Those hopes quickly came crashing down to reality once again as the new manager was handed a thrashing by QPR in his opening fixture with the Rams.
While John Eustace has stressed the importance of the long-term plan in place at Pride Park, there is also a short-term need to get them out of the Championship dropzones.
Some things will take time to fix at Derby, but there are a few things that need to be sorted right away if there is any hope of survival this season.
So with that said, here’s a look at three things Eustace will be tasked with solving immediately for the Rams.
With Derby’s functional midfield, there is often one spark of creativity in there in the form of Kenzo Goudmijn.
Signing from AZ Alkmaar last summer, there appears to be the raw makings of a top talent there if he can gain some consistency.
Paul Warne struggled with that aspect, playing him as a number six, an eight and a ten within his tenure with the Rams.
It’ll be on Eustace to get the most out of Goudmijn, regardless of his position, to help make the midfield function once again.
There is a question there over how good he really is against his potential, with it being something that must be answered in the remaining games of the season.
With some pace, power and a bit of trickery thrown in the mix, Nathaniel Mendez-Laing was an impressive player for Derby over their League One campaigns.
The winger hasn’t been able to translate that to the Championship at all – which may be down to a few factors.
One of those is the positioning under Warne, with the constant chopping and changing of systems making it tough for him to build up some momentum out wide.
Another is that Mendez-Laing simply hasn’t managed to hit the heights and given the lack of depth out wide, a lot of the responsibility now rests on him to find that quality once again.
If the Rams are to stay up, the 32-year-old will need to pick up more than his two goals and four assists so far this season, with Eustace looking to help him do just that.
While Derby have been blunt going forward, the lack of points in some areas of the season all starts with the backline.
The solid defence has started to crumble as individual errors start to cost the Rams dearly in some matches.
Mistakes from Ebou Adams, Matt Clarke and Jacob Zetterstrom characterised this perfectly against QPR and shows Eustace just how much work there is to do.
If Derby can cut out those mistakes, they have a solid foundation to build on, giving more licence to create at the other end.
