When asked for his ambitions for the season before the last frendly on Saturday, Nigel Clough's immediate response was "Top Six" short sweet and to the point. You felt he meant it.

Clough went on and stated his midfield was the best in the Championship, that week after week opposing managers were wishing they had the Derby players.

Positive points:

John Brayford left because he wanted to play at the highest level, it would be wrong to stand in his way, a view it's easy to respect, an honourable way to treat a stalwart of the club.

As indeed it was to offer Shaun Barker a contract extension after his serious knee injury, to support, reassure and look after a player, to give him financial security and peace of mind. Contrast that with Billy Davies and Seth Johnson's injury in the promotion year.

Whenever you hear Barker speak it's impossible not to get drawn in, to smile, basically he's a very down to earth likeable guy, you want him to overcome his problems and if the worst comes to worst then I hope the club find a coaching or management role for our ambassador.

But what of Clough's aims, can we make the top six?

Well the addition of Johnny Russell gives us great hope, in his outing so far the Scotsman has proved a natural finisher. Much I suspect will depend upon whether he gets the service he needs especially from the flanks. And thereby is the rub. Despite the accolades our midfield is still one dimensional, we lack width and wingers, the ability to get to the byeline, look up, then pick out the right option.

Hughes Hendrick Bryson great at playing through the middle at running at defenders but teams will work that out close us down and we may struggle. Only Ben Davies and Michael Jacobs offer width and they are behind Coutts, Ward and now possibly Eustace in the starting line up.

At the back we have Adam Smith from Spurs, solid defender by all accounts who did well for Millwall last season before he felt out with the manager. Keogh and Buxton again solid and Forsyth offers some attacking intent.

In goal, Lee Grant is the favoured option although personally I've not seen one iota from him to suggest he is any better than Fielding, Legzdins or indeed Lee Camp who replaced him in Grant's first spell at the Rams. Perhaps it's another financial decision. Whatever th ereason my hope is that Grant proves me wrong, coming off his line more and commanding his six yard box at least would be a good start.

As ever at this time of the season you need to believe in your team, the manager and all. As a friend quite rightly said "If you can't be positive at the start of the season why bother?"

True enough words for me "Come On You Rams".

Photo: Action Images

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