Davefevs

I thought he had the requirement of pace and power / athleticism…but it’s always tough to judge ability level. I guess the fact that he’s at Eastleigh might show they were correct.

Ipswich, clear way of playing, broke the lines….a typical u23 team and a pretty way of playing. We are a generally a collection of players relying on individuals to spark us. That’s a bit unfair (hence why I said generally), but I thought one of our recent games showed coherence as a team I hadn’t normally seen. We play into the front players too readily. We don’t play through the midfield often enough. I certainly don’t think we over-pass, I don’t think we pass enough (besides amongst the defenders).

Great posts above. The sooner people realise Morris took advantage of everything and everyone the better. In many respects I want Derby to get liquidated so Morris is shown up for what he is.

Ref got so many decisions wrong for both teams.

Better explanation than mine.

I like Owers for his energy, commitment, etc, but the ball is never 100% under control on the dribble…everything on the stretch. Got to improve that, will be exposed the higher he plays.

You know that’s “itchy chin” don’t you ??? Have you not been watching him of late. Arrggggghhhhh 0-1 Wood error

Seb Palmer-Houlden, who’s looked really good of late.

Not sure, Idehen certainly did (He’s a LCB but might play RCB today).

8, 9, 10 and 11 the ones to watch got Ipswich. Simpson had a good loan at Swindon, and is a effin’ unit. Good test to see where Idehen and Wood are.

I guess from Mr P’s point of view, the EFL rules don’t trump Administration Laws, just dictate whether Derby 1) stay in the EFL or not and 2) receive a 15 point deduction.

I guess you can flip this on it’s head and say who wasn’t in the side on Saturday: (regardless of my opinions on each player here’s a few) Hunt / Pereira Baker / Benkovic Brownhill (the single biggest loss imho - a true premier league player) / Smith (second half of the season) Eliasson / Paterson Diedhiou ….and that side finished 12th. After that season, there’s been little / no squad investment, but until the summer when Pearson cleared £12m of cost, the cost of the squad remained. Back then it was a big squad which allowed Lee to tinker. I think the decline had begun. Covid sped it up / exposed it. It’s far from ideal. I just hope we can manufacture an improvement to the squad over the summer window by whatever means. I’m resigning myself to losing players I don’t want to leave…the young ones. Keeping them takes balls because it might mean sacrificing the likes of Kalas or Bentley, unless you can tie them down for another few years. The re-contracting of players is so important to cost control, in a deflated transfer market. You really want players who have longevity, i.e. players who grow with you, that you re-contract (it’s financially efficient too), or sell for big fees…not ones you hold onto because no other bugger wants them, certainly not at their wage level, e.g. Palmer. We most certainly can’t let Kalas and Bentley walk for free next summer. We need to hold our nerve and see how the summer pans out.

I’m not a great fan of O’Dowda (the shock!) but he was actually limping a good few minutes before he came off.

Imho they have a plan, a joined up club, all pulling towards executing that plan. In Huddersfield’s case, an awareness that there might be some pain in re-setting (following relegation). In both cases, they stuck to the plan, because they thought it was the right plan. If SL believed in Pearson in May when he gave him a 3 year contract, it would be interesting to find out whether he still does. If he doesn’t, is it the plan or the person he doesn’t believe in? That’s what I’d be asking.

Job share, alternating between Devon and Bristol ???

He’s having 6 eyes removed from his arm.

Just watching Huddersfield / Luton….the exact opposite of passive.

Totally agree. Might be looking to provoke a response.

I’m gonna wait til I see where we are squad wise for the first game (albeit window still open).

I really want us to be smart in recruitment and re-contracts, but I’m not sure that will happen….so I feel that your first para might be what we have to go with. Scary.

Feels like Crossroads is more apt….what happened to Benny (which one you may ask)?

No, he was initially around as consultant during McInnes’s time. But I was referring to him coming back in December 2015, before officially being announced a couple of days after Cotts was sacked in Jan 2016. Grim Reaper entering the building, Cotts knew he was a goner, seeing as Burt had thrown all of Ashton’s recruitment bollocks in the bin!

The model Brentford planned and executed was vastly different to ours. Much myth about recruitment data, when in fact they had 100s of scouts on the ground in strategic areas like Denmark (obvious with the Ankersen connections), but French Ligue 2…and importantly able to move quickly as things like Brexit came into play, e.g. disbanding scouting in French Ligue 2 because they don’t pass work permits. Mark Ashton pretty much disbanded scouting down to 3 people. And they got rid of Academy, and went with a B Team model, because of the draw of London kids to PL clubs, even if Brentford picked them up at 8/9. So it’s alright saying SL aspired to be like Brentford, but he paid lip service to how they did it…he just looked at the end result…player trading. And boy, was that right up Ashton’s street! Piss-poor really!

Haha, was that after Ward had been red carded. We saw Ward’s ability (not from a set piece) when he rattled the post!

….or again???