3/1 To Win
Derby County's Assistant Head Coach Richie Barker says the team 'want to win every game' - whether it's in Sky Bet League One or Cup competition this season.
The Rams' 2023/24 Carabao Cup campaign gets underway on Tuesday evening with fellow Sky Bet League One side Blackpool the visitors to Pride Park Stadium on Round One.
And after a disappointing start to the league season on Saturday with a 2-1 home defeat to Wigan Athletic, Barker says the side are looking for a response as quickly as possible.
Speaking to RamsTV he reflected on the defeat to Wigan, gave an injury update and looked ahead to the cup clash with Blackpool.
Reflections on Saturday's loss...
We're frustrated on the back of not winning the game but there were positives there. There are a lot of things that we need to tidy up on. We had the most shots in the league at the weekend, we had the second most crosses put in the box and we had the second least amount of shots on our goal. There are positives but we also know it's a result orientated game.
On Nathaniel Mendez-Laing's fitness after he came off late on...
His hamstrings were a bit tight. The positive was that it was both his hamstrings. It's very rare that people pull both hamstrings so it was probably a little bit of fatigue and soreness. He's trained today so hopefully we can ensure he stays fit. We weren't risking keeping him on for another 5 or 10 minutes.
On Louie Sibley and Tom Barkhuizen's injuries...
They are out running on the grass but they haven't joined in with training yet. They are just ticking the final few things to ensure that they are safe to join in with us. Both are getting there from an actual fitness point of view but then it's a matter of them getting up to speed with match minutes.
On Callum Elder and Kane Wilson getting some minutes on Saturday...
I thought they came on at the time where Joe Ward and Fozzy were having their best 15 minutes but they were also getting very fatigued. Kane was a real threat for 15 or 20 minutes when he came on, not so much for Callum because the game was very much down the right-hand side. For both of them it was their home debut and you've got to get that experience out of the way. I thought they made a good impact and in fairness I thought all four wing-backs made a positive impact at the weekend.
On getting that first win as soon as possible...
You always look to get your first goal, your first win and your first clean-sheet. The sooner you get that the sooner you can move on. Obviously we've got our first goal but we need our first win and first clean-sheet. It doesn't matter how it comes, winning is a habit and we want to win every game we play. If one or two people get a chance in this cup tie and they take it, who's to say they won't then put themselves in the starting line-up for the next seven or eight weeks? It doesn't matter if it's league or cup, we just want to win games.
On possible squad rotation on Tuesday...
It's that time of year. The main thing we need to manage the squad and what everyone has to get used to at the moment is this extra time in matches. We've got to see how that affects some of the players. At the moment we know one or two that can keep going and one or two that need minutes but we aren't just doing it for the sake of it, any change will be about winning.
On the test of facing Blackpool...
They look like a really athletic group of players. They can all deal with the ball really well and they make the pitch really big. They are very well coached and I'm sure the people that were there last season have that extra bit of enthusiasm to get back in the Championship so I'd envisage they will be there or there abouts.
