3/1 To Win
Pat Lyons highlighted a five-minute spell in the second half as the defining factor in Derby County Under-23s’ 3-2 defeat to Arsenal in their Premier League 2 Division 1 opener.
At 2-0 up after 56 minutes, thanks to goals from Kellan Gordon and Emil Riis Jakobsen, the Rams were in control against a Gunners side containing the likes of Jack Wilshere, Francis Coquelin and Kieran Gibbs at St George’s Park.
At this point, Darren Wassall’s men had the chance to add to their tally, with Luke Thomas hitting the crossbar with a first-time effort from the edge of the box.
Arsenal hit back two minutes after that, through Reiss Nelson, to halve the deficit before the same man struck again four minutes later to equaliser.
Eddie Nketiah struck the winner with 10 minutes remaining, but the Rams still had their chances with Timi Max Elsnik, Offrande Zanzala and Thomas all having other good opportunities to score.
Lyons, Derby’s senior professional development phase coach, felt that Arsenal’s clinical finishing proved to be the difference on the night when the Rams could have quite easily scored more than the two they did.
He told RamsTV: “We had the same last year, going 2-0 up against Manchester City and losing 3-2.
“To be disappointed to have got nothing against Arsenal, with the team that they had out there this evening, says a lot.
“When you look at the game and the chances we had – they didn’t have as many clear chances as us – we’re really disappointed.
“We could have gone 3-0 up and it perhaps would have gone a different way for us. After they scored so quickly after our second goal, it just made it difficult for ourselves.”
He added: “It shows that those players are at Arsenal for a reason; they were clinical and we weren’t clinical enough.
“We’re just disappointed we didn’t get anything. Even after going 3-2 down we showed great character to come back at the end and create more chances. We could have easily felt sorry for ourselves but we didn’t.”
The attention of Derby’s Under-23s now swiftly turn to this Friday’s trip to Stamford Bridge to face Chelsea.
Having proven that they have the knack for scoring goals, Lyons says the Rams need to become a more compact unit out of possession to ensure they are not having to score goals aplenty just to stay in games.
He added: “We hope there are more goals to come but what we don’t want to have to do is score three or four goals to win a game or get something out of it.
“As a team, we need to keep clean sheets or limit it to the odd goal. If we can do that, we know we have goals in the side.
“That’s one of the positives to take away from the night – but the learning curve is not being so open to the clinical finishing that Arsenal showed.”
