Opposition View: Derby County

The FA Cup Fifth Round draw has paired Brighton and Hove Albion with another Championship play off chaser in the shape of Frank Lampard’s Derby County.

Derby are one of the longest serving clubs in the second tier having been playing at that level since 2007. They’ve come close to a Premier League return on several occasions, falling in the play offs three times in the past five campaigns to have a record in the end of season lottery that is nearly as bad as the Albion’s.

Can Lampard be the man to finally deliver top flight football for the locals at Pride Park? And what can we expect from Derby at the Amex in terms of how seriously they will treat the tie? We spoke to Ollie Wright from the Derby County Blog to find out.

Talk us through Derby’s season so far – how are things going and is promotion a realistic aim?
We are realistic play-off contenders and I would be really disappointed if we missed the top six. It would be a bit of a shock if any of the current top four dropped considerably lower, though, so it feels most likely that we will be pushing for fifth or sixth by the end of the season (for anybody wanting chapter and verse, I wrote a two-part blog at www.derbycountyblog.com before last weekend’s game against Hull City, assessing where we are up to in more depth ).

Who have been the Rams stand out performers in 2018-19?
One of the benefits of taking on Frank Lampard for his first managerial post was the sheer cachet he brought to the club. Put simply, players’ heads are turned when he wants to talk to them. It was undoubtedly the Lampard Effect which delivered Derby two exceptional loan signings from the Premier League in Harry Wilson (from Liverpool – every Championship team with half a chance wanted him) and Mason Mount (from Chelsea – and reportedly bound for a loan spell in the Bundesliga until Lampard weighed in).

Mount has been our most creative midfielder (and is currently a big miss due a hamstring injury), but Wilson’s impact has been explosive. His shooting is lethal from anywhere and his free kicks have become the stuff of legend since his world-class goal at Old Trafford helped Derby to knock Manchester United out of the League Cup.

Those two aside, striker Jack Marriott has comfortably made the step-up from League 1 after signing from Peterborough United in the summer; Mount’s fellow Chelsea loanee Fikayo Tomori has impressed at centre back and the 18 year-old right back Jayden Bogle has become a virtual ever-present in his breakthrough season.

What is Frank Lampard like as a manager? Have you been impressed?
This is a challenging job and before he was appointed, my feeling was that Pride Park was no place for a rookie. However, Lampard is obviously an intelligent, thoughtful man, who is able to learn fast. He brought trusted backroom staff with him from Chelsea, who have helped him to adjust to his new responsibilities and although he is operating at a tier beneath the one he played at with such distinction, his knowledge of EFL players has still allowed him to make judicious signings, such as Marriott and Duane Holmes, a £700,000 snip from Scunthorpe United.

Lampard has undoubtedly made mistakes and there have been some disappointing results along the way, but if I’d been offered seventh in the table at this stage before a ball was kicked (plus the bonuses of passage through to the fifth round of the FA Cup and a League Cup giant-killing at Old Trafford), then I’d have taken it. For his first season as a manager, he’s not doing badly at all.

You’ve mentioned Tomori who we also had on loan in the second half of our promotion season. Tell us a little more about his time at Pride Park so far?
Tomori signed as competition and cover for the experienced Richard Keogh and Curtis Davies, but Davies had his season wrecked by injury early on and Tomori has really stepped up. His pace is a terrific asset and he has a bit of skill for a defender, too – plus a lot of passion for the game, which has helped him to win the fans over. For a 21 year-old to be putting in such eye-catching performances at a very tough level is great to see and I suspect that Lampard will be talking to Chelsea about whether we can sign him permanently next summer, because he’s the kind of player we could do with for the long-term.

How seriously can we expect to Derby to be taking the FA Cup?
Lampard seems hellbent on trying to win the thing, if he possibly can. In the third round, against Southampton, he gave an opportunity to youth teamer Max Bird in midfield at Pride Park, but other than that, you couldn’t say that a ‘weakened’ team has been fielded in any of the cup games. In fact, he even went as far as resting key midfielder Tom Huddlestone for our midweek trip to Ipswich Town ahead of this game, with a view to him playing in the cup – a decision which felt totally counter-intuitive, given the scrupulously observed managerial doctrine of ‘focus on the league’.

Who of the players likely to play at the Amex should Brighton be most wary of?
Wilson is an outstanding striker of the ball, as I previously mentioned. Burly centre forward Martyn Waghorn has been leading the line of late, with Marriott absent through injury. He scored in the third and fourth rounds, then netted a league brace against Hull, so he is in decent form.

Mount will definitely miss out and Marriott wasn’t involved at Ipswich, so will most likely be a sub at best for Saturday (although you never know with Lampard). Another potential source of interest is Ashley Cole, who is in the squad and awaiting the opportunity to make his first start, having so far only appeared as a late sub against Hull at Pride Park.

What was the reaction among Derby fans like when you drew the Albion?
Well, first of all, we had to wait to find out which of the Albions it would be! It was muted, to be honest. You know what it’s like when the cup draw comes round. You either want a glamour tie, or the smallest possible team, at home, to give you the best chance of progress. This was neither and was yet another away tie – and far away, at that – which was not ideal. But it’s another game we can win and we go into it without any fear.

Brighton and Derby have had plenty of battles over the last few years. Any stand out memories that preferably don’t involve the term “play off semi final”?
Sorry, but it really is that one, which goes down as one of my favourite games. I thoroughly enjoyed the 3-0 home win the season after the play-off encounter, too. However, that was a case of winning a battle before losing the war, with promotion remaining elusive for the Rams, while the Seagulls soar…

Finally, how do you see the game going?
Derby’s four cup ties against Premier League opponents this season have finished 2-2 (Manchester United, away), 2-3 (Chelsea, away), 2-2 and 2-2 (Southampton, home and away), so it’s clear that Derby have enough attacking threat to cause problems, but probably not sufficient defensive strength to rely on progressing with a clean sheet. Goals galore would be the obvious prediction.

As Brighton tend to play without the ball at the moment and Derby like to have it, especially with Huddlestone at the base of the midfield, I can see a situation where the home side play on the counter for spells. The Premier League/Championship gap is not quite such a factor when you’re not facing the behemoths and so while clearly there are some quality players in the Brighton ranks, we won’t shut up shop and try to stifle – we can’t play that way. Ours is not the biggest or most physical of teams and so set plays and crosses are always an area which causes consternation and is definitely an area Brighton should be looking to exploit. I’m not sure if Glenn Murray is expected to start, but he will fancy his chances, if so.

I had expected Brighton to be coming into this game in good form, given their recent fixtures. That hasn’t turned out to be the case. Based on how competitive we have been in all of the games I mentioned, I see no reason why Derby can’t prevail again. Although it will be a tough game and Brighton will consider themselves as favourites, Derby have already won two penalty shoot-outs this season, in some style, as well.

Much will depend on the respective line-ups, but my hunch is that it will be a score draw after 90 minutes and go into extra time.

Thanks to Ollie for answering our questions ahead of the FA Cup fifth round tie between the Albion and Derby. You can keep an eye on Derby County Blog by following them on Twitter.