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 Tickle Tackle - The Penny’s Yet To DropTue 11th Sep 2007 21:00 by Steve Tickle I thought about writing about the latest rumours surrounding Billy Davies and DCFC but ultimately decided against it.  For one thing, I try not to get too involved in speculation and conjecture and for another, today's newspapers aren't usually too fussed about what they print as long as it sells newspapers. What I do know is that the Rams have got off to a less than auspicious start to the season. That trouncing at Anfield was hard to take but not much of a surprise really. In fact, it was a bit predictable. Every goal hurt but we were playing a team who have added massively to their squad, who have started the season in top form and who I think will finish in the top two (and hopefully the top one) come May. Yes, I think Liverpool have what it takes to break the Man U – Chelsea monopoly this season and to be perfectly honest, I hope they do. To say the Rams' start to the season has been disappointing is a huge understatement of course. However, in a way, we can just toss that drubbing at Anfield aside as “one of those things”. I wasn't at the game so won't comment on individual performances but there was no doubt we were hit by a train that day. As Billy Davies said after the game, some players don't yet seem to have woken up to the fact that they're playing in the Premier League nowadays. It's also a fact that some may never and will be found out at this level Others may well take their opportunity with both hands and shine through. They're often the players who people might have pigeon-holed in the first category too. Craig Fagan might well fit the bill here. He was all too often pretty ordinary last season but he's been most people's player of the match this. Having said that though, there's no way I can condone him for his stamp on Alvaro Arbeloa and especially for his plea of not guilty at last week's disciplinary hearing. Plain, unadulterated stupidity both times and in fact, I'm disappointed that the club allowed him to plead not guilty in the first place. That decision has now cost the club the services of one of its few in-form players for four games. Eventually, we will wise up to the fact that we're playing in the Premier League where your mistakes almost always get punished (certainly against top teams like Liverpool). Whether we'll wise up early enough to save us from immediate relegation is moot but I'm certainly not going to get despondant about things. We were always favourites to go straight down again, even though the fact that all the bookies and so-called experts were so eager to jump on that particular bandwagon is irritating to say the least. Have you ever (probably as a child) been running so fast you've almost lost your balance and fallen on your face and had to try to run even harder to regain your balance? Well the Rams are a bit like that right now. We've come so far in such a short time we're not really in control. Let's not forget there's another transfer window in January (what real constructive purpose do they serve?) and an opportunity to build further. What Billy Davies' task is now is to make sure that come January, we're in a position to do just that and not have to spend on desperation purchases to keep us in the division. © Steve Tickle 2007
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