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Johnny Russell


Topram

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His ceiling is mid-championship. Really irritates me whenever I see him start. He runs a lot, he gives it his all etc...I can list many players who don't run a lot and produce. Time to get rid ASAP. A number of games in which Derby have completely become much better as soon as he is subbed off. 

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We can complain about him starting, about his lack of goals or assists.

I would argue though that we play better as a team when he is playing as opposed to the likes of Anya and Camara.

He pulls inside, because with Lowe/Olsson wanting to overlap him he would just get in his way by sticking to the touchline.

He hangs back because Lowe/Olsson go forward and if they lose the ball the opposition can stream down a wide open left hand side with no one there to cover.

He still does a job for the team. He gets kicked from pillar to post by the opposition while doing so. Until the likes of Anya/Camara/Bennett show that their ability to attack outweighs his ability to defend then I don't mind seeing him starting games.

You can call it negative or defence-first. All I know is that we play so much better down that left side when Russell plays.

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Moving him from the left to the right changes him from a workmanlike outlet with little end product to a genuine dynamic threat.

I'm one of his biggest advocates, I'm not going to deny he's had a pretty poor season but even playing out of position on the left he's our best option out there. Moving him over to the right improves us so much as he becomes a lot more unpredictable. When he's on the left, his right foot isn't good enough that he's happy to cut inside onto it and shoot, but on the right he is capable of going on the outside and putting balls in.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I came away from the game last night convinced that Derby need to sell Johnny Russell. Frustrating, lack of end product, missed easy chances.

Watched the game back, yes he should have done better with two opportunities, but the others were difficult half chances. His workrate was phenomenal and he's brave enough to not hide, keeps getting into good positions even after cocking things up. Rowett is clearly a big fan and I think we should keep him - we need players like him

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2 hours ago, europia said:

Lots of endeavour from Russell but lack of end product is there for all to see. 

Wasn't it Russell's run into the box and pass to Ince that ended with Vydra scoring. I'm happy if we get an end  product like that every game.

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All successful sides needs players like Russell, he works for the team going forwards a backwards all game, and like another poster has already mentioned he never hides, yes sometimes he makes the wrong decisions, and at times he misses chances, but if he had all this in his game he would be playing in the premiership already, for me Russell has a very important part to play in Derbys future and at 27 years old he will be reaching his prime in the next few years.

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I tend to think we are all saying the same thing. Russell is better on the right - but this means Ince can't play there - and it then just creates a problem on the left.

Russells work rate and industry are positives, his end product a negative.

So, in summary, stick with him until we can find/afford someone to play there with more positives and less negatives.

Pretty much the same as every other player in the squad.

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4 hours ago, Igorwasking said:

I tend to think we are all saying the same thing. Russell is better on the right - but this means Ince can't play there - and it then just creates a problem on the left.

Russells work rate and industry are positives, his end product a negative.

So, in summary, stick with him until we can find/afford someone to play there with more positives and less negatives.

Pretty much the same as every other player in the squad.

I think it says a lot about how underrated he (and several other long serving players) is that we've not been able to bring in decisively better players......Weimann, Camara, Blackman, Anya.....you can make a case for them all being better at this or that but none have proved cut n dried better than JR. The only improvement over  JR, Ward, Dawkins and Bamford has been Ince.

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At the end of the day the team is greater than the sum of all its parts. Not every player has to be a world beater, scoring and assisting week in week out. Some players have to be in there just to do the so called dirty work. I and others have mentioned the new pressing style we have seen, it's players like JR that make that style of play possible, they've got to run and chase absolutely everything knowing that 90% of the time they're not going to actually win the ball but have to be in the position to actually stand a chance.

 

Apart from Ince and Bent goals have been few and far between for the whole squad. JR himself hit 10 last season didn't he? This season he has one, that's a 9 goal deficit, add to that 9 less goals from Butterfield it's a big drop all around but one I can't see being repeated next season. 

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