limitless ability and could do things I’ve never seen a Derby player do, but at the level we are at Ebou is a great alternate. Fantastic from the recruitment staff who deserve their credit on this one.

Agreed, I do feel that Warne has fell on to something as Ward, Sibley and Gayle were afterthoughts and yet are driving the new dynamic of the team. Not having Collins stood on the last man, creating an easy out ball has really helped. I do wonder what happens when he returns, because I do worry that we will revert back to type. Players are having to think a bit more and have more patience in their build up play and it’s helping drive standards. Collins, as good as he’s been, allows players to take the easy way out of situations.

I don’t want to get ahead of myself or allow myself to be excited, but.. I feel like something has finally clicked. Best performance we’ve ever had under Warne, in my opinion. We’ve fell on to a workable system, the main reason was the recruitment staff doing their job and finding a gem in Ebou Adams and very recently I think it’s not in any small part to having to change the dynamic with Gayle upfront. I believe these two signings in particular have changed our fortunes, similarly to how Nyambe did earlier in the season. Sibley and Ward are excelling. The defence are well balanced, the cohesion between the midfield and defence is significantly better, gaps aren’t as freely available for the other team and we are now working well going forward. I think we actually look like a team now, which for the majority of the season has definitely been missing something. The last two performances, the dynamic of the team, I’m finally hopeful.

I have no doubts that Clowes and Warne are aligned and enjoy a good working relationship, but based on how frustrated the fans are with Warne on the whole that I do wonder whether there would be a significant commercial drop-off from fans IF we are to go into League One next year with Warne as manager. As soon as it's confirmed we aren't going up, I already know the reaction on here is going to be heavy on the Warne out content. The thought of going into another League One season with Warne in the dugout does very little for me, especially ahead of such a significant rebuild. I would suggest it's just common sense to get someone in with a fresh mindset, personally. This season, despite the relative success, hasn't been enjoyable for a lot of people. The atmosphere around the club just isn't great.

Just looking at how badly Rotherham are getting on, does anyone think that if we do stay down that it would be inconceivable that Warne head backs there? Clearly well liked by their owner and I just don't think his relationship survives anything other than promotion here. I could see it happening - may get us out of pay-off too!

Watching the game last night, Barnsley looked decent and Bolton completely terrified for the first 45 minutes. Bolton then came out swinging and were phenomenal in the second half - a performance reminiscent of Ipswich last season where they were able to take over the game. Ultimately, you can see why both teams are roughly in line with ourselves, who are largely uninspiring, so I genuinely think it’s very much up in the air. Bolton are definitely the best team out of us three, so my money would be on them, but soft underbelly based on last night’s viewing.

I would say from watching the games, I don't think the standard is any worse or better than last season. Ipswich were clearly a very good last season. who had a month where they couldn't stop shooting themselves in the foot, but Sheff Wed weren't a great team and managed to get near on 100 pts. Ultimately, though, I think the top end is weaker this season than last and that's compounded by ourselves being in the top echelons of the division despite being, at our very best, extremely underwhelming. I find it hard to believe based on what I've seen of us this season that we will finish in the top two - the eye test just doesn't add up. Bolton and Portsmouth are the best two teams in the league and you would anticipate they're the ones who finish in the top two.

It was actually a complete performance today - the back three have been coming along nicely as Bradley is getting more and more comfortable. The wing backs made a big difference today. Ward & Sibley were the best two players for us today. I don't know how much was down to Vale just being completely out of sorts and low on confidence. I guess we will find out over the next couple of months, but would love to see more of this performance on a weekly basis.