Barnsley (A), Saturday 25th February 3pm.

[kevinhectoring]

4 hours ago, RoyMac5 said:

What do you do when he has a poor game like today?

Too many players had a poor game today.

We can play badly and still not lose, if we win the midfield battle 

[Gee SCREAMER !!]

Another one who needs a responsible adult not understanding basic wage cap concept.  When we actual had players on 20 k a week we annihilated you annually like we were playing a pub team.

 

[Guest]

35 minutes ago, Grumpy Git said:

HTF can the ref overrule the lino on an offside decision???

It beggars belief.

This is the same referee who was heavily criticised by both Oxford and Ipswich recently for allowing the fogbound game at Oxford to continue. At 75 minutes he informed both captains that if he abandoned the game with 75 minutes played the result would stand with Oxford winning 2-1. The Ipswich captain elected to continue but the ref had got it wrong - if he had abandoned it then, there would have been a rearranged game. Oxford won 2-1.

It's one thing a referee getting a decision wrong but making it up as he goes along is another thing entirely. On the first goal, the linesman stood his ground in line with the play for almost a minute but did not raise his flag. When the referee reached him he said something to the linesman who then raised his flag for offside. The referee disallowed the goal but then went into a conversation with players and then reversed his decision and allowed the goal. It was bizarre - did he receive an earpiece  communication from the fourth official?

I've only just got back and I haven't read the thread yet. Has an explanation been given for allowing the goal. If he's had a communication from the fourth official to help by way of what has been viewed on an iPad, do we now have unofficial VAR in the EFL?

 

[sage]

I'm concerned about Wildsmith.

A very erratic performance after great form this season.

I hope this doesn't become a loss of plot.

[DavesaRam]

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!

Edited February 25, 2023 by DavesaRam

[Rev]

15 minutes ago, Brailsford Ram said:

This is the same referee who was heavily criticised by both Oxford and Ipswich recently for allowing the fogbound game at Oxford to continue. At 75 minutes he informed both captains that if he abandoned the game with 75 minutes played the result would stand with Oxford winning 2-1. The Ipswich captain elected to continue but the ref had got it wrong - if he had abandoned it then, there would have been a rearranged game. Oxford won 2-1.

It's one thing a referee getting a decision wrong but making it up as he goes along is another thing entirely. On the first goal, the linesman stood his ground in line with the play for almost a minute but did not raise his flag. When the referee reached him he said something to the linesman who then raised his flag for offside. The referee disallowed the goal but then went into a conversation with players and then reversed his decision and allowed the goal. It was bizarre - did he receive an earpiece  communication from the fourth official?

I've only just got back and I haven't read the thread yet. Has an explanation been given for allowing the goal. If he's had a communication from the fourth official to help by way of what has been viewed on an iPad, do we now have unofficial VAR in the EFL?

 

Is that the Scottish ref, who's moved south to pay off the debts he'd built up?

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, Rev said:

Is that the Scottish ref, who's moved south to pay off the debts he'd built up?

The very same.

[Wistaston Ram]

56 minutes ago, Gee SCREAMER !! said:

Another one who needs a responsible adult not understanding basic wage cap concept.  When we actual had players on 20 k a week we annihilated you annually like we were playing a pub team.

 

Got into a heated discussion with a Barnsley fan regarding how it was so unfair we were able to pay large wages for McGoldrick. They seemed quite surprised that we're under a wage cap. Most of their fans I met seemed OK but also quite a few bitter and ignorant types as well.

[kevinhectoring]

2 hours ago, HorsforthRam said:

Our crossing has also been poor on too many occasions. Floated in to the back post for the goalie to catch

Well ok but as the manager has revealed we don’t have a foreword with a forehead so crosses don’t matter much, except from set pieces. Which begs the question why we look for so many goals from crosses in open play  

[Leeds Ram]

Well that was quite shocking. The performance lacked conviction, solidity, and we were all over the place. On the first goal, at first, it looked offside but on the replays, it looks like Forsyth is playing the guy on. Regardless of that, the second, third and fourth goals were all unforgivable. They resulted from sloppy play, an unwillingness to track runners and terrible backline positioning. We lacked conviction in the final third and never really looked like getting back into it despite having the ball. 

It's something Warne needs to sort out quickly. Cashin and Forsyth as a pairing do not work away from home when playing like this. Cashin gets too tight to his man and Forsyth doesn't have the legs to help him out when he is beaten. At home, this is less of an issue as teams are less adventurous, but away from home when teams want to get at us we look so vulnerable. The result is a line that is out of shape and a lb who is by nature a lw and thus does not cover. In essence, the defence is an absolute mess. The midfield needs to be quicker in the transition and the front line needs to make more runs and penetrate more in the final third. 

Atm I'm not convinced that even if we make the playoffs would we win them. The away form is such that the home form may not be enough to carry us through. Safe to say I'm a frustrated ram tonight

[Glasgow-ram]

Words not needed

Edited February 25, 2023 by Glasgow-ram

[Crewton]

Did they nab the fans in the Barnsley end who were giving out discriminatory abuse of some kind, or were they all to busy deploying in front of our fans in preparation for a pitch invasion that was never going to happen?

Awful defensive performance, awful refereeing performance, yet we still should have come out of that game with a point. Two open goals missed in the second half and you knew it wasn't going to be our day. 

Barnsley fans are thick, the referee should never officiate in England again. 

Apart from that, great day out including excellent ales in Sheffield and Barnsley. 

[sage]

Warne didn't learn the lessons from Wycombe.

You have to battle them for 60 mins then try and outplay them.

As bad as we played, we still could have won that. We have to hold on to that, as when we get back in the groove we have the players to go on another run.

 

[alram]

Less so the result, but the performance was the most worrying thing today. We were outclassed by Barnsley in most areas of the pitch, they looked fitter and hungriest than us.

 

the best thing about today was that Wycombe lost. You hope the gap is big enough that we will do enough between now & the end of the season, but our form will have to pick up again. We haven’t responded well since that first defeat in ages.

[OssieEnd]

Massive respects to all the Rams who went to Barnsley and agree with the post above. Wycombe lost. Still chasing top 2 but the Play offs  is now a bottom line. Wycombe  losing  was a win for us. 

[Rich84]

Not read everything in here but here's my take on today from the stands.

We were too predictable in possession,  looking for the ball down the channel or big diagonal pass, which clearly they were prepared for, the biggest problem was we had no midfield 1st half, so no other options out of defence,  missing Bird.

They were stronger, quicker, more energetic and looked the better team from the start, we were way too passive,  especially in the absent midfield,  hence the defence got overrun at times. The 3rd goal a perfect example, it started from our throw at the half way line, lost the ball too easily and barely an attempt at a challenge. 

As for the offside goal, my opinion which I said to those around me at the time, I thought he was in an offside position,  but the ball came to him from an attempt to clear which came back off a Derby player (Knight?) it was shambolic defending caused by their intensity, it was indecisiveness by the lino, presume he spoke to ref on the earpiece and that's why there was so much confusion and the ref correctly spoke to the lino and came to that conclusion that the ball got to Cole via a Derby touch, therefore not offside. 

All in all, I don't think we've played well, apart from after Morecombe gave up at 45 mins, for weeks, we look tired, bereft of ideas and lacking all over the pitch, which against 2 good teams away from home has been exposed.

But yesterday was a new level of poor, summarised by the 4th goal imo.

On to Tuesday and go again,  put this to bed and move on, we are lucky to be in this position after the last 18 months, still in the driving seat to reach the PO's. Then let's hope we have a plan to deal with the better teams and the small squad we have aren't too jaded. 

[derbydaz22]

13 hours ago, Ramarena said:

Yep. Whites a good player but he doesn’t have Birds defensive qualities.

The number of times today they had a player sat between their midfield and attack who was picking up the ball in acres of space.

I don’t think White is a patch on Bird he looked lightweight and lost at times yesterday and we lost the midfield battle it was to easy for Barnsley.

[Archied]

Last few games we seem to have become the early season liam team again , where’s the press gone ? Where’s the energetic closing down ? We are not defending from the front anymore ,we are not winning second balls , we are not winning battles , interesting the stats say we had more possession but lost 4-1 , Barnsley had more energy all over the park 

it’s a long hard season and we have a small aging squad , make the play offs and see what happens , not going to slag off warne or the players , they don’t deserve that , dust down lads and on to the next game

[BriggRam]

7 hours ago, Crewton said:

Did they nab the fans in the Barnsley end who were giving out discriminatory abuse of some kind

I was in the home end when that announement was made, i was baffled as i hadnt heard any offensive chanting or shouts from anyone that i would say was sexist or racist, but there were a few stewards looking up into the stand definitely looking for someone, ....not sure if "scabs" or "scabbers" would be deemed offensive or discriminity there was plenty of that but it  certainly didnt bother me

I was walking past Derby fans at the train station with my Barnsley supporting cousin and our kids, found it quite funny he kept bending down picking up coins that i realised were being thrown at us, and he says to me in his thick yorkie accent "im making a fortune ere lad"

As for the game itself, terrible from us, Barnsley were better all over, hate to say it but although the numbers looked good the noise levels from Derby fans wasnt the best today, i was expecting it to be better, but i enjoyed ma day out, took my lad bowling and enjoyed a quality sit down Indian after the game, couldnt go on the lash as my lads only 13 but got the impression Barnsley would be a cracking night out, so planning to get over again soon, and meet up with relatives i havent seen for too long ?

Edited February 26, 2023 by BriggRam

[Tamworthram]

6 hours ago, alram said:

Less so the result, but the performance was the most worrying thing today. We were outclassed by Barnsley in most areas of the pitch, they looked fitter and hungriest than us.

 

the best thing about today was that Wycombe lost. You hope the gap is big enough that we will do enough between now & the end of the season, but our form will have to pick up again. We haven’t responded well since that first defeat in ages.

I don't think "class" had a lot to do with yesterday's game. Neither team were particularly good. We were out muscled but primarily undone by our own errors and poor play.