3/1 To Win
Derby County Head Coach Paul Warne is looking forward to seeing a response from his side when they head to Peterborough United on Saturday in Sky Bet League One (3pm kick-off).
The Rams are looking to bounce back from last weekend's 2-0 home defeat against Fleetwood Town but face a Posh side pushing for the play-offs.
Warne sat down with RamsTV on Thursday to preview Saturday's game against Darren Ferguson's side.
On Liam Thompson's loan move to Scunthorpe...
It's good for him. There was an opportunity for him to go and play in January that I didn't want him to do (as he was needed in the Derby squad). I'm not over the moon about him going this time, but he does need to play matches. His attitude has been amazing which is possibly why I've permitted it, but it's only for a month initially so I can pull him back at the end of that if needed.
He needs to play games. He hasn't been been playing them which is my fault because I pick the team but, for example, if I was to throw him in next week, he probably wouldn't be in the right physical or mental state. His attitude has been spot on though so him going to play at Scunthorpe will do him the world of good.
On players wanting to get game time rather than sit on the bench...
From a manager's point of view, players that are content in not playing are low maintenance so that's a good thing but from a group point of view, you want the ones that are always wanting to play. However, they are the ones that are harder to manage.
With Tommo, he's a very good trainer. I told him what I wanted him to improve on and he now has his opportunity to go and play games. The coaching staff will watch every minute of him at Scunthorpe.
I just want to be surrounded by people that love the game and want to play no matter what but go about it the right way and Tommo is definitely one of those lads so that's why we've allowed him to go and play.
On James Chester's fitness...
He played 45 minutes for the Under-21s on Monday against Stoke City and he will play again on Friday afternoon against Middlesbrough, hopefully for around 60 minutes. If called upon after that for the first-team, he can be in a position to contribute.
On the rest of the squad...
Jason Knight has gone on his international call-up with the Republic of Ireland, which is great for him. Everyone else is fine.
We had a meeting on Monday and it goes without saying that our performance against Fleetwood last weekend wasn't acceptable. I can accept losing football matches but our level of performance was poor so we tried to address that on Monday.
On Tuesday we showed the players clips of them at their best and they trained really hard. The lads are in a really good place and that's the joy of sport, you've always got the next game.
You have to feel hurt by the performances but you have to move on really quick. We've got nine games, potentially more, to put it right and be where we want to be and it's a good opportunity for all the lads to get behind the lads and have a right good push.
On the reaction from the players...
This week, with the Tuesday session especially, we did loads of out of possession work, loads of pressing stuff, loads of hard-working stuff - all the things that wins you football matches. Some lads really shone in that.
When the team-sheet comes out on Saturday, I can explain that the lads that are starting were unbelievable in training and trained the best and that's why they will play and that's why we have the joy with working them everyday to allow us to pick the best team for the opposition.
The way the lads have trained this week, there will be some difficult decisions to make.
On Peterborough United...
I love Darren Ferguson. I have managed against him loads of times - he's a proper footballing bloke.
I know how they want to play and I went to watch them against Burton Albion last week and could hear him constantly telling them to play forward.
They have a real cutting-edge to them. They play a bit 'basketball', a bit end-to-end. They are prepared to outscore teams and that's how I like to see football being played.
It could go one of many ways on Saturday but I don't think it will be for a lack of effort for either team trying to win it.
