Derby County lost 2-1 at Millwall Saturday.
Some Derby County supporters have taken to Twitter to criticise boss Frank Lampard’s decision to play Bradley Johnson in a holding midfield role during Saturday’s clash with Millwall.
The Rams headed to the south of London looking for a much-improved Championship performance after their last outing – an embarrassing 4-1 home drubbing to Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds United.
But for the second league game running, Derby fell behind to an early goal and looked out of sorts as they constantly put themselves under pressure by trying to play the ball out from the back.
Lampard, a multiple Premier League winner with Chelsea, has set his stall out at Derby for the team to play an expansive possession-based style, but doing so with Championship players may be deemed naïve.
Taking to Twitter, Derby fans weren’t impressed with the decision to play Johnson in the key holding role, and his poor performance only raised further doubts over Lampard’s judgement.
Johnson joined Derby for a club record transfer fee back in 2015, but he has mostly endured a tough time at Pride Park, struggling to play in a side who for most of the past three seasons have looked to dominate the ball.
The former Norwich City man has qualities, but passing and quick-fire movement off the ball aren’t among them. Playing him in a deeper role with the aim of him instigating build-up play probably isn’t wise.
Last season Johnson managed a pass completion rate of just 67.6%, while so far this campaign his 72.4% (Whoscored) still is nowhere near good enough for a side intent on playing out from the back.
Both first-half goals conceded against Millwall were entirely avoidable, and it left the east Midlands club with a mountain to climb, as the Lions held out for all three points.
Lampard will be looking for an improved display at home to Ipswich in midweek, but to do so he must address the Derby midfield problem – and perhaps not task certain players with roles they aren’t comfortable or capable of carrying out.
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