False Start: Rams exit League Cup to Lincoln

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 heights for six decades.

Derby’s engines are still being worked on, though: key parts are not yet up to speed and Eustace is urging patience. Turki Alalshikh is apparently set to provide the extra boosters required to thrust them into the Premier League space race. But the Pride Park faithful know better than most that headline-grabbing investment alone is not enough.

It takes excellent strategy and team spirit, as Derby showed last season. Lincoln have that in abundance, though many have already written them off under co-pilots Tom Shaw and Chris Cohen. Maybe now the Championship will sit up and take notice.

Rarely has a competitive fixture felt more like a pre-season friendly. Before the campaign has really even begun, Derby County are out of the Carabao Cup.

The Rams got off to a nightmare start when Ben House headed in from a corner inside three minutes. It had initially looked as though Matt Clarke had put the ball into his own net. Instead, the defender, who picked up a knock on Tuesday and could only manage 45 minutes, was only to blame for poor marking.

Szmodics had Derby’s only real chance of the opening half hour, denied at the back post by the foot of goalkeeper George Wickens following Joe Ward’s cross.

In somewhat of a rallying cry on BBC Radio Derby post-match, the Ipswich loanee summed the hosts’ start up perfectly: “We can’t start games like that. If this is all we’ve got, we need to buck our ideas up.”

Unable to create much with comfortably more than two thirds of possession, Derby were countered repeatedly by Lincoln, making the second goal almost inevitable. It came right on the stroke of the first half hydration break.

Adam Reach robbed Szmodics at the byline and sparked a rapid transition from back to front. Freddie Draper fed Dom Jeffries a lovely diagonal pass, which he simply back across goal into the bottom-left corner.

Eustace put the goals down to a failure to do the basics: “We just didn’t win the duels. We missed the first contacts and then didn’t pick the second balls up.” And another simple error nearly cost his side a third.

In shades of Tuesday’s draw at Rotherham, Jacob Widell Zetterström played another pass the wrong side of Travis, forcing the captain to foul Conor McGrandles 25 yards from goal.

Szmodics scored his goal of the season contender (yes, already) in stoppage time. After Tom Hamer's headed clearance dropped to him, The Rams' number 11 took a single touch before rifling the ball out of his feet and into the bottom-left corner.

Shaw and Cohen’s side picked up where they left off after the break, House and then Deji Elerewe almost putting the game beyond doubt. But Derby then went even closer to an equaliser from their best move of the afternoon.

After Szmodics went down on the edge of the box, Bobby Clark ran onto the ball and found Morris on the left-hand-side of the box. The striker’s low shot went under Wickens, but Elerewe was on hand to clear it.

Substitute Max Johnston also teed up Morris moments after coming on, but the former Luton man scooped the Scot’s cross wide.

At the other end, House worked Zetterström after combining with Freddie Draper in a nice move down the left. On the other side, Reeco Hackett tried an ambitious juggling effort from 18 yards before heading a Tendayi Darikwa cross over the bar.

Morris needs support

It is obvious that Derby need wingers. You are bored of reading it, I am bored of writing it. But it remains painfully evident.

The Rams started their one out-and-out wide man on the left, Corey Blackett-Taylor. He won just one of his six ground duels and failed to create a chance or even complete a cross. Sam Szmodics was deployed on the right, able to float across the attacking midfield line and find pockets, leaving space for Joe Ward to advance.

Although that is not Szmodics’ best role, it worked fairly well. But Ward completed just one of his six crosses and failed to create a chance. For comparison, Max Johnston did, completing one of his three crosses, and made as many defensive contributions as Ward (2) in 27 minutes of football.

As for the decision to play Ward on the left in the closing minutes, nullifying the right-footer's best asset – his delivery. That was baffling.

On his debut, Charlie Taylor was off the pace, like Ward he left far too much space in behind for Lincoln to counter into. Given his lack of speed, left centre back looks a better home.

In the middle, though Clark and Szmodics created a few opportunities, the number was disappointing considering the possession. While Travis put himself about, Fraulo failed to get a grip of the game, and Derby need a controller in his role if Clark is the 10.

Here is the bottom line. As a target forward, Carlton Morris needs players to feed off, whether they are running beyond or whipping it onto his head. He will seldom make chances from nothing.

Echoes of last season’s start

What all of this points to is echoes of last season’s start. Eustace said as much in his pre-match plea for patience.

Across his post-match interviews, I counted 13 mentions of fitness or “minutes in the legs”. Of course, people will question why The Rams are in this position again.

Clearly time is needed for the side to click, Zetterström’s struggles with his side’s new way of building up from the back show that. And with Langås short on sharpness and Clarke’s knock, there are fitness problems exacerbating any defensive misunderstandings.

The question will be how much time they will have.

All things considered, it was perhaps a wise move from Eustace to treat this as an extra friendly, the current small squad would struggle with an extra midweek game. Juxtaposed with the talk of Turki Alalshikh, though, Derby need to be careful not to solely hang their hats on the Saudi billionaire.

But the season is not defined on day one. The league campaign has not yet begun. It takes a few test flights before a successful landing.

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Goals: Szmodics 45+1’ | House 3’, Jeffries 23’

Derby (4-2-3-1): Zetterström (GK); Ward, Langås, Clarke (Sanderson 46’), Taylor (Forsyth 63’); Fraulo (Johnston 63’), Travis (C); Szmodics (Salvesen 80’), Clark, Blackett-Taylor (Bilbija 63’); Morris.

Unused Substitutes: Vickers (GK) Smith, Allen, Eames.

Lincoln (4-4-2): Wickens (GK); Darikwa, Hamer, Elerewe, Reach (Elder 88’); Jeffries (Towler 67’), Varfolomeev, McGrandles, House (Hackett 79’); Street (Olaofe 79’), Draper (Melia 79’).

Unused Substitutes: Pardington (GK), Gauci (GK); Coubis, Honohan.