First Team Coach Matt Hamshaw has admitted the Derby County squad are ready to start ‘knuckling down and fine-tuning’ following their return to Moor Farm Training Ground after a week in Spain.
After Friday's 1-0 victory against Sky Bet League One side Stockport County during the Rams’ warm-weather training camp, Derby will continue their run-up to the season with a friendly against League Two outfit Chesterfield on Wednesday night (7:30pm kick-off).
They will then follow that up with a trip to League One Shrewsbury Town on Saturday (3pm kick-off).
Derby’s First Team Coach caught up with RamsTVafter training to discuss the success of the training camp in Spain, the welcoming atmosphere in the squad and fine-tuning things ahead of the new Championship season.
On relief at returning to Moor Farm for training…
It certainly is a relief for the players! They’re acclimatised better than they were in Spain. We are trying to tune things up a bit. We have got about a week’s worth of looking at things, playing with things and giving players minutes. Then we can start really drilling down into how it’s going to look in the season.
On the Spanish training camp and Stockport County friendly…
It was a really good week. The players bonded, which is key. We got some really good sessions in - and some individual work. We still have a lot of tactical stuff to work on, how that’s going to look and the shapes we want to go into both in and out of possession and in transition once the season starts.
There were some really pleasing aspects. Everybody came through it, which is ultra-positive news. And to see Derby fans over there as well – it was nice to see them and share the atmosphere over there in a hot climate. I’m sure even those who sat in the stands would admit that the game was tough (with the heat).
On support at the Pinatar Arena against Stockport…
We’ve been here a while now so the level of support doesn’t surprise me in the slightest. We’re unbelievably well supported, and we saw that last season in away ends and at home games. When they get behind the players it’s an unbelievable atmosphere and we were happy that we put smiles on faces last season. Hopefully we can do that again this season as well.
On the Chesterfield and Shrewsbury friendlies this week…
You’ll probably see something different this week, from what people saw in the Stockport game on Friday. I’m not going to say too much more about that for obvious reasons, but you’ll see something a bit different. It is just us playing with things, seeing how things fit in and work.
We’ve done a little bit of work on it this week and there’ll be a little bit of fatigue in the players' legs on Wednesday and Saturday. After that, we’ll start knuckling down and really fine-tuning in time for the first game of the season against Blackburn.
