It’s been a half-season of two halves at the iPro.
It’s like 2014 all over again. Steve McClaren is back at the iPro and Derby are pushing for promotion once more. It’s fair to say they’ve come a long way since the catastrophe-ridden reign of Nigel Pearson.
Start to the season
The fact that the Return of the Mc 17 months after his sacking represented something of a safe pair of hands goes to show the extent of the wreckage left behind by Nigel ‘the one-man wrecking ball’ Pearson.
After departing in typically acrimonious circumstances, plus a record of one win in nine, the most unpredictable manager in English football has set about salvaging Derby’s season.
And McClaren has done pretty well so far. As it stands, The Rams are in with more than a shout of a play-off spot if they maintain their current momentum. Seven wins in 11 games puts them right at the top of the form table. Who knows where they’d be if Pearson hadn’t sucked the life out of a talented squad during the opening weeks?
Performance of the manager
UEFA Cup finalist with Middlesbrough, title winner with Twente, yet sacked in calamitous circumstances at Wolfsburg, Nottingham Forest and Newcastle; you never know what you’re going to get with Steve McClaren.
Even during his first spell at the iPro, dazzling football and long winning runs eventually gave way to a late-season collapse, twice costing Derby the chance of promotion. However, the former England boss has unfinished business in the East Midlands and you wouldn’t bet against him getting it right at the third time of asking.
Team performance of the season
Where else? Tom Ince’s weaving wondergoal in the Brian Clough derby remains the defining moment of the campaign, capping a 3-0 win and ensuring the bragging rights, not to mention the points, stayed on the white half of the East Midlands.
Star Player
Derby’s decision to allow Chris Martin, the club’s top scorer for the last three campaigns, to leave for Fulham on Deadline Day raised eyebrows at the time and, with The Rams boasting the worst goalscoring record in the top half, hindsight hardly helps make it appear any more sensible.
Without Tom Ince’s succession of goals since McClaren’s return, Derby may well be duking it out with the Bristol Citys rather than the Brightons of the division. The winger’s speed, skill and clinical finishing have more than compensated for the profligacy of Darren Bent and club-record signing Matej Vydra. How long that will continue, however, is anyone’s guess.
Which brings us swiftly on to…
Where to strengthen in January?
See above.
Leeds United have Chris Wood, Newcastle have Dwight Gayle, Brighton have Glenn Murray. As for Derby, well, their second-highest goalscorer has a grand total of two.
Likelihood of strengthening in January?
Hard to tell. McClaren has been very cagey when discussing potential incomings so far but it’s hard to shake the feeling that reported target Jordan Rhodes could be everything Derby need to bolster their hopes of promotion.
A prolific goalscorer in a struggling Blackburn side, the Scotland international could make the difference between a long-awaited Premier League return and another near miss.
Challenges ahead
McClaren’s previous two seasons in charge ended in heartbreak of differing degrees. The play-off final defeat to QPR in 2014, sealed by Bobby Zamora’s last gasp winner, preceded an alarming drop in form that left Derby outside of the play-off positions in the following campaign and earned the manager his P45.
Therefore, the 55-year-old should have a plan in place for avoiding a repeat but only time will tell.
Predicted finish
6th. There’s more than enough quality in the current Derby crop to earn a place among the league’s top six come May. Provided Tom Ince stays fit. And they sign a striker. And they avoid the McClaren slump.
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