3/1 To Win
Phillip Cocu is confident that Derby County’s players will be fresh and ready to go when take on Reading at Pride Park Stadium in their 2020/21 Sky Bet Championship opener on Saturday (3pm kick-off).
Derby got the new campaign underway with a penalty shoot-out victory over Barrow AFC in the First Round of the Carabao Cup last weekend on home turf.
The attention now turns to the start of the league programme, less than two months after the 2019/20 campaign concluded with a 3-1 victory at Birmingham City to achieve a top-ten finish.
Like for the final nine games of last season, owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, matches will continue to be played behind-closed-doors for the time being.
With pre-season behind them, both on the training ground and in matches, Cocu’s side are ready to get the new league campaign off and underway.
“I think that the players will be a little bit fresher for this game,” Cocu told RamsTV.
“Regardless of the opponent we faced, in our schedule the first cup game was sort of part of the pre-season because it was so soon after we started the season again.
“The set-up of training has been a little bit different this week than the week before, so players will be fresh to start.
“It will be a difficult game against Reading; they have a good squad and they play, what I have seen until now, is a little bit more when they have the ball than they did last season.”
He added: “We have to be aware in each game that we have to give everything for a good start to the season.”
Cocu believes a realistic aim for the 2020/21 campaign is for Derby to push for a play-off spot, should they make the additions needed during the transfer window.
He says that if the Rams can match their ambition with the right quality on the pitch, then a push for the top six is something that push for.
Discussing Derby’s targets for the season, he said: “If we can complete the team that we have in mind, it is important that we get stuff done, because we have to be realistic that if we have certain quality of players in the building then we have to aim for a play-off position.
“We have a lot of competition for those places, in the top six, but we have to believe we can make it.
“We have the ambition and if we have the right players and the right quality then that will be our goal. Then we need to get off to a good start in the first game.”
