Former Derby County midfielder Max Bird was held to a 1-1 draw with his new side Bristol City on the weekend.
It is clear that Paul Warne has prioritised looking to bring in midfield talent this summer, with the likes of Kenzo Goudmijn, Ben Osborn and Ebou Adams joining up at Derby County.
The loan signing of David Ozoh was also made, and he has been given praise after the opening game of the season.
However, he was only one of the few Derby County players that covered themselves in glory in the opening game of the Championship season against Blackburn Rovers, especially defender Eiran Cashin, who was given poor reviews.
The game also proved that certain positions are still in dire need of improvement, including left-back, as Calum Elder also seemingly struggled to quash the Blackburn Rovers threat.
With all the departures from the summer, it looms over whether some of the players that left Pride Park could have made a difference against Blackburn Rovers, including former midfielder Max Bird, who made his Bristol City debut on the weekend.
Former Derby County man Max Bird’s Bristol City debut rated
Bird’s Bristol City were held to a 1-1 draw in an away clash against Hull City.
The former Derby County midfielder managed 72 minutes for the Championship side in a performance that has been labelled as a ‘7/10’.
Per Bristol Post, Bird’s performance was described as: “Maybe not a natural 10 but worked well between the lines, linking midfield and attack albeit without being able to provide that killer final ball or defining shot that could have decided the contest.
“Led the first line of the press well, in tandem with Armstrong, causing all sorts of issues for the Tigers backline whenever they tried to play out.”
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Have Derby County sufficiently replaced Max Bird
Warne’s main transfer ambition this summer was undoubtedly looking to replace the numerous midfield departures, including Conor Hourihane, Louie Sibley and Korey Smith.
As for Bird, who was able to distil energy into Bristol City’s midfield, which is what he showed at Derby County, he is someone who we haven’t seen directly replaced as of so far.
For all we know, the Blackburn Rovers defeat could prove to be a massive outlier in Derby County’s 2024/25 season, and it could be that Goudmijn is the perfect replacement for Bird, as he has been brought in as someone who can play at attacking-midfield, whilst also having the ability to chase a ball and run for 90 minutes, something that he certainly showed in glimpses.
With such a massive intake of midfield recruits, it should be a case of giving them time throughout the next couple of weeks and they easily could replicate the qualities of Bird, however they will need to significantly improve based on the Blackburn Rovers performance.