By Andy Buckley-Taylor – follow me on twitter @bucktaylor64
Derby return on Friday after the international break with a visit to St Andrews to face Birmingham City. It”s a tough looking fixture as Birmingham have been much improved since the appointment of Lee Bowyer as their manager.
Kamil Joswiak won’t feature in the match as he played for Poland against England on Wednesday night, but Sam Baldock and Jason Knight should be fit to return to the match day squad.
Łukasz Jutkiewicz is expected to start in the attack for the Blues and we don’t need reminding how he has performed against The Rams in the past. Also new signing Troy Deeney should partner him up front. Our defence will be given a real test.
Birmingham are a side that create plenty of goalscoring opportunities and are strong on the counter attack. They are effective at stealing the ball and protecting a load. Weaknesses include finishing scoring chances, avoiding being caught offside and they are liable to lose possession of the ball.
Lee Bowyer”s side do play the long ball and attempt to control the game in opponents half of the field. They attack mainly down the middle or the right.
Derby must have that midfield dominating to stand any sort of a chance. With Baldock likely to be available again, Tom Lawrence will likely move back into the attacking midfield role alongside Ravel Morrison and Louie Sibley.
Our squad had battled its way to six points so far and don’t look a team doomed to relegation, however all that hard work could soon be undone as we await sanctions from the EFL.
There appears to be disagreement with the EFL with regard to the accounts. This really does need settling as soon as possible. There’s also other issues off the field of play that continue to remain unresolved.
Season Ticket holders are still waiting for their new access cards, ticket office phone lines are slow at being answered too. A fan told me yesterday that he was on hold nearly three hours and still didn’t manage to get through. Considering these lines are not at standard rate, this simply isn’t good enough.
We have this last week had yet another charge for the non payment of a transfer instalment for Krystian Bielik although that has now been resolved. Another thing you may observe on the Companies House website is a notice for the compulsory striking off of The Derby County Academy.
This has now been discontinued, so it could mean that things are moving forward with the EFL. This comes as John Percy from The Telegraph reported that the club are still talking with the EFL regarding a points deduction. The EFL want to give Derby a -9 deduction with another -3 suspended.
What the points deduction is for, no information is really known, as yet again the club are still not talking to fans or the media.
Theres some serious concerns being showed by fans and clarity is needed to allay any fears the supporters have.
Perhaps our owner could be one hundred per cent honest with us and answer the many questions fans have. Is it too much to ask? We don’t need to know who are interested in buying our club at this stage, but we need to know what will happen if we aren’t sold. Will Derby County make it through the season?
The Rams Writer 