As John Eustace was unveiled as Derby County Head Coach on Thursday, the former midfielder spoke of fond memories from his playing days at Pride Park.
These surely do not include Queens Park Rangers, and while not a sucker punch akin to the 2014 Championship play-off final in which he played, this was another encounter, he and Derby, will want to move on from.
For all the talk of an exciting long-term vision as the Solihull native spoke to the press for the first time, the stark reality of the task the new Derby boss faces was clear for all to see at Loftus Road.
Eustace, who swapped play-off contenders Blackburn for a Rams return, had only had one session with his new squad. But he made four changes to the side which he set up in the 4-2-3-1 that had brought him so much success at Rovers.
In the opening 20 minutes, this paid off with Derby looking more positionally balanced as they pressed with more intensity and passed with a higher tempo, as they prevented their hosts from registering a single shot.
But in the 22nd minute a poor throw from Ryan Nyambe found Ebou Adams who took a heavy touch and was robbed by Ilias Chair. who played a one-two with Michael Frey before curling a peach of a strike beyond the reach of Jacob Widell Zetterström from 20 yards.
Adams nearly drew Derby level seven minutes later, Clarke heading a set piece down which he hit cleanly over the bar.
Frey went close to the hosts’ second in the 34th minute, firing a 30-yard volley narrowly wide on the turn.
But the second goal did come just a minute later, as Sam Field played a square ball to Chair on the left 25 yards out. He ghosted round Ryan Nyambe and saw his effort palmed as far as Koki Saito, who took a touch to move it away from Zetterström and smash it into the net from six yards.
Half-time couldn’t come quick enough for The Rams, as Steve Cook heading wide at the near post with Eustace’s men still appearing shell-shocked.
To have any chance of making a comeback, Derby would have to score next and weren’t too far away with two minutes of the half to play: Nathaniel Mendez-Laing saw his deflected effort saved after a good pick out from Callum Elder.
At the break came a further blow for a Rams side already missing Nat Phillips, David Ozoh, Corey Blackett-Taylor, Curtis Nelson, Dajaune Brown and Kane Wilson.
Lars-Jørgen Salvesen had to be substituted at the interval having gone down holding his right ankle after an incident for which he felt he should have been awarded a spot-kick.
In the 55th minute, Chair hit another ambitious strike from 25 yards, which was held by Zetterström. His brace was instead completed in a much easier fashion two minutes later.
Yang Min-Hyeok took a neat touch to control a long ball and beat Matt Clarke before drilling it across the box for Chair to fire into the roof of the net.
And the hosts completed the rout in the 67th minute, when Kenneth Paal whipped a free kick from the right to the near post, where Southampton loanee Ronnie Edwards headed home.
Late chances came Derby’s way which summed up their night, and, frankly, their season. Jerry Yates first fired wide from an unmarked position four yards out, before meeting a great cross with aplomb, only for the flag to be raised.
The heavy defeat has resulted in The Rams’ goal difference taking enough of a hit to see them slip back into the bottom three, with the teams around them having two games in hand as of Friday night.
Analysis: In at the deep end
Credit to John Eustace, just as in his time as a holding midfielder, he certainly isn’t one to shy away from a challenge.
While it is worth considering that QPR have won seven of their last eight home games, it is clear that this Derby side, who are now winless in eleven in all competitions, are low on confidence.
Additionally, there were many poor performers in the Derby side, who struggled to recover from mistakes. Ebou Adams had a noticeably poor game, probably the worst of his fifty Rams appearances, while individual errors from Ryan Nyambe, and Jacob Widell Zetterström also cost goals, as Jerry Yates did at the other end.
As Eustace pointed out: “The goal they scored knocked the wind out of our sails.”
With The Rams having failed to win a game from a losing position all season and having only picked up four league draws from behind too, this is a big problem that The 45-year-old will have to remedy alongside his assistant head coach Matt Gardiner and first team coach Keith Downing, as well as the retained Matt Hamshaw and Andy Warrington.
It is important to contextualise the performance though, with Eustace and his incoming staff having had just one day to work with the players. He has spoken of his excitement to work on the issues he identified throughout the game with a full week in training ahead of the visit of Millwall on Saturday, February 22.
The higher-tempo, high-pressing 4-2-3-1 brough improvement in the opening 20 minutes, despite there having been such little time to implement it and has been so effective for Eustace elsewhere. What the coming week will be about is adaptation, to a new club, or to a new boss and system, to which there will of course need to be tweaks.
And three of their next four games being at home could offer a chance to build some momentum with the Pride Park faithful rallying round the new head coach.
Things should improve with time. Challenging, though, is that time is a luxury no-one is afforded in a relegation scrap, so the question is whether any improvement will be enough.
But just because Eustace’s Derby have lost the first of their 14 Cup Finals, it does not mean they cannot dig themselves out of the spot of bother they find themselves in.
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