Painful lessons for Cocu’s Rams as visitors prove to be Bee’s knees
BRENTFORD DELIVER BLOW TO DERBY’S PLAY-OFF HOPES AS HAMER KEEPING ERROR PROVES COSTLY
DERBY County’s Championship play-offs hopes suffered a blow when they lost 3-1 to promotionchasing Brentford at Pride Park Stadium.
Ollie Watkins gave the Bees the lead after only three minutes but Jason Knight equalised in the 29th.
However, a mistake by Rams keeper Ben Hamer four minutes into the second half allowed Said Benrahma to put Brentford back in front.
And Benrahma wrapped up the Bees’ win with a superb strike in the 63rd minute.
Here are four talking points from the GAME:DESERVED TAG
BEES’ STING CONFIRMS
I THOUGHT Brentford were the best side Derby had faced in the Championship before Saturday’s rematch – and my opinion has not changed.
They dismantled Derby in the first half at Griffin Park in August.
Brentford were excellent that day, Derby were dismal, and it was the most angry manager Phillip Cocu has been after a game in his year in charge.
Derby’s performance was much, much better this time around but Brentford were still the better team and they deserved to win.
Like West Bromwich Albion a few days earlier, Brentford had greater strength in depth and attacking prowess than Derby.
Said Benrahma and Ollie Watkins are top players at this level.
Watkins, a player Derby looked at signing when he was at Exeter City, pounced from close range in the third minute to put the visitors ahead after Bryan Mbeumo’s effort rebounded off a post. Watkins has 24 goals this season.
Derby were chasing shadows at that stage but to their credit they worked their way back into the contest. Their football improved, as did their confidence, and they equalised just before the half-hour thanks to a fine team goal.
Jayden Bogle, still hit and miss with his crossing, put the ball into the box, Wayne Rooney displayed wonderful composure and vision in a tight situation to feed Jason Knight, who finished.
At the break, it was anyone’s game. If anything, Derby were favourites to go on and take the three points but they shot themselves in the foot early in the second half.
Loose defending allowed Benrahma to power in a shot that Ben Hamer should have stopped at his near post but the goalkeeper allowed the ball to squeeze under him and behind the line. A costly error – just as the one he made for Albion’s second goal in the previous game.
Benrahma further punished Derby, and Hamer, when naive defending offered him an invitation to cut in on his right foot. He accepted the invitation and curled the ball beyond Hamer to seal a 3-1 win for Brentford.
IT HURTS BUT LESSONS MUST BE LEARNED
COLLECTING only one point from the last nine has hurt Derby’s playoff hopes just when they needed to be edging forward but the current sequence of matches was always going to stretch the Rams more than the three following the restart of the season, with all due respect to those opponents.
Brentford, West Bromwich Albion and Nottingham Forest are not third, second and fifth by chance after 43 games.
They are strong, well-drilled teams, although the first two have the edge over Forest, in my opinion.
The important thing from the two defeats and a draw is to learn lessons.
At the business end of seasons, when the games become tougher, when the level of opposition is stronger, the key is to reduce or eliminate mistakes and poor defending and be more clinical. This is necessary in order to be successful.
Derby have made mistakes and defended poorly at times in the last two matches and found it difficult to create chances. The combination makes it remarkably difficult to win games.
THREE WINS FROM THREE MATCHES – IS IT POSSIBLE? DERBY sit on 61 points with nine more up for grabs from matches against Cardiff City (a), Leeds United (h) and Birmingham City (a).
Defeat by Brentford has left the Rams needing to win all three to stand any chance of reaching the play-offs, according to manager Phillip Cocu.
Only once this season have Cocu’s team won three or more League games on the spin – they recorded five straight victories by beating Sheffield Wednesday and Blackburn Rovers before the season was suspended and Millwall, Reading and Preston North End when the campaign restarted.
“Everything is possible. We are not really far off, it is details,” Cocu said after the Brentford game.
“The general part of the game, the understanding of how we want to
play, I think is good but you have to be more solid in your defensive game in the last part of the season against the better teams because they have good strikers.”
The average number of points needed in the past 10 seasons to finish sixth in the Championship is 73 (72.6 to be precise).
Collecting the maximum nine points would put Derby on 70 and only twice in the past 10 seasons has a team secured a place in the playoffs on 70 points or less.
BELIEF IS CRUCIAL AHEAD OF CARDIFF TEST
WAYNE Rooney, record scorer for Manchester United and for England, has seen and done most things in football.
The Derby skipper’s message as the Rams look to keep their play-off hopes alive may be an obvious one but it is one that has to be taken on board.
“We must believe, of course. There is still the opportunity to make the play-offs. We have to keep working until that is not the case,” Rooney has said.
Derby are capable of going to Cardiff and winning.
Yes, they could barely buy a point on the road never mind a goal earlier this season when they lost six consecutive away games, conceding 13 goals and scoring none.
Yes, they have struggled at times and been second best in significant chunks of their last three matches against teams in the top six in Brentford, West Bromwich Albion and Nottingham Forest.
But the Rams had improved on the road, winning four of six matches on their travels before Wednesday’s disappointing performance against West Bromwich Albion at The Hawthorns.
Add to that the fact Cardiff have picked up only one point from their last two home fixtures and the belief has to be that there is all still to play for, despite the disappointment of losing to Brentford.