Late in the evening on transfer deadline day, one of the Rams message boards carried a thread to the effect that Burnley had signed Richard Keogh.
I don’t think there’s ever any point getting too upset with player moves that do or don’t get made; there’s nothing that any of us supporters can do to influence the situation, so we may as well remain calm and try to be optimistic.
But in the face of the "news” about Keogh, I was actually rather pleased: it suggested that the Rams were doing something to bolster the defence. Presumably in the wake of Keogh’s departure somebody else would come in to replace him, and the result could well have been a better team.
Of course, the move had never happened; instead Derby is in negotiations with Keogh over a new contract, and have a defence that is the very epitome of stability. Keogh and Buxton have been together in the middle for over two years now, while Grant and Forsyth are into their second season as ever-present defenders. The only new defender is Cyrus Christie, who appears to be well capable of doing a job.
Yet the team continues to lose points by letting in silly and unnecessary goals. Defensively the season began well enough with clean sheets against Rotherham, Carlisle and Sheffield Wednesday. But then three points were lost at Charlton thanks to conceding three preventable goals.
There was no pattern to be picked out in those goals, just a variety of defensive errors. Things seemed to pick right back up with a tonking of Fulham, and a clean sheet in the League Cup match against Charlton.
But the match that has left me perplexed is the Ipswich game; the Rams dropped two points to another really poor goal. It began with a Rams forward move breaking down when Jamie Ward gave away an unnecessary free kick in a dangerous position.
With the Rams’ defence very deep the free kick came across; the ball dropping not just into the penalty area, but the six yard box. "Keeper’s ball!” we all heard ourselves yell! For a moment it seemed Grant thought that too, as he moved out; but then he stopped and stepped back.
As the Ipswich player went up for the header, the closest Rams defender — Christie — stayed rooted to the ground. Was he held down? The expression on his face suggested he wasn’t happy. But a goal it was, and nobody in a Rams shirt earned any credit for trying to keep it out.
It’s hard to know what the answer is; I don’t think we can point to one player and say he isn’t good enough. But we are probably not going to be seeing any new faces in defence anyway: with Bucko, Forsyth and Christie having recently signed long-term contracts and Keogh being in negotiations, it looks as though Steve McClaren has faith in his defenders.
There are a number of bad habits that need to be worked on, such as giving away free kicks in dangerous places, and an occasional reluctance to commit in the tackle.
Last season I dedicated a whole column to the goalkeeper’s reluctance to command his area, and this continues to be a problem on occasion.
In 2013/14 the Rams’ defensive record was not all that good, but we overcame it by scoring an awful lot of goals. But regardless of the team’s goal scoring heroics, automatic promotion contenders don’t let in goals like the ones the Rams have been conceding; they force their opponents to play good football if they are going to score.
If the Rams are to improve on last season’s run to the playoffs, the Rams have to improve at the back.
And let’s face it: we don’t want to drop points against Forest by gifting them simple goals.
Looks like a quiet weekend - then we gear up for the big one!