Fakeyo Tomori again shows promise for Derby County

Tuesday evening saw a break in league action for The Rams as they travelled to Boundary Park for a Carabao (League) Cup match with Oldham Athletic.
21 February 2018......  Derby County v Leeds United 
Pride Park.  Picture Tony Johnson.21 February 2018......  Derby County v Leeds United 
Pride Park.  Picture Tony Johnson.
21 February 2018...... Derby County v Leeds United Pride Park. Picture Tony Johnson.

Lower league opponents often present a banana skin for bigger clubs to slip on and we have had our fair share of those in the past.

This time around Derby County kept their cool and made progress through to the second round of the competition.

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The fixture gave manager Frank Lampard the chance to include more of his summer signings such as Jack Marriott, George Evans, Scott Malone and Florian Jozefzoon in the strtingline up and thus gaining some valuable time on the pitch.

They all looked very comfortable and will no doubt improve as they rack up more appearances.

Fakeyo Tomori again shone with another competent performance and will no doubt give Lampard some food for thought when selecting from a full quota of Centre Halves. He’s certainly shown promise in both games that he has started.

The game at Oldham also saw Lampard change formation. Out went the 4-3-3 which saw us struggle badly in the middle of the park against Leeds and in came a 4-2-3-1 set up.

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This is a more familiar line up for Derby fans in the past year or so. In contrast to how Gary Rowett used the same formation with a defensive and counter attack version, Lampard used it in a more positive and attacking way.

Mason Mount again had an excellent game and the role sitting behind the striker saw him looking very threatening throughout the game. It was a very confident showing from the youngster.

What was also noticeable was having a recognised defensive midfielder in George Evans and also having some greater experience at left-back in Scott Malone.

Saturday sees a trip to the capital against one of the surprise teams from last season, Millwall.

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The New Den is never an easy place to go to and boss Neil Harris has done a very good job for the Lions.

We will have a real ob on our hands to bring home any points, but should we do so it will be a big positive as this squad of players knits together.

The old saying of the season being a marathon rather than a sprint is certainly true and as our gaffer gains valuable experience in managing a side we will need to stay patient and keep the faith.