John Eustace’s Rams are now fully up and running in the EFL Championship, moving into 11th place following a victory over an in-form Hull City on Tuesday night.
We look at three key takeaways we have learnt from Tuesday’s match and how they not only influenced the game but how they could impact the rest of the season.
We Have Learnt That Pride Park is a Fortress
Football managers often describe fans as being the ‘twelfth man’ and that couldn’t have been more apparent during the game. With an attendance of just over 23,000 on a cold and rainy Tuesday night, the Derby faithful were in fine voice and at times were forcing Hull City players into errors on the pitch.
John Eustace and his coaching staff have no doubt played a big part as to why the Rams fortunes are turning around but once you partner that with the help from fans, We have learnt that Pride Park in a footballing sense becomes a horrible place to come for any away team.
Derby are now unbeaten at home for over a month and now have four consecutive wins in the league whilst bringing Hull City’s six unbeaten streak to an end. Proving that the fans truly can act as the ‘twelfth man’ when called upon.
A Ward/Morris Partnership could be Key
Despite only playing 7 games and starting in two of them, Joe Ward has quickly shown why he should remain in the starting line-up for games moving forward. Tuesday night’s game was the second time in four days that Ward has assisted Derby top goal scorer Carlton Morris with Morris now upping his goal tally to nine for the season.
Both assists and goals came from the same corner routine, Ward whipping in a fantastic ball with Morris there to rise above everyone and smash it in off his head. It’s evident that these two players understand each other’s game and so long as Ward is on corners, then Morris will be there to fire one in.
Ward’s movement on the pitch was almost what you would expect from a midfielder on the right side, a lot of activity near the halfway line and down the right side but on occasion he would drift diagonally into the middle of the pitch just outside the oppositions box.
This could suggest that the Eustace’s game plan was to channel play onto the left side of the pitch and force the Hull City defence to give away corners on the left. Doing this essentially allowed Ward to recreate the assist that came a couple of days against Sheffield United and resulted in success.
Joe Ward and Carlton Morris just might be the partnership Derby County need as they look towards the coveted Championship play-off spots.
Matt Crooks was Everywhere
We also learnt that a prevalent force in Hull City’s midfield, Matt Crooks was a handful for Derby Tuesday night and he gave the Rams issues. His link-up play with striker Kyle Joseph led to a thunderous effort that rattled the crossbar showing that the Tigers were not here to mess about.
Crooks pulled the strings in midfielder and did everything he needed to and with some accuracy. He managed to complete 83% of accurate passes and 88% of passes within his own box proving that he can be counted upon to distribute the ball with great accuracy.
He also did a great job with his defensive duties too, winning over half of his ground and aerial duels and making two clearances as well as one interception. Once you couple that with the previous mentioned passing statistics and rattling the crossbar early on, it’s no surprise that his current form has led to two assists in two games before Tuesday’s game.
