John Eustace makes Derby County transfer admission as Rams braced for busy summer
Latest Derby County news from DerbyshireLive brings you what the Rams head coach has had to say regarding the summer ahead
John Eustace hopes Derby County can recruit players this summer who can help evolve the team after admitting he had to be adaptable in order to find a winning formula to keep them in the Championship.
Derby are braced for an exciting summer under the head coach who will get the chance to put his own imprint on the squad for the first time since taking charge in February.
Eustace did a wonderful job of guiding Derby to safety against all the odds, but had to sacrifice some of his methods in order to get them out of trouble.
A 4-2-3-1 system that Eustace favoured and used to great effect at Blackburn had to be ditched for 3-5-2.
With injuries biting hard, Derby had to play territorial football at times in order to get results but it worked well as the Rams finished above the drop zone.
And now with the summer ahead to build a team that is more in his vision, Eustace is looking forward to the work which lies ahead.
“The most important thing when coming in was to make sure that we got results,” he said.
“We set up in a certain way against QPR without me working with the team to try and play a certain way and it was very evident we couldn’t do that.
“Over the next couple of weeks against Millwall and Middlesbrough we looked at a couple of things.
“But after that, I found a formula that could get the best out of the boys and also make us score.
“We hadn’t scored any goals throughout the team, so we had to set up to play for free-kicks, corners, etc.
“It was not the most attractive style of football, but it’s winning football and it’s managed to make sure we stayed in the league.
“It’s about me as a head coach being adaptable to get the best out of the group, and I think we’ve done that.
“Now it’s important over the summer that we recruit players to help this group and maybe try to evolve if we can.”
One of Derby’s priorities this summer will be to revamp their attack with nearly half of the 48 goals they scored coming from set-pieces.
Jerry Yates finished top scorer with 10 goals and was followed by Ebou Adams who grabbed six from midfield.
Derby need to be better in that respect and Eustace added: “It’s just important that you get a group of players that are willing to work hard, who are coachable and and willing to do their jobs.
“I’ve come in here and for the last 14 games, the players have done that. Now we’ve got to look at the players to come in next season to help this group.”
