Derby County have three vital fixtures coming up after their winless start to the Championship season.
That’s according to pundit Don Goodman who has noted how poor the Rams have been defensively so far this term.
Indeed the former striker predicts ‘trouble’ if John Eustace can’t find plug a leaky rearguard that has shipped a league-high 11 goals in just four matches.
Goodman, who played for West Brom, Sunderland and Wolves – among others – highlighted Derby’s greater goal-threat but reckons games with West Bromwich Albion, Preston North End, Wrexham and Charlton Athletic represent an very important period.
“When you look at the four games Derby County have played, it’s been a tough start on paper. They’ve faced Stoke City, Bristol City, Coventry City and Ipswich Town,” he told Coin Poker.
“To me, that’s tough, that’s quite a tough start. When you chuck into the mix their huge injury list, I kind of understand why they would have found it tough so far.
“There have been loads of new signings, I think six started against Ipswich and another two came on and they’re going to be gutted that they got pegged back so deep into injury time. I think some of the injured players are due back after the international break, which will help John Eustace.
“But they’ve they’ve got to find a way to stop conceding goals at the same rate, because if they don’t, it’s going to lead to trouble.
“I don’t think anybody would have ever thought that a John Eustace team would concede 11 goals in the first four games because his strength is organising teams, making them hard to play against and hard to break down, but we haven’t really seen any evidence of that.
“I think the big problem for Derby last season was scoring goals. They only scored 48. Only three teams in the Championship scored less than that.
“They’ve clearly aimed to change things by signing Carlton Morris, Patrick Agyemang, who’s injured, Rhian Brewster, Andi Weimann and Ben Brereton Diaz.
“So, they’ve almost gone heavy on that and you do feel like that they can score goals. But, as a I said, they’ve got to find a way to stem the flow of goals going into their net.
“I took the liberty of seeing who they’ve got to play next, which is West Bromwich Albion, Preston North End, Wrexham and Charlton Athletic, two promoted teams. They’re the next four games.
“So they need to find some wins from that little run or else it’s going to be a struggle. It was a tough start.
“Playing away at West Bromwich Albion isn’t going to be easy, obviously, but then you look at the next three games and you think they need to be taking points out of those games.”
