Derby County’s poor away form continued with another defeat at Craven Cottage on Tuesday night, with the Rams dominated for large periods of the game and being beaten 3-0 by their hosts.

Phillip Cocu’s side have now suffered an alarming four successive defeats on their travels in the Championship, which has seen the Rams fail to achieve any sort of consistency in their form which is hampering them from being able to mount any push for the top six.

Derby headed into the game at Craven Cottage on the back of arguably their best performance of the season so far in their 1-0 win against promotion chasing Preston North End on Saturday, which made it five successive home league wins for Cocu’s side.

Here, then we take a look at what we learned from Derby’s most recent loss on their travels…

Derby in need of defensive reinforcements

Against Fulham, Cocu was forced to start Craig Forsyth at centre half alongside Curtis Davies in the continued absence of the injured Matt Clarke, and although the pair did start together and pick up a clean sheet against Preston on Saturday, they were exposed by a dominant Fulham side on Tuesday.

The Rams were guilty of conceding two sloppy goals in the first half, with both Bobby Reid and Aleksander Mitrovic taking advantage to put the hosts into a 2-0 lead at the break, and in truth the hosts should have made the win more comfortable with the likes of Mitrovic, Ivan Cavaleiro and Aboubakar Kamara missing chances.

Tuesday’s defeat was the third time this season that the Rams have lost by a 3-0 score line, and fourth overall including the defeat at Nottingham Forest in the League Cup, which shows that Cocu needs to invest in his defence in January if the Derby are going to be able to turn their away form around.

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Derby still struggling for goals on their travels

Derby failed to score once again away from home on Tuesday against Fulham, meaning the Rams have now failed to register a goal during any of their last four Championship matches on their travels, which is putting ever increasing pressure on their defence to hold out to allow them to pick up any points.

The Rams have not scored away from home since a 2-2 draw at Barnsley at the beginning of October and they have now registered just three in their last seven matches away from home in the Championship – and if that does not change dramatically then results will continue to be hard to come by.

Against Fulham Cocu’s side did not manage a single effort on target, which highlights their lack of creativity in the final third away from home, and that was really evident on Tuesday with the Rams on the rare occasions they found themselves in the last third being guilty of making the wrong decisions on the final pass.

Kelle Roos still struggling to command his box

Derby goalkeeper Kelle Roos has come under fire at times so far this campaign for not commanding his box well enough at times, which is costing the Rams vital goals during crucial periods during matches, with his performances in the 3-0 defeat at Charlton Athletic concerning for Cocu’s side.

In recent weeks Roos’ shot stopping ability has helped the Rams record four successive clean sheets at home, but it is away from home when Derby are being put under more prolonged periods of pressure where he is struggling to offer a calming presence to his back four.

Against Fulham Roos was far too hesitant in coming off his line to deal with balls into the box for two of the tree goals, which gave the Rams a real mountain to climb to get back into the game, although he did make some good saves to keep the score down.