3/1 To Win
Derby County Head Coach Paul Warne says his team needed to be savvier in the final third after they played out a 0-0 draw and were knocked out of the Carabao Cup on penalties against Barrow on Tuesday night.
The Rams suffered defeat from the penalty spot at the SO Legal Stadium after a 90-minute shut-out from both sides saw the game end goalless.
Despite both teams having opportunities to take the lead towards the end of the game, neither side could take the initiative in normal time.
Warne spoke to RamsTV after the match to discuss the disappointment at being knocked out of the cup, Tawanda Chiwera’s debut and the need to be more effective in the final third.
On defeat in the Carabao Cup…
My thoughts are mixed. I didn't think we had any threat in the first half. We had a gilt-edge chance with Tom Barkhuizen, I was waiting for the net to rip. But apart from that, we didn't create enough and it was a typical cup game.
It's easy for me to criticise our team, but you've got to respect what the opposition have done, too. They make it difficult for you. Barrow in good form on the back of a 4-0 win at the weekend against Port Vale. We knew it was going to be tough. We prepared well and we gave a few players on the periphery some minutes. It was nice to have Joe Ward back, but obviously we had to take him off. Kenzo Goudmijn took a hit early on, so he had to come off. Liam Thompson also had a bit of a calf issue, so we had to change the pack quite a lot.
But all that aside, I thought in the second half we were a lot better, and created some good chances. However, our final ball probably let us down.
We were just that far off here, that far off there. If you're going to win a game, those crucial moments in the final third have to stick. We probably didn't do enough to win it and we probably didn't do enough to lose it. It was probably a fair result. Unfortunately, our main penalty taker in James Collins missed the first penalty and that might have summed us up. There was plenty of endeavour, but there wasn't enough quality in our play.
On Tawanda Chiwera’s Derby County debut…
We knew that we couldn't play him for any more than 50 or 60 minutes tops, so that was always going to be a substitution I was going to make. He played as a narrow seven, which isn't his role, but we just wanted to give him some time within the team and get some match minutes. We brought him in because I think he can handle the ball, and he can drift past people. There's loads more to his game that we've got to help him with as well. He's going to be a good addition to our midfield. For him to play 45 minutes tonight, and Wardy to play too, is probably the highlight for us.
On wanting a positive result against Bristol City on Saturday ahead of the international break…
No-one wants to come out of cup competitions. We want to win every game we play and could have had a good draw in the next round. Winning is a habit, so you want to get into that winning habit. We will play against a very good Bristol City side on Saturday.
We're going to have to pick the lads up again after this. I'm not saying you can forget about this if we win on Saturday because defeats suck. However, we won't be the only team to have lost tonight in the cup. There'll be loads of crazy results knocking about and that's what the cup is and that's why everyone gets excited by it. In fairness, they hit the crossbar and we hit the post. There was a lot going on in the game all night - we won't beat ourselves up about it.
