Derby County journalist Ryan Conway has been sharing his thoughts on Rams winger Patrick Roberts and his time with the Midlands club so far.
This comes after Conway uploaded a video onto his YouTube channel where he spoke about a number of topics concerning Wayne Rooney’s side, including their recent 1-0 defeat against Norwich City in the Championship.
On the subject of Roberts, his performance against Norwich and his overall opinion of the player, Conway had this to say about the Englishman.
He said: “He was good [against Norwich].
“Part of the problem that he has is that when he drifts inside, he’s always kind of looking for the shot rather than going on the outside and looking for the cross, obviously because naturally he wants to be on his left.
“If he is always going to cut inside, you want him to try and get one or two shots off, but he is very, very lively, he beat his full-back a few times today, beat his man a few times, him and [Kornell] McDonald linked up really well, particularly in the second half.
“He is a tricky customer but he’s like all the other Derby wide players, he’s got some consistency issues, you never know what you’re going to get from them.”
Derby signed Roberts on a loan deal from Premier League leaders Manchester City back in the previous January transfer window.
Since arriving at Derby, the 24-year-old, who is currently valued at £1.8 million, has made 10 appearances for the Rams in the Championship, providing one assist in the process (per Transfermarkt).
The winger completed his first full game for Derby during their recent defeat against Norwich.
TIF Thoughts on Ryan Conway’s comments on Roberts…
Given how Roberts had more shots at goal (4) and made more dribbles (3) than any other Derby player in the game against Norwich shows that he can be a useful attacking option for Rooney and his side.
However, with Roberts only managing to earn himself a rather uninspiring match rating of 6.34/10, making him the seventh-highest rated player on the day for the Rams does suggest that he has some room for improvement, as Conway suggested in his video.
Have you been impressed by Patrick Roberts so far?
Yes
No
In our view, Roberts should try and make use of every opportunity he gets throughout the remainder of his loan spell at Pride Park to impress as much as possible so not only does it help Derby but would also put him in a better position for his next career move.
In other news: ‘A little bit of sympathy’ – Ryan Conway shares fitness details on ‘ineffective’ DCFC man