With Brentford sitting nicely in 3^rdplace, they visit Frank Lampard’s Derby County looking for their 1^staway win of the season. Billy Grant caught up with Ollie from Derby County Blog (@DerbyCountyBlog) to get the lowdown on Frank’s big squad. How Flo Jo is getting on in the midlands. And whether Frank Lampard’s Derby will out-pass Brentford when they meet at the weekend.

This season is a new era. You have a new manager. And a new team name – Frank Lampard’s Derby.  Do you also have a new philosophy?  How’s the season panning out so far?  

Put it this way, you will not get 75% possession this time.  Unlike Gary Rowett, whose tactics were often very negative, Lampard wants his team to have the ball and encourages his defenders to look for a pass to feet, rather than a longer ball for a striker to contest. 

The shape is basically 4-2-3-1, with Mason Mount offered a free role. But it’s not as rigid as it was under Rowett and the full backs, particularly young Jayden Bogle on the right, will bomb on.  We will take risks and load the box with players at times.

It’s been a strange start to the season, which has included three fairly embarrassing defeats and yet sees us keeping pace with the early contenders, thanks to four wins.  Had we beaten Blackburn on Tuesday, which we 100% deserved to do, then we’d be sat level with you lot in the table (To be fair, Blackburn beat Brentford with their one shot of the game. And between the keeper and the woodwork, could have won easily by three clear goals – Ed). So I’m really intrigued to see how this game pans out. 

Lampard added a load of new players to the squad. Have they gelled or is it taking a bit of time? 

There was an influx of nine new players, which came as a surprise, as the owner had briefed us all to expect a quiet summer.  As a result, the squad is certainly too big and three or four players (including the former fan favourite George Thorne) have been completely frozen out until they can find new clubs. 

As well as the new signings, Craig Bryson returned to the club after a loan at Cardiff and two young players – Bogle and attacker Mason Bennett – have emerged as genuine first-team options.  So Lampard certainly can’t complain about a lack of options, particularly in forward areas. 

There are three strikers to choose from – David Nugent, Martyn Waghorn and Jack Marriott – all of whom are hard-working and relatively mobile (although the Nuge is approaching veteran status now).  So far, Nugent and Waghorn have shared the starts without scoring freely, so there’s a bit of a clamour for young Marriott to get his chance and this could happen tomorrow. 

One area where Lampard is still struggling to find the best balance is midfield, with injuries to Tom Huddlestone and new signing George Evans not helping matters.  Mount is the player Lampard is building the team around, so Bryson and Bradley Johnson will probably play in more disciplined roles tomorrow, although the attack-minded Bryson will certainly join the attack where possible.

Lampard admitted before the Blackburn game that he is still searching for his best team, but has also said that the line-up will change depending on the opposition.  However, the performance against Blackburn was probably our best of the season, so I’m not expecting many changes from that eleven.

How’s Flo Jo doing? He was popular down at Brentford and we wish him luck (except today of course). Will he and his opposite number who replaced him – Said Benrahma (No 21) – have a ‘belt it down the right wing’ and perform a little tekkers-off? Who will win? 

Personally, I want to see a bit more from him (Florian Jozefzoon). There have been times when he’s picked the ball up on the wing and I’ve been waiting for him to take the defender on, only for him to check back. It’s possible he’s been advised to do that by the coaches, but I sincerely doubt it. So overall, I’ve been disappointed with him. Having said that, he popped up with a late winner at Hull and, as you know, has very good pace and trickery once his tail’s up. 

I’m not so sure he will start tomorrow.  Bennett is in favour and nailed on to play on one wing.  On the other, Lampard could play Waghorn or Liverpool loanee Harry Wilson, who is back in the squad after a short lay-off. 

Derby have had a load of managers over the years. Do you think Frank Lampard will be the manager to get Derby promoted? Why? 

By the way you may or may not be interested. But Frank’s sidekick  – Jody Morris – has a very left-field link to my marriage. .

I had met my future wife in the same club for the first time a few hours earlier. It was one of my friends’ birthday party. So somehow I can attribute us being together to Jody as I used the incident as an excuse to ring her the following day. Those were the days. Wild man Jody.

There seems to be genuine confidence emanating from the club and Lampard and his number two Jody Morris – who was a bit of a wild child back in the day – don’t shy away from talking about promotion as a target.  There’s clearly an opportunity this year, with pre-season favourites like Stoke and Forest stuttering so far. But as usual, still plenty of competition at the top end.  On what I’ve seen so far, I think we have a shot at the play-offs. But we’ve lost games which you shouldn’t lose if you’re going to make the top six, so the jury is still out.

I don’t think Lampard is in any danger of being sacked this season, barring a genuine calamity.  I’m sure his ambition is to manage in the top flight. But he has a lot to learn and it would be an incredible achievement to walk straight into Derby and get us promoted at the first attempt.  He’s obviously an intelligent guy, but needs to learn the lessons of Rotherham, where he was sent off. But also where his team struggled to deal with basic lower league tactics – physically robust defending and old-fashioned, direct attacking play. We have to be strong enough to deal with that, as well as passing the ball nicely.

But he’s under no real pressure from the owner. If we don’t go up, we will see what Lampard’s long-term ambitions are – whether he wants to stick around and build something, or move on to a different project. Our owner Mel Morris has a bad reputation for firing managers. But in his defence, he would have stuck with Rowett this summer. 

Bees are looking for their first away win. Derby are looking to climb the table. Both teams play similar passing football. What do you know about Brentford? Who are you worried about. And how will Derby get on against the Bees on Saturday? 

I rate Brentford as statistically the best side in the division at the moment and yet again, they’re punching well above their financial weight, which is massively to their credit. Jody Morris went out of his way to praise Bees in his pre-match interview, saying that he’s a big fan of their style of play. 

Morris and Lampard are proud guys and there’s no way they will instruct their team to drop in and let you have the ball. We will go toe-to-toe, so let’s see what happens…

Score prediction  

Brentford have had a much stronger start overall, but seem incapable of winning away.  Meanwhile, Derby put in their best performance of the season on Tuesday night, yet ended up frustrated.  I think this will be an exciting encounter which both sides will be desperate to make a point by winning. And while the overall stats do favour Brentford, I can see it ending in a score draw.  2-2 feels possible but is a rare result, so I’ll play it safe and say 1-1.

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