Deja Vu on course for Derby County? Another blue note in recent form for Rams

After getting slammed by both head coach and chairman Derby County needed to react to the lack of positives draw against Reading in midweek. Paul Clement also had disclosed due to the fixture build-up against the Lancashire duo of Burnley & Preston North End in the SkyBet Championship, sandwiching the Manchester United FA Cup tie to come in the next few weeks, that his side would remain on home soil despite the opportunity to go to Dubai to get away from the cold British winter was on the table.

Follow e-Derby County on Twitter - LINK

Article by Fred Gough

Derby County [0] Birmingham City [3] - Attendance: 32,134

The former Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid number two reverted back to his regular 4-3-3 formation and dropped creative midfielder Jacob Butterfield in favour of Irishman Jeff Hendrick and brought back George Thorne into the midfield allowing new signing Nick Blackman to move centrally in the ousted Chris Martin.

Continued below....

A nervous and cagey opening first quarter of an hour saw both sides ebb out of their own defences but be easily prevented by their opponents before Hendrick grabbed the first shot on goal but his shot didn’t test the experienced Tomasz Kuszczak and former Macclesfield Town trainee Blackman heading straight at the Polish ‘keeper.

Further attempts by the home side failed to reach the back of the net as Birmingham City exploited their style of play which is on the counter attack as Jon Toral and Jacques Maghoma ran forward finding holes in the vulnerable Derby defensive line however neither side was able to seize the chances that were limited and possession fairly equal despite not really captailising on mistakes.

Half Time: Derby County 0 Birmingham City 0

Former Derby County defender Gary Rowett now in charge of the Blues could see his former employers nerves growing as encouragement from the larger percentage of the crowd intensified but the message was not translated well by the Rams players letting Birmingham piled on more pressure, the Arsenal loanee Toral had a header tipped over and from the following corner the West Midlands side’s central defenders stood taller than the Derby statues and combined to head home the opening goal from the vastly experienced Paul Robinson.

This woke up Paul Clement’s desire to get the result he had demanded after the Reading draw by introducing a triple swap of personnel, withdrawing Thorne, Tom Ince and Johnny Russell allowing new Guinean signing Abdoul Camara, Chris Martin & Jacob Butterfield.

However despite a slight resurgence, the away side doubled their lead a cross-turn-shot from Stephen Gleeson made a fool of Lee Grant whose faux-pas have cost Derby points both this season and last. With time running out, Blackman who had looked the most likely of any player wearing black and white to reduce the deficit but the former Manchester United goalkeeper kept his clean sheet. The game was killed off when Dutch in form midfielder Maikel Kieftenbeld thundered a volley from the edge of the box beyond Grant.

Full Time: Derby County 0 Birmingham City 3

This was not the reaction that Paul Clement had wanted and the feeling was mutual with supporters who booed their team off the field for the first time this season. This was the heaviest defeat since the end of last season under Steve McClaren’s reign ended at home to Reading.

The head coach was calmer in his post match interview saying that he doesn’t feel it is a crisis as many supporters are starting to be feel after last season’s melt down which saw the Rams fall from top spot at the end of February to eighth place by the full time whistle of the season.

Clement said he felt it was a blip of poor form and would rather see it happen now rather than towards the run in of games towards the back end of a hard season, with 19 games till the end of the campaign, there is still plenty of points to gain and Derby still remain sandwiched between two sides who returned to the SkyBet Championship after a spell in the Premier League so hopefully form will return to what was seen in the period which saw them rise from mid-table to promotion hopefuls in the Autumn.

Teams:

DCFC [4-3-3] – Grant, Christie, Keogh (y/c – 68), Shackell, Warnock (capt), Thorne (Butterfield – 67) , Hendrick, Johnson, Russell (Camara – 68) , Ince (Martin – 68) & Blackman (y/c - 78); Substitutes –Martin, Baird, Carson, Butterfield, Camara, Weimann & Shotton.

Birmingham – Kuszczak, Caddis, Morrison, Robinson, Grounds, Gleeson (y/c - 74), Kieflenbeld, Toral (Buckley – 88), Davis (Vaughan – 90), Maghoma & Donaldson; Substitutes – Legzdins, Vaughan, Solomon-Otabor, Shinnie, Spector, Lowry & Buckley.

© e-Media Group 2015 All rights reserved no part of this document or this website may be reproduced without consent of @e_media_group