Davies out in front for Rams
STEVE Davies is in pole position to lead Derby County's attack when they kick off the new Championship season against Peterborough United.
Injuries to Rob Hulse, Chris Porter and Kris Commons during pre-season have left the Rams searching for a focal point up front.
-
Luke Varney has been tried and Porter has appeared in only two of the friendlies so far – at Burton and Exeter – but is again being troubled by a worrying hip problem.
Davies' impact on the last two friendlies has given manager Nigel Clough plenty of food for thought.
The 21-year-old impressed on the right after coming on at Exeter. He scored and set up Paul Green's second goal of the afternoon in the 3-1 win.
Davies was asked to play up front in a 4-3-3 against Notts County at Meadow Lane on Tuesday and caught the eye again. He scored and his general all-round display played a big part in the 3-2 victory.
Clough was impressed.
"We have had a look at Luke Varney up there and Chris Porter last Saturday, and I thought Steve Davies did as well as anybody in the position," said the Rams manager.
"He held the ball up, looked dangerous and scored a goal as he has done in most games pre-season. We were very, very pleased with him against Notts."
Clough issued a challenge to Davies after the win at Exeter, saying he wanted the player to show him that he could do it over 90 minutes and 40-odd games a season.
"Yes, and he will start up there again on Saturday against Stoke," said Clough.
"At the moment, he is the prime candidate to be the striker or one of two up there in the first game of the season.
"He just has to get a little bit stronger. The last 10 or 15 minutes at Notts were important. We kept telling him to keep working in that period in order to get his fitness levels up and, to be fair, he did that."
Hulse, last season's leading scorer, has not featured in the pre-season games and is recovering from a minor operation on his groin.
"Rob is making reasonable progress at the moment and, hopefully, he might make the substitutes' bench for the first game but he certainly won't play before then," said Clough.
Porter returned to action at Exeter after sitting out the matches at Chesterfield, Yeovil and Torquay but his nagging hip problem kept him out of the Notts game.
"Chris' injury is quite worrying because it is something that comes and goes," said Clough.
Commons made his first appearance of the pre-season when he played for half an hour against Notts on Tuesday. He has been out with a hamstring injury.
12 Comments
View all
by chris, Plymouth
Friday, July 31 2009, 6:48PM
“Hopefully Davies will be the pacey striker we need to partner hulse and Porter.”
by John, Derby
Thursday, July 30 2009, 2:51PM
“Looks like whoever is moderating has decided that the link to the BBC website is not appropriate. Hellooo... Anyone there...? I posted it more than four hours ago...”
by mr, derby
Thursday, July 30 2009, 2:20PM
“don't know what you are all worried about,in pre-season we have only lost 1 match and we been scoring goals without hulse,porter n commons,ok so the teams we've played havent been championship level but we have been winning.why worry now when the season hasn't even started yet? i think we will surprise alot of critics this coming season in a positive way.”
by MB, Derby
Thursday, July 30 2009, 1:54PM
“...although it still remains to be seen if that mentality ( and his point about Burton and critics team of the season) holds water. One could argue that where Burton has come from the players and clubs have very much the same resources to work with so mentality and determination are key....in the Champ and Prem money buys skill and skill wins games”
by John, Derby
Thursday, July 30 2009, 1:14PM
“I know the word gets bandied around a lot, but I do think patience is the key. What Nigel seems to be trying to do is change more than just personnel. Who knows - maybe some that we already have will come to the fore once changes have been made. I think we are experiencing changes to serve the longer term future than merely an instant fix for next season.”
by MB, Derby
Thursday, July 30 2009, 12:24PM
“Thanks john - read it and it's a very good article. Gives me some faith that he does know what he's doing no matter how it seems”
by John, Derby
Thursday, July 30 2009, 12:10PM
“I posted a link to the BBC website earlier. I'm sure it will appear once it has cleared the moderator's queue. It's a blog written by Paul Fletcher called 'Clough times at Derby'. If you search for it on the BBC website under the title you'll surely find it before the link appears... It's a very interesting piece and gives a degree on insight into what Nigel is trying to do.”
by Ilson ram, Ilson
Thursday, July 30 2009, 10:50AM
“MB your quite right we wont miss Ellington or Villa but what Iam trying to say is Porter had this thigh problem in March and its still with him Hulse struggled through the last few matches for us when he probably should not have been playing because we were desperate to stay in the division What long term damage that has done remains to be seen But as a semi pro myself i can assure you will not be getting anything out of those two this season”
by John, Derby
Thursday, July 30 2009, 10:05AM
“For an interseting insight into the way Nigel Clough works and his ethos, you may find this useful: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/paulfletcher/2009/07/clough_times_at_derby.html#115776”
by MB, Derby
Thursday, July 30 2009, 9:41AM
“Olson Ram...do you mean Ellington? He's no great loss at all and for all of Villa work he didn't deliver so I dont think we can really blame a ship out. Injuries ate a huge problem and it is very annoying if not 'suspicious' that 3 of the 5 strikers we have are injured...but u can't buy and buy just to cover injuries. Look at the pickle we've been in recently with far too many players....that's down to Billys "Gimmee,Gimmee midfielders" routine and Paul Jewells "a player, a player my kingdom for a player" signings”