Derby County

Derby County should only be judged when they have a fully-fit squad and after 46 games, says boss John Eustace.

The Rams head into Tuesday's Championship match against Charlton still looking for their first home win of the season, with only six points on the board after seven games.

"We're seven games in, the season is 46 games," Eustace told BBC Radio Derby.

"You don't get judged where you are at the moment, you get judged where you finish and it's important we keep working hard, keep working together and see where it takes us."

Eustace revealed forwards Corey Blackett-Taylor and Rhian Brewster, along with defender Owen Beck, will not return before the international break next week but says they are not far from having a full squad to choose from.

"It's about the squad and if we can get a fully-fit squad, they're all going to make an impact on a Saturday," he added.

"We haven't been fortunate to have a fully-fit squad yet; we're nearly there now and it's really exciting."

Image source, Opta

Derby go in search of their first home win of the campaign as Charlton head to Pride Park on Tuesday (20:00 BST).

Saturday's 1-1 draw at Wrexham made it five points from their past three away games for the Rams, but they have begun the season with a single point from three home games, and went down 1-0 to Preston in their most recent fixture in front of their own fans to extend their winless streak at home to six games, dating back to last season.

County are fourth-bottom with six points from seven games, five fewer than the Addicks, who sit seventh after back-to-back wins, at Sheffield United and then 3-0 at home to Blackburn on Saturday.

Nathan Jones' men have kept four clean sheets in their opening seven matches, including two in their three away games.

• Derby lost their last league meeting with Charlton 2-1 in February 2024, but haven't lost back-to-back league games versus the Addicks since January 1984.

• After their 2-1 win in February 2024, Charlton could win back-to-back away league visits to Derby for the first time since December 1962 (4 in a row).

• Derby have alternated between drawing (3) and losing (3) their past six home league games; they had won three in a row on home soil prior to this.

• Charlton have won four of their past seven away league games (D1 L2), beating Sheffield United 1-0 in their most recent.

• Charlton's Nathan Jones has only lost one of his seven previous managerial league games against Derby (W3 D3), falling to a 0-2 defeat with Luton in April 2021.

Image source, Opta

It's a first trip across the border into Wales this season for Derby County as they look to climb out of the relegation places with a win at Wrexham on Saturday (12:30 BST).

Wrexham are yet to win at home this season having picked up one point at the Racecourse Ground.

Derby County were edged out 1-0 by Preston North End previously, while Wrexham beat Norwich City 3-2 at Carrow Road.

• This is the first league meeting between Wrexham and Derby since a 1-1 draw in the second tier in April 1982.

• Derby won their last meeting with Wrexham in all competitions, beating them 3-1 in an FA Cup third round tie in 2007 thanks to an Arturo Lupoli hat-trick.

• Wrexham have lost two of their three home league games this season (D1), as many as they had in their previous 27 (W20 D5).

• Derby have lost just one of their last six away league games (W3 D2), going down 3-1 at Stoke on the opening weekend this season.

• Wrexham have faced more shots (115) and have a higher xG against (14.9) than any other side in the Championship this season. However, Derby have had the fewest shots (42) and the lowest xG (4.5) of any side this term.

Image source, BBC Sport

Derby County midfielder Liam Thompson has suffered a knee injury during training that will keep him out for four to five weeks, boss John Eustace has confirmed.

The 23-year-old appeared in three of the Rams' opening Championship matches this season but has been missing from the squad for the past two against West Bromwich Albion and Preston North End.

Left-back Owen Beck is expected back after the next international break, while striker Rhian Brewster has returned to training and could be available for the game against Southampton in October.

Defender Sondre Langas has not yet been ruled out from the upcoming trip to Wrexham on Saturday (12:30 BST) but Eustace is in no rush to reintroduce the Norway international as he recovers from knee surgery.

"It might be a little bit too soon but we will see," Eustace told BBC Radio Derby.

"It's really important we don't push him because he's going to be a vital player for us going forward. I think there's competition for places in there and the players who have played in there up to now have done well, so let's put him in there when the time is right."

Listen to the full interview with Eustace and more Derby County content on BBC Sounds.

"I was the angriest I've ever been at half-time watching any game live. It just simply wasn't good enough in the first half."

"When you set up a team and the players go out there and they don't get to the level that a top professional footballer could get, I was shaking at half-time I was that angry."

Malcolm Christie, Ed Dawes and Dominic Dietrich analyse the defeat to Preston North End, discuss the need for more able ball-carriers in the first XI, as well as where the Rams stand after the opening six games and the consequences of a potential Championship play-off expansion.

Listen to the full episode of Rams Weekly and more Derby County on Sounds.

A potential move to take the Championship play-offs down to eighth place would damage the competition's credibility, according to former Huddersfield, Stoke and Middlesbrough defender Tommy Smith.

The EFL board is set to discuss proposals to increase the number of teams in the end-of-season play-offs from four to six but Smith, who was promoted to the Premier League with Huddersfield via the play-offs in 2017 is not a fan of the idea.

"It's not for me - I think it suits teams who don't really have a chance to get in the top six," he told the BBC's EFL podcast 72+.

"From a credibility point of view the top six is there to be aimed at and you have to earn your place in it."

The play-offs were first introduced for the 1986-87 season where sides finishing third down to fifth were involved along with the team third-from-bottom in the top flight.

After two seasons the format was changed to be played out between teams finishing third to sixth in the second tier.

"To finish eighth in the Championship and potentially get promoted to the Premier League it just doesn't sit right with me," added Smith.

"Notoriously over the past years getting into the top six is tough and when you get in there after a long hard season it feels brilliant, so to make it a top eight it dilutes it."

Amelia Warren
Fan writer

Image source, Rex Features

After collecting our first three-point haul of the season at The Hawthorns, Derby were looking to carry momentum into the home game with Preston.

Prior to kick-off, many fans were confident we'd see a more attacking approach at home, perhaps shuffling to four at the back, as opposed to the back five and low-block tactic deployed the previous week.

In a shock to many, though, John Eustace had opted to keep the back five at home, looking to play quickly on the counter attack with Bobby Clark and Ben Brereton Diaz to provide the width.

However, after the 15-minute mark it became apparent this was the wrong move from Eustace, which is not something Derby fans have said often since the beginning of his tenure.

The approach across the whole of the first half felt very similar to the football we'd seen under Paul Warne, lacking in creativity and ideas, with our only real pattern of play seeming to be to pass across the back line and then play the long ball forwards towards Brereton Diaz or Carlton Morris, who both had equally tough aerial battles throughout the afternoon.

A stunning strike from Alfie Devine saw the visitors take a 1-0 lead into the break, despite many feeling that conceding could have been prevented had our defence got tighter to close down the space Devine had to take the shot.

Derby needed to come out differently in the second half - a change of personnel and change of shape was desperately needed, and that's exactly what Eustace provided.

Patrick Agyemang was introduced for his home debut with Callum Elder being replaced, and playing with a back four saw a much better second half from Derby.

Agyemang showed his worth by being a handful for the Preston defence, carving out a few opportunities, but despite Derby's best attacking efforts, and Eustace throwing the kitchen sink at it by introducing Lars Jorgen Salvesen for his first game in over six months, the Rams just could not find the equaliser.

A disappointing first half really felt like it had killed us. After a 'smash and grab' performance at The Hawthorns, it felt like this weekend we were now on the receiving end of that kind of away display.

Credit to Preston who defended resolutely and ground out a result, but perhaps a point would have been the fairest outcome in a game of two halves.

Derby must now regroup and take learnings from their unacceptable first-half performance before a difficult trip to Wrexham on Saturday, while also focusing on all the things they did right in an attacking sense in the second half.

Against opposition of a higher calibre on the road such as West Brom, you can understand why the low-block tactic and back five would be deployed. But you'd like to think Wrexham is a winnable game on paper for Derby, and should we line up with four at the back and take the game to them from the first whistle, I don't see why the Rams can't bounce back and take something from the game.

Set up with the back five, however, and invite pressure from a team high on confidence after a good away win, and it may be a case of unwanted deja vu for the Rams.

You can often catch Amelia Warren, external as a guest on BBC Radio Derby.

Derby County's 1-0 loss to Preston North End at Pride Park on Saturday has brought many fans back down to earth after the excitement of a victory against pacemakers West Bromwich Albion the previous week.

But where does the problem lie? Does the team just need more time to gel? Is it manager John Eustace who needs to reframe his approach?

Here are what the fans had to say in Radio Derby's latest call-in:

Ben said: "If we can be ambitious, if we can play the early ball, if we can leave a player up front to scare the opposition, be more confident in ourselves, we've absolutely got the players to do really well in this league. Absolutely got the individual players but they've got to start playing as a team and with a bit of belief."

Garford said: "He [Eustace] has had more than enough time to impose a philosophy and a style of play on that team and he keeps getting it wrong. You know I keep calling him 'Useless Eustace' and it's for a reason - he's not really shaping up for the job.

"I'm not writing him off already but I'm saying at the start of the season, he's put his own football club at a disadvantage."

Andy said: "I admire Eustace as a coach, I'm just questioning why he didn't make a change sooner. Not necessarily a substitution but to have brought one of the back five out.

"I think what we need to have is a plan B that we are ready to implement and looking at the players we've got, we've got more flexibility this season with the likes of Bobby Clark and arguably Lewis Travis as well."

Andy said: "It's so early in the season to be pulling the team apart... and the manager. We've got a lot of issues unresolved and a lot of us don't actually know the fitness of the squad and the levels they are at.

"I always thought that it would be after the second international break that things will start and settle down and I still think that. I'm absolutely confident."

Listen to the full episode of Sportscene and more Derby County content on BBC Sounds.

"I'm hoping the players are hurt and I'm hoping they are disappointed by that because that was way below what you have to give in the Championship.

"Attitude, tempo just wasn't there and that's got to frustrate the players. If the players don't feel it after watching that game back, then we are in a bit of trouble."

BBC Radio Derby's Dominic Dietrich and Ed Dawes are joined by former Derby County goalkeeper Eric Steele to discuss Saturday's disappointing home defeat against Preston North End.

Listen to the full reaction and more Derby County content on BBC Sounds.

Sam Fletcher
Final Score reporter

Image source, Rex Features

Derby have all the ingredients to bake something special, so why can't they get the results?

The first half against Preston North End was pretty forgettable for the Rams but the second half left more questions.

You could call it bad luck, but perhaps Rams boss John Eustace needs to question if something is missing. There's plenty of talent in both the starting XI and on the bench, plenty of balls in the box, but against Preston they were struggling to convert the chances of the second half.

American summer signing Patrick Agyemang looked very sharp off the bench and nearly found his first Championship goal with multiple decent chances.

He has only played two games, missing the start of the season because of a hernia operation, but maybe he could become a key part of a winning recipe in games to come.

Derby County head coach John Eustace spoke to BBC Radio Derby after his side was beaten 1-0 at home by Preston North End.

"The first-half performance wasn't anywhere near good enough, we are all very disappointed about that, but I thought in the second half we showed lots of energy and it was more like us. And I thought we were really unlucky not to at least get an equaliser," he said.

"We have battled away in the last three or four games, and we have had a good solid formation to play from, and today that first-half formation didn't work for us and we were a little too passive and not getting tight enough.

"We deservedly went in [at half-time] 1-0 down, but it's about learning and growing as a group and getting the right formula and chemistry between the players. I thought today, the changes in the second half showed a different side to us."

After losing their opening two Championship games, resurgent Derby will seek to make it four games unbeaten as Preston head to Pride Park on Saturday (15:00 BST).

After stopping the rot with draws against Bristol City and Ipswich, the Rams picked up their first win of the campaign with an eye-catching 1-0 success at West Brom last time out.

The Lilywhites have taken seven points from three tough fixtures at Deepdale, beating Leicester, Ipswich and then becoming the first team to take a point off Middlesbrough last time out, they have however only taken one point from their opening two away games.

• Derby County have lost just one of their past 15 home league games against Preston North End (W9 D5), winning five of their last six to nil.

• Preston North End have won just two of their last 20 league meetings with Derby County (D6 L12), with both of those coming in the 2020-21 Championship campaign (1-0 away, 3-0 home).

• The two sides who've had the fewest shots in the Championship this season are Derby County (35) and Preston North End (47) and although the Rams have the worst xG in the league (4.1), they also have the best conversion rate (22.9%).

• Preston have the second lowest passing accuracy (70%) of any Championship side so far this season, and have played the highest percentage of their passes long (23%).

• Paul Heckingbottom will take charge of his 50th Championship game as Preston North End manager – only one of the last eight managers have celebrated a half century of league games with PNE with victory (D1 L6), Alan Irvine winning 2-0 versus Bristol City in 2008.

Derby County boss John Eustace said it has been a "really good week" following his side's first win of the season, as he and his players strive to bring some consistency to their performances.

Derby's 1-0 victory over Midlands rivals West Bromwich Albion last Saturday was their first of the campaign, also delivering an opening clean sheet of 2025-26.

"It has been a really good week," Eustace told BBC Radio Derby. "Win, lose or draw, the lads are always in a really positive state of mind, and that was no different this Monday.

"It was great to get our first victory of the season, but their is a lot of hard work ahead, and the lads have worked really hard this week.

"It is about doing the right things week in week out on the training pitch, and keeping that level of consistency and seeing where it takes us."

Derby face Preston, Wrexham and Charlton over the next three games, two of which are newly-promoted sides in the Championship.

Preston have only lost one game this season to Portsmouth and are currently sat just outside the play-off spots, whilst Derby lie 19th.

While Derby's aspirations this term are to be about more than fighting relegation, Eustace is mindful that the turnover of players over the summer will naturally lead to early inconsistencies in their play.

"It is about winning games at the end of the day," added Eustace.

"You want to get the three points. You have to be very respectful of the opposition. Preston have had a really good start, a fantastic manager and they have recruited really well.

"They have a lot of experience in the league so we know it is going to be a really difficult game, and one we are really looking forward to.

"We want a style of play but we also want to win games, and it takes time to get exactly where we want to get to.

"We have had 13 new players come in, and moved 13 on. So, we haven't had that consistency of a starting 11 yet.

"With those levels of consistency [in your starting 11] your performances usually improve, until we get that it is important we just keep being competitive in every game we play."

Listen to the full pre-match interview with Eustace and more Derby County content on BBC Sounds

"Having Lewis Travis playing alongside Ebou Adams, can Travis bring out a different side of Adams? Ebou played just under 10% of his passes forward and Lewis played over 70% of his passes forward.

"You think about having the right balance and the right mix, if we have two players in the same team doing the exact same job, we would be saying the balance is off.

"I hope because Ebou is a nice guy and the fans love him, that he can create that position alongside Travis as his own, but that will only come with time."

Malcolm Christie, Dominic Dietrich and Ed Dawes reflect on Derby's 1-0 win at West Brom. Can Ebou Adams cement his place in the Derby starting 11 alongside Lewis Travis? And who are the key members of the Rams squad?

Listen to the full episode of Rams Weekly and more on Sounds.

Amelia Warren
Fan writer

Image source, Rex Features

Derby's long-awaited first win of the campaign came on Saturday, although it perhaps doesn't come as too much of a shock with hosts West Brom failing to beat the Rams in front of fans for 15 years now.

Nevertheless, Derby's luck against the Baggies combined with resolute defensive work and some excellent impact substitutions means it's now five points from five matches for John Eustace's side, with the Championship table finally starting to reflect the Rams' ever-improving performances.

All of Derby's defence, including goalkeeper Jacob Widell Zetterstrom, deserve credit for keeping their side in the game, despite having to ride out constant waves of attacking pressure from the hosts. However, the two standout performances came courtesy of Matt Clarke and Dion Sanderson.

Having received plenty of criticism from fans in his first couple of appearances, Sanderson is now starting to look much more comfortable. Three last-ditch blocks at 0-0 allowed the momentum to shift back in Derby's favour.

It's perhaps no coincidence that under Eustace's leadership he's been able to bed in so quickly, and put a few shaky performances at the start of the campaign behind him. Sanderson has looked much more composed on the ball, and generally more defensively solid.

Another 'first name on the team sheet' contender for the weekend is Clarke. Each game that he steps into his role of commanding Derby's backline he looks better and better.

At the weekend I'm pretty sure West Brom could've crossed a brick into the box and he'd of headed it back, it felt like every attacking threat West Brom possessed was dealt with by Clarke before it could even trouble us.

Fans always love a player who will give their all for the shirt and consistently put their body on the line- Clarke does exactly that week-in, week-out.

Another positive sign for the Rams was seeing new faces be the difference. All too often last season, Derby crumbled at the back end of matches due to having a lack of quality in their substitutions, far too often this led to points being dropped and draws turning into defeats.

Having the likes of Patrick Agyemang and Andreas Weimann available off the bench shows just how vast the improvement in squad depth has been, and ultimately it ended up being four summer signings who crafted the goal that won the game.

Max Johnston and Lewis Travis combined on the right, before Agyemang showed exactly what he's all about in the box by rising highest and outmuscling his marker to flick the ball onto Weimann.

And huge credit must go to the Austrian for his composure to finish off the move. A lot of players would have snatched at the chance and perhaps hit the crowd of bodies ahead, but by biding his time and bettering his striking position, Weimann made no mistake, with the pull-back finish only showcasing his technical experience and quality even more.

It wasn't the prettiest of wins, but against top-half opposition away from home I believe it was exactly the sort of performance Eustace intended to execute.

Looking ahead to Saturday I expect to see a slight shift in our approach. Being at home I would imagine Eustace would like us to be more aggressive from the start, pressing high, looking to have much more of the ball, and ultimately creating more goalscoring opportunities.

A tough test awaits with the visit of Preston North End. The Lilywhites have had a much better start to the campaign than many would have imagined, only losing once in their opening five matches.

Despite this though, with Derby full of confidence and back at Pride Park, I can only see the Rams making the most of their momentum and claiming back-to-back victories.

You can often catch Amelia Warren, external as a guest on BBC Radio Derby.

Andi Weimann hopes Rams fans will finally see the best of him after his match-winning turn off the bench at former club West Bromwich Albion.

The 34-year-old netted the only goal just four minutes after coming on at The Hawthorns, his first Rams strike in more than seven years.

The Austria forward scored just nine goals in 88 appearances in his first Derby spell after arriving from Aston Villa in 2015, eventually moving to Bristol City after three seasons at Pride Park, one of which saw him loaned out to Wolves.

Weimann rejoined the Rams in the summer from Blackburn and told BBC Radio Derby he was finally back to full fitness after a meniscus injury sustained last season.

"Hopefully I can kick on now - I'm ready to show how good I am," Weimann said.

"Coming on and getting the winner is always nice. I didn't show my best side I think the first time I was (at Derby), I want to do that now and hopefully I can show more of that.

"I think it is a great squad, the manager and the club have done brilliant to get the players in that they have. I think the 25-man squad we have is really good.

"There's lots of competition on the bench and a couple of players coming back. We'll aim as high as we can."

Click here to listen to the full interview via BBC Sounds.

Image source, Getty Images

John Eustace has named Lewis Travis as Derby County's club captain for the 2025-26 season after the midfielder skippered the Rams in the 1-0 win at West Bromwich Albion on Saturday.

Travis only signed for the Rams in the final week of the summer transfer window from Blackburn Rovers where he was previously their captain, including under Eustace.

"I think Travis is a natural leader, he's a fantastic professional, he leads by example," Eustace told BBC Radio Derby.

Former captain Ebou Adams will now be vice-captain after leading Derby through the second half of the 2024-25 season, following Eustace's arrival in February, and the first few weeks of the current season.

"Soon as I told [Adams] what we were looking to do he said, 'That's absolutely no problem, I'm here for the team'. And that's the kind of character that we've got there," Eustace added.

Listen to Eustace's full post-match thoughts and more Derby County on Sounds.

Chris Latchem
BBC Final Score reporter

Image source, Getty Images

That old Blackburn connection eh? It worked a charm at the weekend. A lot was made of John Eustace going back to what he knows best and lifting three players from Ewood Park in the summer.

It paid dividends as Derby County ruined West Brom's Hawthorns hurrah on the stadium's 125th birthday.

Captain Lewis Travis was so busy in midfield, constantly coaxing and corralling his team-mates into position and demanding the standards that delivered a first Championship clean sheet of the season.

While much of the credit must go to goalkeeper Jacob Widell Zetterstrom, the headlines were snatched by Andi Weiman for his cool, classy winner.

Eustace worked with Weiman at Blackburn and knew just what the wily Austrian would add in his first full season with Derby.

He'll now hope his experienced ally has kick-started the Rams' so far stuttering season.

Derby County head coach John Eustace talks to BBC Radio Derby after the Rams win 1-0 at West Bromwich Albion.

When asked it was the perfect away performance, he said: "I think so, yeah. Obviously we didn't want to be as deep as we were in that first half, but we defended the box very well.

"At half-time we just said we wanted to push the team up the pitch another 10 or 15 yards, which we did. We also had to be better with the ball, because we kept giving it away too easy in the first half.

"The second half was a really pleasing performance, and what a great way to win with five minutes to go - one of your subs coming off the bench to score like he did.

"It was great to get Andreas on, I know what he is all about - in those important moments he can put the ball in the net. He has done it for years."