As we suspected Ralph Hasenhuttl rang the changes, but few of the players who came into the side did their chances of being first choice under Ralph Hasenhuttl much good.
Ralph's all change side contained only one player who could claim to be a first choice player and it was he Nathan Redmond who was about the only Saints outfield player who could walk off the pitch with his head held high.
Redmond was a constant thorn in the side of the Rams, scoring after only 4 minutes with a goal that was deflected in and then on 48 minutes scoring a contender for goal of the season to give us what looked like a comfortable lead that surely we couldn't throw away.
It was at this time that you hoped that the youngsters would play for a chance to push their claims to play in the Premier League and the fringe players who seem to be in and out of the side like Stephens and Vestergaard would show that they can show composure and maturity and see a game out.
To be blunt our two central defenders were all at sea, a look back at the highlights of the game show them both marking thin air at both goals and indeed in the final seconds when Derby tore us open and should have put us out of the cup.
In fairness after the shock of conceding two soft goals in three minutes we got our concentration back and Elyounoussi should have restored our lead but put his unmarked header straight into the keepers arms, but the same issues still remain, was can't defend no matter who we put in defence.
Saints have to sign a central defender in this window or we could struggle and it must be frustrating for the rest of the squad to see so much good work going forward undone time and time again by schoolboy defending where we just can't seem to mark players or read the game.
The only good thing about this result is that it will now be a game that can count towards Pierre Emile Hojbjergs ban and he will now be able to return a game earlier than expected in the Premier League and can now return against Everton January 19th that is a bonus