Derby County

"I'm hoping the players are hurt and I'm hoping they are disappointed by that because that was way below what you have to give in the Championship.

"Attitude, tempo just wasn't there and that's got to frustrate the players. If the players don't feel it after watching that game back, then we are in a bit of trouble."

BBC Radio Derby's Dominic Dietrich and Ed Dawes are joined by former Derby County goalkeeper Eric Steele to discuss Saturday's disappointing home defeat against Preston North End.

Listen to the full reaction and more Derby County content on BBC Sounds.

Sam Fletcher
Final Score reporter

Image source, Rex Features

Derby have all the ingredients to bake something special, so why can't they get the results?

The first half against Preston North End was pretty forgettable for the Rams but the second half left more questions.

You could call it bad luck, but perhaps Rams boss John Eustace needs to question if something is missing. There's plenty of talent in both the starting XI and on the bench, plenty of balls in the box, but against Preston they were struggling to convert the chances of the second half.

American summer signing Patrick Agyemang looked very sharp off the bench and nearly found his first Championship goal with multiple decent chances.

He has only played two games, missing the start of the season because of a hernia operation, but maybe he could become a key part of a winning recipe in games to come.

Derby County head coach John Eustace spoke to BBC Radio Derby after his side was beaten 1-0 at home by Preston North End.

"The first-half performance wasn't anywhere near good enough, we are all very disappointed about that, but I thought in the second half we showed lots of energy and it was more like us. And I thought we were really unlucky not to at least get an equaliser," he said.

"We have battled away in the last three or four games, and we have had a good solid formation to play from, and today that first-half formation didn't work for us and we were a little too passive and not getting tight enough.

"We deservedly went in [at half-time] 1-0 down, but it's about learning and growing as a group and getting the right formula and chemistry between the players. I thought today, the changes in the second half showed a different side to us."

After losing their opening two Championship games, resurgent Derby will seek to make it four games unbeaten as Preston head to Pride Park on Saturday (15:00 BST).

After stopping the rot with draws against Bristol City and Ipswich, the Rams picked up their first win of the campaign with an eye-catching 1-0 success at West Brom last time out.

The Lilywhites have taken seven points from three tough fixtures at Deepdale, beating Leicester, Ipswich and then becoming the first team to take a point off Middlesbrough last time out, they have however only taken one point from their opening two away games.

• Derby County have lost just one of their past 15 home league games against Preston North End (W9 D5), winning five of their last six to nil.

• Preston North End have won just two of their last 20 league meetings with Derby County (D6 L12), with both of those coming in the 2020-21 Championship campaign (1-0 away, 3-0 home).

• The two sides who've had the fewest shots in the Championship this season are Derby County (35) and Preston North End (47) and although the Rams have the worst xG in the league (4.1), they also have the best conversion rate (22.9%).

• Preston have the second lowest passing accuracy (70%) of any Championship side so far this season, and have played the highest percentage of their passes long (23%).

• Paul Heckingbottom will take charge of his 50th Championship game as Preston North End manager – only one of the last eight managers have celebrated a half century of league games with PNE with victory (D1 L6), Alan Irvine winning 2-0 versus Bristol City in 2008.

Derby County boss John Eustace said it has been a "really good week" following his side's first win of the season, as he and his players strive to bring some consistency to their performances.

Derby's 1-0 victory over Midlands rivals West Bromwich Albion last Saturday was their first of the campaign, also delivering an opening clean sheet of 2025-26.

"It has been a really good week," Eustace told BBC Radio Derby. "Win, lose or draw, the lads are always in a really positive state of mind, and that was no different this Monday.

"It was great to get our first victory of the season, but their is a lot of hard work ahead, and the lads have worked really hard this week.

"It is about doing the right things week in week out on the training pitch, and keeping that level of consistency and seeing where it takes us."

Derby face Preston, Wrexham and Charlton over the next three games, two of which are newly-promoted sides in the Championship.

Preston have only lost one game this season to Portsmouth and are currently sat just outside the play-off spots, whilst Derby lie 19th.

While Derby's aspirations this term are to be about more than fighting relegation, Eustace is mindful that the turnover of players over the summer will naturally lead to early inconsistencies in their play.

"It is about winning games at the end of the day," added Eustace.

"You want to get the three points. You have to be very respectful of the opposition. Preston have had a really good start, a fantastic manager and they have recruited really well.

"They have a lot of experience in the league so we know it is going to be a really difficult game, and one we are really looking forward to.

"We want a style of play but we also want to win games, and it takes time to get exactly where we want to get to.

"We have had 13 new players come in, and moved 13 on. So, we haven't had that consistency of a starting 11 yet.

"With those levels of consistency [in your starting 11] your performances usually improve, until we get that it is important we just keep being competitive in every game we play."

Listen to the full pre-match interview with Eustace and more Derby County content on BBC Sounds

"Having Lewis Travis playing alongside Ebou Adams, can Travis bring out a different side of Adams? Ebou played just under 10% of his passes forward and Lewis played over 70% of his passes forward.

"You think about having the right balance and the right mix, if we have two players in the same team doing the exact same job, we would be saying the balance is off.

"I hope because Ebou is a nice guy and the fans love him, that he can create that position alongside Travis as his own, but that will only come with time."

Malcolm Christie, Dominic Dietrich and Ed Dawes reflect on Derby's 1-0 win at West Brom. Can Ebou Adams cement his place in the Derby starting 11 alongside Lewis Travis? And who are the key members of the Rams squad?

Listen to the full episode of Rams Weekly and more on Sounds.

Amelia Warren
Fan writer

Image source, Rex Features

Derby's long-awaited first win of the campaign came on Saturday, although it perhaps doesn't come as too much of a shock with hosts West Brom failing to beat the Rams in front of fans for 15 years now.

Nevertheless, Derby's luck against the Baggies combined with resolute defensive work and some excellent impact substitutions means it's now five points from five matches for John Eustace's side, with the Championship table finally starting to reflect the Rams' ever-improving performances.

All of Derby's defence, including goalkeeper Jacob Widell Zetterstrom, deserve credit for keeping their side in the game, despite having to ride out constant waves of attacking pressure from the hosts. However, the two standout performances came courtesy of Matt Clarke and Dion Sanderson.

Having received plenty of criticism from fans in his first couple of appearances, Sanderson is now starting to look much more comfortable. Three last-ditch blocks at 0-0 allowed the momentum to shift back in Derby's favour.

It's perhaps no coincidence that under Eustace's leadership he's been able to bed in so quickly, and put a few shaky performances at the start of the campaign behind him. Sanderson has looked much more composed on the ball, and generally more defensively solid.

Another 'first name on the team sheet' contender for the weekend is Clarke. Each game that he steps into his role of commanding Derby's backline he looks better and better.

At the weekend I'm pretty sure West Brom could've crossed a brick into the box and he'd of headed it back, it felt like every attacking threat West Brom possessed was dealt with by Clarke before it could even trouble us.

Fans always love a player who will give their all for the shirt and consistently put their body on the line- Clarke does exactly that week-in, week-out.

Another positive sign for the Rams was seeing new faces be the difference. All too often last season, Derby crumbled at the back end of matches due to having a lack of quality in their substitutions, far too often this led to points being dropped and draws turning into defeats.

Having the likes of Patrick Agyemang and Andreas Weimann available off the bench shows just how vast the improvement in squad depth has been, and ultimately it ended up being four summer signings who crafted the goal that won the game.

Max Johnston and Lewis Travis combined on the right, before Agyemang showed exactly what he's all about in the box by rising highest and outmuscling his marker to flick the ball onto Weimann.

And huge credit must go to the Austrian for his composure to finish off the move. A lot of players would have snatched at the chance and perhaps hit the crowd of bodies ahead, but by biding his time and bettering his striking position, Weimann made no mistake, with the pull-back finish only showcasing his technical experience and quality even more.

It wasn't the prettiest of wins, but against top-half opposition away from home I believe it was exactly the sort of performance Eustace intended to execute.

Looking ahead to Saturday I expect to see a slight shift in our approach. Being at home I would imagine Eustace would like us to be more aggressive from the start, pressing high, looking to have much more of the ball, and ultimately creating more goalscoring opportunities.

A tough test awaits with the visit of Preston North End. The Lilywhites have had a much better start to the campaign than many would have imagined, only losing once in their opening five matches.

Despite this though, with Derby full of confidence and back at Pride Park, I can only see the Rams making the most of their momentum and claiming back-to-back victories.

You can often catch Amelia Warren, external as a guest on BBC Radio Derby.

Andi Weimann hopes Rams fans will finally see the best of him after his match-winning turn off the bench at former club West Bromwich Albion.

The 34-year-old netted the only goal just four minutes after coming on at The Hawthorns, his first Rams strike in more than seven years.

The Austria forward scored just nine goals in 88 appearances in his first Derby spell after arriving from Aston Villa in 2015, eventually moving to Bristol City after three seasons at Pride Park, one of which saw him loaned out to Wolves.

Weimann rejoined the Rams in the summer from Blackburn and told BBC Radio Derby he was finally back to full fitness after a meniscus injury sustained last season.

"Hopefully I can kick on now - I'm ready to show how good I am," Weimann said.

"Coming on and getting the winner is always nice. I didn't show my best side I think the first time I was (at Derby), I want to do that now and hopefully I can show more of that.

"I think it is a great squad, the manager and the club have done brilliant to get the players in that they have. I think the 25-man squad we have is really good.

"There's lots of competition on the bench and a couple of players coming back. We'll aim as high as we can."

Click here to listen to the full interview via BBC Sounds.

Image source, Getty Images

John Eustace has named Lewis Travis as Derby County's club captain for the 2025-26 season after the midfielder skippered the Rams in the 1-0 win at West Bromwich Albion on Saturday.

Travis only signed for the Rams in the final week of the summer transfer window from Blackburn Rovers where he was previously their captain, including under Eustace.

"I think Travis is a natural leader, he's a fantastic professional, he leads by example," Eustace told BBC Radio Derby.

Former captain Ebou Adams will now be vice-captain after leading Derby through the second half of the 2024-25 season, following Eustace's arrival in February, and the first few weeks of the current season.

"Soon as I told [Adams] what we were looking to do he said, 'That's absolutely no problem, I'm here for the team'. And that's the kind of character that we've got there," Eustace added.

Listen to Eustace's full post-match thoughts and more Derby County on Sounds.

Chris Latchem
BBC Final Score reporter

Image source, Getty Images

That old Blackburn connection eh? It worked a charm at the weekend. A lot was made of John Eustace going back to what he knows best and lifting three players from Ewood Park in the summer.

It paid dividends as Derby County ruined West Brom's Hawthorns hurrah on the stadium's 125th birthday.

Captain Lewis Travis was so busy in midfield, constantly coaxing and corralling his team-mates into position and demanding the standards that delivered a first Championship clean sheet of the season.

While much of the credit must go to goalkeeper Jacob Widell Zetterstrom, the headlines were snatched by Andi Weiman for his cool, classy winner.

Eustace worked with Weiman at Blackburn and knew just what the wily Austrian would add in his first full season with Derby.

He'll now hope his experienced ally has kick-started the Rams' so far stuttering season.

Derby County head coach John Eustace talks to BBC Radio Derby after the Rams win 1-0 at West Bromwich Albion.

When asked it was the perfect away performance, he said: "I think so, yeah. Obviously we didn't want to be as deep as we were in that first half, but we defended the box very well.

"At half-time we just said we wanted to push the team up the pitch another 10 or 15 yards, which we did. We also had to be better with the ball, because we kept giving it away too easy in the first half.

"The second half was a really pleasing performance, and what a great way to win with five minutes to go - one of your subs coming off the bench to score like he did.

"It was great to get Andreas on, I know what he is all about - in those important moments he can put the ball in the net. He has done it for years."

Pride Park will host one of England's homecoming fixtures following their Euro 2025 title win earlier this summer.

The Lionesses will take on Australia on 28 October, alongside other games against Brazil, China and Ghana before the end of 2025.

Derby County's chief operating officer Simon Carnell told BBC Radio Derby: "Out of the blue, 10 days ago or so, we got a call to say 'any chance you can turn the Lionesses game around in a very short space of time?'.

"We said we'd love to try and so we've had our first meeting, a tour with the guys from the FA. We're good to go and we can't wait."

Pride Park also staged the Women's League Cup final in March when Chelsea defeated Manchester City 2-1, and the stadium is scheduled to host an England men's under-21s European qualifier, external against Andorra in October.

Carnell is pleased that people living in and around Derby have a better opportunity to watch their national teams play, adding: "It's the ability for someone living in Chaddesden or Spondon or Littleover to not have to get on the train and go to London and see the game. It's on the doorstep."

Listen to the full interview and more Derby County content on BBC Sounds

West Bromwich Albion will take on Derby County on Saturday (15:00 BST) as they mark The Hawthorns' 125th anniversary with a repeat of the first fixture to be held there in 1900.

West Brom come into this one unbeaten and second in the Championship and will look to extend their run. Derby County are currently hovering just above the relegation zone on two points looking for a first win of the season.

• West Bromwich Albion have lost each of their last three league games against Derby County, as many as in their prior 12 encounters (W5 D4).

• After beating West Bromwich Albion 3-1 on their last league visit to The Hawthorns in April, Derby County could win on successive trips there for the first time since August 1936.

• West Brom could win as many as four of their opening five league games in successive seasons, after doing so in 2024-25. It would be the second time in their history, previously doing so in 1946-47 and 1947-48.

• Derby have only lost two of their last seven away league games under John Eustace (W3 D2), though have failed to win either away game so far in 2025-26 (D1 L1).

• With three goals and an assist to his name, Isaac Price has been involved in four of West Bromwich Albion's six league goals so far this season.

Dominic Dietrich
BBC Radio Derby journalist

Image source, Getty Images

Derby County enter a reset point coming out of the international break. Four games down - two draws, two defeats - and they now chase that elusive first win of the campaign.

John Eustace arrived at his press conference in a good mood, probably boosted by the fact he's seeing his squad get back to near complete fitness.

The Rams' marquee signing Patrick Agyemang is set to be involved in the squad at the Hawthorns this weekend for the first time since arriving from Charlotte FC in the summer and £4m centre back Sondre Langas is getting closer to a return as well having joined in with "a couple" of sessions so far.

The Derby side we've seen in the first four matches will be night and day with how this squad evolves over the coming season, but Eustace again called for patience and made the point that the players returning may not be the finished article fitness-wise just yet.

With every match Derby have played in the Championship, there has been a progression, most notably at Ipswich Town last time out. They led at Portman Road until the 106th minute after new signings Lewis Travis, Max Johnston, Rhian Brewster and Bobby Clark made their impact.

That was the third time Derby have took the lead in a game this season, totalling 86 minutes in front, and as Eustace has reiterated time and time again, they now need to turn performances and spells in games into three points.

Derby County head coach John Eustace has been speaking to the media ahead of their trip across the Midlands to face West Bromwich Albion on Saturday (15:00 BST).

Here are the main talking points:

• Eustace is proud that a number of players are involved with their national sides. All who were involved during the break have returned to Pride Park with the final player returning on Thursday.

• Max Johnston is "one of the top young talents in Europe" and Eustace was encouraged by witnessing his first two caps for Scotland which included a first start in the 2-0 win over Belarus. He is now looking forward into developing Johnston at club level.

• Eustace has given injury updates on Patrick Agyemang and Lars-Jorgen Salvesen saying they "will be in the squad for the weekend". Sondre Langas and Owen Beck have had some training this week.

• The first game back following the international break offers the opportunity for a reset where Derby can build on good performances so far this season and convert them into points.

• On upcoming opponents West Bromwich Albion, Eustace is wary the game may be a "difficult moment" but that it's one the team are "looking forward to".

• Eustace is excited that new signing Ben Brereton Diaz will bring leadership to the field with his extensive Championship experience.

Listen to more from John Eustace and all things Derby County on Sounds.

"Derby have almost literally signed an entirely new XI. When you look at where the squad was prior to the window starting to where it is now, it is night and day.

"It's well rounded, there's a nice blend of different styles in there and with John Eustace at the helm, I am very exited for what the future holds."

Could Derby County challenge for a top six place this season? Podcaster and Rams fan Ryan Dilks thinks their transfer dealings have given them the chance to do so.

Listen to Dilks' full thoughts and more Derby County content on BBC Sounds.

"There have been so many memorable occasions over the years where you come away as a fan, emotional and in tears of happiness or just miserable"

Former Derby County striker Malcolm Christie joins Ed Dawes as they look back at moments from the past and reminisce about some of the Rams' best players.

Listen to the full episode of Rams Weekly and more on BBC Sounds

"John Eustace and his coaching staff, I don't envy the decision they've got to make but they're paid to make it - and John Eustace normally makes the correct one."

Former Derby County striker Malcolm Christie and BBC Radio Derby's Dominic Dietrich discuss how the club's summer transfer window has panned out and decide who would go in their starting XI on the latest episode of Rams Weekly.

Listen to the full episode and more on Sounds.

Amelia Warren
Fan writer

Image source, PA Media

Despite picking up their first points of the season, John Eustace's Derby County head into the international break winless in their first four league matches.

Two draws and two losses leave the Rams 21st in the Championship table, with the difficulty in their start to the new campaign epitomised by playing three teams who currently sit within the top six, and one side fresh from Premier League relegation.

Taking that into account, having two points on the board at this stage, despite it not being what many fans would have desired, doesn't seem to be a cause for too much concern.

One thing Derby have shown, particularly over the last two games, is an improvement in their overall performance - the players are clearly starting to gel with one another, becoming fitter and putting into practice Eustace's desired patterns of play.

These green shoots have allowed fans to remain relatively optimistic and excited to see how their team will perform following the international break.

Positivity among fans hasn't just come from glimpses of magic on the pitch, Derby's successful summer transfer window has also lifted spirits.

Described as "one of the best summer windows in years" for the Rams, 13 new signings have made their way through the Moor Farm door, and are gradually making their mark on the pitch.

Rhian Brewster shone brightest at Portman Road in the last game before the international break, getting on the scoresheet for the first time in black and white, with his direct and skilful attacking approach.

Solid and composed debuts were also made by Lewis Travis in midfield, and Max Johnston at right-back.

Bobby Clark took his first goal for the club exquisitely as the Rams proudly bowed out of the Carabao Cup last week, and Carlton Morris has continued his fine goalscoring form since joining the Rams, now striking four goals in four matches.

This along with the news that club record signing of the David Clowes era, Patrick Agyemang, is back in training and expected to be involved in the matchday squad over the next couple of weeks and it becomes a promising outlook for the Rams.

And not forgetting the arrival of the vastly-experienced Ben Brereton Diaz you can understand why there is so much excitement and enthusiasm around Pride Park at the moment.

For the hindsight lovers out there, had all of Derby's matches finished on 90 minutes so far this season, the Rams would be three more points to the good.

Derby are so nearly at the level we all want them to be.

You can catch Amelia Warren, external as a guest on BBC Radio Derby.

"We've got so many forward options, we've also got the strength in terms of the goalkeeping department. Midfield area is the only area that concerns me but we can work around that now that Travis is there."

Dominic Dietrich, Eric Steele and Malcom Christie are joined by former head of recruitment in the Championship Darren Robinson to give the round-up of Transfer Deadline Day for the Rams.

Listen to the full episode and more on BBC Sounds.