3/1 To Win
Derby County Head Coach Paul Warne says he needs everyone pulling in the right direction for the clash with Ipswich Town at Pride Park Stadium on Saturday afternoon (3pm kick-off).
The Rams are looking for a response after two successive defeats in Sky Bet League One but have the division's in-form side standing in their way and, with a crowd of over 29,000 expected, it is a big game for both sides.
Speaking to RamsTV ahead of the weekend, the Warne gave his pre-match thoughts.
On whether he believed the team would be in the play-off spots at this time of year when they last faced Ipswich in October...
I did, honestly. There were foundations of good stuff here. I knew we had to play a different way but I did think we'd be in and around it. I've got full respect for the staff and know what we could do as a group and thought with the players we had, we'd have a right chance. It sounds a bit arrogant, but I thought we'd be in and around it.
On how much progress he thinks the team have made since the last meeting with Ipswich...
Not as much as I'd have liked, but if you'd have asked me six weeks ago I'd have said massive strides. It feels like we're just on the side of jaded at the moment. The lads have done everything we've asked them to do bar a couple of 45 minute displays.
We've brought different staff in behind the scenes and what fans don't see is what we're trying to do at the club. It's not going to happen overnight but I think we're pretty pleased. Unfortunately our work only gets judged on a Saturday and I understand that.
I feel like we're going in the right direction. Currently our form is poor and we've got to build the lads up so they can go into the game confident because the best version of themselves is excellent, but collectively we've just been a little bit off lately.
On how difficult the team selection has been...
If the team is winning, it picks itself. Whenever you are not winning you are trying to find the winning formula and you try and tweak with things but sometimes you can tweak the only thing that was working and it can get worse before it gets better.
You can only go on what you see and the opposition but we've certainly been having more conversations about it. With the lack of performances you get the more the sleepless nights and you second guess yourselves. We're really confident in what we do, but it just takes more process.
On Ipswich Town...
They've got six wins on the spin without conceding. They score a set-piece goal every two games and if you get that right, you're always going to be in the top six. Virtually every team that gets promoted seems to be the best at set-pieces.
They recruited well in January and they've got choices of players all over the park. They like to play out from the back, they are in very good form and there's not much more I can say about them. They are one of the leaders and blueprints for the league.
On the return to Pride Park...
When we show our best version, I'd back beating anyone at Pride Park but tomorrow is a bit of a strange one as we're normally the roaring favourites. I'm not saying we're the underdogs but we are normally overwhelming favourites, even away from home.
We need everyone pulling in the right direction tomorrow. We need the fans to cheer everything because they are playing against a very good team. The performance and result is important for the games remaining.
Our season won't be fully focused on tomorrow but I do know how much this one game could count as a mood swing, as a confident booster or a confidence ruiner - it could go either way.
We've taken a lot of care in the team selection and at 5pm tomorrow I could look like 'Where's Wally?' or a genius. We've tried to pick the most aggressive team as always and the lads have trained excellent as they have all week.
