"It's so frustrating" - Reaction given to big Derby County double blow facing John Eustace | OneFootball

The Rams have just Jerry Yates fit at the moment, with Kemar Roofe and Lars-Jorgen Salvesen the latest to suffer injuries.

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

Derby County's injury crisis has not slowed once this season, and John Eustace has struggled for availability in every single one of the games that he has been in charge of since taking over the role of head coach at the start of February.

The Rams are lacking players in just about every department at this moment in time, and with the threat of relegation strong, there are huge fears that the club do not have enough strength in depth to compete for the rest of the campaign.

Jerry Yates is the only fit senior striker that Eustace has at his disposal currently, with Lars-Jorgen Salvesen out for the rest of the season, while Kemar Roofe, who joined just a few weeks ago as a free agent, is out for the next four-six weeks.

Derby have their work cut out if they are to stay in the Championship, and with goals a relatively rare occurrence recently, these new injury problems will put significant pressure on the Swansea City loanee to perform.

Verdict made on Derby's injury situation up front

Yates has often found himself as the lone striker this season, but with Salvesen joining from Viking FK for £800k in the January transfer window, there were hopes that the Rams finally had their dynamic duo up front.

After a promising start, the Norwegian revealed that he is out for the rest of the campaign with a knee injury, leaving the East Midlands outfit back in the same position that they were in two months ago.

Football League World has asked their Derby Fan Pundit, Shaun Woodward, just how much of an impact losing Salvesen and Roofe is to the team's survival chances, with pressure now on their number 10.

He told FLW: "It's been a frustrating season for Derby’s forward line. We lost Dajaune Brown and then we've lost Corey Blackett-Taylor and Nathaniel Mendez-Laing in the wider areas, and now we've lost Lars-Jorgen Salvesen and Kemar Roofe.

"It just seems that whenever we start to get a few players back, a few more go off injured. Once again, we're down to Jerry Yates, and although he works hard up there, he's not a lone striker. He needs support so it's really frustrating because he's just on his own up there with nothing to come off the bench.

"We've got a few young academy players that are in and around the squad now, but are they ready for a dog fight in the Championship? I'm not so sure. But we don't really have any other options."

Shaun continued: "It was great to see Kane Wilson back on Saturday and he could play further forward, which means teams do have to sit a bit deeper because he is a threat in behind and he can beat a man.

"But it's so frustrating because we really do lack those options up top and we're going to have to find other ways of hurting teams because Yates isn't going to do it on his own."

Yates has to remain fit for Derby to survive

The greatest threat to Derby's survival chances is an injury to Yates, as a blow to him would see the Rams without a senior striker in their ranks for the next month at the very least.

Eustace has already dived into the free agent market twice in the last few weeks, and he will not want to do this again with options becoming more and more limited.

Yates has the capacity to lead the line, and while he is not the most clinical, he does a lot of the hard work off the ball that is needed to ensure that Derby can start a press from the front.

Without him, Eustace could find his task near-impossible and he will need to keep the 28-year-old in good condition from now until May.