Assistant Head Coach Richie Barker has praised the attitude and application of Derby County’s players as they prepare to get their 2024/25 pre-season games programme up and running on Friday night.
Derby’s first pre-season outing ahead of the upcoming Sky Bet Championship season will see them make the journey to local non-league side Matlock Town (7:45pm kick-off), before heading off to a week-long training camp in Spain over the weekend.
After seeing the squad report back for pre-season training at the start of July and put in plenty of hard work over the last two weeks, Barker believes the Rams’ squad is looking in good shape.
Speaking to RamsTV ahead of the clash at Matlock, Barker reviewed pre-season so far, the target for the group ahead of their first friendly and discussed the squad’s four summer signings to date.
On how are the squad looking…
The lads are looking good and we are pleased with them. They came back in really good shape and have bought into everything we’ve done. One of our main aims was to get everyone through to the Matlock game and get minutes into their legs. Fundamentally, this friendly is about enjoying playing football again. The attitude of everyone has been good so now it is about getting through the game and then on the plane to Spain at the weekend.
On the effort of the players…
The lads started getting a bit ratty with each other on Wednesday; they’re like children! We knew it was a good sign, as they were feeling tired. The players have worked extremely hard. There will be an element of fatigue going into the game on Friday, but they’ll be happy to play football again.
On the four new players and how they’ve settled in…
They’ve all settled in well. Ben Osborn has been a bit behind the others at the moment off the back of the injury he got in the last Premier League game of last season at Sheffield United in May. He joined in training today and it felt like the squad was taking shape. Kenzo Goudmijn was out on the grass too and the lads have been brilliant with him. He is 22-year-old and just moved country, but he has taken everything on board and his English is excellent. Kayden Jackson and Jerry Yates have fitted in pretty well, too.
On last season’s promotion…
We haven’t really spoken about last year, to be honest. It was a fantastic achievement to get promoted. We hope everyone enjoyed the benefits of getting promoted, such as finishing for the summer early and having a good break. It is important we don’t keep looking backwards, we want this club to be moving in a forward direction.
On the friendly at Matlock…
We want to get 45 minutes for everyone, predominantly, and to come through safely. Next week is a big week in Spain and we have a lot of work to get through. It is important for the lads to play 11-Vs-11 for the first time since the end of April. We want everyone to enjoy playing, after working so hard.