Lampard Expecting A Reaction From His Players

Manager Frank Lampard is expecting a reaction from his players tomorrow afternoon as Derby County host Swansea City at Pride Park Stadium (3pm kick-off).

The Rams were beaten on the road on Wednesday night with a 2-1 reverse at Stoke City and following the game, the manager voiced his disappointment with the way his side tasted defeat.

However, he was keen to move on quickly but is hoping his side can react positively against the Swans.

“If you are going to stay in the race then you need a positive result after a setback,” he told RamsTV. “I don’t like to lose any games but if you do then you have to fight back.

“The games in the Championship are tough and we know that. We are fighting to stay in contention and it’s tough but we have to focus, be confident in ourselves and we have to compete in the game.

“Swansea are a good team, even though their results recently haven’t been as great, but you can’t base anything on that in the Championship. They are a freshly relegated Premier League team and they have players with quality so it will be another tough one for us.”

The manager has not had long between games to work with his players on the training ground, but believes fine details will make all the difference.

He said: “When we are conceding we are making mistakes so mistakes only get eradicated with work on the training ground in my opinion. They can always happen but if you want to narrow them down then you work on the training ground so that’s something for us individually and collectively to work on.

“If we feel we can improve then you repeat it, isolate it and then it’s up to the players to go out there as a group to try and improve. You create it in training and then you repeat and focus.

“We are seventh in the table, level with Nottingham Forest, just off the play-off teams so it’s not a terrible situation but improving those little details will get us up the table, that’s for sure.”

However, the manager will not stop his players from playing with freedom and attacking in force.

“My perspective is always the same and that is we have to keep being on the edge to be competitive in this league,” he admitted.

“You look at the teams around us, some are above us, some are below us, they have spent more but have players who have the right pedigree, and we have those players as well, but we are at the start of something and we are putting things together still.

“You can see that in the slight inconsistencies that we have shown so it’s important that we are on the edge mentally and physically in every game.”