At Under-18 level,
performance levels are just as important as the result, if not more so as young
professionals start to find their feet in the cut-throat industry of football.
At Derby County, and as ever, the 2016/17 campaign was one full of unique experiences, not just for the players, but for professional development phase coach Justin Walker as well.
The end of the current campaign saw the curtain fall on Walker’s second season in charge of the Rams’ Under-18 side and he was the first to admit the part of his approach has had to be adapted as he was faced with new challenges.
From his perspective, a large part of the learning experience came early on in the season after his side suffered a 6-1 defeat at the hands of Everton in September.
Prior to that, his side had made a bright start to the campaign by impressively beating Manchester United (4-0) and Middlesbrough (3-2) at home and narrowly losing out to Blackburn Rovers (3-2) and West Bromwich Albion (2-1) in-between.
With confidence flying high, Everton came as something of a reality check and Walker believes that he learnt more about his players that day then he had done from four games up until that point.
In an exclusive RamsTV interview with both Walker and Delap to review the season as whole from both points of view.
In the first of this two-part interview, dcfc.co.uk took a look back at the season from the point of view of Walker to discuss the importance of pre-season, the defining moments and how he tried to make his players more robust.
Groundbreaking Tour...
“Going away with all three squads for pre-season is not really done up and down the country. I think we were one of the first clubs to trial that but we gained a lot from it.
“It was a fantastic experience and for someone like Cameron Cresswell particularly, it will live long in his memory as he managed to get on the pitch against Benfica.
“There was a lot of positives to come from that trip and it certainly set us up well for the season.”
The Defining Game...
“At the start of our time with the Under-18s, Me, Rory and all the team agreed that we needed to make things as competitive as possible and so, with the amount of scholars that we have had this year, we’ve been able to do that.
“Of course we have tweaked the programme slightly so that the players have felt more consequence on them and we’ve tried to put them under pressure a little bit more so that they are more robust when they do actually step up.
“I think you always know that along the way, there are going to be moments where some players are going to go under at certain stages of the scholarship and Everton (6-1) in September was one of those days.
“We conceded six and we learnt a lot from that. We probably learnt more about the players on that day than perhaps we did in our 4-0 victory over Manchester United earlier on in the season.
“A loss allows you to see the true characteristics of player and their personalities really do come out and this allows all the staff to know who we’ve really got in the building.”
Creating A Pathway...
“Looking back at the campaign as a whole, I think the overall outcome for us has been very positive.
“We’ve had players that have stepped up at the higher level and ultimately, that is what we set out to do.
“When we come to take a group at the start of next season, our objective is very clear of what we are trying to achieve.
“Along the way, we want to test them and try to push a few buttons which will get some different reactions at times in order to find out what characteristics they’ve got.
“We’ve got another exciting group next season and the competitiveness is getting better and better every season.
“It is a real positive for the club and for the first team manager to have some good young players and knowing that hopefully he can call on them.”