Judging solely from the RamsTV highlights I thought Forsyth was our weak point (relatively) though overall we defended well enough to keep them down to one goal. Surprisingly Carson was a wee bit flappy too. But I think we need to see some out before some in.

comment by I'm not Spartacus, resilience and character (U4603)
posted 8 minutes ago
Forsyth's distribution is not good enough. We might be able to get away with this in the Championship but not if we have aspirations to play in a higher league.

Could the Caledonian connection have anything to do with your boney feelings Heb?
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You mean he's Scottish? Bonus!

The ginger hair and pasty complexion should surely have provided a clue Heb.

Who covers for Forsyth? Are we happy that we have sufficient quality in our U23 squad to make the step up.

I agree about Martin though Vidal. A lot was made of Winnall being favoured against Ipswich but I think Rowett had seen how well Ipswich countered the big forwards when they beat us at Pride Park. Having two athletic forwards tore their defence to pieces. Think Rowett was picking horses for courses.

can't believe there are folk still calling to replace the left back.
who can we afford to bring in that's better than Forsyth?

Happy New Year everybody!!!

Its a whole new ball game now. Not only have we smashed our way into the Top 2 but I believe we can catch Wolves. This squad is the strongest we have ever had at this level. It will get better as well. Stay focused everyone and get behind the lads today

Vidal. that is Donald Trump not Anya.

Olsson, Lowe, Baird are all left back cover.

Is Lowe fully fit now? Olsson is not considered as good as Forsyth. Baird, Mr dependable and versatile, is probably the short term answer but I would like to see a better specialist number 3.

Johnson can play left back. Plenty of cover without looking at the academy players that haven’t featured in the 1st team squad.

Let’s hunt some wolves!

Go on the Spart name a left back we can afford to sign that will improve the squad!

If you are Rowett maybe you think about worst-case scenarios, like losing two players in one position like when injuries to both Martin and Bent cost us promotion. Lose Nugent and Vydra for the season and it would hurt us but there would still be Martin and Winnall and you could use wide players like Weimann, Russell and Bennett as occasional central strikers. Losing Keogh and Davies is incredibly unlikely but for a game or two we could cope with Pearce and Baird or even Wisdom or Forsyth at centre half. Centre midfield we have Huddz, GT, Ledz and BJ, all very experienced. Lowe and Hanson are approaching full fitness I think and have some first-team experience. It wouldn’t be much of a risk if they had to be used in emergencies.

We’re strong in all areas even if we let three or four out and bring nobody in. Don’t mess with it.

Would worry about Johnson giving away free kicks in dangerous positions. He has a tendency to make rash challenges. In midfield the worst that happens is he gets booked. In defence he could give the opposition goal chances.

I still don't like the way Forsyth gives the ball away cheaply at times. We are winning despite this.

As for a specialist number 3 we could afford. As I don't know the abilities of every number 3 or how much we can afford I couldn't say. We pay people more than my meagre pension to make such judgements.

Vidal, losing 2 or 3 players key players for a long time is a worry but it’s a worry for every team chasing a top 6 finish. It’s not something I’m worried about, we have a strong squad and we’ve proved that if anyone falls out the team they haven’t been missed too much. Ie wisdom

Until I see a better left back than Forsyth that we could afford im fully behind him. He’s the best left back we have at the club

You can pick fault with every player in the team Spart on their weaknesses. If these players could do everything us fans expect they’d be too good to be playing for Derby.
Do we need to replace Carson because his ball distribution isn’t the best?

The key from here on in is that when we have an inevitable set back we don't panic as we have in previous seasons. Don't let the wheels come off, regroup and carry on.

Team spirit Heb is high at derby at the moment and you can buy that in a transfer window but you can lose it after a transfer window

Exactly Griff. You can’t have a squad with forty equally good players in it. In the season Iwas talking about I thought we were one centre-forward short but that we would be OK nevertheless. I was wrong then. This season we have maybe the best group of four strikers in the division and if GT is now up to speed we are good in midfield too, Defenders tend to get injured less often anyway. It’s a bit daft to think about tinkering with a defence that has conceded so few goals. Unless you are Man City and do not have other teams attack you at all then you want your defenders to be good at defending first and foremost. We’ve got that and we’ve got this as a Backo would say.

Happy New Year all. I was on the J20's E numbers excitement eh?.....

Happy New Year Karl. The J20 what's?

Heb, the way we play is far less vulnerable to setback compared to McLaren’s team when players needed to be at 8 or 9/10 level for all the one-touch stuff to work. When it didn’t we got caught out. Our football now is more organised and lower-risk so we don’t even need to play that well to win. We will lose occasionally but there is no chance we will fold. No chance.

Vidal. There’s going to be some ups and downs between now and May. The best us supporters can do to help us enjoy the ups and when are hitting a down still get behind the team and not panic and moan as if it’s the end of the world.

We don’t need anyone so no point in changing it for the sake of it.
If someone comes in for a key player and the player wants away then we will have to replace them. I can see Vydra attracting attention from Burnley for example, who currently have Woods out.

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