Carson Marks Away Form Down For Big Improvement

Scott Carson has highlighted Derby County’s away form as one of the biggest aspects that needs to change if the club is going to be pushing for promotion over the 2017/18 season.

The Rams finished ninth at the end of the 2016/17 campaign – 13 points adrift of the coveted top-six after 46 games – and whilst they boasted a strong record at Pride Park Stadium, the results on the road told a different story.

Derby suffered 11 defeats away from home – their most since the 2012/13 season.

Carson believes that fact alone is what proved to be a big difference in the Rams missing out on a play-off finish.

The 31-year-old told RamsTV: “This time around, we all know that we need to be far more consistent.

“Our home form was pretty good, but on the road, we lost a lot of points. We know that we are going to need to improve that aspect if we are going to challenge again next year.

“I’m pretty certain the gaffer will have us well drilled in terms of what he wants from us next season. We saw, in the nine games that he had in charge, that he changed the system and it suited us.”

Assessing the campaign as a whole, however, Carson says the disappointment of finishing ninth has been heightened because the players felt they had a ‘really good chance’ of achieving their aims over the 2016/17 campaign, especially after they had performed so well against Hull City in their Play-Off Semi-Final second-leg clash in May 2016.

With the 2016/17 season delivering a disappointing lesson, the shot-stopper says nobody in the Rams camp will be taking anything for granted when they return to training later this month.

Carson added: “At the start of last season, we probably looked at it and thought it would be easier, especially with the way we finished the 2015/16 season with that performance against Hull in the Play-Off Semi-Final second-leg.

“We probably thought we had a really good chance. A lot of people, even on the outside, looked at it as a certainty, but with the way the League is going it is just getting a lot harder with every passing year.

“This time, come pre-season, no-one will be taking it for granted because it won’t be easy.”