What a difference a week makes in football. Victory at Brentford last weekend followed up by a victory against Blackburn, left me feeling quite confident going into the Wolves clash. Now it’s back to the drawing board.

The 2-1 defeat was very disappointing, particularly after the two consecutive victories and on top of that, it wasn’t a pretty game of football either.

Derby was poor in the first-half, lacking any pace, too predictable and pretty slow at moving the ball around. The ball rarely found its way to the attackers as it never really got out of midfield.

Going 1-0 down wasn’t a huge shock, Wolves were a bit sharper and more organised and it was poor defending for the goal.

Giving the ball away so cheaply was awful to watch given the talent in that team. These players cant have become bad footballers overnight, unfortunately it has to be down to management (Clement and Wassall), who haven’t been able to get the best out of the talent recently but I thought that the two recent wins proved there was still signs of quality capable of winning points.

Chris Martin’s great free-kick before the break was a relief. The Rams needed a moment of brilliance like that to get things going and it did. The players came out for the second 45 with signs of urgency and purpose, which unfortunately just evaporated soon after.

Wolves had chances but were by no means significantly better than Derby; the game really was there for the taking. Top six sides take advantage of this type of situation, this Derby side didn’t.

Not being able to hold on for the draw was very frustrating, the hosts got their second goal and, like the first goal, it wasn’t surprising when it came.

Some players aren’t up to it at the moment, which is painful when they have a good name or reputation that just isn’t being lived up to. When this season is reflected upon in the summer certain signings will be questioned, will Mel Morris be quite the same with a new manager (or Wassall) in the summer transfer market?

George Thorne returned from injury and was far from at his sharpest. He is the sort of player that, when available, has to play, yet Saturday may have been too soon. I imagine that it’s difficult to judge from the training pitch and it’s a shame that parts of this season have been stop-start for Thorne due to injuries. What he really needs is a good, undisturbed run of games but Wassall has a more than serviceable option in youngster Jamie Hanson, who is a good understudy in that role.

Also you have to wonder what’s going on with the winger Camara? He has to be an option at some point, especially with pace, creativity and goals in short supply.

Darren Wassall has been on the end of plenty of criticism from fans for his very positive post-match interviews. Remember back to Paul Clement’s, which were refreshingly honest, therefore Wassall must think (or know) that Clement’s honesty when things went wrong, was damaging in the dressing room, although fans rightly always want the manager to tell it like it is.

Derby (somehow) still sit inside the play-off places, although a performance like Saturdays in a play-off semi-final would probably have seen the team destroyed.

This league is open and no single team is really shining. Stumbling into the play-offs (the only likely way of getting in now you’d think) won’t quite feel the same as a normal run into the top half dozen.

C’mon Derby, get it together and cement a top six place!

For more of Nathan's articles you can read his blog at www.derbycountyfan.com and follow him via @ramscorner on Twitter.

Match Highlights:

Gaffer / Player Interviews:

Paul Clement thinks the Rams deserved more from the Wolves clash.

COYR!!

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