Wed 14 Mar - Posted in Breaking News
Time to read: 4mins
One thing is for certain - Gary Rowett has improved Derby County since he joined 365 days ago.
The Rams may be in the midst of a difficult run of form, but they are still well placed to earn a spot in the Sky Bet Championship top-six, something that could not be said after 37 games last season, when Rowett arrived at the club.
We took an in-depth look at the numbers to see just how Rowett has got the best out of his squad throughout his 49 games in charge so far.
At this stage last season, Derby were well off the Championship play-off pace.
After a run of one win in nine games, it was time to make a change and Rowett – a former player both at the Baseball Ground and Pride Park Stadium – was selected as the man to take the Rams forward.
With 37 games gone this time around, Derby are better off in every sense.
They have won two more games, scored 16 more goals, conceded two less goals and ultimately, they have 10 more points than at this stage last season.
The Rams had 10 points to make up in order to fight their way into the top-six last term but this time around they find themselves with a three-point gap to seventh, as they look to reach the play-offs for the second time in three seasons.
Matej Vydra has been a revelation this season, but in reality, his resurgence began with the arrival of the new boss.
He scored during Rowett’s first game in charge against Nottingham Forest at the City Ground, and when you compare his record under his current manager to that under the previous two at Pride Park, the numbers tell the story.
In 28 games under Steve McClaren and his predecessor Nigel Pearson, Vydra scored just twice whilst recording a single assist.
In 39 appearances with Rowett at the helm, the forward has bagged 20 goals, whilst setting up his teammates seven times.
This improvement has come as a result of Vydra being fielded in his preferred No.10 role, something for which Rowett deserves huge credit.
Rowett averages 1.63 points per game with the Rams, compared to 1.62 with Burton Albion and 1.49 with Birmingham City.
Not only does he currently have the best record of his managerial career so far, but Derby’s haul of 62 points at this stage of the season has only been bettered twice in the past decade; in 2013/14 and 2014/15.
With nine games to go, Derby have the platform to continue to push for a place in the top-six throughout the final weeks of the campaign, whereas in previous campaigns at this point, Derby had been well out of the running.
Derby fans have got used to the back-three of Scott Carson, Richard Keogh and Curtis Davies this season, with the trio starting every single league game so far this term.
Rowett’s consistency in selection isn’t necessarily down to a lack of quality, with Alex Pearce – who missed just six league games last season – waiting in the wings, but the three regulars have produced the sort of form that has made them the first names on the team sheet.
The Rams previously went 11 games without conceding a goal from open play earlier this season and Carson rightly received plaudits for what was a sensational run, as he won the Championship Player of the Month award for December.
The No.1 has kept 18 clean sheets in 47 games under Rowett so far, just two shy of his career best under a single manager.
He recorded 20 shutouts under Ertugrul Saglam at Bursaspor, but that figure came in 64 games.
Rowett’s Derby have often been unfairly labelled as a defensive side, but the figures prove otherwise.
They have the league’s joint-top goalscorer in Vydra, and overall the Rams have scored 1.49 goals per game in the Championship so far during 2017/18.
As with points attained, only twice in recent years has that record been bettered, and with the likes of David Nugent, Cameron Jerome, Andreas Weimann, Tom Lawrence and Kasey Palmer supporting Vydra, Derby have the firepower to outscore any side in the division.
