3/1 To Win
Gary Rowett highlighted the improvement of his side on the road after Derby County made it 10 league games unbeaten away from home with a thoroughly comfortable 3-0 win against Birmingham City on Saturday.
Johnny Russell, Matej Vydra and Andreas Weimann grabbed the goals to ensure that the Rams still haven’t tasted defeat on their travels in the Sky Bet Championship since the 4-1 reverse at Bristol City in September.
Rowett picked out the key tweaks that Derby have made since that day to ensure that they remain a formidable side away from Pride Park Stadium.
Speaking to RamsTV, he said: “Earlier in the season we looked a little bit open and frail at times when we conceded a goal, and we’ve learnt from it.
“We’ve learnt to keep our shape better and have more discipline about our game, and I think the players know the demands of how hard we’ve got to work.”
Derby have forged a reputation as a counter-attacking side in recent months, due to both their defensive solidity and pace on the break.
The former Birmingham boss believes that we saw a different approach from his side as he returned to St Andrew’s for the second time since departing the club in December 2016.
“We made about nine passes, all the way from the goalkeeper to get the ball into Johnny without them touching it,” explained Rowett.
“He made a great run and his shot took a slight deflection off Harlee Dean to wrong-foot the ‘keeper.
“That goal started from Scotty Carson and we felt that we could play around their press. It was a different type of goal to the counter-attacking ones that we often score.”
Rowett has continually made reference to the wealth of options that he has at his disposal and the utilisation of his full matchday squad has proved fruitful so far this season, with a number of players stepping off the bench to make an impact.
Weimann did just that here to score the third and seal the points, and the boss is confident that he can continue to rotate, such is the quality available.
He said: “We’ve got that quality throughout the group, and that’s been a factor throughout the season so far.
“It’s something that I’ve never really had as a manager, where I’ve had to pick the same side week in, week out, and then some of those players get a little bit complacent.
“I could probably change the team every game and at the moment, I know exactly what reaction I’d get.
“The players are showing me the desire to keep putting performances in and that’s all we keep asking them to do.”
