John Eustace favourite defended after Derby County social media backlash - But he is 'at risk' | OneFootball

FLW's Rams Fan Pundit has shared his take on captain Lewis Travis

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Derby County captain Lewis Travis has been the subject of debate among Rams fans, with his recent showing against Watford in particular prompting some concern on social media.

The summer signing from Blackburn Rovers, who reunited with head coach John Eustace in a deal reportedly rising to over £3m, failed to impress against the Hornets and was ultimately jeered off the pitch when substituted for Cruz Allen on 90' minutes.

Seeing as though the 28-year-old was brought straight back into the starting XI for that game - after being sent off and scoring an own goal against Ipswich Town two matches prior - the scrutiny from many seems justified.

But FLW's Derby Fan Pundit, Shaun Woodward, has shared his take on the situation.

What Derby County fans have said regarding John Eustace favourite Lewis Travis

Firstly, though, it's worth getting some context on what Rams fans have actually said about Travis.

After the aforementioned 2-0 away loss to Watford, one Derby fan took to X and tweeted, "Lewis Travis isn’t the scapegoat, it’s just reality that he’s the weakest link and an increasing number of fans now share this opinion."

While another called him "the Jacob Butterfields of Ikechi Anya’s" - in relation to two former Derby players who massively underperformed their fairly large reported price tags of £5m and £4m respectively.

However, one did claim that Travis was being targeted as an "easy scapegoat" - and the blame should be directed towards Eustace's decision to start Sam Szmodics over Bobby Clark.

Despite this, the general feeling surrounding Travis at the moment isn't a positive one - and someone has even called for him to be stripped of the armband.

Derby County captain Lewis Travis defended amid social media concern

Woodward, FLW's Derby Fan Pundit, admits that Travis has not been at his best of late but believes any talk of dropping the midfielder is premature, saying, "I think it’s fair to say Travis did not have his best game at the weekend, and he hasn’t seemed quite himself of late.

"He had a really good game against Bristol City, and he was very good against Preston away as well, and he showed what he was all about with his leadership and his dark arts that he brings to the midfield," Woodward added.

In truth, the 5-0 away win against the Robins was arguably Derby's best performance of the season, which is perhaps why Woodward isn't writing the captain off "just yet." In that game, Travis played 60' minutes and recovered the ball six times.

"I wouldn’t be writing him off just yet, I think there’s more to come from him and I think he’ll probably hold his hands up and admit he’s not been at his best. That said, he’s a very experienced pro, he knows this league inside out, he knows what he’s doing," the Fan Pundit continued.

"He’s one of those players that you don’t always see the good that he’s doing because it’s the stuff that kind of goes a bit unnoticed unless you’re playing alongside him. He’s a leader and probably great in the dressing room and on the training pitch, they’re invaluable skills to have, it’s not just about like beating a man and scoring a 20-yarder, that’s not his game."

But Woodward did go on to mention how he thinks the ex-Blackburn Rovers still needs to "up his game" - or he could be "at risk" of being dropped.

Lewis Travis told to "up his game" at Derby County after Watford FC backlash

With the East Midlands outfit just three points shy of the Championship play-off places, in eighth, Woodward thinks Travis has the same risk as anyone else in the squad of being dropped.

"But he [Travis] does need to up his game, because, like everyone, if he plays poor for a while he’s at risk of being dropped whether he’s captain or not. At the moment, I don’t think he should be dropped, and I don’t think we have someone to replace him anyway," Woodward told FLW.

"Him and David Ozoh kind of pick themselves, I just think it would be healthy to have more competition in the summer, give Travis someone to really compete with for his place. Losing Ebou Adams meant that we didn’t have anyone that could come in like-for-like as such, but I wouldn't be writing off Travis just yet," he concluded.

From these words, it's clear that Woodward wants his fellow Rams fans to be patient with their captain, who he fully expects to come good. However, it will be interesting to see if, at any point from now until the end of the season, Eustace would actually drop Travis for the likes of Oscar Fraulo or Liam Thompson.