Towards the end of the Blackburn game, I experienced what seemed to be a familiar feeling — those feelings were annoyance and frustration over points dropped due to us allowing our opponents to score late in the game.
In that case, Blackburn rescued a point with an 89th minute equalizer after being behind since just before half time.
Is this really a problem for the Rams as much as I think it is?
To find out, I put my statto hat on, and took a look at last season's league matches.
Last season, the Rams dropped 11 points to goals conceded in the 75th minute or later. This breaks down as two games (two points dropped each) when what looked like a win ended as a late draw (Sheffield Wednesday home and Cardiff away); and seven games (one point dropped each) when what looked like a draw ended as a late defeat (Bolton away, Burnley home, Millwall away, Hull away, Birmingham away, Ipswich home and Blackpool away).
That's nine games or about a fifth of games in which we couldn't hold on to points in the late stages of a match.
It’s hard to put this into context, since I have no comparable figures for other seasons or other teams. But it does look to me that the Rams may lack the physical strength or stamina to consistently play the full 90 minutes; or that their concentration may waver when under pressure.
I stated in an earlier article that the Rams need to defend significantly better this season if we are to manage a top six finish.
A good place to start might be from the 75th minute on!