Pre Season: Derby County 1-1 Villarreal CF

Derby County boss Paul Clement went on record prior to this match to talk about his anticipation for the encounter to be a ‘good test’ for his team. Clement and his squad went into this encounter fresh from a Holland trip which was successful not only as an exercise in team bonding, but also in bearing fruit from a footballing perspective. The tour began with a game across the border in Germany against SV Meppen, which ended 1-0 in the Rams favour, followed by a tougher matchup with Eredivisie mainstays FC Utrecht, the more impressive performance as Derby came out 3-2 winners. The Rams displayed the step-up in quality in those games that Paul Clement had demanded after a lucky lacklustre 1-0 win away at Northampton before the trip. It is logical then that Clement would so strongly anticipate the visit of one of La Ligas stronger teams, Villarreal, who finished 6^th in Spanish football's top flight last season.

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If a test was what Derby needed, then they got it as the Spaniards showed steely resolve in defence and creative counter attacking moves. This meant the opening 20 minutes was an end-to-end affair as both sides had chances to come up with the first goal. Derby saw a great deal of the ball and retained possession well but Villarreal were a well-drilled team who countered with pace and power when Derby’s early moves came to nothing. The brightest spark from a Derby perspective was summer signing Andreas Weimann. The Austrian international had an early opportunity to put the home side in the lead in the early moments of the game when he held up a long ball out of defence well and beat two defenders. His touch over the defenders was just too heavy and the Derby forward’s attempted header over the goalkeeper did not connect with the required amount of power.

Despite this, it was the La Liga side who broke the deadlock when Antonio Rukavina’s long range effort was weakly parried out by Derby goalkeeper Lee Grant into the path of Léo Baptistão, who finished from close range. The save from the Rams stopper was a poor one, misjudging the flight of the shot, meaning he was not able to divert the shot over the bar as was clearly the intention. In defence of Grant however, he was not the only one to make an error. Uncharacteristically for the Derby man in question, it was through a rare moment of lackadaisical defending from George Thorne that allowed the Spanish forward the space to shoot from distance.

Derby continued to push for an equaliser, and found it when Will Hughes took a free kick quickly high up the pitch and caught the away side out, finding Tom Ince who squared it to Andreas Weimann, with the Derby forward needing two attempts to finish it. Hughes’ vision from the free kick was his best moment in what was a good game for the young star. The goal coming from a quickly taken set piece was fitting in this game, as both sides had many set pieces during the game. Derby’s best set piece chances were a Tom Ince free kick which was positioned well, but executed poorly with the shot hit straight at the keeper. Jeff Hendrick’s second half free kick was much better, and a good tip over the bar from Villarreal’s Alphonse Areola was all that denied the Republic of Ireland international.

The game finished 1-1, a fair result but many Derby fans left the game feeling like it could have been a big win. Darren Bent had a late chance to win it from the spot after Johnny Russell was brought down in the box. Bent’s penalty kick was a languid attempt, hit with no real conviction, and so the game ended in a draw. The Villarreal side that turned out was clearly not full strength but for Derby to have held their own, and in some cases dominated, in this game was very impressive.

A few unwelcome tropes of the Derby County of last season still persist within this side however. The Rams finished outside of the playoff places despite high expectations, resulting in the departure of former Head Coach Steve McClaren. Many fans have pointed to the tension and nervousness of the players towards the end of the season as one significant issue at that time. A lack of confidence sent Derby plummeting down the table, all the way from 1^st to 8^th in the league.

At times Derby have looked frantic and desperate in this preseason, albeit less so than at the end of the 2014/2015 season. The biggest example of this was at the lowest moment in the game, with Lee Grant castigating the defenders in front of him after conceding. This is not a good sign of good team cohesion and leadership and head Coach Paul Clement must still work on keeping calm heads under pressure and give the team belief in their abilities. Many teams achieve this with time and through putting together good results. Nonetheless, Derby fans are aware that it may take a few games before this team fully gels with new signings and new tactical approaches from the new coaching staff. If things start slowly, players must be patient with themselves and each other, just like the fans and coaching staff must be patient with them, continuing to believe that this team can still have a successful season.

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Derby can be forgiven somewhat for this though, much of the agitation for the players will come from their driven nature and their will to succeed. They will be aware that with a new head coach comes a new challenge to keep their place in the team, and with a new challenge comes apprehension about impressing the new boss. The problem with this is that Derby play their best football with high tempo, not high anxiety. Calming a few nerves, and with that improving finishing in front of goal, will be the final piece of the puzzle before Derby can look like the real deal.

Just over a week remains before the first game of the season and there is still ample time for these minor issues to be ironed out. There is no doubt though that this team has improved a lot since the opening preseason match where they lost 2-1 away at Grimsby. This game had many positive signs from the home team, and Derby probably deserved to win it on the balance of the game.