Disappointed with the manner in which Derby County went into the international break, Scott Carson is determined to bounce back immediately in Friday night’s ‘massive game’ against Hull City.
The Rams fell to a 3-1 defeat to the Blades in their final game from the first month of the 2017/18 season.
That result came off the back of three successive wins in all competitions, two of which were in the Sky Bet Championship, but Carson accepts that Derby were flat and didn’t hit their heights at Bramall Lane.
The club’s number one also admitted that his early mistake, which led to Billy Sharp’s opening goal, put the Rams on the back foot.
“We went into the game with a lot of confidence, but everyone knows that we didn’t play as we know we can do,” Carson, 32, told RamsTV.
“The first goal was my mistake and we didn’t really get going after that. We had little spells where we got into attacking situations, but even then, we didn’t really create anything.
“The biggest disappointment, though, was that we didn’t win many second balls and we didn’t run around and put the effort in that we had in previous games.”
Despite not having a swift opportunity to bounce back, Carson is hoping an uninterrupted period on the training ground will do the players the world of good – labelling it a potential ‘blessing in disguise’.
He added: “Nobody wanted the two-week international break in that manner; we would have been happy to play again on the Tuesday and get straight back into it.
“It wasn’t a good way to go into it, but what it has allowed us to do is to get some real graft in over the last two weeks.
“Maybe it is a blessing in disguise, but we have got a massive game on Friday now to try and get back on track.”
Next up, is a return to home territory for a Friday night meeting with recently relegated Hull City under the Pride Park Stadium floodlights, kick-off: 7:45pm.
Assessing Leonid Slutsky’s team, Carson says Derby will treat them just as they did Sunderland on the opening match of the 2017/18 campaign last month and not take a much-changed Tigers side for granted.
The shot-stopper, though, has called on the Rams to make sure they do themselves a favour and test Hull’s credentials by putting them under as much pressure as possible early doors.
Carson said: “We have got to go into it just as we did the Sunderland game on the opening day of the season.
“There was talk of the Sunderland team struggling a little bit and a bit of negative talk. Hull have found themselves in that situation too with all the changes that have taken place, but they have made a good start.
“I have spoken about the need to work hard, but on Friday we are coming up against a team too that has got the experience and the quality individuals from playing in the Premier League.
“At home, we need to take the game to them and put the pressure on from the first whistle. If we do that, as we have seen before, it’s going to be difficult for anyone to get anything at Pride Park.”
