3/1 To Win
First Team Coach Matt Hamshaw says the Derby County squad need to continue to show more belief in themselves on the pitch.
The Rams were beaten at Watford on Saturday in the Sky Bet Championship despite taking an early lead against the Hornets through Ebou Adams, as a fightback from the hosts saw them take all three points as the game finished 2-1.
Derby will be looking to get back to winning ways when they face Sky Bet League Two side Barrow away from home in Round Two of the Carabao Cup on Tuesday evening (7:45pm kick-off).
Hamshaw sat down with RamsTV to discuss the evolution of the Championship, the squad needing to believe in themselves and the importance of not underestimating Barrow.
On Saturday’s 2-1 defeat to Watford...
We felt like we should have got something out of the game. We were pleased with certain aspects of the performance, but there are areas we've got to improve in. We're still early in the season and there's still a long way to go. We could have tidied up possession a little bit better when we got the ball back, and players are aware of that. The belief within the camp has to be more from the individuals.
We spoke a lot after the game about making sure that they believe. It's all good for us (the staff) to believe, we think we've got a good team, but the lads have to believe it, and there are certain aspects of this league that a few of them have not played against before. At times, we probably showed Watford a little bit too much respect. Saying that, we felt that we had enough opportunities and chances in the game to get a positive result from it.
On how much the Championship has changed...
It's been through a bit of a wave, really. It had a period where it was unbelievably good, and then obviously COVID-19 struck and it deteriorated a little bit, with less finance and less money getting put in.
Over the last two seasons, I think it's back to its brilliant best again. It's why it's so exciting to watch. In every game you're watching, both teams are always going for it. It's quite attacking, with a lot of physicality, and a huge step up from League One. I believe it's back to its best and people want to watch it. It's an entertaining league.
On taking the lead at Watford and coming away without a result...
We showed last season that when we got into a lead, we could defend well and look to threaten on the counter. Watford's their first goal was an unbelievable goal, and that's probably the quality that you get in the Championship, as we all know. The second goal is a good finish, although we feel it's a little bit unfortunate.
Sonny Bradley's header could have gone anywhere at the end. We had good opportunities, and if one of them drops for us everybody would be saying we got an amazing point. We were hugely disappointed not to take all three points, to be honest.
On Jerry Yates getting his first Derby appearance...
I've known Jerry since he was 12 or 13 years old. He has a really good work ethic, had setbacks as a kid, as a lot of younger players do, and shown great resilience. He has gone on to have a good career. We've been fortunate to bring him here; there was a lot of interest from other clubs and we were just pleased to have him.
He's got goals in the Championship. We're fortunate that we've got Jerry here, and he's in competition with Dajaune Brown, James Collins and Conor Washington.
He's an unbelievable kid with an unbelievable work ethic. His knockbacks have helped him, but the most pleasing thing is how he's not changed. Watching him now and seeing him in training, I'm sure he'll get goals for us. He is an exciting signing that I'm sure fans will buy into, not only because of his quality but because of his work rate.
On preparing for Tuesday’s Carabao Cup clash with Barrow...
The lads will see everything about Barrow in our team meeting. We'll go through set-pieces, how the team’s going to look and how the shape's going to look. We will travel up tonight, and then it'll be a case of making sure everybody is on point, ready to go and trying to get a positive result.
We don't take any competition lightly. Some people outside might say: 'it's the second round, it’s Barrow and Bristol City on Saturday is more important'. We've got our full focus on Barrow and we're looking forward to what will be a challenging cup tie.
We've been the underdog before. We're going up there and they'll be an underdog. As we all know, underdogs can be dangerous and there'll be some shocks in this round. We've just got to make sure that we're not one of them.
