Derby County Barometer January 2017

Although this has been by far the lowest profile transfer window from a DCFC viewpoint for some time, as ever, there’s still been plenty going on this month for Derby fans to chew over.

Thus what better way to pull it all together than a well overdue return for the classic Ramspace Barometer. Check it…..

Alex Pearce – A forgotten man at DCFC who couldn’t even get a game at Bristol City last season. Now rock of our defence, cult hero and all round top man. Pearce is central to everything that has changed since the departure of Pearson and is clearly loving every second of his resurrection at Derby. What a guy!

West Brom Away – What a win and what a day! Massive away following showing unconditional support for the Super Rams, two absolute screamers in front of said packed away end and a top Premier League team vanquished on their own patch. I wrote at the time (full piece here), days like these are why we go to football. Good times indeed.

So how did you get on the end of Keoghs cross v Reading Darren?

Darren Bent/Tom Ince – The turnaround in form of these two since the return of the Mac has been staggering. Ince is arguably playing better than his original purple patch, with all new work rate thrown in for good measure. DB is rolling back the years, scoring goals of all types and, significantly being more involved in general play than ever before. Long may it continue.

Mel Morris – After being fully implicated in the fiasco that was DCFC V2016, culminating in his infamous breakfast seminar retort to his detractors, Mel has noticeably stepped back from the public eye to work in the background and pushed Sam Rush back stage centre. This is a good thing, as is the all new cautious transfer policy. We are still waiting on the published plan Mel, but don’t worry, we’re winning at football again so no-one really cares anymore.

Pride Park Stadium – Even if only in the short terms it’s great to get our true stadium name back. Now we just need to rid ourselves of the horrific association with Just Eat and we are laughing.

Squad Rotation – Steve is almost flawless in many aspects of man management, coaching and generally getting the best from his players. He is however not very good at all at squad rotation. Catastrophic calls against Wigan, Norwich and Leeds cost us big time. With 8 games in February let’s hope he sorts it out quick smart.

The Chris Martin Saga – I wrote about my distaste for this situation & our conduct in my recent piece “Nasty Boys”. However, this whole new contract agreement and particularly the associated stage managed statements at the weekend were a whole new level of outrageous. Fulham fans must hate Derby & CM9 with every bone in their body, yet he scores or assists for them in every game! The whole situation, even by DCFC standards, is utter madness.

“I am not playing and I am not getting out this cupboard until you say I can go back to Derby”

Leicester City – There is no question that Leicester City winning the Premier league was a fairy-tale story probably never to be repeated. Having seen pretty much their Championship wining side at Derby last week I would suggest it was a miracle akin to Lady Diana walking into the Standing Order alive & well proclaiming it was all a gag. What an awful team of pub players with basic pub team tactics. If Drinkwater is England class, then I don’t know what that makes Hughesey. As for their fans……Jesus. We rarely win at their place but I can definitely see them getting in the relegation scrap on that showing.

Matej Vydra – Without doubt a massive victim of circumstance, signed by a manager who isn’t here, to play a system we don’t use, for a fee he didn’t choose. That said, players in this bracket should be good enough to adapt and we are yet to see even a glimpse of anything resembling a £9m player. As a minimum, they should run around a lot when they come on as sub. I’m currently struggling to see how this one is going to end positively outside of a freak transfer to China.

Nigel Pearson – Looking back now, it’s hard to appreciate how Pearson got everything so wrong in such a short space of time. Even C Powell bagged 4 points in his first two games before Steve arrived. For such an experienced manager to so absolutely miss-read his squad as he did is unbelievable. Awful tactics, awful man management, awful performances, awful results and horrendous transfer activity. Thanks god for whoever took one for the team and, allegedly, got twatted to get rid of him. Moron.