Paul Warne felt there were a number of encouraging signs to take away from Derby County’s final pre-season runout against Premier League newcomers Sheffield United on Saturday.
Derby concluded their preparations for the 2023/24 Sky Bet League One campaign with a 3-1 loss at the hands of the Blades at Pride Park Stadium.
Anis Slimane put United ahead in the firs thalf before Korey Smith found the net for Warne’s side to make it 1-1 on the hour mark.
George Baldock, the brother of former Rams striker Sam Baldock, and Iliman Ndiaye scored two late goals for Paul Heckingbottom’s side late on in what was a keenly contested friendly to inflict a first pre-season loss on the Rams.
Warne caught up with RamsTV to reflect on the 90 minutes and pre-season as a whole a month on from the squad reporting back for training.
Reflections on the performance and pre-season…
I was really pleased with that today because we knew it was going to be a difficult test. There always things you can improve on but generally I am happy. I thought, overall, it was a great workout for us against a team that was at the top end of the Championship last year and will be in the Premier League this time around. The majority of the players are fit and know what we want now. I felt we were really bright in the second half and I was really pleased with them. I like us when we play that little bit more on the edge. For example, when we switch the play, can we do it with one or two quicker passes rather than three or four slower ones?
I think we need to play a bit more risk free, which is how I like it. There were errors in our game, but you aren’t going to be error-free and especially against a top side. I am pleased with how we went about our business. I don’t think our game graft was that bad today, but I think our set-plays can be better. We’ve had a good pre-season so the scoreline aside, I am happy. I still think we need a couple more players in the group and we’ll be in a place to have a right go.
On Korey Smith’s goal…
I thought he was one of our outstanding players and it was a great goal. I’ve had conversations with Korey and we think he can score goals. He did a great job for us at right-back last year and in midfield he is capable of making excellent runs into the box. It takes a real effort and desire and he showed that.
On Conor Washington getting minutes…
He has only trained a week and he’s still a long way off. If you look at it, the lads that played at Matlock Town in our first friendly earlier this month had more training than Conor has had. We need to build him up but he will get there.
Looking ahead to the season starting…
Pre-season has gone really well and I know the lads are all revved up and ready to go now. I’ll enjoy the next week of normality on the training ground before the pain starts!