TERRY LAMPS IT Old pal Frank given a lesson by JT’S new Villa fighters
FRANK LAMPARD admitted his Derby side suffered a “wake-up call” after losing his battle with John Terry in dismal style.
Lampard looked crushed as his former Chelsea and England teammate Terry, Villa’s assistant boss, celebrated a second-half mauling.
Villa were rampant in a 10-minute purple patch, as they smashed in three goals from the 74th minute onwards.
John Mcginn, Tammy Abraham and Conor Hourihane scored the goals that destroyed Derby’s sixmatch unbeaten league run.
Lampard said: “I haven’t spoken to John yet, but I am going to.
“We’ve had a great month. This was a wake-up call. It’s a good test of character for us now.
“It’s the only time, so far, that I can say we’ve been outworked and outplayed. Villa had the chances to win by more. If you’re not at it, that’s what you get.”
Pride Park had attracted its biggest gate of the season so far – with 30,400 rammed in – but the home fans were badly let down. Villa’s supporters were gloating at the end, as their team hit their best form since Dean Smith’s arrival as manager a month ago.
Smith (right) said: “This match is a statement. I can judge them on these standards. I still don’t think they realise how good they can be.
“There’s still a lot more to come from us. There’s so much quality in the squad that we’ve got 12 on international duty.”
Derby have some quality too, but this showed that they are still far from the finished article.
Lampard has had a dilemma over who to pick as centre-backs, and he went for the youth of Fikayo Tomori here, ahead of Curtis Davies, 33.
Although Tomori, 20, had a decent game, it did not save Derby from their second-half implosion.
Goalkeeper Scott Carson had gifted Villa an early chance with a sloppy clearance straight to Albert Adomah.
The Villa forward fired over a cross for Jonathan Kodjia, who headed over.
Carson made amends for his earlier blunder with an impressive save to deny Abraham’s header.
Lampard’s men then had a good spell before the break when they were repeatedly thwarted by last-ditch defending Terry would have been proud of. In-form Jack Marriott was denied by goalkeeper Orjan Nyland, then Harry Wilson’s follow-up strike was cleared off the line by James Chester. Nyland has his critics but he saved Villa again when denying another strike from Wilson. The worst miss was when Tom Lawrence lofted the ball wide from eight yards. Lampard had his head in his hands after that – but the first-half frustration was just a taste of what was to come. Villa had a goal disallowed in the 53rd minute as Abraham was judged offside. Mcginn finally cracked the home team. Yannick Bolasie had only just come off the bench, but he made an instant impact by crossing for Mcginn to head in. Villa then killed off their opponents within four minutes. Mcginn became the supplier, teeing up a close-range finish for Abraham. Then Hourihane struck with a 25-yard free-kick.