Sat 06 Dec - Posted in Breaking News
Time to read: 4mins
Head Coach John Eustace admitted the ‘damage was done’ in the first half during his post-match reflection on Saturday afternoon’s 3-1 defeat to Leicester City.
The Rams had a mountain to climb in the second 45 minutes - finding themselves three behind at the break - but showed a spirited second half display, during which Sondre Langås headed home a pinpoint Joe Ward free-kick.
Langås and Bobby Clark threatened a second, while late substitute Curtis Nelson almost scored with his first touch back after an 11-month injury lay-off, but it wasn’t to be on a testing afternoon for Derby at Pride Park Stadium.
After the match, Eustace spoke to RamsTV, highlighting Wednesday’s home clash with Millwall as an immediate opportunity to ‘put things right’.
The first half was unacceptable; not good enough at all. All three goals could have been avoided. I thought we started the game really well, on the front foot, but the first goal knocked the stuffing out of the boys, and we just didn’t regroup.
I was really disappointed with our reaction. In the second half - at 3-0 down - the pressure was off - we huffed and puffed, but the damage was done in the first half.
We are missing a lot of characters and leaders on the pitch. I need people to step up and lead in difficult moments. We knew we could get the game back, but we didn’t get a foothold on the game in the first half.
The group have been excellent up to now this season. Everyone’s got an opportunity to stake a claim in that team and be the man, and we want people to step up and take their chance. There is a lot of hard work ahead; we’ll get back to work on Monday and go again.
I wanted a reaction after last week [at Middlesbrough]. We’ve got another opportunity now to regroup, look at the problems which we had in the first half today, and try to put things right. As long as we’re competitive, that’s all I ask. In the first half, we weren’t competitive enough.
It’s great to have Curtis back training and being part of the group. I was glad to give him some minutes today, that was good.
Defender Callum Elder also provided his post-game thoughts to RamsTV.
It was an extremely disappointing afternoon. We prepared well for the game. I thought we started well and tried to impose ourselves on the game.
But after that, we were nowhere near the levels we have shown over the last couple of months. There were too many gaps between the units, the basics. We didn't lay a glove on them. Against a team with their quality, you're going to get punished.
I think we need to show more leadership, more character, especially when the first one goes in. We needed to regroup.
We're the home side; it's a local derby. To concede three goals in the manner we did, it's not acceptable from our point of view. We need to show a lot more character in the group in times like that.
We came out in the second half, tried to get on the ball more, and I thought we did show a reaction. We got the goal back, got tighter to them and imposed ourselves more.
We just need to get back to basics, do what we're good at and show what we've shown in terms of levels over the last couple of months.
We've got a massive game on Wednesday back here, and we'll look to react from today. The crowd's been amazing with us, especially over the last couple of months. They've been right behind us; we need to give them something to cheer about, and we'll certainly look to do that on Wednesday.
It'll be a tough game, but we need to come out and match Millwall physically, take the game to them, and show a really strong reaction from today's performance.
Pride Park Stadium
Middlesbrough
Hull City
Wrexham
Derby County
Norwich City
Birmingham City
Swansea City
Bristol City
