Why Derby desperately need to patch the void left by the injured George Thorne?

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Play-off campaigns require big players, big mentalities and big hearts. They are often fraught with frustration, heartbreak, joy and surprise. Each club has that small backbone of experienced fighters that will drive them through the campaign and to promotion at the end of the tunnel, sometimes pulling the team through with their bare hands.

For Derby, George Thorne is one of the ‘old guard’, to coin a phrase thrown around on social media recently. Thorne is part of the small few that have been ever present (excluding his serious injury last season) for the last two years since Derby’s last play-off push in May 2014.

He, along with Craig Bryson, Richard Keogh, Johnny Russell, Chris Martin and others, have been the backbone of Derby’s team and are deemed crucial to the Rams’ successes. Unfortunately for Derby, however, Thorne suffered a double leg break in the final 10 minutes of the last game of the regular season in 1-0 defeat against Ipswich Town, crushing the club’s hopes in the process.

The loss of Thorne is not unfamiliar to Derby, with the defensive midfielder being unfortunate with lengthy injuries during his stay in the East Midlands so far. However, this does not nullify his importance nor limit the damage caused by his absence.

Thorne has always been one of the first names on the team sheet, he – like Chris Martin at centre forward – occupies a role in the team that few others manage in defensive midfield, linking the defence and attack, whilst having a keen eye for a pass and superb positional awareness.

The work he does may sometimes go under the radar but anybody who understands football cannot underestimate how vital his contribution is and how far he has propelled Derby from a mid-table team, to frequently pushing for promotion.

His transitional work to get Derby moving has been a joy to watch and has resulted in some truly spectacular goals, including some screamers for himself.

Without Thorne, Derby usually resort to fitting square pegs in round holes, with Omar Mascarell (on loan from Real Madrid), Bradley Johnson, Jamie Hanson, Will Hughes, Chris Baird and even Ryan Shotton filling the role over the past two years, with academy product Hanson being the only one with any natural aptitude in the position.

This left many worrying about how Derby would cope in the play-offs, with both Thorne and Hanson out injured, and with Chris Baird (who has not settled at Derby at all and being more of a natural right back) being the only real option to replace the duo.

As it happens, Rams fans were right to be worried, with Thorne’s absence being emphasised during this weekend’s catastrophic 3-0 loss at home to Hull City in the first leg of the post-season promotion competition, with this result all but destroying Derby’s Premier League hopes.

Fan favourite Will Hughes filled the role, but his efforts were wasted given he his far more competent playing further forward in the Rams’ formation, supplying the attack with the ammunition it needs to keep firing.

Thorne’s composure, calmness and ability to pick the perfect pass were hugely missed and Derby’s midfield – for all its efforts – regularly collapsed and allowed Hull to swiftly counter attack at will, whilst being too slow on the ball themselves.

The club’s promotion hopes already seem dead and buried with the mountain they have to climb at the KC Stadium in the second leg, but without Thorne holding the team together – as he did so superbly in a 2-0 away win at Hull in November 2015 – it makes the task seem all the more daunting.

Derby have to find a solution to cover Thorne’s absence for the second leg, with Chris Baird remaining as the only real answer to the problem that can unravel the club at the drop of a coin.

Jamie Hanson is presumably the obvious answer for the beginning of next season (with Thorne set to be out for thee months, but aiming to be ready for late August) but there needs to be an extra option should Derby find themselves in this situation without a proper defensive midfielder once again.

Darren Wassall could try to change formation (maybe needed to try and turn around a 0-3 aggregate score) but at such short notice, and without much practice, it may be just as risky as playing with a non-defensive midfielder in that role.

Without Thorne, Derby’s plans to seem to unravel, which could be seen as poor management having only one system and no plan B, but that problem has plagued Derby for three years now, having had a trio of managers attempt to find a solution, with little to no avail.

The Rams are currently in a state, with the season once again unraveling before them and the epithet of ‘bottlers’ being thrown towards the iPro once again.

The absence of Thorne is far from being the only reason for this capitulation, but Derby’s midfield was clearly lacking his air of calmness and drive that it so crucially needs to retain its balance in the 4-3-3 system that the club have employed in recent years.

We may go on to see a remarkable comeback in the second leg, but its incredibly unlikely and Wembley now feels like a world away and promotion almost in another galaxy. Derby need Thorne to recover quickly in time for next season, for what will presumably be another push for promotion.