Head Coach Paul Warne has urged his Derby County squad to rise to the challenge as they face promotion-chasing Sheffield United at Pride Park Stadium on Saturday (3pm kick-off).


Recent recruit Matt Clarke has bolstered the Rams’ ranks as the second signing of the January transfer window and Derby will step out on home turf looking to reverse their fortunes after a tough spell of results in the Sky Bet Championship.


Warne spoke to RamsTV ahead of Saturday’s clash with the Blades, who are pushing for automatic promotion to the Premier League.


On Matt Clarke joining up with the squad this week…

The defensive line needed strengthening. He brings experience and he's played at the level this year. Both parties are really happy and in the nicest possible sense, it's a brilliant drag and drop because he's been here before. He's a good player and a good leader. Even in training the other day, he stayed out and did extras, so I can see what a good professional he is. I've spoken to some of his team-mates before and it’s a no-brainer for us.


On approaching Saturday game against Sheffield United…

Even if I had 10 different answers, I wouldn't put them out there for the opposition to see. There's a lot of good things we've been doing, but we have to tighten up on counter-attacks. We've tried to do a little bit on our shape and making it harder on transitions to concede chances because I think that's been evident in the last few games. What has been evident as well, since the inclusion of Lars-Jorgen Salveson, is that we've had more of a goal threat but we have to take a lot more of the chances that we've created.


On the group galvanising and being up for the fight…

We need to find different ways to score, but we have to also not feel sorry for ourselves. No-one but us will care once the whistle starts. No-one feels sorry for us that we could have picked up this and could have picked up that. That's not what it's about. It's about the next game, getting the lads up for it and knowing how difficult the challenge is, but also knowing that when we're at our very best, we're a really good team. That's what we've focused our week on.