Clement: “We Must Turn Performances Into Winning Football”

Paul Clement says Derby County must turn their performances into winning football - sooner rather than later.

Paul Clement says Derby County must turn their performances into winning football - sooner rather than later.

Derby’s unbeaten start to the 2015/16 Sky Bet Championship season ended with a 2-1 home loss to Leeds United this afternoon.

Chris Wood’s late goal condemned the Rams to defeat, leaving the side awaiting their first win of the season going into the first international break.

Clement says Derby’s points return hasn’t reflected their general performances.

He told Rams Player HD: “We have not had a good enough start in the league.

“After five games, we expected to have around nine or 10 points, but we have got four.

“The positive thing for us is that there is still a long way to go.

“The performances, in the league, haven’t been poor, so there are plenty of positives to take away from that, but we have got to turn our performances into winning football.

“It’s all ifs and buts, but Leeds will also feel that they have had a couple of good chances before they got in front with some of the crosses they got in.

“The game has gone now, we have got to be better, we don’t think this is good enough at this stage and we will continue to work hard on the training field to make sure that we get a victory against Preston North End after the international break.

“The players have to be men and accept that the standards haven’t been at the level that we want."

He added: “Some of the players will go out on international duty and I hope they do well for their countries and come back injury free.

“Those that we have here back at the Training Centre will be working on their technique, on tactics and complete physical work as well, so that when everyone comes back in 10 days’ time, we are ready for Preston.”

Reflecting on Derby’s performance against Leeds, Clement felt the Rams’ first half performance let them down.

However, the side flew out of the traps in the second half and deservedly equalised through Chris Martin, cancelling out Tom Adeyemi’s header before half time.

“We started really well in the second half, particularly in the first 20 minutes,” he said.

“We had a lot of intensity in our play, we were really on the front foot and they couldn’t get out of their half.

“We picked up all of the second balls, we played some good football and we peppered their box with plenty of crosses.

“That was the start that we wanted after what I thought was a really poor first half from us; we were second best in a lot of areas, particularly in midfield.

“They had control of the game in the first half and their goal came just before half time. We can debate whether it was a corner or a goal kick, but it was awarded and we had to get on with it and do our jobs.

“We felt hard done by at that point and we weren’t switched on to deal with the set play.”

He added: “That’s four games in a row now where we have gone behind and had to come out in the second half and do things better.

“We had to tighten it up, we had to get closer in midfield, be quicker and have more intensity in our play.

“The players started well and we deservedly got back into it, but the first half performance let us down today.”