Eleven games into his tenure at Derby County, it’s far too early to write off Nigel Pearson, but his early struggles should come as no surprise.
Derby County manager Nigel Pearson and assistant manager Chris Powell
Derby County fans have every right to be disappointed with the start Nigel Pearson has made at the iPro Stadium, but they ought not to be surprised. His appointment was always a risky one, and the Championship outfit have won just one league game this season, leaving them a solitary point above the relegation zone.
Nigel Pearson has held three long-term positions in his career; the first was at Leicester, the second was at Hull and the third was back at Leicester. In all three of these roles he had excellent backroom staff, most notably Steve Walsh and Craig Shakespeare.
At Derby, Pearson does not have assistance from those two men. When he was sacked by Leicester City in June 2015, Pearson’s backroom staff remained at the King Power Stadium, whilst Walsh has since joined Everton as Director of Football and as a scout.
Steve Walsh alongside Nigel Pearson
Shakespeare is a very highly-regarded coach who is currently assistant manager to Claudio Ranieri at Leicester and first team coach for Sam Allardyce with the FA and England. An excellent professional, Shakespeare first became Pearson’s assistant in June 2008.
Steve Walsh, meanwhile, worked as both a scout and assistant manager for Pearson during the 7 years he worked alongside him. Both Leicester City and Hull City fans will wax lyrical about the former P.E. teachers scouting abilities.
Just as he is a huge loss to Leicester, he is a huge loss to Pearson, who had one of the finest scouts in the game. He unearthed countless gems over the best part of a decade at Leicester and Hull, including the likes of Riyad Mahrez, James Chester, Jamie Vardy and N’Golo Kante. As well as scouting the likes of Gianfranco Zola and Didier Drogba whilst at Chelsea.
Derby have had a poor start to the season
Pearson did bring Steve Hitchen and Rob Mackenzie to the iPro over the summer, the latter of whom worked closely with Walsh whilst at Leicester, but there is little evidence that he can replicate the incredible finds of Walsh just yet.
Certainly, Derby’s summer business inspired little faith. A fee of between £8-10 million for Matej Vydra seemed steep for a man who scored 3 league goals in 31 games at Reading last season. His 20 goals in the 2012/13 season showed he has undoubted ability, but he looks more than a little lost without Troy Deeney as a strike partner.
The Rams two other additions were Ikechi Anya, Chris Weale and James Wilson (on loan), rather light in terms of recruitment, although somewhat understandable given Derby’s expenditure in recent seasons.
A whole flurry of players departed the club in the summer though, most notably Chris Martin on-loan to Fulham, Derby’s top scorer in each of the last three seasons, a move which caused more than a few raised eyebrows.
Derby’s Chris Martin is on-loan at Fulham
Derby’s lack of goals should also come as little surprise. A defender during his playing days, Pearson’s first and foremost concern is building from the back. He will look to make Derby solid before putting an emphasis on free-flowing, attacking football.
The Derby team for a number of years now has had a possession-based approach. This is not something Pearson favours, preferring instead to get the ball forward quicker, making purposeful and more risky passes and hitting teams on the break at pace.
This is not a change which will happen overnight. Derby’s players are clearly struggling to adapt in this way, and Pearson has only a couple of first team signings who he has brought in himself. By the time Pearson started enjoying success at Leicester and Hull, he had brought in almost entirely his own team.
Nigel Pearson built his own teams at Leicester and Hull
Pearson’s move to Derby always seemed a strange one. It is quite apparent that he is a manager who builds projects, rather than a quick-fix, whilst Derby owner Mel Morris does not seem the type of character who will give managers years and years to build a team in their image.
This leaves the Rams in a tricky situation, they either back Pearson to bring in his own players and give him the time to build his squad in the hope that he can replicate the success he had at former clubs without key men such as Craig Shakespeare and Steve Walsh, or they sack him should their poor form continue and return to a state of uncertainty and instability.
Derby have four winnable fixtures coming up against Blackburn, Cardiff, Reading and Leeds. This presents a fantastic opportunity for Pearson to get some points on the board, but also a real danger, as there will be genuine pressure on him even at this early stage should he fail to pick up at least 4 points from those fixtures.
Nigel Pearson faces an uphill battle at Derby County
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