Ethan Wassall says Derby County’s Under 21s should be ‘motivated’ by their recent meeting with Valencia’s B side ahead of their return to Barclays Under 21 Premier League – Division 2 action today.
Darren Wassall’s side make the long trip down South to take on Brighton & Hove Albion at their new state of the art American Express Elite Football Performance Centre (kick-off: 1pm).
After a three-week break in the league schedule, Wassall, Derby’s Academy Manager, took his group for a four-day training camp in Spain, rounding it off by taking on Valencia’s B side.
At the Los Che’s Paterna Training Ground, Derby slipped to a 4-0 defeat in a game that represented a big ‘learning curve’ for the squad ahead of their return to league action.
Reflecting on the tour, Ethan, the young defender, believes the trip to Valencia was a ‘brilliant experience for the squad, but called on the squad to get over their loss quickly as the Rams look to extend their unbeaten run.
Speaking to dcfc.co.uk, he said: “It’s always nice to get away to a different country and get to know the lads a little better with me being one of the newest to the group.
“Being together 24/7 is completely different. Sometimes that’s a challenge in itself, but the four days in Spain was a brilliant experience for all of us.
“We will be the first to admit that we didn’t play to the level that we know we are capable of. Valencia deserve credit because they were a good side.
“We are going to have to get over the game quickly because we are doing well in the league and we want to keep that going.
“They played at a very high level and as players that’s what we want to aspire to.”
Derby’s Under 21 group are unbeaten in three games and recorded a comfortable 3-0 victory over Fulham at the iPro Stadium last time out.
Consistent since the start of the season, Wassall believes Derby learned some valuable lessons from their meeting with Valencia – citing they should be ‘motivated’ to try and play to a similar level back on home turf to maintain their excellent start to the 2015/16 season.
He added: “We have been top drawer since the start of the season. Earlier in the season, we weren’t quite getting our rewards in terms of results, but since the Villa and Arsenal game, we have really kicked on and in the last three games, we have been unbelievable.
“We blew Fulham away in the last game and everything really came together.
“The Valencia game was a real eye opener, we know the standard that we have to meet and if anything that game has got to motivate us as players to play to that sort of level and we will be looking to do that against Brighton on Monday.”
