Gary Rowett suggests Derby are too reliant on Matej Vydra

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Derby County have struggled for form of late as they slip down to fourth in the Championship table.

Derby County boss Gary Rowett believes his side have become too reliant on Matej Vydra and has urged his fellow attacking players to step up and chip in with more goals, dcfc.co.uk reports.

After such an impressive run of form lifting them up to second in the Championship table, the Rams have since managed just one win in their last six and have fallen five points adrift of the automatic promotion spots.

Their poor run of form has largely coincided with top scorer Vydra’s inability to add to his goal tally, and it is becoming an increasing worry to see just how reliant the Rams are on the Czech international.

Speaking ahead of his side’s clash with Reading, Rowett has admitted as much and urged his fellow attacking players to help out by taking the pressure off and finding the net with more regularity.

“There’s a general feel, and I don’t want it to be a criticism, that Matej Vydra is on 18 goals and we’d like some of our other attacking players to be closer to him,” Rowett told the club’s official website.

“You’d hope to have one of the strikers and wide players to be in and around double figures, as well as the centre-backs chipping in with a few goals.

“I said it after the game against Leeds but some of the players around Vyds have got to help ease that burden on him.

As shown by the table provided by Opta, Vydra is far and away Derby’s top scorer this season and their next best performer David Nugent has managed only six Championship goals thus far.

Since the departure of Johnny Russell and the injury to Sam Winnall, the East Midlands side have fewer options to call upon in the final third and it is no doubt having a negative impact right now.

With Derby out of form, they cannot afford another negative result against Reading this weekend, as further dropped points could soon see an unassailable gap form between themselves and that all-important second spot.