"It's a huge blow" - Derby County concern raised as bad news could "impact" John Eustace plans | OneFootball

The Crystal Palace loanee was stretchered off just in the final moments of the Rams' late defeat to Millwall on Saturday.

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 suffered their ninth defeat in 11 Championship games on Saturday afternoon as Millwall left it late to take all three points at Pride Park Stadium in John Eustace's first home game as head coach.

Josh Coburn's 95th-minute strike handed the Lions a crucial win in their fight for a play-off finish, with the Middlesbrough loanee making up for his earlier penalty miss.

For the Rams, however, they remain in the bottom three of the second tier, and have moved down one position to 23rd following Plymouth Argyle's 1-1 draw with Cardiff City. Eustace now has just 12 games to turn his new side's fortunes around and get them out of the relegation zone towards safety.

But it looks likely that he will have to do that without David Ozoh, after the midfielder was stretchered off in the final moments of the clash with a thigh issue. It is the second major injury that the 19-year-old, who is on loan from Crystal Palace, has suffered this season and Derby will be awaiting the results of his scan with bated breath.

Verdict made on the impact of Ozoh's injury on Derby's survival chances

The Rams last won a game on Boxing Day, and this run has seen them drop from 14th in the table, to just above the very bottom. Paul Warne was sacked for his role in that fall from grace and there is a lot of pressure on the team to find form once again.

However, the East Midlands outfit played their best football at the very start of the season when Ozoh was fit and firing. He has not looked 100% since returning from a hamstring injury, from which he suffered a setback and spent nearly five months on the sidelines.

Football League World has asked their Derby Fan Pundit, Shaun Woodward, just how much of a blow the teenager's latest injury is to the team's chances of survival.

He told FLW: "It's a huge blow. I mean at the start of the season he was probably our best player. He was probably the only one that could link the defence and the attack.

"He can drive with the ball, he's big and strong, he can protect the back four. But he can also get forward and support the frontmen. So, to lose him after he's only just come back from injury is a huge blow.

"I don't know how long he's going to be out for, but being stretchered off doesn't look good.

"Unfortunately, he just seems like another one of those real talents that Derby have had over the years in central midfield that just cannot stay fit. We've had a lot of them, such as George Thorne and Krystian Bielik. They were real talents, but for whatever reason, we just don't seem to get the rub of the green with these players."

Shaun continued: "I think now without Ozoh; it really does impact on the way John Eustace wants to play because I think he likes to have those two in front of the back four. Moving forward in the long-term, he'd have wanted Adams and Ozoh as his protectors in front of the back four and he would have played a 4-2-3-1, but without Ozoh, I don't think that's possible.

"So, he's going to probably have to look at a new way of playing. It's not ideal because I think Ozoh was the key to us staying up, especially if he could get fit and firing for the last dozen games.

"That doesn't look like it's going to be possible, so he's going to have to come up with something else, but it's not looking great."

Eustace has a decision to make with his midfield

Injuries have been a blight on Derby's season from the opening weeks, and Ozoh has now been on the end of two serious ones.

Liam Thompson is the most obvious replacement for the Palace loanee, but he has had his own fitness issues in the past, and cannot be fully relied upon to stay in the starting XI for a consistent amount of time.

Ebou Adams' importance has increased once again, and Eustace will be relying on him to be available every week until the end of the season to ensure that his 4-2-3-1 system can still be used. However, he may have to tweak it slightly and have another more advanced midfielder play next to Kenzo Goudmijn.

Nevertheless, Derby will have great frustrations over how Ozoh's time at Pride Park has unfolded and there will be a great disappointment that he has suffered another substantial blow early in his career.