Lampard’s Derby Showing Genuine Promotion Credentials
Frank Lampard has made a fantastic start to his Derby County career and, so far, based on what we have seen from his team, they look more than capable of making a big push for promotion. Derby have been hovering around the promotion places for a number of seasons but never had the last push in them to get over the line. Lampard appears to have installed belief in this team, and that may be the last little push they need to get over the line.
One thing Frank Lampard has done very well so far during his short time as manager is to get people onside. The club have shown what Lampard is doing behind the scenes, and everything has been positive. Of course, he will face tough moments at some point this season, but the positivity and the belief around the squad has been fantastic to see, and Lampard is the man behind all that.
Fans are expecting to see the club challenge for promotion this season, and that is thanks to the positivity that has been fed down to them. The latest Championship betting has Derby as short as 2/1 for promotion, while they are priced up at 6/1 to win the Championship title.
Derby are in the playoff spots after their first 16 games this season, putting them in the ideal position to challenge. Alongside this great start to the season, Lampard has already given his players and fans two memorable away days in the EFL Cup. The first came at Old Trafford, when he faced his old boss and mentor Jose Mourinho. That will have been a big game for Lampard, so early in his career, and his team went out and won the game, giving him one up over his old boss.
The next game in that cup run will be one that Lampard will never forget. In his first season in charge of a team, he got the opportunity to take that team back to Chelsea, the club where he made a name for himself. Lampard can only be described as a Chelsea legend, and it must have been a great feeling for him to lead a team out to play against them, after less than 20 games in charge of his first ever club. His team certainly didn’t let him down; they were fantastic and pushed The Blues all the way, but Chelsea were just too strong for them and eventually won the game.
There has been a lot of positives from the Lampard reign at Derby so far, and fans will be hoping there is a lot more to come. While the start has been good, the real test for Derby will be how they play towards the end of the season, something that has troubled them in the past. They have a talented, young manager in charge, and Derby County could be on the verge of a real promotion challenge this season under Frank Lampard.