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This time last season Derby County were fifth in the Championship, having suffered just their second loss of the season to Nottingham Forest. They were just about to launch into an eight-game unbeaten run which would put them top of the table come Boxing Day.

But their start to the 2016/2017 campaign has been a shock for one of the usual in-form teams in the second tier of English football. An opening day draw against fellow promotion rivals Brighton & Hove Albion was not unexpected, but defeats to promoted sides Barnsley and Burton Albion soon followed and saw the Rams drop down to 22nd place, their lowest standing in the Championship since August 2012.

More worrying for the fans is the instability at the head of the club, with Derby working under their fifth manager of 2016 and the shock re-appointment of Steve McClaren just eighteen months after he was sacked.

What’s going wrong at the iPro Stadium, then? Well, here are FIVE things…

A Lack Of Goals

‘Defending starts from the front’ is what they say, so perhaps it’s right to question the Derby frontline as the main source for their diminished threat this season.

For the past three seasons, Derby have been amongst the top-scoring clubs in the Championship with striker Chris Martin scoring 60 goals across these campaigns. But, after failing to find the net in the first six games of the season, manager Nigel Pearson sent him out on loan to fellow-Championship side Fulham just minutes away from the transfer deadline on the 1st September. His replacements were Matej Vydra (a £12m purchase from Watford) and James Wilson (on a season-long loan from Manchester United) and, so far, they have failed to replicate the scoring form of the departed forward, with just two goals from Vydra the only contribution from them both. Meanwhile, Martin currently sits on five goals for the London side, placing them in eighth position at the start of November.

Unable To See Out Results

While their form has improved recently with just one defeat in seven, their last two losses have seen them overcome in the dying moments of games.

A 1-1 draw against Bristol City in September saw them drop two points after an Ikechi Anya goal seemed set to give them the win at Ashton Gate. But, despite the home side not offering much of a threat during the match, it was a simple tap in for Aaron Wilbraham in the midst of stoppage time at the end of the game which settled the tie.

The following weekend saw Vydra give the Rams a 1-0 lead against Blackburn Rovers with 20 minutes to go, but goals from Marvin Emnes and Danny Graham meant that the opposition took all three points instead. More recently, a game against Huddersfield Town (in which Derby showed little threat anyway) ended with another stoppage time goal, this time from Elias Kachunga. While not their most damaging statistic this season, in their position they can scarcely afford to drop any points.

Manager Merry-Go-Round

One step forward, two steps back. Steve McClaren was sacked by Derby following a drop in form in the second half of the season which meant they missed out on the play-off zone by just one point. He wasn’t good enough for the club back then, and many would question what has changed since.

Both Paul Clement and Nigel Pearson produced lower win percentages following his dismissal, and their fifth-placed finish last season owed more to academy manager Darren Wassall maintaining form over the last leg of the season after a poor run of form under Clement.

But McClaren came back to the club in October full of regret over his previous performance. Just one loss since his arrival has led to them moving three places up the table to 16th (and a brace from winger Tom Ince against Wolverhampton Wanderers could be the answer to their goalscoring problems) but such a ‘honeymoon’ period for an incoming manager is certainly not unprecedented, particularly in the Championship. It is certainly a gamble bringing back a former manager with good history at the club (Reading’s acquisition of Brian McDermott last term lasted just six months as his second reign at the Royals proved anti-climatic) and it is unlikely that they will be repeating the play-off final finish they managed in 2014 under McClaren anytime soon.

Financial Struggles

UEFA Financial Fair Play (FFP) came into force several years ago to ensure football clubs in Europe wouldn’t fall into the same problems that sides like Portsmouth faced.

Between 2008 and 2013, Derby’s owners, General Sports, invested over £35m in the Rams. But this has been curtailed ever since and, even with Derby maintaining one of the bigger fanbases in the second tier, income from ticket sales and TV deals haven’t quite made up the shortfall – in 2014/2015 they lost £5.6m, just short of the six million threshold allowed under the FFP regulations.

But the drop was £7m higher than the previous season’s finances. With television money playing such a huge role for English clubs nowadays, a drop in form will almost certainly lead to a drop in money which might make the end-of-season reading in 2017 slightly harder. While they remain debt-free currently, the fact that Chris Martin’s loan includes a £9m sell-on fee could indicate that the club need money more desperately than thought.

Did you really believe this man wouldn’t come up in the press in the build-up to a transfer window? That’s right, folks… we have an Edinson Cavani update for you via The Express, who claim that Manchester United are keen on the Uruguayan.

What’s the story?

Well, it’s not as clear-cut as some transfer rumours, but the Express claim Man United want Cavani, who could be a potential replacement for Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Although stopping short of claiming that a deal is being actively sought by the Red Devils, they do say that the 29-year-old marksman’s contract talks with Paris Saint-Germain are rumbling on and these discussions aren’t going that smoothly – when has anything ever been simple between the South American and the perennial Ligue 1 champions?

Cavani’s current terms run out in 2018, meaning that he’s now approaching the tricky 18 months left on his deal period in which, given his age, his value will plummet if the Parisians don’t act fast. This has seemingly alerted Joe Mourinho, said to be a big fan of ‘El Matador’, who has, the Express say, been a target of both Man United and Chelsea over the last year-and-a-half. Hmmmmm.

Does it make sense?

Although we now all often dismiss the mere mention of the Uruguayan’s name in relation to a transfer, the ex-Napoli and Palermo marksman as a potential Man United signing makes some sense. Although ‘Ibra’ is the top dog at Old Trafford now, the Swede is 35 and his contract, albeit with anÂoption to extend his stay until 2018, expires at the end of the season. Ibrahimovic may, however, decide that the grass is greener (or the leagues are slower) in either the USA or China before too long, though.

Cavani will be no spring chicken by the time the summer rolls around, but a cut-price offer for the man that once cost upwards of £50m would fall within the Manchester giants’ vast financial reach and provide Mourinho with a proven marksman toÂhelp mount a serious title challenge.

Interestingly, Corriere dello Sport over in Italy believe that James Rodriguez is being eyed up by PSG as a marquee buy, so they may opt to cash in on one of their biggest earners to help fund a move for the Colombian.

Cavani the dangerman…

With 16 goals in 15 Ligue 1 games this season, Cavani remains a lethal forward. He has, in fact, scored 160 times in league action since the 2009/10 season, illustrating his longevity, with his peak haul of 29 coming across the 2012/13 Serie A season with Napoli. He’s a proven goal-getter, then!

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In the world of online streaming, sport has never been more accessible to fans. Betting companies offer live streams of events (if you have an account, of course), television channels offer live sport at almost any hour of the day and illegal streams can be found with the simplest of internet searches. The Premier League is at the peak of this accessibility, such is the worldwide nature of the competition.

Televised everywhere, the success of the league is based on its popularity, said popularity relies on matches being readily available on every corner of the globe. Live matches, that is, with their own array of commentators and pundits.

In the United Kingdom, the television blackout is still in action, however. With the aim to prevent people staying in and watching televised football during the 3pm Saturday kick-offs, no live football can be broadcast on a Saturday afternoon between 2:45pm and 5:15pm.  While games are available across a range of channels in other countries, the blackout restricts the viewing of fans in the UK.

Without entering into the realm of persecution complexes, this seems foolish. The concept makes sense, but it has outgrown its use. If people want to watch football during the blackout hours they can. It is a relative unknown whether this strategy has any discernible impact on attendances at matches in the lower leagues. In truth, we can only generate reliable data if a trial period without the blackout is attempted.

As TV channels broadcast football matches from around the world throughout the week, this ruling becomes increasingly hard to stick with. For example, El Clasico was unable to be shown in the United Kingdom a few weeks ago because of the blackout. More football fans in the UK are supporting/following teams from different corners of the globe; stopping the broadcast of Borussia Dortmund or Nice will not have any impact on attendances.

Football is a worldwide business. As much as many want to preserve the traditions of the sport, the growth of the game is based on its success as a business model. Stubborn marketing from Premier League clubs – and the league itself – has been as significant a factor in its growth as the star quality of players like Eric Cantona, Thierry Henry and Didier Drogba. An uncomfortable truth, perhaps, but money is the cornerstone of the success the Premier League has. The recent influx of top class managers is not because of the great history of English football, it is because clubs can afford them and they know they will be moving into a financially competitive league.

As a business decision taken at the top echelons of the English game, the blackout makes no sense. Unlike in Italy, there are no issues with top level attendances. While football is so very accessible even during the blackout hours, there is lost revenue there. This could be revenue that is fed down to the grassroots of the English football, returned to those lower league clubs that are supposedly seeing their gate receipts boosted by the law. Each Premier League match could be televised, played across the weekend and generate an even greater pool of riches.

Football is not all about financial growth, yet there are few, if any, winners in the current blackout scenario. Fans are left frustrated (and many will end up watching on a grainy stream anyway), clubs are unable to receive TV rights and the Premier League is left unable to take advantage of its product – its wonderfully branded, immensely competitive product.

In the example of El Clasico, thousands of fans were unable to watch the greatest match in club football. That, however well-reasoned, cannot be beneficial for football as a whole. This is the perfect example of the law’s greatest failing: it is a crude means to an end that many do not care for. Non-league football does need protecting – of course it does – but all the money grotesquely sloshing around in the English game should make that feasible without the need for an outdated blackout.

Football is watched during the blackout hours, anyway. Non-league football can be supported by the financial Premier League juggernaut. The blackout once served a noble purpose, and the motives behind it are commendable, but it is nothing more than a restriction of opportunity now. Opening up 3pm games to the potential riches of television companies would inflate the finances at the top clubs further, but this money should be allocated to the growth of the game at the grassroots. A simple measure would improve the situation for all parties.

Our Crystal Palace fans here in the Transfer Tavern want as much good news as possible right now and, as quoted by The Evening Standard, Christian Benteke has offered up just that.

Palace have had a poor season so far and if they do not buck their ideas up fast they could be playing Championship football next year.

That seems almost unthinkable given some of the talent they have available to them with the big Belgian striker certainly near the top of that list.

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His power up top has come in handy quite a bit already this season but you feel it’s going to be even more crucial over the coming months so to hear that he is happy at the club is surely the best thing the Palace punters could have got.

The former Aston Villa striker hinted at wanting to stay in saying:

“I am very happy here and I want to fight to help the team to move up the table.

“We deserve it with the players that we have got. Now we have to show it on the pitch.”

The striker has been in positions like this before with the likes of Aston Villa who he helped avoid the drop during his time there.

And, according to our landlord, if he is happy at Palace that means he’ll keep firing and that should see the Eagles safe this season.

Thoughts, Palace fans? Let us know below!

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Rumours surrounding the exit of Dimitri Payet from West Ham only continue to grow and grow with the latest reports from Sky Sports suggesting that he will soon be the subject a third bid from French club Marseilles.After a meteoric rise at the Hammers, it looks like it’s all going to end rather acrimoniously given the nature of Payet’s conduct and insistenceÂthat he moves on.No-one’s in any doubt that losing the French international will be a blow to West Ham’s ambitions but just how badly will the miss him?This stat from Opta suggests he’ll be leaving a massive creative hole in Bilic’s side. He’s created many, many more chances than any other player at West Ham in the Premier League this season.

He’s creating chances at a rate of more than 3-to-1 compared to the Irons’ next most creative player.

It’s no surprise he’s important, that’s why he’s attracting attention from clubs in this transfer window, after all. What it does highlight though is that there’s no-one to step up into his place as the team’s key creative force.

Can Manuel Lanzini or Michail Antonio become that player?

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Chelsea’s 3-1 win over Arsenal on Saturday may be looked back on as one of the pivotal moments in the race for the Premier League title come May.

Going into the clash, the Gunners were the Blues’ joint-closes rivals at the top of the table, but the gap between the two London sides now stands at whopping twelve points, which, although mathematically very possible to overturn, is a near impossible buffer to knock down.

Further to this, though, the comprehensive manner in which Antonio Conte’s men swept aside Arsene Wenger’s troops may be the straw that breaks the camel’s back in terms of the Emirates Stadium side keeping pace at the summit, with so many recent blows having left the fans asking serious questions and the players bereft of confidence.

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Anyway, that’s enough about Arsenal, let’s instead look at the team who really enjoyed their afternoon. Naturally, such a good result means that a fair few stars on the winning side played well, so we put this question to Chelsea fans earlier today: Who was your Man of the Match? And the results are now in…

Wonder-goal scorer Eden Hazard grabbed the headlines, but voters in our poll were more impressed with N’Golo Kante. The Frenchman was once again at his energetic best, fighting fires all over the pitch and keeping the likes of Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez very quiet.

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No matter which side of the #WengerIn/#WengerOut debate you stand on, it’s hard to argue that Arsene Wenger’s players put in a real shift for him last night as Arsenal slipped to a humbling 5-1 loss at Bayern Munich’s Allianz Arena.

The Gunners were always likely to come away with a negative scoreline for the second leg of their Champions League last 32 tie against the German giants, but the manner in which they were out-played and the fact that, barring a bizarre turnaround, they’re out of Europe once again has sent some supporters of the club into meltdown.

In an attempt to harness this energy for good (well, sort of good) we asked Gunners fans to name and shame the 14 players who took to the pitch and here are the THREE biggest offenders. Amazingly, six-passes-completed-in-77-minutes midfielder Francis Coquelin got off lightly, with his name not making the trio of shame…

3) Granit Xhaka

Quickly becoming a questionable signing, the hot-headed Swiss midfielder was expected to shine vs. Bayern Munich. After all, he knows the Bundesliga giants well having played for Borussia Monchengladbach up until his £30m+ summer switch to London and has that spiky streak that is always needed in the biggest games.

Alas, he and his midfield partner Francis Coquelin were anonymous vs. the Bavarians as the home side ran riot and exploited the space between the engine room and defensive line.

2) Alex Iwobi

A youngster thrust up against Philipp Lahm – a player whose won it all at international and club level – there was always the potential for the Gunners ace to struggle. And struggle he did, with the German veteran running the right side of the pitch for his team by producing overlapping surges that were a constant thorn for Wenger’s side. Iwobi offered very little going forward, too.

1) Mesut Ozil

In at number one we have big game bottler extraordinaire, Ozil. The midfielder attempted the same number of passes as Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, which is a damning stat given that he’s hailed as the Londoners’ main playmaking talent.

Ozil is often slated for not showing up when it really matters, and those criticisms will surely continue off the back of this.

CLICK THROUGH FOR THE FULL RESULTS

Results

It has been a tough few years for Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge.

After rising to stardom under Brendan Rodgers following a move from Chelsea, Sturridge built a fantastic rapport with fellow forward Luis Suarez, before the latter swapped Merseyside for Barcelona.

Since that point, Sturridge has failed to reach the level that was expected for him, and injury problems have continually played a pretty significant part in his lack of game time in recent years.

Under Jurgen Klopp, the regularity of his performances has reduced even more, with the German often opting to pass on playing the English forward regardless of his current injury status. He has made just 5 Premier League starts this season, which is a decent reflection of how much lowly his manager seems to rate him.

With Klopp now confirming that he is set to hold talks with Sturridge over his Liverpool future, it appears as though the 27-year-old could be closing in on an Anfield exit – but is it the right call for the Reds?

Vote on the poll below and let us know why!

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Arsenal’s wild swaying between disaster and catastrophe has been, arguably, the biggest talking in English football over the course of the past few weeks. The Gunners’ humbling Champions League double-header against Bayern Munich has bookended the recent developments: Arsene Wenger’s future remains unresolved, while Alexis Sanchez appears certain to leave as his rabid need to win continues to widen the gap between himself and the club.

While both of these factors are causing worry among supporters, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s situation has moved somewhat under the radar, but his reported desire to leave the club should be a real reason for concern.

One could argue that ‘The Ox’ hasn’t truly fulfilled the potential that made him a teen prodigy at Southampton and earned him a move to Arsenal at just the age of 17, but has he truly been given a chance? Even though he’s now approaching 24, a Premier League season has not ended with Oxlade-Chamberlain breaking the 25 games played mark. Given he’s entering his prime years and has been capped by his nation 24 times, that is damning. Granted he’s not always shown the consistency to keep himself in Wenger’s plans, but that trait is associated with youth and is one the Frenchman would have been aware of upon plucking him from Hampshire as a promising youngster.

A move makes sense for all involved. A clean break is needed for the player, while Arsenal’s transition this summer means they will likely recruit world class players who could fill Oxlade-Chamberlain’s boots, further diluting his game time. A change of scenery and a manager to harness his talents is essential, and once the dots are joined, the picture produced looks like Liverpool.

Interestingly the attacking midfielder’s last outing in league action came at the Reds’ Anfield home and while a host of Gunners players failed to impress on the banks of the River Mersey, Oxlade-Chamberlain put on the sort of audition that may have had Jurgen Klopp itching his beard.

Like the player, Liverpool are at something of a crossroads. If Klopp is eager to proceed with his striker-less 4-3-3 system he needs raw numbers from his trio of attackers, which Roberto Firmino and, to an even greater extent, Sadio Mane have been producing. Philippe Coutinho, on the other hand, is some way below his team-mates in terms of putting the ball in the net, making a move back down the pitch into a central midfield role look more and more appealing as the weeks pass.

As the above numbers show, Oxlade-Chamberlain’s Anfield outing hinted that he could slot in on the left-hand side of this Liverpool triumvirate. Six dribbles attempted was a greater quantity than any of the Reds’ front three, as was his four completed dribbles, while his 91% pass success was also a superior score.

There are arguments surrounding his end product, nine league goals scored since the start of 2011/12 does little to dispel this, but as his prime years come it would not be unusual if his composure increases due to his increased experience.

More interesting, though, is the impact Klopp could have on his game. A proven track record with attacking midfielders such as Shinji Kagawa, Mario Gotze and Jakub Blaszczykowski in his Dortmund days is encouraging, while Adam Lallana’s conversion to being an effective No.8 shows that touch remains as effective as ever. All of these players have positional flexibility and genuine footballing intelligence in common, which brings Oxlade-Chamberlain into the mix. While there are drawbacks in his game right now, his ability to slot into positions and go about his business in an effective manner should not be in doubt, so this malleable nature under a coach willing to adapt his gameplan and approach to work with the players he has is intriguing.

Maybe all Oxlade-Chamberlain needs is the attention of a manager who knows how to maximise his qualities and minimise the areas of deficiency in his game, which Klopp, on paper at least, seems well-suited to doing.

This summer is a pivotal one for ‘The Ox’ and the right decision could alter the trajectory of his career. Liverpool may be the ideal next destination for him.

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Everton are pondering over a summer swoop for Swansea City midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson, according to Bleacher Report.

What’s the word?

It is not the first time that Sigurdsson has been linked to the Merseyside outfit.

The 27-year-old was a rumoured transfer target for Everton in January and last summer.

Bleacher Report claims that the Icelandic midfielder will be on Ronald Koeman’s wishlist for end-of-season business following a string of impressive performances at the Liberty Stadium.

The report adds that the Welsh outfit may consider selling if they receive an offer in the region of £20m and £25m.

It is also believed that the player himself is ready to call time on a three-year spell at Swansea.

Is Sigurdsson the right fit for Everton?

The midfielder is the calibre of player that the Toffees should be focusing on if they want to push themselves towards the top six of the Premier League.

At the moment, the Merseyside outfit are on the cusp of challenging the elite members of the division as they currently reside five points adrift of sixth-placed Manchester United.

In terms of playing style, Sigurdsson has the creativity to fit into Koeman’s team and he is also strong on set pieces.

With rumours rife that Everton will target Manchester United captain Wayne Rooney in the summer, Sigurdsson’s arrival could compliment a new-look team.

The midfielder, who joined the Swans following a two-year spell at Tottenham Hotspur, has produced 10 assists and scored nine goals in all competitions so far this season.

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