Paul Warne says there’s a feeling of anticipation in the air as Derby County prepare to play their final pre-season friendly ahead of the start of the 2023/24 Sky Bet League One season this weekend.
Derby will host Premier League newcomers Sheffield United at Pride Park Stadium on Saturday afternoon to conclude their preparations for the forthcoming campaign (3pm kick-off).
While there’s still plenty of work to get through with the squad, Warne has seen some encouraging signs from his players over the last few weeks in training and match situations.
Warne caught up with RamsTV ahead of the clash with the Blades to provide an injury update, discuss what he is looking for from the meeting with last season’s Championship runners-up and also explain why former Ram Martyn Waghorn is currently training with the squad.
On the start to the season closing in…
We’re feeling good and pleasingly we’ve got Conor Washington and Tom Barkhuizen back and training with the group. Callum Elder and Louie Sibley won’t be until next week, but they’re getting there. Callum will get a good week in him during next week and in that respect, in terms of the injuries, we’re feeling positive.
We obviously had a really secretive game this week at Huddersfield Town. That was a training match and it was another chance to get more minutes into the legs of the players and everyone came through unscathed, which is pleasing.
We are in a good place and looking forward to the season getting started next weekend. We’ve got a good team and good squad together, but we know we’re still a couple short.
On the general fitness of the players…
I always want more, you know me! The lads have been training really well. I’ve been pleased with their attitude in both the off-season and pre-season. If I wasn’t happy, I would tell the players and I’d also say it in these interviews too.
We’ve got a small-ish squad so some players, like Conor Hourihane, Max Bird and Korey Smith, have got good minutes in and that’s important as they are key players for us.
On Martyn Waghorn training with the squad…
Waggy played in Fozzy’s Testimonial last week and I really liked him. I liked him as a lad, as I did with all the ex-players that turned out and played because it’s their football club. I realised Waggy was out of contract and living not far away and I believe you should treat your ex-players with respect.
I invited him in to train and was completely open with him and said if he signs for someone else tomorrow, he goes with our blessing. There might be something here for him, there might not be. He’s training with us and playing in a few games and if we can help each other out then that is great.
He’s had a couple of training sessions and played in the game at Huddersfield. I am trying to help him out, not in a patronising way, because I know it is hard to train on your own as a footballer and he’s had a great career. He’s a friend of Fozzy’s so he’s a friend of mine and that is all it is. There’s no smoke and mirrors about it.
On what he is looking for from the Sheffield United game…
Firstly, it will be a tough game. They’ve had a few friendlies this week to spread the minutes across their squad and I expect them to come here and go pretty strong against us. I know they will come all guns blazing and it will be a really good test for us. It’s important to add another layer to what we’re doing and get more understanding into the players of how we want to go about things.
I want everyone to get through it fit and with a real confidence. Some of the performances have been really good in pre-season and with the system we are playing we’ve got wing-backs and they need to show real energy, which we’ve seen from the lads who have played there. We’re getting crosses in the box and I expect us to flood that area when we do. We’ve been good on the counter-attack and vigilant at set-pieces both for and against so there’s some encouraging signs.
It’s important for the lads and especially the new ones to get another feel of playing at Pride Park. The ones we’ve signed this summer enjoyed it last week, I know that, and they’ll all be looking forward to playing in front of a full house when the season starts. It’s important to get a feel for the surroundings and come through the weekend feeling good and ready for the season ahead.