Four points from six Championship games. Twenty-second in the table. Zero shots on target in their trip to West Ham, and a failure to break down ten-man West Bromwich Albion at Pride Park. The numbers are bleak, and the honest question supporters are asking right now is a simple one: where is the next Derby County goal actually coming from?

The evidence so far

The defeat at the London Stadium was sobering enough on its own. Derby finished the afternoon without a single shot troubling the goalkeeper, which is about as complete a picture of attacking futility as you will find in a Championship fixture. The hope was that returning home for a midweek game against West Brom would provide a reset. It did not.

Derby made a decent enough start. Mohammed Fuseini caused problems down the left, and David Ozoh did some sharp work linking midfield to attack. The trouble is that early brightness counted for nothing when defensive errors gifted West Brom the opening goal from their only shot on target of the match. West Brom were then reduced to ten men, and Derby had a man advantage for a substantial portion of the game. They still could not score. Multiple crosses into the box, plenty of possession, a fair amount of territory. No goals. That combination of facts is the most damaging part of the evidence against the current setup.

Is this a tactical problem?

It is tempting to reach straight for a verdict on John Eustace, and the case against him is not trivial. Even with the extra man, Derby's build-up play was often sideways and backwards, with little apparent appetite for taking risks in the final third. When you have players of the quality of Sammie Szmodics and Bobby Clark available, a lack of creative identity is difficult to excuse entirely.

The decision to withdraw Ozoh just after the hour mark, at the point when he had been one of Derby's more inventive presences on the pitch, felt like a cautious call at precisely the moment caution was the wrong instinct. Bringing on Henrik Meister as a targetman while Joe Ward delivered crosses had a certain logic to it, but logic and effectiveness are not the same thing. The crosses came in; nothing came of them.

That said, we should be careful about drawing too firm a conclusion from a handful of matches. Derby's injury list is not trivial, and it is worth noting that after six games of last season the Rams had five points and sat 21st. The current return of four points from 22nd is slightly worse, but it is not a drastically different starting position. Context matters, even if it does not fully excuse what supporters are watching.

What needs to change

The practical problem is clear enough. Derby need more directness and more urgency in the final third. Less pedestrian recycling of possession, more willingness to take a touch fewer and commit to attempts on goal. The upcoming fixture against Birmingham offers a chance to show that the attacking issues are being addressed, not just endured.

There is a broader identity question here too. A team's attacking shape should be legible: you should be able to watch for fifteen minutes and understand roughly how they intend to create chances. Right now, that identity is not obvious at Derby. Whether that is a consequence of the injury absences disrupting the first-choice plan, or whether it reflects something more deeply embedded in the current approach, is something we cannot fully judge yet. More games will clarify that.

What we can say with confidence is this: patience among the fanbase is finite, and rightly so. Eustace deserves time to get his squad healthy and his system bedded in. He does not have unlimited time, and a third successive defeat at the weekend would begin to make the margins very tight indeed. Derby fans are not asking for miracles. They are asking, quite reasonably, to see a shot on target.

Frequently asked

Why are Derby County struggling to score goals this season?
Derby have combined a lengthy injury list with a cautious style of play that has left them without a shot on target in recent matches. Manager John Eustace has faced criticism for negative tactics, though the absence of key players has complicated matters.
How many points do Derby County have after six Championship games?
Derby have four points from their opening six Championship fixtures and sit 22nd in the table at the time of writing.
Who are Derby County's most creative players this season?
Sammie Szmodics, Bobby Clark, and David Ozoh have all shown moments of quality, with Ozoh particularly catching the eye in the West Brom match before being substituted after 62 minutes.