‘They all look clueless’ - Derby County fan delivers damning John Eustace verdict | OneFootball

FLW's Derby fan pundit believes having a settled squad is key to the Rams getting over this rut to begin the new campaign

It has not been a good first seven games of the 2026/27 campaign at Derby County, with the Rams once again starting slowly out of the blocks.

Derby only won one of their first 10 league games last season, in John Eustace's first full year at the helm, before improving massively and being involved in the play-off conversation on the final day, occupying sixth momentarily ahead of Hull City and Wrexham.

However, that momentum hasn't been capitalised on at all over the summer, with the Rams sitting inside the relegation zone with just one win in their opening seven league games this time around.

There have been a lot of contributing factors to this slow start, from the numerous loan stars from last season who contributed massively heading back to their parent clubs, key injuries to important players and a Turki Alalshish-led investment saga which dominated the summer, just to fall through at the eleventh hour.

Derby County fan pundit addresses main issue with their slow start

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All of that has contributed to a tumultuous start to the 2026/27 campaign, and FLW's Derby fan pundit, Shaun Woodward, feels that Rams boss John Eustace doesn't know who his best eleven truly is.

Only Sheffield United, Burnley, Charlton Athletic and Portsmouth have fielded more players so far in league action than Derby, who have seen 24 players take to the pitch.

"We need a settled side," Woodward said. "John Eustace mentioned this at the weekend after the Birmingham defeat, but he's contradicting himself because over many games this season we've played several centre-back pairings, numerous right-backs and differend combos in the middle.

"I know some of that is injury-related, but I just don't think he knows what his strongest eleven is with those injuries, or remotely close to one."

In an ideal scenario, Patrick Agyemang and Matt Clarke, who are both sidelined until around November, would be starting games, and they form a big part of the spine.

Smaller injuries to captain Lewis Travis and striker Carlton Morris haven't helped, either, but the fan pundit doesn't think that those in reserve have John Eustace's trust to go and replicate their performances.

"I think there are certain players he doesn't trust," he continued. "Players he isn't playing for whatever reason. His team selections so far have been baffling."

Derby County fan pundit calls on John Eustace to settle on an eleven to breed familiarity into the side

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Woodward went on to state that he feels that watching Derby sometimes this season has looked like a group of players who don't know each other and who are still working on building relationships.

Chopping and changing each game isn't going to help build squad cohesion, even if the difficult schedule almost demands it, and the fan pundit hopes John Eustace finds his strongest eleven while key players return from injury.

"I think we do need to almost stick with an eleven and just go with it, so players can start to work on partnerships, because right now, it's every game, you don't know what team's getting put out," he added.

"The substitutions are quite bizarre at times, and it's just a mish-mash at the end of games. You can see it across the players' body language as well; they all look a bit lost out there at times, and Eustace needs to take ownership of that.

"He needs to try and get nine or 10 players out there every week who will be settled, and they can get to know each other's roles and jobs, because at the moment, they all look clueless. It just looks like 11 guys chucked out there, and no one really knows what everyone does."

From the way the Rams have been dominated by the likes of Swansea City and West Ham United in 3-0 defeats, and how comfortable West Brom were down to 10 men against them, Woodward can see how effective a clear system can be.

He hopes his side can carve one quickly to help get them out of what has been yet another rut to start the new year.

"Every team we play has a system with settled players in roles they understand. Right now, we don't have that, and we need to work on it massively."

Derby County need to find a good result in an important game against Burnley this Saturday

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If there's ever been a perfect time for a big win to almost kickstart a season, it's this weekend, for both Derby and their opponents, Burnley.

Both head into the game in the relegation zone, with the Clarets one of two sides still yet to win through the opening seven games of the season.

Not only would a win help climb away from danger, but it would build some morale ahead of the three-week international break which comes after the meeting at Turf Moor. On the flip side, you don't want your final game for a long time to be a defeat to a fellow slow-starter.

It's not out of the question that a loss for either side will see the respective manager under a lot of pressure from fans, as the terrible start to the season continues, and if Derby lose their fourth straight league game at Turf Moor, they could be sitting bottom at the break.

We've seen John Eustace turn around a slow start already at Pride Park, but questions will be asked whether he'll be allowed time to turn this one around, especially if the performance doesn't improve on Saturday.