Relax, we're in a good place!

[TF Ram]

I think we are showing promising signs thus far. I don't see this team as it is having enough to get promoted. But next season with some quality additions and the youngsters having more experience I think we can really have a shot at it. 

The future is looking good.

[Millenniumram]

13 minutes ago, angieram said:

It is partly down to bad luck (chance) but also to confidence and maybe a little bit of expectation. It seems ever to have been the way with Derby! 

That's why last season was such a refreshing change when we were often getting better results than expected. I can only put that down to the Lampard effect and the players wanting to do well for him.

Yeah I must admit we’ve had some bad luck with some good goalkeeping saves etc... although I think you’d struggle to argue any of the results so far have been particulary unfair. The fact we’ve had a poor run of results is down to mistakes to me at both ends of the pitch, giving the ball away poorly in our half and not finishing the chances we get. Luckily, those two things are probably easier to fix than if we weren’t able to control games- which we have been doing, or at least showing signs of anyway.

Id argue the XG being skewed last year can be attributed In the main towards Lampard tactics focusing on individuals rather than the team. It meant we didn’t create a great deal of clear cut chances, but because we had individuals like Wilson, we scored more goals than you’d expect.

[Inverurie Ram]

14 hours ago, NottsRam77 said:

Madness 

Yep brilliant again in Montrose last night. Some snappy dressers in the crowd. Get your walking sticks up in the air!

Nothing in You Tube yet from last night, but here they are back in 2015 enjoying themselves in Montrose.

 

[Anag Ram]

I think we have the personnel for a good defence but they are still learning how to play together.

Up front, I think we have been disappointing because in essence we have the same players yet they have not gelled and don’t seem to have a clear plan on how to create chances.

We should congratulate Cocu on his bravery to play the youngsters. Those who are moaning should see the bigger picture. Lowe, Buchanan and Knight are our future. 

It’s up to the senior players to up their games and to take responsibility in their roles, dominating the opposition in their area of the field.

We are at about 60% at the moment. I worry about our goal scoring options but otherwise think we’ll be  okay when three or four find their form.

[Sexydadbod]

1 hour ago, MackworthRamIsGod said:

Unfortunately that is the price of putting all your eggs in the Rooney basket.

We clearly went all out to get Rooney and that clearly took our focus away from getting what we so desperately needed, quality wingers.

Hope this Rooney deal doesn’t blow up in our faces. Rooney seems to be spiralling out of control on and off the pitch. I hope he isn’t another Gazza because he seems to be drinking all the time. Maybe a sense of responsibility as a coach when he comes here will help change his life around, not just because he’s coming here but it will be sad for another England legend to have drinking problems like Gazza.

[TimRam]

I think the goals will come once Waggy and Marriott are settled in the side again.

[Tyler Durden]

Everyone seems to be pinning their hopes on Rooney coming in January, he's not a Mitrovic and I wonder about his longevity given his age. With our luck he'll be crocked for the season after one game which then will be very interesting.

[MackworthRamIsGod]

45 minutes ago, Tyler Durden said:

Everyone seems to be pinning their hopes on Rooney coming in January, he's not a Mitrovic and I wonder about his longevity given his age. With our luck he'll be crocked for the season after one game which then will be very interesting.

I have no expectations with Rooney, it was mainly a business decision in my eyes, cant argue with that decision as the club will make millions out of it through additional shirt and ticket sales.

But, Rooney will be a little like Ashley Cole, loads of expectation, it wont be quite as spectacular as we hope, but we can at least say he played for us.

I think by Jan we will be so far off top 6 he wont be enough to make up the difference, we need a whole new midfield.

[Tyler Durden]

Just now, MackworthRamIsGod said:

I have no expectations with Rooney, it was mainly a business decision in my eyes, cant argue with that decision as the club will make millions out of it through additional shirt and ticket sales.

But, Rooney will be a little like Ashley Cole, loads of expectation, it wont be quite as spectacular as we hope, but we can at least say he played for us.

I think by Jan we will be so far off top 6 he wont be enough to make up the difference, we need a whole new midfield.

I concur to a large degree think we will be cut adrift of the Top 6 by then and Rooney's involvement will just be cameos

[Coneheadjohn]

5 hours ago, JG400 said:

How come they can swear , and they have bigger profile pictures than us and one stoke fan has an ME163   for their profile picture nearly fell off my seat , didn't think anyone else but me was interested in that sort of stuff

 

Have you seen how they speak to each other...ffs.

I want Hitler as my avatar or Bin Laden.

[atherstoneram]

28 minutes ago, Tyler Durden said:

I concur to a large degree think we will be cut adrift of the Top 6 by then and Rooney's involvement will just be cameos

I think Rooney will only have a cameo role anyway top 6 or not, certainly won't be playing 2 games a week, now if we go on a streak were we are not losing without Rooney being in the side will Cocu leave him out, i certainly hope so. Can;t see him upsetting a team that's gelling just for the sake of giving him a match. I really don't think he will play as many games as people are expecting or hoping.

[RadioactiveWaste]

5 hours ago, JG400 said:

How come they can swear , and they have bigger profile pictures than us and one stoke fan has an ME163   for their profile picture nearly fell off my seat , didn't think anyone else but me was interested in that sort of stuff

 

Ah yes, the Me163, a wunder weapon which turned out to be:

To short in range and loiter time, Unreliable, Unsafe, too lightly armed, expensive, not available in sufficient numbers, suffered stability issues, maintenance was extremely high and the fuel corroded the tanks and fuel lines so after a while they'd tend to blow up of their own accord.

I'll leave you all to mull over which forum posters the Komet might make a suitable avatar for.

 

[europia]

11 hours ago, Anag Ram said:

I think we have the personnel for a good defence but they are still learning how to play together.

Up front, I think we have been disappointing because in essence we have the same players yet they have not gelled and don’t seem to have a clear plan on how to create chances.

We should congratulate Cocu on his bravery to play the youngsters. Those who are moaning should see the bigger picture. Lowe, Buchanan and Knight are our future. 

It’s up to the senior players to up their games and to take responsibility in their roles, dominating the opposition in their area of the field.

We are at about 60% at the moment. I worry about our goal scoring options but otherwise think we’ll be  okay when three or four find their form.

Yes definitely a big future for Max Lowe. OK he was rightly criticised by the manager for not staying on his feet for the WBA pen, but otherwise a well deserved MotM award. Buchanan did OK, the odd stray pass and bad first touch understandable. Knight could be a competent squad player, but perhaps not a Hughes or Hendrick. Time will tell. 

[Bubbles]

On 24/08/2019 at 16:13, 86 Schmokes & a Pancake said:

OK – the controversial stuff first; while it’s perhaps understandable that folk are annoyed that we’ve let a winning position slip, some of the criticism of Waghorn and Lowe is unwarranted IMO. Starting with Wagger’s missed pen, it wasn’t good but it wasn’t awful either. Chris Martin missed a few I seem to recall as do most at this level, so perhaps it’s not the foregone conclusion that many seem to think. Consider if you will the England team’s penalty shoot-out record for further confirmation of this point and these being the top players in the country. If we have to play the blame game then it's Phil's fault for insisting a striker take them when really it should be whoever takes them best. I think he’s been brilliant thus far though so he gets a pass from me. I loved Lampard but Cocu is in a different league IMO.

As for Lowe, some comments are embarrassing. Sorry, they just are! He's been our standout player, Bogle aside, but remains a young and relatively inexperienced one at this level. Maybe he should have stayed on his feet, ok, but if you have to lambaste someone then the cheaty. diving **** and the ref seem much fairer targets. The fact is Lowe didn’t give away a penalty, the ref got conned. Why the vitriol? He’s a kid and has struggled with his confidence before now so let’s cut him some slack, shall we?

Moving on to the game, overall, yes, it’s disappointing that we've let a winning position slip but to my mind, West Brom are the best team we've played this season and I'd be pretty sure they'll be in the play-offs again at very least yet we were worth a point at least. A draw then, is no disgrace, surely, and was probably a fair reflection of the game anyway. I actually thought we looked pretty polished at times, even in midfield so there are plenty of positives to take forward and our luck, or lack of it, will most likely balance out across the season.

Looking forwards, Bielik is approaching full match fitness / sharpness as is Jack. We have Jayden and Duwayne to return and a certain Wayne Rooney waiting in the wings. These guys along with Keogh are the most important in our squad and we’ve yet to see them all play together, even once. Cocu and his team will also be getting to grips with what is required in this league so unlike many teams in the div, it can be sensibly argued that we have huge scope for improvement. With even an ounce of luck we could be sitting pretty on 10 points right now chaps, above the likes of Fulham at time of writing, who added £100 million of talent to their squad last season. This after the massively disruptive Lampard debacle, a truncated pre-season, some significant players being out injured and the loss of Wilson, Mount and Tomori. Perhaps then, we overestimate the quality of other teams in the div while judging our own performances rather too harshly? 

While my detractors will doubtless write my reasoning off as rose-tinted, happy-clapperesque, or my personal favourite, utterly deluded, I genuinely feel much more confident about this season than any since 2015. We'll challenge this season, mark my words. The 'marathon not a sprint' maxim is something of a cliché but it's very true of this league nonetheless and there's a danger of overemphasising the importance of early season form anyway. With most of our players beginning the year a tad undercooked, some significantly so, they'll be a deal fresher than many at the business end. I'd rather this than the Bielsa method of having your squad trained to the minute for game one, but flagging in the last half dozen.  I’m pretty certain we will improve steadily through to mid-season and then finish strongly, injuries notwithstanding, so I’ll not be panicking any time soon.

So..... My advice to all Rams fans and especially those focusing on the negatives right now is grab a beer, head to the garden to catch some of this beautiful weather, be happy or at least content and dare to dream. All that stress will kill you!

COYR

 

I'll drink to that one capt'n.

[Comrade 86]

On 24/08/2019 at 16:13, 86 Schmokes & a Pancake said:

Maybe he should have stayed on his feet, ok, but if you have to lambaste someone then the cheaty. diving **** and the ref seem much fairer targets.

 

On 24/08/2019 at 18:57, RoyMac5 said:

And Cocu?

And? It's not making the point that Max should have stayed on his feet that I was alluding to as if you'd read the first post properly, it's a point I made myself. It's the way some folk go about making their point that I take issue with which  is also made clear in my OP. 

[RamNut]

We still have a few gaps in the squad, but today we found two new players.

that was the biggest plus 

 

Roos    Hamer
Bogle     
Lowe    Buchanan
Keogh    Evans
Bielik    Clarke
Huddlestone    Shinnie
Knight   Paterson 
Dowell    Holmes
Waghorn    Bennett
Marriott    
Lawrence     

 

[Papahet]

Pretty disappointing start TBH.

I know our three main players have gone from last season, but still we’ve got enough quality to be winning games. Everyone could see the midfield was lacking creativity, the only real addition in that area was Dowell - who looks nothing more than a average player at this level.

You see Leeds losing Jansson and Roofe, yet still winning games for fun. They’ve  just used the market wisely unlike use continuing to bring quantity over quality ? Deadline day was a major anti climax as per, we never seem to improve the squad just add to it 

[Ambitious]

I'm not too worried about our start in all honesty. We was handed a tough start by the league, so providing we can get some points and not fall too far down the league when we start playing the games we should be winning, we will then no doubt pick up points at a quicker rate. 

I'm looking at:
Birmingham (H)
Barnsley (A)
Luton (H)
Charlton (A)
Wigan (H)
Hull (A)
M'Boro (H)
Forest (A)
PNE (H)

We have a good chance to be picking up lots of wins, which in turn breeds confidence. We still have Brentford (A), Cardiff (H) and Leeds (A) before that unfortunately. A win, a draw and a loss would be a good return - although it would only be four points. 

[Marriot Ram99]

13 minutes ago, Ambitious said:

I'm not too worried about our start in all honesty. We was handed a tough start by the league, so providing we can get some points and not fall too far down the league when we start playing the games we should be winning, we will then no doubt pick up points at a quicker rate. 

I'm looking at:
Birmingham (H)
Barnsley (A)
Luton (H)
Charlton (A)
Wigan (H)
Hull (A)
M'Boro (H)
Forest (A)
PNE (H)

We have a good chance to be picking up lots of wins, which in turn breeds confidence. We still have Brentford (A), Cardiff (H) and Leeds (A) before that unfortunately. A win, a draw and a loss would be a good return - although it would only be four points. 

If we couldn't beat Stoke in the mess they are in and we are their only point this season, we are not in a position where we can be looking at teams who have had better starts than us and be thinking 3 points are a given becuase our team looks better on paper.Non of those games  will be easy becuase of our lack of creativity in midfield, Dowell and Lawrence in the same midfield is just a nightmare and all our wingers are sh**t with a capital S. The sooner Holmes and Bogle come back the better. I also think Rooney will have a big impact as even though he is past his peak, in midfield he is still light years ahead of our players in terms of his ability to control a ball and pick out a pass.Our set pieces from pens, freekicks to corners are all shocking , he is still top class when it comes to set pieces.

[Tyler Durden]

1 hour ago, Ambitious said:

I'm not too worried about our start in all honesty. We was handed a tough start by the league, so providing we can get some points and not fall too far down the league when we start playing the games we should be winning, we will then no doubt pick up points at a quicker rate. 

I'm looking at:
Birmingham (H)
Barnsley (A)
Luton (H)
Charlton (A)
Wigan (H)
Hull (A)
M'Boro (H)
Forest (A)
PNE (H)

We have a good chance to be picking up lots of wins, which in turn breeds confidence. We still have Brentford (A), Cardiff (H) and Leeds (A) before that unfortunately. A win, a draw and a loss would be a good return - although it would only be four points. 

Dangerous game to start predicting which teams in our next fixtures we could or should be taking points from. By the same token as winning breeds confidence not winning or even losing does the opposite - we may be extremely low on confidence when we do come into the run of "easy" fixtures making them therefore not as easy as some may point out.