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Bill's Take: Clean Sheets The Key To Rams Promotion
Friday, 20th Feb 2015 07:15 by Bill Riordan

Since I began writing this column at the beginning of last season, I have consistently worried that the Rams’ defence would not be good enough for us to get promoted to the Premier League.

Last season the defence held together reasonably well, to the extent that we conceded 52 goals in league matches. Yes it was the worst among the top six clubs in the Championship, but among the better performances in the division.

This season things are looking better still: the Rams have conceded 31 goals at exactly one per game, bettered only by Middlesbrough and Sheffield Wednesday.

But there is something really odd going on with the Rams defensive performances this season; the consistency hinted at above, disappears under closer analysis. In many league matches the Rams have kept a clean sheet and racked up massive points; in almost as many matches we have conceded two or more and dropped points by the bucket load.

Here are some numbers:

In 31 league matches so far, the Rams have kept a clean sheet 14 times and amassed 38 points in those games. They have dropped only four points in these matches, in goalless draws against Sheffield Wednesday back in August and Millwall in early October. These are the times when the Rams look almost unstoppable.

There have been another five matches — only five out of thirty one — where the Rams have conceded one goal. In these matches the Rams have run up another eleven points, dropping only four in draws against Ipswich and Forest back in August and September.

But now take a look what happens when the Rams concede two or more in a match. There have been twelve such matches, in which the Rams have gained a total of only ten points. The only wins have been 3-2 at Blackburn in September and 3-2 at home against Huddersfield in November. The six defeats the team has suffered have come in these matches.

It is hard to know exactly what to make of this. Obviously it’s much easier to win when you keep a clean sheet than when you let in two or more. And the Rams are certainly trying to keep a clean sheet every time they step onto the pitch. But what is really surprising is that these matches where the opposition gets among the goals, and the Rams drop points, it is not necessarily against the good teams.

The defeats include Charlton, Wigan, Leeds and Forest. It begins to look as though there are occasions when the Rams are just not up for it, and cannot respond to the opposing team scoring a couple of goals. Either that, or weaker teams have worked out how to score and beat the Rams.

The goals against also seem to crop up in groups, where the team seems to lose its defensive stability for a while. We are in one of those periods at the moment; having conceded five goals in the last two matches, and picked up two points.

Could there be a personnel aspect to the situation? The defensive line-up has been fairly consistent over the season so far. But we should note that Ryan Shotton has been on the losing side only twice in fourteen starts. His recent three starts at right back — against Blackburn, Cardiff and Bolton — gave us three wins with only one goal conceded.

One thing at least is for sure: the Rams need to get back to keeping clean sheets and racking up the wins. Clean sheets make everything so much easier and so much more certain.

Saturday would be a good opportunity for this, with Sheffield Wednesday being among the lowest scorers in the division.



Photo: Action Images



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