A closer look at Saturday’s opposition Derby County

As weeks go for Swansea City, three more points against Saturday’s opponents Derby County would make it a perfect one.

After creating history against arch-rivals Cardiff City, Russell Martin’s side backed up their derby day heroics with another impressive display on their travels with Millwall becoming the most recent victims of ‘Russellball’.

There was always going to be scary moments against Gary Rowett’s well-coached
Lions, but the Swans shown how far they’ve come since their 4-0 drubbing against a well-resourced Sheffield United side back in February.

The challenge for Martin’s history makers will be to replicate this weeks success back at the Swansea.com Stadium. With seven straight defeats on their travels and sitting second from bottom in the division, Wayne Rooney’s Rams look like an easy proposition on paper right? This couldn’t be further from the truth.

Let’s deep dive into some strengths and weaknesses of the Swans’ next opponents.

 Strength: The threat of talisman Tom Lawrence and Derby’s attacking rotations

A name which most Championship and Swans fans would have become familiar with over recent years. Since Rooney gave the Wrexham-born ace the captain’s armband ahead of this season, the former Ipswich Town loanee has developed a new level of consistency in his game reaching double figures for goals while registering five assists.

With Derby not possessing the squad depth compared to other sides in the division, Lawrence has featured in three different attacking roles this season highlighting his flexibility.

 All images courtesy of Wyscout

Featuring as a false number nine, attacking midfielder or playing off the left side you can see that Lawrence is given the licence to drift into attacking area’s creating overload’s.

With Rooney’s side causing opponents trouble with their attacking rotations, expect Lawrence to be a tricky customer for the Swans to pick up.

I believe the Welshman’s best work comes playing as a 10 behind a striker as it allows him to affect the game by running beyond defences from deep while also allowing him to operate in the half-spaces.

Weight of pass and decision making in the final-third 

 For me, this goal sums up everything that’s good about Rooney’s side and no surprise who’s at the heart of it. Lawrence highlighted in white receives the ball inside his own half before driving beyond the Hull City midfield in the number 10 position. Derby’s false nine Luke Plange finds himself out on the left side while attacking midfielder Jason Knight fails in his position. Highlighted in red, Knight’s run across Hull defender Jacob Greaves allows Lawrence to find Festy Ebosele who finishes of the move expertly after bearing down on goal.

Weakness: How the pace of Micheal Obafemi could cause Derby problems in transition

When Derby are looking to create in the final third, they are quite happy to commit lots of body’s forward often leaving themselves short on defensive numbers in transition as demonstrated below.

Derby leave themselves two v two at the back after losing the ball in the final third.

Coventry City striker Matty Godden reverses the pass into strike partner Viktor Gyokeres.

The former Swans loanee failed to convert this golden opportunity after being denied by Rams goalkeeper Ryan Allsop. If Swans’ 18 goal top-scorer Joel Piroe is presented with a similar opportunity, you would definitely back him to finish from this range.

In this instance, Lawrence loses possession after attempting to dribble past two Blackburn players. Again, Derby find themselves two v three at the back. Opposed to Coventry, it’s important to note that Tony Mowbray’s side are one of the best counter-attacking sides in the division.

With the athleticism Blackburn have in Brighton loanee Reda Khadra and Tyrhys Dolan, Derby defender Curtis Davies is unable to catch up highlighted in red. For as good as a defender he has been for Rooney’s side this season, he’s not blessed with pace. Obafemi on the other hand is certainly blessed and could cause Davies and Derby problems in transition.

Derby statistics this season

. This visitors have average 8.87 shots per game this season (League average currently 9.77) converting those efforts into shots on target has proved difficult with 32.1% on target (third lowest in the division).

. For all of Rooney’s impressive play between both boxes, the Rams have struggled to execute key passes to hurt the opposition recording 89 this season, (Ranks them 22nd in the division) in comparison the Swans have made 124 the (7th best in the division).

. Derby have the joint best defensive record for sides in the bottom half of the table conceding 45 goals. They have only conceded 17 goals at Pride Park.

. Derby rank second from bottom for crosses into the box with 436 highlighting their patience to work the perfect chance. 252 of their crosses have come from the right side with overlapping full back Nathan Byrne supplying 93 accurate crosses.

With the visitors desperate for the points to boost their survival chances, expect to see two excellent footballing sides going at it in South Wales this weekend.