Paul Warne praised Derby County's attacking unit in their penultimate pre-season friendly ahead the 2024/25 Sky Bet Championship season at Barnsley on Wednesday night.
Derby competed in a lively contest with League One side Barnsley on Wednesday night, with the hosts coming away as 4-3 winners at Oakwell.
Nathaniel Mendez-Laing scored twice while striker James Collins scored his second goal in as many outings, having scored at Shrewsbury Town on Saturday.
The Derby Head Coach spoke to RamsTV after a worthwhile runout for the Rams.
On a good pre-season workout...
It was really good. Obviously, I don't like losing football matches. I'm also aware that it's a pre-season game and it looked a lot more like us. Out of all the games we've had in pre-season, it looks a lot more like how we'll hopefully be.
We had a real threat, I thought, going forward throughout the game. Apart from the first ten minutes, I don't think we were strong enough in challenges and that irritated me. After that, the lads got a little bit more physical in their play and I thought we looked good. I can be honest, I left the Shrewsbury game not as happy as I am now.
I leave here tonight having a lot more confidence in the group. I know they've been playing leggy, I know we've been training them hard and all that, but there are certain standards I expect. I thought, generally, most of the lads performed really well and that's what I want.
On the attacking display..
I thought in the first half, at times, our front three were a excellent. That's the best I think Jerry Yates has played for us, probably the best Kayden Jackson has played for us too, although he should have scored. It just looked a little bit more like a Derby performance.
To concede four goals tonight isn't ideal. We're going to have to be trying to bring more of the team together. I thought it looked quite good tonight. I was pleased with some bits of what I saw playing against a pretty well-esteemed and well-oiled machine.
On the nature of the game...
It felt like a League One play-off game, in a weird way. Barnsley are a really good team, I really like them; they've got athletes and they're aggressive.
I didn't like any of the goals we gave away, you'd be surprised to know. The last one is hugely disappointing. The centre-forward can't have a free header in the middle of the six-yard box, so that's disappointing.
But, despite that, I actually leave pretty happy. I appreciate the fans who have come up to support us. They can see the efforts from the lads. Sometimes the scoreline isn't kind, but I thought generally we didn't deserve to lose.
On final friendly against Real Valladolid on Saturday...
I think it'll be really enjoyable for everyone who comes to Pride Park.
It is about when we get the ball, what we do with it. I don't know if you can hear us screaming on the side of the pitch, but sometimes you just have to have a minute on the ball.
That doesn't mean you can't move the ball quickly, but you don't always have to score every time you get the ball back within six seconds. So, it's probably a little bit like that. If we have pace and power at the top of the pitch, we're always going to be a threat.
