Davefevs

Yep, agree. Johnson, Holden nor Pearson have been able to get Vyner to be more physical though! Whatever goal it was where Mitrovic stood his ground under a high ball in the centre circle was a prime example of a defender not willing to “get physical”. It was a prime opportunity to either get in position and be fouled or have the advantage on a header challenge. Zak did neither, Mitrovic took a bad touch sideways, but he shouldn’t have even got that much on it. I like Zak as it goes, just not centrally against a physical opponent…prefer him RB or RCB3.

Very interesting to know the terms of 32Red’s sponsorship, e.g. how dependent is it on Rooney?

No, I don’t believe that is the case, just stories. As far as I understand, 32Red increased their sponsorship deal, which in turn allowed Derby to pay Rooney. If Rooney walked, he’d be doing Derby a huge favour….I see no way they save his £100k p.w. For Everton to appoint him as manager and absolve Derby from paying him would be a huge boost to saving them. In fairness to Rooney he’s doing a v.decent job, but he has got some star players like Lawrence, CKR, a group of talented youngsters aided by Davies and Jagielka (now left) at his disposal. They’ve avoided injuries too. On Quest he came across well, sticking to football not insolvency.

A bit more context to the post-match press comments.

Was gonna ask you if you’d heard, following your ITK on Cam. I like the sound of those conversations…I.e. no chance of exercising option at current wage.

Dun, dun, dun…..Liam Rosenior. Had kinda hoped he’d get involved here when the Hughton appointment seemed possible.

My gut feel is that Derby / Morris will’ve done all they can to stop it being picked up initially???

You and me both then! ?

I might be in the minority, but I don’t think he’s wasted there. I think it will benefit him in the long run. Yesterday in the “10” he got snuffed out for large portions of the game…and it’s a tough position to influence if you can’t get on the ball. I’d probably rather he played alongside James as a conventional CM than as a 10. I doubt many agree with me though. ???

With Administrators looking to raise £7m, a manager on a £100k p.w is a huge burden. I don’t think they’d be in a position to insist on any compo if they can shift £2.4m of wages between now and the end of the season. Thats my thought process anyway.

I only met Al at the Bristol City quiz where we put in an OTIB quiz with Dolls, SepticPeg, Rich and “Buster”. I asked him about his username, I hadn’t twigged what his surname was! A very good general knowledge and even better knowledge of City. His knowledge of Bundesliga nicknames I’ll let him off about! Glad I got the chance to put a name to a face. RIP Al. Than fan base up in the sky is growing too quickly.

The fact he played him last week, and brought him on for 40 mins yesterday (where he did reasonably well in both boxes) suggests he isn’t far removed from Nige’s thinking. Think we might see Kalas | Atkinson | Pring next Saturday, Vyner might stay in at RWB.

Not Cash on Delivery then ?

Does she wear her hair tied back?

I’m guessing this was staged? Funny though.

I think that was the plan, perm any 2 of Baker, Atkinson and Kalas. Which we did early season, and we looked solid(er).

The only worry I have in regards to towel throwing is I suspect Martin and O’Dowda’s year extension needs to be triggered in January, possibly even by end of December because of pre-contract rules. But that’s only two players to worry about, not 10-12 like last season. Simpson has a year option but that surely won’t be triggered. If either has entered into negotiations we will soon find out I reckon.

Reporter is on drugs!

Who scored?

Definitely some “wins” in some of the squad’s individual performances. Semenyo and Scott most definitely. We will reap the benefit of giving them minutes, in Scott’s case it’s out of position, but it will also prove invaluable to his own development to appreciate positional play of his teammates going forward. In OTIB’s eyes Semenyo is out of position too! ??? Whikst not forgetting Tanner, playing ahead of expectation, Benarous. Atkinson probably wasn’t expected to take as many minutes from Kalas and Baker, and will come again. The long game (and I’m not talking hoof-ball) is in operation. We have to hold our nerve!

Not sure anyone would pay £8m when they are seeing Shinne transfer get accepted for £30k. Is he the one rumoured to be going to Boro for £100k or is that another player? Losing track during these fire sales! ?

You keep ignoring how many times he’s played as a centre forward, in that set of appearances, his age at the start of those apps, his age now, etc. 8 goals and 11 assists in the equivalent of 44.5 games (of 90mins). 19 goal contributions in 44.5 games for a guy who not played much as a centre forward. About 55% of his minutes are categorised as a forward. Otherwise his rate of return is better than Paterson, not quite Eliasson though. Id say the stats are relatively positive, and the trend shows it’s upward. Why force yourself to declare you view of a player so young?

Yep, unfortunately none of the CBs he has at his disposal are probably anywhere near the quality of CBs he partnered for the vast majority of his career! ???

I won’t be defining Nige by yesterday. Overall I’m still more than happy with the progress we are making. Ultimately we don’t have a very good squad, whatever some say, it is unbalanced in that it requires players to play in less favourable roles / position regardless of formation. Couple that with inconsistency and you’re gonna get games like that, whether it’s Fulham or other team capable on their day (okay maybe not a hammering but a defeat). The “nearly a year” is a bit of an irrelevance in my eyes. That’s just me…last season’s squad that was available to him post-window (let’s not forget he couldn’t change it) and the financial constraints mean he was literally just trying to get us to the seasons end. I honestly think that if relegation was on the cards he’d have set up for some 0-0s and eked us over the line…but it didn’t really become a threat. So he started his reign in the summer for me…his first chance to put a squad together, severely hamstring financially. We are 16th, probably 17th if Swansea pick up points in their game in hand. He will continue to make team selections that look like mistakes but as fans we have short memories. We bemoan playing Alex Scott as RWB when we lose, but not when we win. How does that work. Ultimately we need all the team (or the vast majority) to function to grind out results. We will see more bumps in the road across the remaining 20 games no doubt. Some of those might be in games that fans perceive we should win easily. I don’t think we will any easy games, if we play well in games we will generally pick up points. I think we will pick up enough points quickly enough to not even have to look over our shoulder. We are 11 points clear of Peterborough. Yesterday was a bad day in the office for Nige imho, and I’m sure deep down he knows he got it wrong, hence his somewhat defensive / defective response in the post-match interview.