Are we contenders or pretenders?

[SlimyLimey]

I guess the answer to this question will be evident around mid February when we have played Leicester, Brighton & QPR.
What are your views?

[OldRamsFan]

At the moment we are contenders.Our results and position have not been fluked,just the result of good training and attitude.
The acid test will be after the next few games when we play other contenders (as they stand).
We all know that anyone can throw up a shock result against anyone else.
Derby just have to continue to believe and maintain the upward trend.And before anyone says it,yes we are bound to lose some along the way!

[Rattea]

I guess the answer to this question will be evident around mid February when we have played Leicester, Brighton & QPR.
What are your views?

Slimey ... Exactly what I have been saying for the last two month. Those are the teams (ex Brighton) we need to show the improvement against. Did you forget Burnley in there?

[Gift_of_the_Gabb]

I guess the answer to this question will be evident around mid February when we have played Leicester, Brighton & QPR.
What are your views?

We can lose to all three and still be contenders. The teams around us will all drop points too.

The facts are that if we beat all the teams below us in the league then they will struggle to move past us.

Look at the last time we won promotion we lost at least one game to all the teams around us in the top 6 yet we still went up.

The thing people are forgetting is that other teams will drop points too, especially in this division where form can be very unpredictable.

[sheeeeeeeeeep]

I guess the answer to this question will be evident around mid February when we have played Leicester, Brighton & QPR.
What are your views?

Slimey ... Exactly what I have been saying for the last two month. Those are the teams (ex Brighton) we need to show the improvement against. Did you forget Burnley in there?[/quote]

Why not Brighton? They have a new manager and are a better team since we last played them. They are in very good form.

In this league I don't think it's the teams you play that matter as anyone can beat anyone which happens week in week out, it's when you play them that really matters and in my opinion we are playing Leicester at the wrong time as they are in great form and at home. QPR is a different game, they are up and down and we are at home and I would expect a win in that one. Burnley have been pretty solid all season and again we play them at their place so I

[Mickleover_Ram]

So are you saying we are pretenders then Rat?
If so that would mean you would agree that we were also pretenders under Clough , yes?

[SlimyLimey]

I guess the answer to this question will be evident around mid February when we have played Leicester, Brighton & QPR.
What are your views?

Slimey ... Exactly what I have been saying for the last two month. Those are the teams (ex Brighton) we need to show the improvement against. Did you forget Burnley in there?
[/quote]

I didn't forget Burnley, but if we are successful against others we shouldn't have too much trouble with them... Let's wait and see.

[swaledale]

We are in the top 6 half way through the season, not been in this position for many a year. that makes us contenders and i'd be very surprised if we werent there or there abouts come the end of the season, one cant ask for more than that, even teams with far greater resources than Derby would be happy to be where we are.

Sure we will have a dip in form, but we can weather that and still be in contention come April...happy days.