Dominant Derby are up next

You have to admit that Steve McClaren has put together a great side at Derby. I was impressed with them when they came down to the Goldsands last autumn and passed the ball with so much confidence. I also think McClaren has done well to keep hold of the likes of will Young and Craig Bryson, while Jamie Ward and Chris Martin are still putting away the goals. Trying to find a weak squad in their team is pretty hard and even Eddie Howe had eyes for striker Johnny Russell over the summer.

Adam Smith with Derby players last season.

Will Hughes is a midfielder who likes to dictate games.

How are Derby playing away from home? Not too badly with a bruising draws against Nottingham Forest and a tidy away win against Blackburn Rovers recently. They certainly have goals in the team and are steadily climbing up the table. They also powered their way through to the fourth round of the Capital One Cup last week with a 2-0 win against Reading and beat Bolton 0-2 away at the weekend. At home though they have been dropping some points with a few draws on the record.

One player who they have picked up on loan, who is earmarked for a big career, is Jordan Ibe. Jordan is on Liverpool's books and if you remember he played on loan for Birmingham against the Cherries last year when we beat them 2-4 away. He's a neat little winger on his day and he scored last time out against Cardiff City. Another summer signing was the acquisition of Leon Best from Blackburn Rovers. He has not seen that much playing time which underlines the strength of squad that McClaren has.

This will be a much more difficult proposition than Wigan last Saturday. AFCB have to bring their A game and for away matches they have been doing that this season so I am hopeful that the Cherries can get something from the game. With both teams often the draw specialists it may not be the worst prediction to think that AFCB might get a point from this game.

Derby County Home Form:
WWDD

AFCB Away Form:
WLDD

Tomorrow Cherry Chimes will release its October Newsletter. Just by signing up below you can catch up on all last month's stories and read the special newsletter story - Managers come and go.

Sign up for the October Newsletter

Email Address 

First Name

Last Name

Email Format

• html
• text

Can O'Kane be the best Championship enforcer?

High on the list of players that AFCB fans have been pleased to hang on to this summer is Eunan O'Kane. There are still some transfer time left so I hope the situation regarding him does not change. He really found himself playing in a deeper position in front of the back four last season that suited his attributes particularly well and his reading of the game and assured passing was matched by some superb tackling and breaking up of play when the back four needed protection. So can Eunan become the best enforcer in the Championship?

Eunan has to put the work in to keep pace with the growing squad.

We have seen some great players in the World Cup play in Eunan's position like Macharano for Argentina and Schneider for Germany. It should have been of small surprise that these two teams with their strong defensive set ups found a way to the final even if they did not dazzle all the way through the tournament. The key position of the defensive midfielder is what finally slowed the amount of goals that were such a feature of the earlier rounds of the World Cup.

For Eunan to reach the next level he needs another solid season in the Championship and to help reduce the number of chances opposition teams have to hurt our defence. It is not just a one man job though and he needs to be reliant on other just as they are in him. I like the confidence that Eunan has and the way he has grown and adapted to whatever task Eddie and Jason have asked him to do. I am glad he still showed against Yeovil last season that he is capable of getting forward, beating a few players and unleashing unstoppable shots and if he keeps that up he could soon find international caps coming his way.

Eunan has the belief in his ability to excel in this AFCB side.

Eunan has not played that many games just in front of the back four and he has miss timed a few tackles that have resulted in penalties. This part of his game Eddie Howe may have to look at so that he is not charging in at the wrong moment.

There are other in the Championship who are equally respected for their dogged displays in defensive midfield like Scott Parker at Fulham, Craig Bryson is another at Derby and Ben Watson at Wigan, but Eunan can develop his power and trickery further from what I have seen and could well be the one that every one is after come next summer. Peter Beagrie at SkySports has his own favourites but Eunan could be among them next time around.