Paul Warne’s style of football has now been questioned following Derby County’s defeat against Charlton Athletic on Tuesday.
From the outset, Derby are in a great position to secure automatic promotion but consecutive defeats against Barnsley and Charlton have raised eyebrows over their credentials.
The Rams haven’t been as threatening in attack since losing James Collins to injury and without their talismanic figure – who has scored 18 goals this term – Paul Warne is yet to adapt.
Their last three performances haven’t been convincing whatsoever, and even in their last-gasp win over play-off chasers Stevenage it took them till the 70th minute to register a shot on target.
Despite their strong position in the table, a lot of Derby supporters are fed up with the style of football being deployed by Warne as it’s uninspiring and often difficult to watch.
Warne himself even said that his side hasn’t played amazing all season and that is worrying to hear considering the Rams are in second position in the table.
Adrian Clarke fires criticism at Paul Warne’s tactics and drops ‘surprise’ verdict
In this calendar year alone, Derby have dropped 11 points from winning positions and 18 across the season.
This suggests that Warne’s side take their foot off the gas and lose concentration once they’ve got themselves into a lead, and this is a sentiment echoed by journalist Adrian Clarke, who summarized his thoughts on the Midlands side following their loss to Charlton.
“The criticism comes from the tactics,” Clarke said on the What the EFL?! podcast. “Once they get themselves into good positions Derby they don’t put their foot down and ease off and they go a little bit into safety mode. So they’ve got to learn to manage games better moving forward.”
In their last two matches, Derby have played well in the first half and taken the lead on both occasions before surrendering their advantage in the second period.
Clarke believes they’ve got to manage games better moving forward and despite currently occupying second, he thinks they’ll finish in the play-offs.
“For me, it was a surprise to see them in the top 2, I think playoffs is where they’ll end up.”
Play-offs would be a disaster for Derby County
Whilst the football hasn’t been great at times, Derby have put themselves in a strong position to get promoted automatically and to throw that away would be a disaster.
Not only is their record in the play-offs terrible having lost three finals during their time in the Championship, the players are yet to show they can handle the pressure of the big occasion.
Derby need to be playing their football in the second tier and can ill-afford to risk the lottery of the play-offs to get there.
Instead, they must finish in the top two and to do that, supporters have to see an improvement in their performances.
With 11 matches and the likes of Derby and Portsmouth still left to play, every game between now and the end of the season will be a cup final, starting at home to Port Vale on Saturday.