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Reality Check


i-Ram

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Wasn’t last night just a reality check? We are a pretty good LEAGUE 1 Team, with a few players of Championship quality. We are currently nowhere near being able to compete against strong Premier League opposition, indeed a few injuries to key players and we are unlikely to be able to compete against strong League 1 opposition. Warne appears to be getting us organised - that was again evident last night - but two key players were ‘off’ last night which made the game impossible, especially with McGoldrick lame. Let’s continue to enjoy the fact that we have a very strong club, and a highly committed group of players and coaching staff. I remain confident, based on what I have seen over recent weeks, that Warne will have us ready for a really good go at play-off success come season end. A couple of additions today would be ideal (decent forward, and versatile defender).

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Yeah I agree. A timely reminder to the squad and fan base that we have a very good league one side that’s earning results on the pitch, with a way to go until we’re back competing with the “big boys”. Stay grounded, keep doing the things we do well, continue the support and momentum to finish the work of getting out of this league. 

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Yes, certainly, it was a reminder that we are a club that is 1/2 season into an almost from scratch rebuild, we have come so far that our team is giving us results as well as joy. I love Derby and I always get carried away thinking, probably like the ITV schedulers, that it was a potential giant killing in the offing. We have done so well to be as competitive as we are, I should have known about the gap to Premier League teams though.

Struck me that it's not beyond the realms of fantasy that we could be playing West Ham next season in the league. With that in mind, yeah we have a long way to go yet! Summer will need a mini rebuild of the first team (Warne players and some reaching the end of their Derby road), the Academy / U23s need what, at least 2-3 years work before it'll be close to fit for our purpose again as an effective production line to support the squad. 

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Don't think it's necessarily a reality check to be honest. We knew all this before the game. Last night doesn't change the way I see the team. Sheffield Wednesday beat Newcastle. Does that mean they are ready to compete against Premier League opposition? Sheffield Wednesday aren't much better than us. 

On the night we just create chances or cause West ham enough problems. They did their jobs and were able to shut us out. That's it.

Edited by Rammy03
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2 hours ago, i-Ram said:

Wasn’t last night just a reality check? We are a pretty good LEAGUE 1 Team, with a few players of Championship quality. We are currently nowhere near being able to compete against strong Premier League opposition, indeed a few injuries to key players and we are unlikely to be able to compete against strong League 1 opposition. Warne appears to be getting us organised - that was again evident last night - but two key players were ‘off’ last night which made the game impossible, especially with McGoldrick lame. Let’s continue to enjoy the fact that we have a very strong club, and a highly committed group of players and coaching staff. I remain confident, based on what I have seen over recent weeks, that Warne will have us ready for a really good go at play-off success come season end. A couple of additions today would be ideal (decent forward, and versatile defender).

I think all of our players are of Championship quality, none are of Premier quality. West Ham finished high up in the Premier last season and had a strong line up last night. It showed although another night we might have nicked a draw. 

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2 minutes ago, PistoldPete said:

I think all of our players are of Championship quality, none are of Premier quality. West Ham finished high up in the Premier last season and had a strong line up last night. It showed although another night we might have nicked a draw. 

I wont get into a debate with you on it, but of the 16 players on show last night for the Rams I wouldn't want much more than half of them if I wanted to make a fist of it in the Championship.

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10 minutes ago, i-Ram said:

I wont get into a debate with you on it, but of the 16 players on show last night for the Rams I wouldn't want much more than half of them if I wanted to make a fist of it in the Championship.

Yes our squad lacks depth even for a League one team. All of our first choice 11 are Championship quality imo but we will struggle if we get promoted and don’t strengthen the squad numbers. 

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4 minutes ago, Magicman said:

Last night we were well beaten by a team who never got out of 2nd gear . We played with little of our usual energy nor any creativity . Clearly missing Cashin as Davies was exposed again & McGoldrick magic was sorely absent.  

I think that's right. There wasn't the extra bite and effort that, for instance, Wrexham showed against Sheffield United. It looked like Warne didn't mind if we lost, especially with the changes at 60 mins. Which is fair enough by me. But I think that means we can't really draw any conclusions from the match, other than West Ham were better than us.

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It shouldn’t need a 2-0 loss to a PL team to be a reality check!

We are under strict restrictions that basically no other club in the football league is currently under. If we were promoted tomorrow, we’d expect additions to allow us to compete in the Championship, it’s not exactly shocking to be beaten comprehensively by a side that qualified for a European competition last season.

The biggest positive is on the balance of probabilities, we were “due a loss” after 19 games. Now let’s go another 19 game unbeaten run, I’d be ok with that.

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2 hours ago, i-Ram said:

Wasn’t last night just a reality check? We are a pretty good LEAGUE 1 Team, with a few players of Championship quality. We are currently nowhere near being able to compete against strong Premier League opposition, indeed a few injuries to key players and we are unlikely to be able to compete against strong League 1 opposition. Warne appears to be getting us organised - that was again evident last night - but two key players were ‘off’ last night which made the game impossible, especially with McGoldrick lame. Let’s continue to enjoy the fact that we have a very strong club, and a highly committed group of players and coaching staff. I remain confident, based on what I have seen over recent weeks, that Warne will have us ready for a really good go at play-off success come season end. A couple of additions today would be ideal (decent forward, and versatile defender).

I think we are probably better equipped to play against strong Premier League opposition than Stevenage who won at Aston Villa, who are above West Ham in the PL. We played out a creditable draw over 120 minutes in front of a full house at Anfield against Liverpool who are well above Villa and West Ham. But it's the FA Cup and upsets are the exception rather than the rule and the pre-match odds of of 21/5 Derby and 3/4 West Ham to win were a reasonable reflection of our chances on the night. Those odds lengthened against us with the omission of McGoldrick; for me any chance of an upset was severely diminished by that alone. Was he really 'lame' or was he rested for the more important game we face against Morecambe on Saturday? Only those on the inside really know.

The backing of the crowd at Pride Park is a big boost for our team, as they all acknowledge, and the number of home fans present last night was less than for any Division One game this season - the noise levels were correspondingly lower too. West Ham brought some 2k more fans to Pride Park than any other team this season but the overall attendance was lower than against Oxford, Barnsley, Peterborough, Plymouth, Port Vale, Bristol Rovers, Sheffield Wednesday, Cambridge, Accrington Stanley and Bolton Wanderers. The home  supporters attendance was higher in the other three League games against Wycombe, Exeter and Forest Green. I think that puts into perspective just how important last night's game was for us supporters in the grand scheme of things; it was a much bigger game for West Ham than it was for us.

So for me, last night was no kind of reality check at all?. I learned nothing from it. It was just a pleasant night out and we are no longer in a competition that we didn't have a cat in hell's chance of winning from the outset.

But I share your optimism in looking forward to the rest of the season and the play-offs if that's what it has to be. But just for now, I still haven't given up on automatic promotion.

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3 hours ago, i-Ram said:

Wasn’t last night just a reality check? We are a pretty good LEAGUE 1 Team, with a few players of Championship quality. We are currently nowhere near being able to compete against strong Premier League opposition, indeed a few injuries to key players and we are unlikely to be able to compete against strong League 1 opposition. Warne appears to be getting us organised - that was again evident last night - but two key players were ‘off’ last night which made the game impossible, especially with McGoldrick lame. Let’s continue to enjoy the fact that we have a very strong club, and a highly committed group of players and coaching staff. I remain confident, based on what I have seen over recent weeks, that Warne will have us ready for a really good go at play-off success come season end. A couple of additions today would be ideal (decent forward, and versatile defender).

Never thought we were currently anywhere near Premiership quality. We are pushing for a Championship place which is where we should be…

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Even if we were a Prem team with Prem quality players and were several places above them in the league we could have an off night and lose 2 0 to West Ham.  That's how football works.  1 result in isolation means nothing.

We don't really need to put anything into perspective in my opinion.

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Why was it a reality check??? I don’t see anyone on here saying we should be pushing for Europa League qualification.

Do I think we have the quality to be in the Premier League?? Am I funk.  So I think we have the quality to go toe to toe with any team in League 1? Abso-funkin-lutely! Last nights result doesn’t change that, and I’d be amazed if anyone thought otherwise 

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