Bradley Johnson believes that the switch to a 3-4-3 formation worked well against Middlesbrough.

Gary Rowett opted for a bold change in order to try and reverse his team's fortunes, but it wasn't successful because they lost 2-1 to Middlesbrough in a game which had a big impact on who will finish in the play-offs.

This was their third consecutive loss and they are in real danger of finishing outside the play-offs. They do have one more game to play than the teams around them, but that is against Cardiff, so it won't be easy to pick up a result by any means.

This is what Johnson had to say to RamsTV about the tactical switch: "I enjoyed [the different formation]. It gave us a lot more of the ball, we had a lot more opportunities and attacking options going forward."

"It’s a shape that we worked on all week – maybe we haven’t worked on it long enough but I felt that we did well."

The Verdict

This formation does, in theory, give them added defensive security at the expense of an attacking player, so it could help solve their issues in the long-term. However, it will take time to properly adjust to it, so it depends on whether it can have enough of an impact by the end of the season.

Cardiff will be a significant test for this new shape because Neil Warnock's pragmatic approach means that he will try to take advantage of any perceived Derby weaknesses. A good result against the Bluebirds would suggest that this formation would be the right way to go for the remaining games as well as the play-offs.