Defender Curtis Nelson says Derby County need to learn the lessons from the festive period in order to take points from their trip to Bristol City on Saturday in the Sky Bet Championship (3pm kick-off).
Derby claimed three points at Pride Park in a 2-1 win against West Bromwich Albion on Boxing Day to get their Christmas programme off to a flying start.
But the Rams come into Saturday’s clash with the Robins after falling to a 1-0 defeat at home to league-leaders Leeds United and a 4-2 loss at Sheffield Wednesday in their last two fixtures either side of the New Year.
Nelson spoke to RamsTV ahead of the weekend’s trips to Ashton Gate to face the Robins.
On the results over the festive period...
We've had highs and lows, that sums it up. We had the highs of Boxing Day and then the disappointment of the losses against Leeds and Sheffield Wednesday. Saturday will be time to put those last two right. We know the performances have been there, especially against West Brom and Leeds. We did do some good stuff on New Year's Day, but we let ourselves down at Sheffield Wednesday. There are a lot of areas where we could have been better. We need to get back to putting in a good performance and getting three points at Bristol City.
On needing to do enough to get points against the Owls on New Year’s Day...
On one hand we did enough to take away some points, but in other ways we didn't. The scoreline reflected that. It was disappointing to concede so many away from home. We need to look forward, we need to learn. We've had a debrief in order to do that.
On the effects of a busy festive fixture schedule...
It's quite mentally draining, notably around the fact that you finish one game and then you're straight into the next one. There's no lull between fixtures where you can properly debrief and work on the next one.
From that point of view, I think most football teams will find that when you have those games in quick succession, it is quite demanding mentally as well as physically. At the same time, being with your mates every day working is class.
You do miss out on some of the family time, which is obviously gutting, and you're limited to only a couple of pigs in blankets on Christmas Day. However, I'd rather be going into the West Brom match, getting three points and be light on pigs in blankets than going in too heavy!
On the stakes being heightened against Bristol City after falling to defeat on New Year’s Day...
Every game's massive in this league, every game's massive each week. We want to be taking as many points as possible, whichever game we go into. Off the back of the last two results, we want to get the win. It could give us a healthier return on the month and the Christmas period. It's important for us to get the three points.
