3/1 To Win
Phillip Cocu has stressed Derby County’s need to display more solidity as a team in key moments of games on their travels.
Derby head to Sheffield Wednesday in their final Sky Bet Championship fixture of February on Saturday (3pm kick-off) looking to bounce back from a 2-1 defeat at Queens Park Rangers on Tuesday evening.
Cocu was disappointed with the way his side conceded both goals in West London as they tasted defeat on their travels for the tenth time this season.
While Derby boast the third-best home record in the division, only Luton Town have picked up less points than the 11 that Cocu’s side have recorded on their travels.
Scoring goals hasn’t been an issue for Derby in recent months, nor has been their level of performance, but Cocu has made it clear that his side need to show an element of solidity on their travels.
With two important home games on the horizon next week, against Manchester United in the Fifth Round of the Emirates FA Cup on Thursday and Blackburn Rovers in the Championship next Sunday, Cocu believes a positive result at Hillsborough could set Derby up well for the week ahead.
“Sheffield Wednesday got a very late win in midweek (1-0 win against Charlton Athletic), but they have struggled also in quite a few games without a good result and haven’t scored a lot of goals,” Cocu told RamsTV.
“If we can go there and get a win, it would give us a boost.
“It will be another difficult game, but I think if we play like we have been playing in the last couple of matches and we can just add to be a little bit more solidity in key moments in a defensive aspect that would be good for us.
“We are scoring more goals and we are creating more opportunities, so if we can do that then the result will be possible in this game.”
Derby and Wednesday played out a 1-1 draw at Pride Park Stadium earlier in the season, with Chris Martin’s late penalty cancelling out Steven Fletcher’s first-half strike.
