‘Very disappointing’: John Eustace has big Derby County ‘plan’ for Coventry City, he had to ‘learn’ from 3-0 hammering
‘Very disappointing’: John Eustace has big Derby County ‘plan’ for Coventry City, he had to ‘learn’ from 3-0 hammering
John Eustace has endured a tough run since becoming Derby County boss and faces another difficult fixture vs Coventry City in midweek.
John Eustace became Derby County manager on February 13th, leaving Blackburn Rovers to replace Paul Warne at Pride Park.
His first game in the dugout ended terribly, with the Rams on the receiving end of a 4-0 thrashing by Queens Park Rangers.
Defeats at the hands of Middlesbrough and Millwall then followed, but Eustace finally secured his first win as manager on March 8th when Derby beat Blackburn 2-1.
That result moved the Derbyshire outfit up to 22nd in the Championship table ahead of facing another team with play-off aspirations on Tuesday, Coventry City.
John Eustace has ‘plan’ for Derby County vs Coventry City
Derby have been branded the worst team in the club’s history this season and in turn, are expected to struggle on March 8th.
Frank Lampard has transformed Coventry under his management, and they are now firmly in contention to secure a top-six finish this season.
The Sky Blues are the most in-form side in the Championship right now, winning all of their last five league outings.
But, when speaking to the club’s media prior to the clash, Eustace revealed Derby have a ‘plan’ to deal with Lampard’s high flyers.
He said: “We’re going into the last ten matches of the season now, so the performances are important, but it’s about getting results now.
“We have to prepare for each game as they come. The next is on Tuesday night and it is a huge one which we’ve prepared properly for. We’ll have a game plan for it and we’ll see where it takes us.”
John Eustace had to learn from Coventry City defeat with Blackburn Rovers
Tuesday’s meeting will be the third time Eustace has faced off with Coventry in the 2024/25 season.
The most recent clash saw his Blackburn side beaten 2-0 at Ewood Park on January 21st.
Prior to that, the Rovers were thumped 3-0 by Derby’s upcoming opponents at the Coventry Building Society Arena on October 1st, 2024.
Following that match, as per the Lancashire Telegraph, Eustace expressed his disappointment at Blackburn’s performance and how they would have to ‘learn’ from the humbling loss.
He said: “It was a very disappointing night. I thought we were a little bit off the pace.
“We were off the pace in terms of being tight enough to them as well. It was a bad night for us. We have to learn from it, against a very good team that have spent a lot of money in the last few seasons.
“We have to realise these are the levels we have to get to if we’re going to compete with these teams week in, week out.”
Given the perilous situation Derby find themselves in at the bottom end of the Championship going into their meeting with Coventry, fans will no doubt be praying Eustace has indeed learned his lesson from two goalless defeats against Lampard’s men.
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