3/1 To Win
A disappointment, an embarrassment and no excuses.
Gary Rowett, naturally, cut a frustrated figure during his post-match interview with RamsTV as Derby County’s inconsistencies came to the fore once again during their 4-1 defeat to Bristol City at Ashton Gate.
It started well for the Rams as Matej Vydra’s fifth goal of the season put them in front, but that only served to spur the Robins on.
“If you look at the first half, we actually started the game quite well and, regardless of whether we deserved it, found ourselves a goal up,” Rowett said.
“We didn’t do well enough in the rest of the half. I thought it was too easy at times and for some reason, as a team we looked too open and struggled to cover spaces quickly.
“That ultimately cost us an opportunity to get out of our half.
“We wanted to be a lot better in the second half and I told the players that we need to play 15 to 20 yards higher up the pitch.”
The Rams’ game plan for the second half, however, was thrown out of the window within nine minutes as Cauley Woodrow’s header and Bobby Reid’s penalty turned the match on its head.
Playing far more expansively, Derby caused Bristol City problems after that as they sought a way back into the game.
David Nugent, Bradley Johnson, Tom Lawrence and Sam Winnall all had good chances, but failed to take them.
Late on, the Robins punished them and added two further goals through Jamie Paterson and Famara Diedhiou to compound a miserable day at Ashton Gate.
Rowett felt it highlighted the club’s fortunes on the road so far this term.
He added: “It is the story of our away season at the moment. At home, we had a fantastic performance in the last game and we know that the energy level and aggression that we showed was fantastic.
“Then we come away from home and we don’t replicate those types of things in our game.
“Too many times Bristol got into attacking positions to easily and we have to defend better both individually and as a team otherwise we are going to continually get nothing.
“We have to be better than that and unfortunately at the minute, it’s a real disappointment.
“It’s not good enough, it’s embarrassing in some ways. I feel disappointed for the fans that have turned up hoping that we can build on the Hull performance. There are no excuses.”
After a suffering third defeat on the road in all competitions, Rowett. 43, accepts that something that needs to change.
“Maybe away from home we’ve got to go with three midfielders instead of putting a lot of pressure on the two to cover the space,” he said.
“I’m really disappointed and actually incredibly frustrated.
“Even at 3-1 we were chasing the game still, you’ve just got to do it in a sensible manner. You do it where you feel it doesn’t matter how many goals you concede.
“We scored five against Hull and our goal difference becomes reasonable, then we lose 4-1 and it goes back again.
“We are far too inconsistent at the moment and too easy to play against out of possession – that’s our frustration away from home form has been excellent but unless we marry that up with some results with resilience away from home then I’m going to have to look at doing something different.”
