Deflated, dejected and drained, Derby left The Den defeated again. Derby fans left The Den asking, “Where were the spirit and the defensive discipline that we saw at Sheffield United?” Fundamentals basics of defending were absent from the off.

Derby may currently be “in a relegation battle” but after the spirited draw at Bramall Lane, John Eustace is upbeat. “I don't think the confidence has ever gone,” he told the media on Thursday, citing “lots of circumstances why we've let leads slip or conceded in difficult moments.” It seems fair to file Dion Sanderson’s sending off last weekend among those. Next to it, is a rather large file marked injuries. But the likes Jacob Widell Zetterström, Alex Mowatt and Max Joh

Photo: Joe Egerton Bravo to the travelling Rams fans who braved the yellow-warning-worthy weather to travel to Bramall Lane. If only Dion Sanderson had heeded his. A goal to the good thanks to Bobby Clark, Derby were relatively in control when the centre back went in on substitute Femi Seriki as he led a Sheffield United counter down their left. Some will argue it was soft, but with Ryan Hedges and Sam Szmodics covering, the challenge was needless. And it left referee Ste

When a manager walks into a post-match press conference after a hard-fought 1-0 away win, the first thing they are meant to do is sing the praises of their side. Not Mark Robins. Instead, he leapt to the defence of John Eustace, whose side are still without a home victory this season. “He’s got a lot of injuries, John. Loads and loads of injuries, mostly in the backline, but a key injury to [forward] Patrick Agyemang. He’s a really good player. “So, he’s got a lot of in

The 4-0 defeat to Queens Park Rangers that was John Eustace’s first game in charge of Derby laid bare the difficulty of the job he had taken on. Now keeping it seems a bigger task than ever. Looking to build on the positives of Saturday’s 1-1 draw at home to Wrexham, the Rams boss named an unchanged XI at Loftus Road. Also unchanged, were Derby’s fortunes from that night exactly 20 months ago. This was a horrendous of full circle moment. Yes, I’d written that before Lars-

At half-time, Sam Griffiths knew she needed to do something. Playing at Pride Park for the first time in two-and-a-half years, her Ewes side were behind. Sian Gibrill-Keating had nodded Hull City Ladies in front after getting on the end of a free kick midway through the first half. Not long after Derby captain Emily Joyce had headed against the bar from a corner at the other end, it was the golden chance that Hull had been begging for. On what was arguably the biggest occas

Mo Fuseini sprints through the middle of the pitch following a Wrexham corner and finds Sam Szmodics. He might not have the same pace, but he oozes confidence as he connects with the pass across the inside-left, takes it around Zak Vyner to open up space and curls it into the top-left corner from 20 yards. Three weeks on the training ground brought a refreshed, better-drilled Rams side back to Pride Park. It is just a shame that Wrexham’s birthday boy Ollie Rathbone was int

With a cartwheel, back flip and a flex of his muscles, Mo Fuseini sprinted away in celebration. When he received Rhian Brewster’s pass from just behind the halfway line and raced through down the inside-right, the Ghanaian attacker had the weight of his team on his shoulders After 92 minutes of pedestrian, lacklustre football between two of the Championship’s bottom three, a chance to rescue a deserved point at Turf Moor. The lightning fast forward delivered a finish to mat

Three consecutive defeats for the first time since John Eustace’s first three games in charge; this is the lowest ebb of the head coach’s Rams tenure. His side end a bruising week with two losses. To ten-man West Brom, who had not won at Pride Park in 23 years, and Birmingham City, in what was just the second loss in seven games where Eustace has faced a club he previously managed. That is not to say that the 46-year-old’s job prospects are terminal – he has brought Derby

Given his surname, maybe it should not be surprising that the way James Morrison’s Baggies side shut up shop on Wednesday night was supremely impressive. There was wave after wave of Derby pressure, with no real threat to Max O’Leary’s goal. West Brom remained steadfastly alert off the ball despite being a player down for over an hour. Unfortunately for John Eustace, possession does not win you points; 78 per cent in the second half would have easily secured all three if it

After Saturday’s 3-0 defeat at West Ham, John Eustace called for his side to have more belief. What better way to cultivate that than with a rallying cry as in Monday’s pre-match press conference? In the opening month of the season, the Rams boss has spoken regularly about the need to build confidence and chemistry in his ranks. After a tough afternoon in front of more than 60,000 fans in London, a week with back-to-back home games against West Brom and Birmingham City repr

Leading The Rams on their first trip to the London Stadium, it looked as though John Eustace had one plan in mind: keep it tight. Facing West Ham was always going to be a tough task. Nuno Espirito Santo’s side possess two starting centre backs bought for a total of £60m, and the Championship’s most expensive import after they signed Celtic’s Belgian midfielder Arne Engels for £25m. Then there's Jarrod Bowen, who really should be playing European football this season. But un

How’s that for a response? After the depths of Saturday’s dismal defeat to Swansea and fears of regression if new faces did not arrive Tuesday brought a glorious fightback. John Eustace’s “true warriors” secured a 2-0 win over Portsmouth. Nobody at Fratton Park embodied that spirit more than Lars-Jørgen Salvesen. He scored within three minutes of coming off the bench, just hours after rejecting a loan move and opting to fight for his place. Eustace told BBC Radio Derby:

What’s Welsh for Blaugrana? Between Swansea’s deep blue and red away kit, and the way they effortlessly knocked the ball around amid Derby’s calamitous defending, watching Vitor Matos’ men was like watching Barcelona. Okay, not quite. But witnessing the way that The Rams were toyed with on a grim Saturday afternoon will have left many fans at the end of their tether.

Steve Bloomer’s watching and not even gravity can hold us down. Back at Pride Park for the first time since Turki Alalshikh’s takeover collapsed, David Clowes is determined not to let that do so either. A blame game surrounding what Derby County’s reluctant hero called “the ultimate bombshell” which left the club “stunned” and “dazed” will not happen – “it serves no purpose”. His message in the first programme of the season: it is business as usual, he will back “ultimate p

For 15 excellent minutes, Derby were in complete control. Joe Ward was delivering dangerous crosses aplenty in acres down the right as Charlton struggled to keep the ball for more than a few seconds. Even when the next action was fluffed or deliveries were cleared, Derby simply recycled, dominating duels on the edge of the box. In that time, a lovely bit of link-up between The Rams’ front two as Sam Szmodics found Carlton Morris, who took a delightfully deft touch to return

John Eustace told Rams TV on Saturday that bringing Sam Szmodics back to Derby County was “not rocket science.” His goal though, was a spectacular lift-off to his second spell at Pride Park. After a dismally dreary first 45 in front of a crowd of just over 11,000, it could have been the launchpad from which The Rams fought back. From which they showed Lincoln City that it would take a whole lot more to compete in their first season back in the second tier’s stratospheric he

That’s a wrap on the 2026 Derby County reunion tour. But whether in the presence of Jake Buxton, Nigel Clough, or as at the AESSEAL New York Stadium, Rotherham United technical director Steve McClaren, The Rams’ performances haven’t exactly been vintage. Though, in fairness, that is not the point of pre-season friendlies. They are simply the warmup gigs. The opportunity to tweak the set list, fine tune the staging or test out new equipment. Finding the optimum set-up takes

Many boxing fans have long praised prospective Derby investor Turki Alalshikh for making huge fights happen. While many of the Pride Park faithful are hoping for a similarly big impact, head coach John Eustace seems more cautious. In his first media interview of the season, Eustace spoke to BBC Radio Derby after Saturday’s 1-0 Bass Charity Vase defeat to Burton Albion. He said: “Obviously I’ve spoken to the club and they’ve mentioned that there is a takeover, but I think

It may soon be known as the Liam Thompson Derby, but this was apprentice versus master. In the first of two games in 24 hours, John Eustace took on the man who brought him to Pride Park twice, Nigel Clough. The former Rams boss has transformed Mansfield Town into a stable League One side, now sporting a strike partnership which Paul Warne likely dreams of: 2022-23 Rams player of the year David McGoldrick, and perennial target Michael Smith. Thompson was nowhere to be seen