High press and all out attack...it’s Frank-ball!
Lampard’s kids run riot and JT’s there to see it
IF ThIS was Frank lampard’s vision for football reaching fruition, Derby County are heading for exciting times.
Up against the division’s best attack by far, lampard fought fire with fire and burnt West Brom’s house down.
Without holding midfielder Craig Bryson due to injury, Derby’s manager decided against playing safe and instead packed his side with creative talents that overwhelmed West Brom.
Darren Moore’s side had scored 31 goals in 13 games prior to last night’s match. a win would have taken them top of the Championship but they fell apart defensively.
John Terry made the trip across Birmingham to watch the best performance his friend and former Chelsea team-mate has overseen as a manager. aston Villa travel to Pride Park in a fortnight’s time and assistant manager Terry’s report will make scary reading for boss Dean Smith.
lampard though, ever the perfectionist, found aspects to criticise.
‘We could have done more, scored more,’ he said, which is a scary proposition for the rest of the division. ‘I don’t think our passing was as good as it can be.
‘I’m not stupid enough to complain about a 4-1 win at a team who will be challenging for promotion but it’s not our best performance. There are areas for us to improve.’
Curiously, Moore went the other way, positive to the point of being blinkered. ‘I just thought it was a bizarre game,’ he said. ‘We were in the ascendancy. We got into threatening positions but we didn’t capitalise. Derby got their goals at important times.’
lampard’s selection was bold. he picked five outright offensive players and it paid off spectacularly. Jack Marriott, Martyn Waghorn, Mason Mount, Tom lawrence and harry Wilson formed a loaded attack that pressed high against West Brom’s defence.
It was frenetic yet coordinated and forced a series of mistakes, the most glaring coming from Jay Rodriguez in the 10th minute. Rodriguez tried a back-pass but succeeded only in putting Marriott through for his third goal in as many games.
Five minutes later Derby doubled their lead. Wilson traded passes with fellow Wales international lawrence and hit a terrific shot that swerved into the sliver of space between goalkeeper Sam Johnstone’s glove and the post.
In the 50th minute the contest was over. Kyle Bartley became the latest to add to West Brom’s catalogue of defensive errors. he gave the ball away in a dangerous position and Wilson fired in from 25 yards.
Derby added a fourth on 70 minutes when left back Scott Malone charged forward to finish smartly.
Rodriguez hit a consolation goal with six minutes left — far too late to atone for his early error.