Derby County Head Coach Paul Warne is looking for his team to build on the resilient performance at Liverpool in the Carabao Cup in midweek when they travel to MK Dons in Sky Bet League One on Saturday (3pm kick-off).
Speaking to RamsTV ahead of the trip to Milton Keynes, Warne discussed the return to league action, the 6,500+ travelling fans making the journey and gave an update on the squad's current fitness.
Liverpool reflections…
What I can take away personally is the potential of the group and the club. I didn’t see a spare seat in that away end and I just thought that, at our absolute best, with that following with how we want the club to be - it’s the perfect storm. There is some greatness in this club.
There was a real resilience in the group but we just need to do it back-to-back. There’s no point having sporadic games, you have to try and perform back-to-back.
At the moment the one forgiving feature I can give the lads is that we are using the same players week in and week out, hence why I had to take off the likes of James Collins, Korey Smith and Nathaniel Mende-Laing because we are asking them to play three times a week consistently.
On backing Liverpool performance up…
I appreciate the lads will be a little mentally tired but hopefully with some rest tonight, they will be nice and fresh for tomorrow. I’ll try and pick a team that will allow us to win and try and make the changes depending on how the game goes, but I am aware of the fact that MK Dons will be doing everything they can to win because they’ve had a couple of back-to-back positive results and that will give them a boost as well.
On MK Dons…
I’ve always liked Liam Manning, who is their manager. He’s a really good bloke and he’s had a really good coaching career so far. Liam and his staff have got a style and a DNA in the way they want to play.
Their team got ripped apart in the summer; I thought they thoroughly deserved to go up last year but they didn't.
They’ve had to start again with a new team and it’s not easy, it takes time.
It’s no secret that they like to play out from the back, they like to keep the ball and are patient and try and probe you and pull you apart. Every game I’ve managed against an MK Dons team has been tricky to say the least. I have the utmost respect for them.
They are a really good club, have a really good footballing ethos and are really difficult to play against but as all clubs in League One are, they are beatable too.
On the squad's fitness…
Conor Hourihane isn’t well. He wasn’t well after the Liverpool game, he was shaking and talking rubbish so he wasn’t well and hasn’t trained since.
Knighty is a bit sore so we’ll see how he is, but everyone else is OK other than Eiran Cashin being suspended.
On the travelling fans…
It’s pretty amazing to have 6,500 going to MK Dons. I sent the video of the fans from Liverpool to a few of my friends and said: ‘look at these lot here.’
The lads will definitely need the fans on Saturday too. The support means a lot and I thank everyone that is travelling because I know it’s difficult at the moment. On behalf of everyone, I thank all the fans for their efforts.