Derby County vs Leeds United

Derby came into this encounter on the back of four straight draws, looking for their first win. Opinion was split amongst Rams fans on whether this run of results should be particularly concerning. One school of thought was that draws can easily turn to wins when the team has time to gel and get used to the new bosses tactics. The opposing view is that they could just as easily turn to losses on a bad day, arguing that Derby have had a slice of luck in snatching points from behind in the past 3 games. Certainly, what cannot be argued is that 4 points from a possible 12 is relegation form, but there are a lot of asterisks next to that statement. Some fans will argue that Derby have deserved more than draws in a few of their games so far, most notably in the home game against Charlton. Another thing that cannot be argued is a home win against historic rivals Leeds would settle some of those fears, with the Rams even being able to boast that they are unbeaten in 5 games. Sadly from a black and white perspective, Leeds United ran out the victors on Saturday afternoon’s early kick off at the iPro Stadium.

Derby started positive, if somewhat uncreative, in the first half. In the first ten minutes the home side approached the game with a calm, measured and unpanicked passing style that saw them dominate possession. This style seemed to work even when Derby have been 1-0 down in previous games against Middlesbrough and Birmingham, as in both of those games The Rams dominated possession and got their reward with equalisers. The away side were the opposite. Leeds were the frantic live wires of the first half, battling for every ball, and playing with more pace and dogged determination. Despite this though, both sides struggled to create clear cut chances. There were no shots on target for the vast majority of the first half, but Leeds had several shots blocked by a defiant wall of Derby defenders.

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The away side’s best chance came early on as Sam Byram picked up the ball on the right hand side and played a pass inside to Lewis Cook. Byram continued his run and Cook returned the favour to Byram via Alex Mowatt. Byram faced a strong Derby backline but teed up striker Chris Wood nicely on the edge of the 18-yard box. Wood’s shot flew over the bar for a goal kick. For the home side, the best of their chances was a Johnny Russell free kick that found Chris Martin on the edge of the six-yard box. The striker got his angles wrong and his backwards looping header drifted past the far post.

The first shot on target was a Leeds one and unfortunately for Derby, was the goal that broke the deadlock. Stuart Dallas made a driving run down the right side and was shut down by Chris Baird and Tom Ince. Rams players and fans claimed the ball hit Dallas last but the referee gave the corner kick to Leeds. The controversy of the corner will be insignificant to The Rams as they will be more concerned with the defending that followed the set piece. Dallas opted to take the corner short, playing a clever one-two with Alex Mowatt, to eventually whip his cross to the back post to the unmarked Tom Adeyemi, who nodded the ball past Scott Carson to give United the lead. The short corner routine caught Derby confused and disorganised. The referee blew his whistle for half time shortly after and the home team left the field with their heads held low.

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The second half saw a different approach from Derby and The Rams started the second half the way many fans will feel they should have started the first half. The home side began attacking with speed and urgency, determined to find a response to Adeyemi’s first half goal. This reaction was exactly what Rams fans were looking for in the second half and Derby started to look threatening. In the opening moments of the half, a good move from Craig Forsyth resulted in him finding Jeff Hendrick, who carved out a chance with his driving run at the Leeds backline, shooting from distance and forcing a save from United ‘keeper Marco Silvestri. Derby continued to push for their equaliser and on 48 minutes equalised through Chris Martin. Once again it was a left-side attack with Forsyth and Thorne linking up well. Thorne found Martin who with a quick switch of feet, wrong-footed Liam Cooper and stroked the ball past Silvestri to make it 1-1.

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It seemed even then that The Rams were not content with the draw, continuing to push for a goal to give them the lead. Jamie Hanson found Jeff Hendrick with a heavily-weighted pass, but Hendrick used it to his advantage to knock the ball round the Leeds defender, setting himself up for a one-on-one with Silvestri. Hendrick smashed his shot just past the goalkeeper’s right hand post and the game stayed even. Shortly after this, George Thorne was substituted through injury for Andreas Weimann, and the Rams changed to a 4-2-3-1 system, with four recognised forwards on the pitch, to push for another goal. This system seemed to cause a few problems for the Leeds defenders initially, with Silvestri having to make two more saves from Derby half-chances turned into shots, first by Russell and then Weimann. As the game went on however, Leeds started to look more and more resolute and Rams boss Paul Clement decided the time was right on 79 minutes to bring on Darren Bent for Johnny Russell. This changed the formation again to a 4-4-2 shape, but also spelled the end of Derby's dominance. Derby looked devoid of ideas and low on confidence; another draw seemed inevitable.

It was at this point that Paul Clement made his final substitution, the most baffling of all. Defender Ryan Shotton came on for midfielder Jamie Hanson, with Shotton going to right-back and captain Chris Baird moved into the centre of midfield. Rams fans have been critical of Chris Baird's performances in midfield so far this season, believing right-back to be his best position. Furthermore there have been frustrations with the lack of game time for unused substitute on the day, Simon Dawkins. Dawkins, primarily a creative attacking midfielder, would have been the obvious choice for a team chasing a victory. Instead, the introduction of Ryan Shotton saw Derby begin to sit back and invite pressure, hoping to hold on to a draw. Leeds reacted with attacking intent, unsurprisingly netting the winner through a Chris Wood wonderstrike and taking home all 3 points.

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One of the significant influential elements in this game was the utilisation of Chris Martin. As Wigan manager, current Leeds boss Uwe Rosler claimed to have disrupted Derby's gameplan in a previous game by cutting off supply to Martin. It came as no surprise then that Leeds centre-backs Sol Bamba and Liam Cooper took it in turns to mark the talismanic Derby striker out of the game when he stayed central. In the second half, he roamed more freely to the wings and players like Johnny Russell, Tom Ince, and Andreas Weimann moved central. Martin's ability to get away from his markers made Derby more fluid and meant that Bamba and Cooper could not follow him everywhere he went. Martin’s movement opened up Leeds so much more than in the first half and it is no coincidence that this was Derby’s best spell in the game. When Darren Bent came on however, Martin struggled again as he was forced to stay central to play provider for Bent, who relies on a good supply behind him to score goals. As in the first half, Bamba and Cooper found it easy, just picking a striker each and marking them out of the game, meaning Derby struggled as a result.

Derby fans considered this a must-win game, so despite their frustrations at drawing so many games, leaving this game with no points was a bitter blow. When any team concedes first, it is always likely that they will find themselves under pressure for the rest of the game regardless of whether they find themselves an equaliser or not. The opening goal is an important psychological advantage that Derby have now given away to their opponents on four occasions this season. Going into the international break on the back of a loss could give the squad time to reflect on the results and hopefully for Derby fans this time off will inspire them to react away at Preston on 12th September.

Derby are facing a psychological battle to find the first win and Paul Clement needs to call upon his players to react better to adversity. In his post-match interview he said of his team that “they have to be men”. Clement will want his team to start giving more spirited and passionate performances that fans and coaches expect of professional sporting athletes, rather than lowering their heads and feeling sorry for themselves in such a childish manner the way they do when they start to struggle in games. The grit and determination that these very same players once had in spades is now the missing ingredient. It is up to the players themselves to find it again, but also up to Clement to inspire them to. This first loss of the season could be the catalyst for better results, but only if Derby react in the right way.