Lampard praise for loan stars
DERBY County boss Frank Lampard has not ruled out dipping into the loan market again when the January transfer window opens.
Lampard’s loan signings this season have all made a significant impact.
Mason Mount, Harry Wilson and Fikayo Tomori have made 65 appearances between them - 62 of them starts - since arriving at Derby in the summer.
Mount, on a season-long loan from Chelsea, has made 23 starts, scoring five goals, and earned his first call-up to England’s senior squad.
Tomori, also on loan from Chelsea, has made 22 starts in his 23 games. The 20-year-old defender has formed a pairing with Richard Keogh at centre-back.
Wilson’s 19 appearances include 17 starts and he is joint top scorer with Jack Marriott on eight goals.
Lampard is pleased with the contribution of the three young players.
“It’s not easy for them,” said Lampard. “The competition in the Championship is huge and these young boys are progressing, as players, as men. They’ve been very good for us and I love seeing them progress.”
The trio have helped to reduce the average age of Derby’s team, which was one of the tasks Lampard faced.
Derby’s team that took on Fulham in their final game of last season had an average age of almost 30. The average age of the Rams side that started against Wigan Athletic on Saturday was 25. WE are only days away from Derby County’s clash with Nottingham Forest at Pride Park Stadium.
The A52 derby has been selected for TV on Monday night and all eyes will be on Rams manager Frank Lampard’s team selection.
I would name an unchanged side from the one that chiselled out a 1-0 victory over Wigan Athletic last Saturday.
Keeping the same starting 11 is not based on the performance at Wigan because although the Rams should have put the game to bed in the first half, they failed to
Bryson’s know-how of the occasion is vital. He has played 11 times against Forest
maintain their grip on the contest in the second half – and that was against 10 men, as Wigan had defender Kal Naismith sent off after only 15 minutes.
In the end, it was Derby’s hard work defensively as a team that saw them through.
They were fiercely determined to hold on to their slender lead in the second half and recorded a first clean sheet in 15 matches, stretching back almost three months.
The back four is tending to pick itself now that skipper Curtis Davies and Craig Forsyth are set to miss the rest of the season Steve Nicholson Craig Bryson has the combative qualities and the experience Derby County need in midfield when they face Nottingham Forest. through injury.
Richard Keogh and Fikayo Tomori have formed a pairing at centre-back for virtually all of the first half of the season and that is likely to be the case for the forseeable future.
Jayden Bogle continues to be ahead of Andre Wisdom for the right-back position and Forsyth’s absence has offered Scott Malone something of a free run to show what he can do at left-back.
It remains to be seen whether Derby bolster at centre-back and left-back in the January transfer window.
I would stick with the midfield three of Craig Bryson, Tom Huddlstone and Mason Mount.
Moving Harry Wilson from his right-sided role back to midfield, where he has shown his best form, is a consideration but Bryson’s com- petitive nature and his understanding and experience of this particular fixture could be important because it is usually fast and furious in the middle of the park.
Bryson has played 11 times against Forest and the Scot scored a hat-trick in a memorable 5-0 victory over the Reds in March 2014.
His know-how of the occasion, along with that of Derby’s football controller, Huddlestone, and both Keogh and goalkeeper Scott Carson is a vital ingredient because the Rams could go into the game with six of the starting 11 tasting this tasty contest for the first time.
Two of those are Wilson and Jack Marriott and they and Tom Lawrence form my front three.
Lawrence came in for plenty of criticism for his performance at Wigan and, apart from his second- Scott Carson