Derby defeated after Morrison’s ten men shut up shop
Updated: 2 days ago
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 did.
The Rams started the game brightly, their attacks fluid and containing enough rotations to make fairground teacups dizzy. With Sam Szmodics playing as a false nine, Mo Fuseini in the inside left and Bobby Clark as a roaming 10, Derby caused early problems for Baggies skipper George Campbell and former Ram Nat Phillips. But nothing quite broke for them.
West Brom on the other hand, only needed one break. As the visitors pressed high, second-debutant Eiran Cashin’s clearance fell to Callum Styles, who found Jimmy-Jay Morgan. The former Peterborough man crossed to the front post, where Aune Heggebø got in front of Cashin and found the bottom-left corner.
“We didn't stop the cross and then the lad [Heggebø] just got away from Cash[in] a little bit. A little bit of match sharpness, possibly, for him in that area,” Eustace said of the Rams academy graduate, who only returned to training yesterday following his deadline day loan move.
Now ahead, the visitors limited Derby’s approach play by picking their moments when springing presses from their compact shape. Though they were powerless to hold off David Ozoh as he rode three challenges and found Sam Szmodics; his cross was mis-controlled by Mo Fuseini though.
On his first start, the Ghanaian’s movement was sharp, and just as rapid as at the London Stadium. But it was clear that his end product needs tidying up.
West Brom were reduced to ten in the 34th minute, when French right back Brayann Pereira was shown a second yellow card for a foul on Charlie Taylor. To make what had already become a nightmare debut for the 23-year-old worse, he appeared to injure himself in the process.
A player up and a goal down, The Rams were expected to take the game to their opponents, who were in an incredibly low block. The bus (or should that be a grocery delivery van?) was well and truly parked.
Derby looked tentative in their approach play. Though Ozoh went close, with his shot blocked by Phillips, and Ryan Hedges fired straight at O’Leary when sliding to reach Clark’s pass three yards out. Half-time could not come soon enough.
The second half brought a change in approach from Eustace. As he summarised it to me post-match: “We wanted to put a number nine, an out-and-out nine in the middle of the box if we were going to look to get crosses in.
“I think Lars [Jørgen Salvesen who replaced Ryan Hedges] had a fantastic opportunity where he just headed it over. From that point of view, I think it was a positive change bringing Wardy [Joe Ward] on as well.
“Then obviously taking Dion [Sanderson] off there because I knew we'd have more ball to put Wardy on was probably the right call.”
Put crosses in Derby did, a grand total of 31 in the second half. But only five were successful: Campbell and Phillips were imperious in the air.
That chance for Salvesen which Eustace referenced came in the 68th minute, by which point Henrik Meister had joined him up front. After O’Leary had tipped Taylor’s cross over the bar and Szmodics’ delivery nearly crept in, it was Ward’s turn to have a go following a quick Bobby Clark throw. He arrowed it towards The Rams’ big Norwegian, who headed over the bar from eight yards out. And that was not his only chance, Derby’s number 15 had earlier nodded Ward’s deep ball to the back post into the goalkeeper’s hands.
At the other end, Rabby Nzingoula tapped Jimmy-Jay Morgan’s pass wide from three yards following a fast break.
The hosts kept pushing for a leveller deep into stoppage time, by which point Ward was playing right centre back. For their final corner, Jacob Widell Zetterström even came up. Talk about kitchen sink. That delivery was cleared as far as Szmodics, whose effort flew wildly off target.
But still Eustace’s men were still not done: O’Leary’s goal kick went all the way through to Zetterström, who launched the ball long for Meister. The Pisa loanee beat Phillips before chesting the ball past the visiting keeper, but he could only hold off Callum Styles for so long until the Bury-born Hungary international cleared the ball just a yard from goal.
The West Brom backline proved impenetrable.
Derby get a taste of their own medicine
Cast your mind back just four days short of a year ago. It is West Brom’s 125th anniversary fixture, and The Rams rock up to spoil the party.
Ryan Mason’s side have 68 per cent possession to John Eustace’s side’s 32. 1.15 XG to Derby’s 0.32, and 32 touches in the opposition box to Derby’s nine. Five of them come from Rams substitute Andi Weimann as finishes following debutant Patrick Agyemang’s cushioned header.
When taken from Wednesday night, those same metrics are remarkably similar. Derby had 67 per cent possession to West Brom’s 33 per cent, 1.20 xG to 0.38, and 32 touches in the opposition to The Baggies’ nine.
Despite struggling for much of the game, Derby remained strong at the back and took their chance, leading to much praise from the watching Rams. It was, as I wrote at the time: “a performance built on guts and desire, using physical attributes to stay in and change the game, even when technique was lacking.”
While the goal came earlier, so the task was to defend a lead, not take on, similar could be said of the way Morrison’s side set up, with a bit more technical quality than Derby showed. And they did not have a dead pigeon partially to thank either!
Yes, there are questions over some of Eustace’s calls in the game. Should Ozoh have been the one to make way for Henrik Meister given the control he provided? Probably not. Although the head coach did put that down to “a bit of tiredness”, as well as wanting “to put another striker on”.
The other question is probably at right back, with Dion Sanderson starting there. No one can nail that spot down, and a centre back operating there with three right backs on the bench is always going to raise eyebrows, no matter how well it works. But you cannot say Derby did not go for it with Ward ending the game in the back three, as well as two big nines and Clark and Szmodics in support flanked by Blackett-Taylor and Fuseini.
A bad night at the office this time, with The Rams now winless in five home games stretching back to last season. But whatever went wrong this West Brom side are now top of the league, albeit it is still early days. Maybe Derby made it too easy for them, but to defend with their lives when a man down for over an hour of football, maybe they deserve some credit too?
Goal: Heggebø 16’.
Derby (4-2-3-1): Zetterström (GK); Sanderson (Ward 46’) Langås (C), Cashin (Blackett-Taylor 84’), Taylor; Ozoh (Meister 63’), Mowatt; Hedges (Salvesen 46’), Clark, Fuseini; Szmodics.
Unused substitutes: Vickers (GK); Offor, Johnston, Nyambe; Fraulo.
West Brom (4-4-2): O’Leary (GK); Pereira, Phillips, Campbell, Styles; Whitwell (Galves 37’, (Townsend 52’), Molumby, Diakité, Price; Heggebø (Nzingoula 46’), Morgan.
Unused substitutes: Cisse (GK); Mepham; Horn Myhre, Collyer; Stewart, Tunde.
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