Three ways for Rams to improve in season second half
MORE GOALS NEEDED IN BID TO FIND HIGHER GROUND
ROTHERHAM United’s visit to Pride Park Stadium on Saturday will see Derby County reach the halfway point of the Championship campaign.
The game is Derby’s 23rd of 46 League matches.
The 22 games played so far have brought the Rams only 19 points from a possible 66 and they sit in the bottom three. Their record is four wins, seven draws and 11 defeats.
Rotherham are one place and two points below Derby with two games in hand, highlighting the importance of the fixture and the importance of the Rams improving in the second half of the season.
Here are three key areas in which Derby must do better.
■SHORTAGE OF GOALS
Derby must find a way of increasing their goals return, either from within the squad or by adding to it in this transfer window.
They are the lowest scorers not only in the Championship but also in the top four divisions of English football.
Fourteen goals is the club’s lowest tally after 22 League games since the painful season in the Premier League in 2007-08 when they scored 10 goals in 22 games.
Here is a glance at the number of goals Derby had scored at this stage in the past 10 seasons: 2019/20 – 21; 2018/19 – 31; 2017/18 – 35, 2016/17 – 23; 2015/16 – 33; 2014/15 – 40; 2013/14 – 46; 2012/13 – 35; 2011/12 – 26; 2010/11 – 35.
To score more goals, a team needs more creativity and that is another area that needs improvement.
Derby hit four without reply recently when they won away against Birmingham City on December 29 but that was a lone beacon of light in the first half of the season.
■SPINE OF THE TEAM
The spine is often crucial to any team and the more settled it is, the more chance of a team functioning.
Derby’s form has picked up in the last nine League matches – three wins, four draws, two defeats, only four goals conceded – and the spine of the side has been more settled than at any other time this season. Coincidence? Unlikely.
Of the spine – goalkeeper, two centre-backs, central midfielder and centre forward – keeper David Marshall has started all of the last nine League fixtures, Matt Clarke also, while his central defensive partner Andre Wisdom has started eight.
Krystian Bielik has started eight of the nine and has made an impact in central midfield, while Colin KazimRichards has started all nine.
Kazim-richards’ physical presence and influence as the focal point of the attack has been clear.
There is consistency of selection
within the spine and that brings stability. That needs to continue in the second half of the season.
■ ■HOME FORM
Derby are bottom of the Championship’s home-form table.
They have managed only one win in 11 League games at Pride Park Stadium and have drawn four and lost six of the other 10.
The Rams failed to score in those six defeats and they have found the net only five times on their own turf.
Their one home win came last month when they beat Swansea City 2-0 with goals from Kazim-richards and Kamil Jozwiak.
In total, they have picked up seven points from a possible 33 at Pride Park.
The Championship is a tough enough environment without struggling at home.
That will need to change if Derby are to climb away from trouble.