Derby County’s season came to a disappointing end this afternoon, with Frank Lampard’s side losing the play-off final with Aston Villa.
After progressing past Leeds United in impressive fashion in the semi-finals, Lampard’s men went into the game in a confident mood, yet Villa were 2-1 winners at Wembley.
After a cagey first-half Derby’s first body blow was handed to them on the stroke of half-time, with Anwar El Ghazi opening the scoring on 44 minutes.
[ad_pod ]
If that hadn’t hurt enough, shortly before the hour Villa doubled their lead, with John McGinn capitalising on really poor judgement from Kelle Roos.
Jack Marriott – the hero of the semi-final win in Leeds – came off the bench to assist fellow sub Martyn Waghorn to pull a goal back, but Derby couldn’t find an equaliser despite seven minutes of additional time.
Here, we take a look at THREE things we learnt about Lampard’s side this afternoon…
Lampard’s selection was wrong
Admittedly, after losing the two games in the regular season to an aggregate score of 7-0, Lampard needed to do something different.
However, the side, in their diamond formation, were too narrow and too defensive.
Mason Bennett struggled in attack, and Martyn Waghorn or Jack Marriott should’ve been introduced before Villa were 2-0 up.
The manager will regret that.
Scott Carson might’ve been the better option in goal
Roos’ error for McGinn’s goal was terrible and an awful misjudgement.
He’s done well to wrestle the gloves off Carson, but on a day like today, Carson might’ve been the better option.
Carson is an experienced goalkeeper and can deal with the big occasions.
That’s not to say he’s perfect or Roos is a bad goalkeeper, but with hindsight, some might have felt more confortable with Carson in goal.
Lampard will learn from this
Going full circle after his team selection, Lampard will take this defeat and make himself better.
Team selections and tactics weren’t right today, but the next time Derby are at Wembley, if Lampard is still there, you’d back him to get it right.