Flashy ride to relegation

Robbie Savage has provoked an angry reaction from teammates at Derby County after showing up to training in a brand new 160,000 pound Mercedes Benz.

Savage is entitled to drive whatever he likes, but will almost certainly be dropped against Sunderland this weekend after failing to register any impact whatsoever at his new club –that is except to raise the sunglasses of the other players as theymake a double take at his new wheels.

Savage arrived from Blackburn Rovers for 1.5m pounds in the January transfer window and has been in poor form as Derby, with just nine points and a single win, are likely to go lower than the 15 points Sunderland scored back in 2003.

Savage will be showing his flash ride in the Championship next season, that you can take to the bank.

Premiership’s worst three teams so far this season

The Premiership table aside, the three worst teams in the Premiership so far this season are Derby County, Bolton Wanderers and Birmingham City.

Far and away the worst has been Derby. They are a decent side but don’t seem up to the pace and pressure of the Premiership. When you reach the Premiership, you have to spend. Derby has not spent much and it’s showing. Reading was successful last season without spending the money but they were a different side than Derby, Reading could run and score goals. Derby has a shocking -11 goal difference and has yet to score an away goal this season. To stay up your first season in you absolutely must force some draws and an occasional win away. Derby don’t look capable despite a hard fought first win of the season against Newcastle during the week.

Bolton are lost and in freefall. Bottom of the table, they have completely forgotten how to do the basics. Sammy Lee doesn’t seem capable of holding the squad together and is allowing tactical lapses to continue. When you watch this new version of Bolton, you don’t see that compactness of the Allardyce teams of the past. The players lack discipline and this looks like the end result of bringing in a lot of players with past troubles: when you lose a manager capable of keeping the difficult personalities in check, it works, but Sammy Lee just can’t. Bolton have scored three points, and the only light at the end of their defensive trouble tunnel is at least they can score a few goals.

Birmingham has scored a few points this season but it’s been a lucky 7 points. 12th place could easily be 16th as there are a number of teams tied at that points total. Three of Birmingham’s points came against a weak Bolton side, a result badly needed to survive this season but a result achieved amidst a host of problem. The problem with Birmingham is that they are not terrible in any part of the pitch, but they don’t excel anywhere either. A side like that can only really rely on luck to survive this season.

Pompey out of their minds?

Has Portsmouth boss Harry Redknapp got a screw loose? He’s always been, shall we say, eccentric, but selling a player after just a month and a handful of games would be a new record of some kind, surely. It’s always been managers who have traditionally seen short stays at a club but this time it could be a player as the club has admitted David Nugent is on the block with Derby County interested as they attempt to sign Nicolas Anelka from Bolton before the transfer window closes.

Nugent was signed from Preston during the summer and scored his first goal for the club in a Carling Cup win against woeful Leeds United. Selling him to Preston would link the player back up with his former manager Billy Davies.

"Sometimes when you are trying to raise money you have to sell someone you don't really want to sell. That could be David but it could be others. What we need is somebody who can get us 15 to 20 goals a season and if we can do some good business and improve the team we will." –Redknapp

Sorry, ‘arry, but this would not be an example of good business. First off, what message do you send to future young players you want to sign? Second, Pompey don’t seem lacking in goal scoring, 6 goals in their first 4 games is as good as anyone else in the Premiership. Their problem is that they have leaked 5. They should have never conceded in the 84th minute against Derby and if they didn’t, would be sitting on 7 points and a spot in the top 5.

If you sign a young player, he deserves a chance. Nugent is not some girl at a bar you toss off because a cuter one walks by. Harry Redknapp, for all of his ability to make a great deal would become nothing more than a cut-throat shark in my mind. I gave him a pass on his come-go-return to Pompey a few seasons ago when he left for and then left Southampton, but it would change my view on that. Redknapp would become no more than another opportunist in a world already full of them.

Derby County break record

Premiership newbies Derby County have broken their club record transfer fee to sign striker Robert Earnshaw from Norwich City.

The 3.5m pound fee enacted a clause in the player’s contract. The deal is for three years and is proof of Derby manager’s Billy Davies commitment to sign players with top-flight experience for their first campaign at the top in 5 years.

The 26 year old Welsh international striker was top scorer for the Norwich with 19 goals last season, despite missing a large swathe of the season thru injury. Famous for his flips during goal celebrations, Earnshaw, born in Zambia, scored 11 times in his first Premiership season with West Bromwich Albion and has been awarded 32 caps where he has scored 12 times.

Earnshaw’s capture is Derby’s first move in the transfer market this summer.