3/1 To Win
Head Coach Paul Warne says his Derby County side will have to rise to the challenge to get a result when they come up against an in-form Watford side at Vicarage Road on Saturday.
The Rams recorded their first Sky Bet Championship win at Pride Park Stadium in over two years as they put in a gutsy performance to claim all three points in a 1-0 victory against Middlesbrough last weekend.
Tom Cleverley’s Watford team will also come into the fixture on a high after three wins from three in all competitions so far in the 2024/25 season, most recently seeing off Stoke City with a 3-0 win at Vicarage Road.
Warne sat down with RamsTV to discuss coming up against a different kind of manager in the Championship this season and Jerry Yates looking to get his first competitive minutes for Derby after suspension.
On getting a full week training ahead of the weekend’s game…
It is a luxury! Since we've been back for pre-season, it's been chaotic. It has enabled us to do other stuff and to come off a couple of the lads. David Ozoh, for example, hasn’t played three games in a week in his career. Being able to work with a new goalkeeper, Jacob, in the building during a steady week is a nice build-up for the game.
On Derby’s newest signing, Jacob Widell Zetterström’s first week of training…
He’s been really good. He has looked comfortable, and we're doing stuff with him in the team shape as well, which is essential.
My managerial answer is that it takes weeks (to bed into the team) of work and it's non-stop - but, realistically, it's just football. The thing that takes longer to bed in is probably the intricacies that you learn over a period of time with any new signing. So, for example, if it was the last minute of the game, do I want him to play a short goal kick across his six-yard box or do I want him to hit long?
Most people listening to me talking would know what I want, but Swedish football is different, so there are probably little bits like that and little bits of management. He'll pick them up. He's really intelligent, so it shouldn't take him long.
On Jerry Yates being available for selection for the first time…
Jerry was excellent in pre-season and gives us a real threat, if selected. Since his suspension's finished, he seems to be a bit louder! He seems to be saying hello to me a lot more, so I'm well aware that he's available! It'll be nice to have him back.
On coming up against an in-form Watford team…
They've had a really good start to the season. Tom Cleverley has changed around five, six or seven players. They're a really athletic side. Watford are one of them teams, if you play them on their day, they can smoke anybody. They have been like that for years and years, in fairness, and they are scoring goals, too. They've scored 11 in three games so far this season. They scored three away at Millwall and three at home to a very good Stoke side, so they have a lot of threat and pace throughout the team. It doesn't take a genius to work out, if you look at their team sheet, they're quite good.
There are a lot of things we'll have to be really good at. As coaches, we watch at least the last three games that our opponents play in. We watch our lads train and we have to work out a way, the best way, to stop them and the best way to hurt them. The better teams in this league - and there are a lot of very good teams - don't have many frailties, but everyone has some. Every team and every shape has a weakness. It's our job as coaches, with the players, to work out that way.
