Ramifications

Warne's spot on though - he does need to do better himself. Smith was excellent as CDM against Shrewsbury and  provided protection for the back four from that position for the first time since Bird's absence. Rooney did fine at right back too - soft penalty aside. His quick interplay was excellent, particularly in the first half.
But last night Warne inexplicably reverted to Smith at right back and put White back in to central midfield. White's clearly got ability and looks like he's going to be a good player but he just doesn't have the same defensive attributes that Smith and Bird have - as demonstrated by the completely infective non-challenge he made in the build up to their first goal, which changed the course of the game. We'd been pretty dominant until that point. Wouldn't particularly blame White for the penalty but like Rooney he was naive enough to give the ref a decision to make. 
Big fan of Warne overall but think he got his team selection wrong last night considering the strength of the opposition. Was surprised when I saw the line up...
 
 

Can't agree with this. Both against Shrewsbury and Plymouth we played really well first half. We went off after 45 in both games having played really very well. What we have failed to do in both matches is properly adjust to the opposition's change of tactic and tempo early in the second half. That might be partly a player fall-off issue, perhaps some tiredness in the legs, but I think we are being too slow in re-grouping, refreshing, changing our team up to negate the opposition's revised tactics.  We can get top 6. Still think we will. But the coaches need to start earning their bucks. Handing out coffee mugs and instructing them to run faster/harder is not sufficient.

Think the ref did get it wrong. But don’t think Warne should be deflecting attention from his inability to work out how to find the right balance between experience and youth. Part of his problem is he’s too close to some of the senior players 
 
Would like to have seen him make changes at half time so as to sit on the 1-0 lead, whilst threatening a goal on the break. We’re good enough to control possession against that lot if he puts the right bodies in the right places. 
 
First half against Shrews is the only time in the last ?6 games where we have seen the potential of this squad. That’s down to the manager 

All teams have a bunch of supporters who blame the ref at every available opportunity because it's the easiest way out. 
We remember the decisions that went against us and forget the ones that went in our favour. It called loss aversion and it a highly researched well understood element of psychology. 
Their penalty was iffy, but I needed to see it 4 or 5 times to think he may not have caught him and even now I'm not sure.
We lost fair and square. 

Watched the game two hours behind, and have just read through the thread. My thoughts for anyone that cares.
We played really well first half. Deserved to go in one up.
There manager changed it up, twice, early in the second half, and the momentum swing was noticeable in terms of attacking intent. Warne did nothing, when a couple of substitutions would of clearly helped. We were 1 nil up and just about holding on and he was warming up Dobbin for a like for like swap! We needed more in midfield. Thompson or Springett should have come on for one of our forward players. Or he could have moved Smith into midfield and asked NML or Knight to play RB. As good as NML was first half he might as well not been on the pitch second half.
White is getting pelters, which he doesn’t really deserve. He played ok. He’s a young lad learning his trade not bloody Pirlo. He was unlucky how the ball ran for him on the first goal, and it is difficult to blame him for the penalty, although on balance I can see why it was given. As much as virtually everyone is having a go at the ref, he had a split second to decide, and for what worth I think there was some contact. We would have been screaming for a penalty in the exact same circumstances I am sure. The TV EXPERTS were broadly of the view that contact was made, and I doubt VAR would have overturned it.
The side were poor second half, compounded by baffling substitutions by Warne which didn’t ever look like improving the situation. I fully accept though he is hindered by not having any great forward replacement options - hence when we were one up he should have been shoring the midfield up to help our defence.
Some saying Matete was a horrible player. Perhaps, but we could have done with a Matete in this match.
Overall, they did deserve to win on balance. Not disappointed as I expected to lose tonight. Hopefully the Wendies and Plymouth go up as we wouldn’t want to play either in the playoffs.
We should still get into the playoffs, especially with Bird back and hopefully a fit Chester too.
We can beat any of the other 3 teams in the top 6 in the playoffs. Time though for Warne to start showing he is the League 1 Guardiola, and to start making quicker and more effective and INFLUENTIAL substitution decisions during tight, important matches.

Collins is the worst player in recent times to pull on a Derby shirt. Offers absolutely nothing. 

I'd look at Thompson in midfield, will need legs (however little)

Last seasons team which would have stayed up without the points deduction  , versus the team thrown together quickly this season that are challenging for promotion . Are Lawrence , Allsopp , Ebosele and Co. better that Didzy , Mendez Laing  and Wildsmith etc..

Last September I was playing football with my grandson,and hurt my knee. I didn’t bother the doctors because the knee gradually returned to near normal, but still quite painful at times. It was such a time I winced, and my wife “advised “ me to see the doctor,which I duly attended, knee examination, all OK, I asked for a PSA (having seen the information at Pride Park) check which he duly gave me the paperwork. The test came back 7.1, I’m over 70 so 6.5 is regarded as normal. I was dispatched to the Derby Royal, had the anal examination, ( for the first time) small lump found. In five weeks I’ve had a MRI scan,my prostrate biopsy done, and a QT scan,and I’m now on a hormone treatment plan. It appears they’ve caught the tumour early, and the prognosis is good, they say it will be eliminated. You do lose your dignity at times, but not going through that door and having the exam you could lose a lot more.
A shout out to the doctors and nurses at the Derby Royal, they have been absolutely terrific, informative, and very understanding, and caring.
 

Should be in stock at the end of the season, just in time for the summer holidays. 

there’s a lady that’s sure 

Sorry but that’s just wrong. Wycombe are our main challengers for a play off place not Shrewsbury. Are you feeling delighted then coming out of the ground because I’m not. Saying you would snatch your hand off for a point at home against a team lower than you is bizarre. That isn’t pure arrogance, it’s common sense. 

Well off to the match soon...a 6 mile hike as the buses are all over the place.
COYRs 

Snatch your hands off for a draw at home to Shrewsbury? I think your ambition might be called in to question a little here! 

Should be in stock at the end of the season, just in time for the summer holidays. 

Derby 2 Cheltenham 0
Frgs McGoldrick 

Derby 2 Cheltenham 0
Frgs McGoldrick 

I have written a new Derby County song (with a latin /  pop vibe ) released soon on all digital platforms. Hope you enjoy. 
 
 

Definitely since 1981? That makes him pretty old for a police officer. 

I don't think anything will come of it, but, we'll see. I just filled in British Transport Police's online complaint form:
I went to catch the train from Barnsley Interchange, following the Barnsley-Derby County football match, intending to travel back to Sheffield.
I wasn't allowed through the doors of the station, for a while, in the first instance. I posed the question: what? You won't permit me onto the platform, even though I've got a valid travel document? The answer was no - you're going to have to wait. Eventually, I was allowed onto the platform, just as the train was coming in.
As I expected, I was squashed up against the train door. I ended up standing next to two Derby fans, a husband and wife, with some other Derby fans in front of me, and then two members of the British Transport Police against the other set of train doors.
The British Transport Police officers let a few more fans on, and, at that point, it was hardly possible to move. Still, they continued to admit passengers, to the point where the volume of people meant that I ended up being pushed into the lady Derby supporter. I think this was preceded by one of the British Transport Police officers pushing someone, because they wouldn't (or could not, due to the lack of space), move down the train.
Understandably, her husband complained loudly, about the fact that his wife had almost been pushed over. Fortunately, she was unhurt.
My concerns arise from the way that the British Transport Police officers dealt with her husband. To contextualise - I am a Barnsley fan, and I was surrounded by supporters of the other club. The Derby supporters were loud, singing their songs, and many of them had alcohol. Their team had just lost, too. In my experience, a combination of those last two things can be a recipe for threats, aggression, and general unpleasantness. At no point, though, did I feel intimidated by any Derby fans - I was happily talking to a couple of them. For a busy train, after a football match, it was as peaceable as it gets. 
The fan whose wife had been pushed over was addressing, from memory, British Transport Police officer Smith, who normally works out of Leeds, and has been with the police, since 1981. If that doesn't identify him, I took some surreptitious video footage with my smartphone, which you can have, if you like.
It isn't verbatim, but parts of the conversation went like this, with 'F', being the fan whose wife had been pushed over, and 'O', being officer Smith.
F - why did you push my wife over?
O - I can push whoever I want. They (I think 'they', meant the yellow-jacketed stewards, who had been outside the train station) cannot, but we can, and we will, if we have to.
F - what? You're not even going to apologise?
O - carry on with your mouth, and I'll arrest you, when we pull into Sheffield.
I also had a conversation with officer Smith, just as we were arriving into Sheffield. He said he would have had no problem 'pulling me by [my] scarf', through the solid mass of humanity in front of me, and into the passageway which connects the carriages, if he had been required to do so. When I asked what the consequences for my health would have been from such a decision, he was unconcerned. There was not much in the way of a response to my comment that, if you treat people like animals, you shouldn't be surprised if they behave liked animals.
Officer Smith, when prompted by a different Derby fan, also expounded upon the subject of police intelligence, and how the police decide whether someone 'can be a risk.' Essentially, this came down to attire. Two of the brands mentioned by officer Smith, were Stone Island, and CP. I wanted to ask officer Smith whether this was the same mentality which sees Black citizens targeted, as a consequence of police intelligence, but, as he had already told me 'not to get excited', I thought better of it. 
Officer Smith confirmed that he had been filming, so you may wish to view said footage.
My own comments are as follows: it was only this morning when I read that one per cent of police officers, are under investigation, for alleged criminal activity of their own. It isn't even two years since Sarah Everard was murdered by a serving police officer. In more recent times, there's been David Carrick, too. Now, obviously - obviously - I am not comparing a rude police officer, whose every action I disagreed with, with the murderer of Sarah Everard.
But, if public confidence in the police is as low as it's ever been because of the above events, my experience on the train is not going to restore that confidence. Nobody I saw deserved to be treated with the rudeness, and contempt, which officer Smith displayed. An apology, and an acceptance that he'd made the wrong decision, in letting more people onto the train, would have gone a long way to defusing the situation. I make mistakes in my job, and, when I do, I apologise. And, this man has been one of the public faces of your organisation, for more than four decades!
I'm appalled. I've never done a thing wrong in my life, and yet one of the upholders of the law, thinks there is nothing wrong with telling me he'd pull me around by my scarf, through a line of other human beings, on an already jampacked train. I've been all over the country with Barnsley, and only the police in South Yorkshire, behave in such a high-handed, intimidating way. 
Thanks for your attention.

I no longer like Sibley at left back. I do however think he should be in the team. Who gives up a place for him, I couldn't say. Probably Barkhuizen but I wouldn't like to see Sibley quite as wide, more an old inside left position. 
 

I no longer like Sibley at left back. I do however think he should be in the team. Who gives up a place for him, I couldn't say. Probably Barkhuizen but I wouldn't like to see Sibley quite as wide, more an old inside left position. 
 

Finally back home ,had my tea and got beers on the go, so here we go:
Injustice and capitulation are bitter pills to take.  We were looking forward to a great day out, but the dark clouds floated in while queuing for a pie and a pint inside the ground. Only there wasn't a queue, just a mass of bodies all trying to push everybody out of their way. I challenged one guy who kept on pushing his shoulder in front of mine, because he started a good 5 minutes after I had already got there. To which he said he was with a guy in front of us. Not when my and my son and daughter arrived, but I backed off and said I wasn't going to get into a fight over it. He then tried to play the race card, saying I had challenged him because he was black! I've been there, and it doesn't work. So my daughter played the health card - she has an over-active pancreas and was heading for a hypo. He still stood his ground. so I played the health card with a guy in front of us who had spent the last 15 minutes taking selfies of the crowd behind us, while belting my daughter in her face with his elbow. He graciously let us through, so I said "thanks for nothing" to the wannabe racist who still hadn't been served. Hah!!!
And to the match: I said to my son after about 5 minutes that Barnsley were looking very physical, so we'll get nothing out of this ref". How on earth would I know something like that? We were a bit shaky at the start, handing Barnsley a coupe of easy openings all by ourselves, but we gradually began to get ourselves into the match, with a couple of good chances. Then the first goal. Oh dear. Our defending was poor,  but the scorer was surely offside. The lino kept his flag down because they only seem to make a decision when the ref, from 20 - 30 yards away tell them what they were supposed to have seen. WE surrounded him, and the ref came over, followed by the lino signalling offside, to great cheers from the Rams fans, only for Barnsley players to start yelling at him, and then he flagged for a goal. How can he change his mind 3 times? And how can the ref over-rule him from 20 yards behind the play? Apparently it all hinged on whether or not the Barnsley player touched the ball on its way in. "No, I never touched it ref, honest". "No, really honest, ref" said the striker. So the ref said it must have been ok, only for the offside guy to be credited with the goal. So it was offside.
That rattled us, and our passing started to fall away, with the second goal only being a matter of time, But in between the goals were some murderous fouls by Barnsely, coupled with some less blatant shoves and pushes, with all of them going totally unpunished. One breakaway Knight was battered such that he was thrown about 3 or 4 feet up in the air. The t***, oh er sorry, the ref motioned the advantage, but the attack fizzled out, but not before Knight was clattered a second time. Nothing given, neither was play brought back because the advantage didn't work out, neither were either of the assaults given yellow cards. And so it went on. Sadly we let these events go to our heads. Maybe it was because for the second time in three matches there was an offside goal against us. 
And we let the match official's performance get to us. No surprise that they were awful, but we should be used to it by now, as its been going on for 4 years now. So when two Barnsley players took Wildsmith out after a corner, the ref gave them a throw, with nothing done about the goalkeeper getting mugged. Absolutely shameful. There were tons more examples, with many already mentioned in this thread.
What did make a difference was the way Barnsley challenged for everything, and pressed us constantly. They can play a bit, so why do they need to be so dirty? In the end our downfall was letting the thugging get to us, and the licence to do so being given them by the ref. We have toughened up considerably this season, but we were well short of what was required. 
Some of it was the pressing by Barnsley, but much of it was the fact that we kept playing a long ball game. We played them off the park at home only a few weeks ago, so why didn't we get the ball down and play it again? Warne was critical about our decision making, and that we weren't quick enough in our play, but it looked very much like Warne's preference of "get it out wide, or play it into the channels". And until Dobbin and Skillet came on, it was all we did. I thought we had learned our lesson about playing teams at their own game against Wycombe because we aren't Wycombe. Well My Warne, we aren't Barnsley either. We are Derby, so we ought to be playing like Derby, not Barnsley or Wycombe.
It's only one match, and we are till in touch with the top two, just about, but we have had three "only one match" events now, and that is quite enough. WE have thrown away a chance to close the gap on 2nd place, but we are no further away from it than we were at the start of play. Realistically we are going for the play-offs, which could quite conceivably be against Wycombe or Barnsley. If so, I hope a ref turns up, otherwise we are definitely screwed.
Come on Derby - we can do this!

Didn't see any of that today.