What has Frank Lampard changed at Derby?
Frank Lampard goes up against former Derby manager Gary Rowett in the Sky Bet Championship on Wednesday night, as the Rams face Stoke live on Sky Sports Football.
But have Derby improved under their new boss? Here, we take a look at some of the changes he has made…
While Rowett’s Derby team was built on a platform of experience, Lampard has made huge changes to the age of his playing squad and starting line-up.
The likes of Curtis Davies, Ikechi Anya, Cameron Jerome and Bradley Johnson all started their play-off semi-final defeat to Fulham at the end of last season, but have since been shepherded away from the starting line-up.
The average age of Rowett’s starting XI last season was 29 years and 199 days, and that has come down by more than three years this season to an average of 26 years and 259 days.
Fikayo Tomori (20), Mason Mount (19), Harry Wilson (21) and Jack Marriott (24) have all made a big impression largely in place of those four players above.
Focus on possession
While Derby are not necessarily creating more chances per game than they were last season, they are dominating games more.
Rowett’s side averaged 47.8 per cent possession last season, while under Lampard it has been 57 per cent so far, an increase of almost 10 per cent.
Lampard’s side are also playing more than 60 passes more per game on average (466 to 404), and their passing accuracy is also up (77.9 per cent compared to 73.9 per cent under Rowett).
It appears as though Lampard’s side have a far clearer identity in terms of the way they want to play.
Chance creation
There are some stats that haven’t changed too much. After 18 games of last season, Derby had actually earned one point more (32 to 31), scored more goals (29 to 27) and conceded fewer (20 to 21).
Lampard’s side are having more shots per game (14.2 to 12), but fewer of those attempts are turning out to be clearer chances. Derby had an Expected Goals (xG) rate of 1.43 last season, compared to 1.09 this campaign.
That is probably largely due to the fact that far more of Derby’s shots this season are coming from outside the box (7.2 per game this season to 5.9 last), with the likes of Wilson and Tom Lawrence regularly trying their luck from long range.
Biggest test to come
Arguably the biggest change that Lampard has to make it still to come. Derby have often found themselves in great positions in recent years to push for promotion, but a mixture of late collapses and play-off heartache have too often seen them fall out of contention at the final hurdle.
Rowett’s Derby were 45 minutes away from the play-off final at Wembley in May but conceded two second-half goals against Fulham at Craven Cottage to see their dreams dashed for another year.
Rowett then moved on to Stoke as he thought his chances of promotion were better in the Potteries, but it has not clearly worked out for him as of yet and he will be ready for a frosty reception from the away fans on Wednesday night.
Victory on Wednesday night would delight the travelling fans and surely show that Lampard is capable of taking Derby further than Rowett managed at the helm.
Soccer Accumulator Bonus
Our fantastic Euro Soccer accumulator offer gives you the chance to earn a bonus of up to 100% on accumulators on the top domestic leagues in Europe along with the group and knockout stages of the Champions League.
This offer applies to returns on pre-match accumulators of 3 or more selections on Full Time Result or Result/Both Teams To Score markets for the English Premier League, Italian Serie A, Spanish Primera Liga, German Bundesliga 1 or UEFA Champions League.
The maximum bonus that you can receive is ˆ100,000 or currency equivalent. The bonus will not apply where a stake has been fully Cashed Out. Where a stake has been partially Cashed Out, the bonus will be calculated based .on the remaining active stake. If a qualifying bet is edited .using our Edit Bet feature. The bonus will be calculated based on the new stake. Where a bet has been edited to include or amend a selection for an event that is In-Play, the bonus will no longer apply. Double Chance bets or combination bets with bonuses. Such as Lucky 15’s or Lucky .31’s do not apply for this offer.
If your bet is successful, we will add the following bonuses to your returns:
Bet Type Bonus
14-folds and upwards 100% bonus
Terms and Conditions
Applies to straight pre-match accumulator bets on the Full Time Result or Result/Both Teams To Score markets for UEFA Champions League, English Premier League, Italian Serie A, Spanish Primera Liga, German Bundesliga .1 or Australian A-League matches. Maximum bonus ˆ100,000 or currency equivalent. Soccer Accumulator Bonus does not apply to Double Chance bets or combination. bets with bonuses such as Lucky 15’s, Lucky 31’s etc.
If any selections are postponed/void then the bonus will still apply, but the percentage bonus added will reflect the actual number of winning selections. For example, an 8-fold accumulator with 7. winners and 1 postponed match will receive a 30% .bonus to returns.
The bonus part of your returns will be added to your account within 24 hours of your final selection having played.
This bonus will not apply where a stake has been fully Cashed Out. Where a stake has been partially Cashed Out, the bonus will be calculated based on the remaining active stake.
If a qualifying bet is edited using our Edit Bet feature, the bonus will be calculated based on the new stake. Where a bet has been edited to include or amend a selection for an event that is In-Play, the bonus will no longer apply.
Where any term of the offer or promotion is breached or there is any evidence of a series of bets placed by a customer or group of customers, which due to a deposit bonus, enhanced payments, free bets, risk free bets or any other promotional offer results in guaranteed customer profits irrespective of the outcome, whether individually or as part of a group, bet365 reserves the right to reclaim the bonus element of such offers and in their absolute discretion either settle bets at the correct odds, void the free and risk free. bets or void any bet funded by the deposit bonus.
In addition bet365 .reserve the right to levy an administration charge on the customer up to the value of the deposit bonus, free bet, risk free bet or additional payment to cover administrative costs. We further reserve the right to ask any customer to provide sufficient documentation for us to be satisfied in our absolute discretion as to the customer’s identity prior to us crediting any bonus, free bet, risk free bet or offer to their account.
All bet365 offers are intended for recreational players and bet365 may in its sole discretion limit the eligibility of customers to participate in all or part of any promotion.
.
