The Derby County change John Eustace must make against QPR | OneFootball

The former Blackburn Rovers boss will take charge of his first game as the Rams' head coach on Friday.

Derby County confirmed the arrival of new head coach John Eustace on Thursday morning, and he is set to take charge of the team for the very first time on Friday as his side travel to Loftus Road to face QPR.

Matt Hamshaw was in charge of the Rams' previous two Championship games following Paul Warne's sacking just under a week ago, and he ended the club's seven-match losing run with a point away at Norwich City.

Jerry Yates' 92nd minute penalty at Carrow Road ensured that the East Midlands outfit did not lose for the ninth time in all competitions in 2025, before Oxford United visited Pride Park on Tuesday and held the home side to a 0-0 stalemate.

However, there is a fresh feeling of excitement radiating around the city, and Eustace will have his own plans on how to attack QPR. Nevertheless, he must avoid one crucial mistake that Hamshaw made in the week and make his Derby team more attacking.

Eustace must use a four-player defence against QPR

The Rams set up with a 3-5-2 against both Norwich and Oxford, with Nathaniel Mendez-Laing playing in a free role next to Lars-Jorgen Salvesen.

Kenzo Goudmijn, David Ozoh and Ebou Adams completed the midfield with Liam Thompson, Ben Osborn, Kayden Jackson and Callum Elder interchanging at wing-back. However, there was great interest in what Hamshaw was going to do with the defence, as Nat Phillips returned from injury while Sondre Langas was set to make his debut.

He played the two centre-backs alongside Matt Clarke in a three-player defence that worked excellently against the Canaries.

However, in the home game on Tuesday, Derby were often left with the ball being played between the back three too much, and they did not have enough going forward. A lack of width was also an issue, with Jackson failing to get himself down the right flank despite playing at wing-back, while Elder was often left without support on the other side.

Eustace has often played with a 4-2-3-1, and he must use this formation with the Rams on Friday at Loftus Road to help unlock their attacking players more.

Goals from open play have been a huge problem for Derby this season, and they have scored just 14 times from open play all season, with only two of these coming on the counter.

Their strength with Warne was in set-pieces, and while it is always useful to have this skill, they can not afford to miss out on goals from other situations and Eustace can help fix that with a more attacking formation.

Eustace has to make Derby hard to beat

Only Luton Town (18) have lost more games than the Rams (17) this season, and this part of their game must change quickly if they are to avoid the drop.

Under Warne, while matches were often close in terms of the result, teams did not have to get themselves out of second gear to take all three points.

Sheffield United were the most recent side to work that out, and they turned up to Pride Park to take all three points without exerting a huge amount of effort.

Eustace must ensure that this does not happen on a regular basis. Oxford have already proven since hiring Gary Rowett, that if you become difficult to beat, you start to win.

Three points are needed for Derby, and with QPR finding consistency hard to come by in recent weeks, Friday could be as good a time as any to start the fightback against the threat of relegation.