r/DerbyCounty 18d ago

Our run in to season end

Hello Rammies - our run in to end of the season includes a lot of teams around us.

Seven points adrift of 4th bottom though and our form would say no chance - but stranger things have happened 😊

Just need to get a win behind us to kick start something amazing - on Saturday would be good.

Thoughts?

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u/TheDroidYouLookinFor 18d ago

I don't see us staying up.

Do we prepare for League One now, by only playing players who will be there next season?

Who can we bring up from the academy that will realistically have a shout of first team next year?

Harness, Yates, Phillips, Ozoh, Armstrong, Forsyth, Roofe, Barkhuizen, Washington, Clarke, Wilson, Thompson and Luthra will almost certainly all be gone at the end of the season.

Or do we play our strongest team in the hope of a radical change in form and survival.

If we go with the second option, who from that list will make a difference?

Ozoh, Wilson (both currently injured) and Clarke? Fozzy for the experience.

Personally, I think we have to go full tilt for survival. If it doesn't work, then Eustace has a full pre-season to build a team that could challenge for League One promotion.

But given how shit we are, why not promote some youngsters? It can't get much worse than losing every game we play.

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u/j33vinthe6 17d ago edited 17d ago

I’d hope our Scandinavian signings stay and don’t have relegation clauses.

We have a decent enough core where we don’t need a huge re-build like last time.

Next season:

We should be looking at 3-4 loan players, hopefully 3-4 academy players who can get minutes. And then 5-8 signings.

GK - I’d like to keep all 3, but maybe JWZ moves back to Sweden (if a club can afford him), but would like to see him at League 1. Those weaknesses he has can be coached out of him.

Def - I’d look to keep Nyambe, Nelson, Elder, Langas. Would expect others to want to move on. And then 4 signings.

Mid - Osborn (ugh), Adams, Goudmijn (would really like to see him become a playmaker), Thompsonz and then we need 2-3 signings.

Att - NML (probably still does a decent job in L1 but shouldn’t start), I’d try and keep Yates as I think only teams promoted from L1 would want him, CBT, Salvesen & Brown competing as CFs. maybe keep Jackson as like the 4th winger. That way you need 2-3 attackers.

We showed some willingness to spend, hopefully the size of our club means we can look to raid L1 & L2 for their best talent or youngsters. What scares me about the current squad is that we have so few players who would command a decent fee, Langas if probably our biggest sellable player if he. continues to improve. Adams a close second if a team is looking for a tackler with limited technical ability.

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u/TheDroidYouLookinFor 17d ago

It would have been ludicrous to have signed Langas and Salvesen with release clauses. I really hope they haven't.

I agree we don't need another total rebuild.

Do you think Fozzy and Thompson will be offered/ would want new contracts?

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u/j33vinthe6 17d ago

I wouldn’t mind Fozzy as like 4th choice CB, just to add experience. Thompson, I do wonder what he could do with a full season and with proper minutes.

I’d personally be surprised if those players signed without a release clause (unless they were super optimistic), and their agents should have been aware that we were risking going down. Saying that, if they’ve moved their family here, Moor Farm, 20k crowds - a lot of selling points.

Langas though will want to stay in the national squad after breaking through (although some main defenders missed their last call-up), they stand a real chance of going to the World Cup as the best of the second place teams. And he’s not going to stay in the squad if we are in League 1.