Back to the drawing board for Derby as they’re battered by Blackburn

When you think of Derby County and expectation you usually associate the East Midlands club with the play-offs. Not quite good enough to be promoted automatically but certainly likely to be in the hunt for a top-six spot.

However, the start of the 2020/21 season has been an absolute disaster for Phillip Cocu’s Rams.

Back-to-back defeats in the Championship as well as a 0-0 stalemate against League Two Barrow in the Carabao Cup, advancing on penalties, and then exiting the competition to fellow-Championship outfit Preston were disappointing. However, Saturday was simply embarrassing.

The Rams had made a promising start with Louie Sibley having a great chance to shoot, but instead made a naive pass that led to nothing. However, no one saw what would happen next.

Arguably against the run of play, Blackburn took an early lead through Tyrhys Dolan after an impressive counter-attack. But only a couple of minutes later the hosts found themselves 3-0 down, Bradley Johnson with both of the goals on his return to Pride Park. The midfielder first struck one on his left foot from around 25 yards, placing it in the bottom corner of Rafal Kaminski’s goal, and then rifled one on the volley which took a deflection off Derby defender Lee Buchanan.

With 13 minutes left Adam Armstrong tapped home Harry Chapman’s low driven cross to make it 4-0 and finish off proceedings. In truth the scoreline flattered the hosts as Tony Mowbray’s side could’ve easily scored more on the day, something that will certainly bother Derby manager Phillip Cocu.

The Dutchman has suddenly found himself standing on thin ice with this poor start. Two goals in five matches across all competitions, with ten conceded is far from ideal and certain tactics may have to be rethought. 

Cocu’s first campaign at Pride Park last year was satisfactory as the 49-year-old secured a tenth place finish, six points off of the targeted play-off places. Right now though, something doesn’t feel right.

The addition of household name Wayne Rooney to the playing and coaching staff was a major boost for the Rams, but the former-Manchester United star was non-existent on Saturday and couldn’t rally the troops in the way you’d like your captain to.

Attacking intent was non-existent; sideways and backwards football in abundance. It didn’t help that Derby’s defence was shaky too with new signing Mike te Wierik in particular having an afternoon to forget.

Derby’s young Rams do have plenty of promise though, with 19-year-old Louie Sibley standing out in particular. 

It’s likely that Cocu will be given more time to address the numerous issues with this Derby side, however time will certainly be running short and you can’t help but feel like if a few more defeats are to follow, the Dutchman will lose his seat in the Derby technical area.

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