Head Coach Paul Warne says Derby County home form will be crucial to the team’s success in the Sky Bet Championship in the 2024/25 season ahead of Saturday’s clash with Bristol City (3pm kick-off).
The Rams are looking to continue their winning form at Pride Park Stadium this season when they face the Robins on Saturday (3pm kick-off).
Warne’s side played out a spirited 1-0 win in their first league match of the campaign on home soil when they beat Middlesbrough a fortnight ago.
Since then, two results away from home - a 2-1 defeat to Watford in the league and elimination from the Carabao Cup against Barrow courtesy of a penalty shoot-out following a 0-0 draw - mean Derby are looking to get that winning feeling again.
Warne caught up with RamsTV before training on Thursday morning to look ahead to Saturday’s clash with the Robins.
On the start to the season going into the international break…
I'd like to come across as the bloke who looks at it evenly over the course of the games, but you always feel it in the first hour after the final whistle in terms of how the result goes. So, if we're successful and we win against Bristol City, I will feel pleased with how we've started the season. We've got to give a good account of ourselves, but we need to get better in loads of different avenues. It always takes a bit of settling in with new players, as it does for every team, when the season starts. There are some really crazy results in the first six weeks of the season but if we lose, if the team loses or plays poorly, I'll leave the stadium like everybody else; a little bit disappointed. However, the performances have been quite good. You can't get too hung up on that; you will as the season progresses, but it's about performances. We've been in all the games, which we're trying to do. If we come out of the home game against Bristol City with two wins at Pride Park, it'd be great. We're trying to average two points a game at home, which is no mean feat, so it would set us off well for the season ahead.
On the squad ahead of the weekend…
Kenzo Goudmijn and Liam Thompson were struggling a little bit with their calves at Barrow on Tuesday so we will look at them. Eiran Cashin is back in training, so he'll be up for getting re-selected into the squad, and Corey Blackett-Taylor is training too. The game still might be a bit too close for Ben Osborn with his calf issue.
On new signing Tawanda Chirewa’s debut against Barrow on Tuesday…
He was good, but it would have been better if the experience had been a more positive one. I picked a team that I thought would have been strong enough to win but, unfortunately, it wasn't, against a good Barrow team.
I played him out of position, but I just needed him to be in the dressing room and I also needed him to know the importance of first-team football. For example, if you kick the ball away and you get booked early on you've got to struggle to stay on for 90 minutes.
That's all part of the learning curve. He'd only been in the building for 24 hours virtually, so it was quick. That's how elite sport is. I think it will do him the world of good to get some minutes under his belt and so the lads can know what he can do. We'll be sitting with him watching his clips, critiquing everything he's done. There are things we can help him with and we'll enjoy working with him.
