3/1 To Win
It’s still early days, but Timi Max Elsnik feels Derby County’s Under-23s are showing a lot of good qualities at the moment.
The proof was in the pudding during their 2017/18 season opener against Arsenal on Monday night.
For conceding their first on 61 minutes Darren Wassall’s side had been defensively sound, but in possession they looked a threat every time they struck a counter-attack and created chances aplenty against a Gunners side containing the likes of Jack Wilshere, Francis Coquelin and Kieran Gibbs.
Despite being two goals up, the Rams fell to a 3-2 defeat at St George’s Park on the night and Elsnik, who was wearing the captain’s armband, says the players only had themselves to blame for not taking three points after they passed up several clear scoring chances.
Having proven they can more than mix it with the country’s best young players once again however, the Slovenian Under-19 international says Derby will be a force to be reckoned at Premier League 2 Division 1 level when they start converting more of the opportunities that they are crafting.
He told RamsTV: “It was a very tough defeat to take for us. It was a very different challenge, a big game to open the season with and Arsenal had some of their star players starting too.
“I thought we did well. With the amount of chances that we had, the game was there for the taking and there was no-one else we can blame for not winning but ourselves.
“We need to take more of the chances and when we start doing that again, I feel the wins will start coming because we are showing a lot of good things at the moment.
“Against Chelsea, and in the coming games after that, if we can create that amount of chances again then we will win more than we lose.
“We won’t have this problem in every game where we are denied by the post, the crossbar or a number of good saves from a ‘keeper. More of those chances will turn to goals, I’m sure of that.”
As was briefly mentioned, Elsnik was competing against an Arsenal midfield containing the likes of Wilshere and Coquelin earlier this week.
Part of playing in Premier League 2 Division 1, means Derby’s young players will come up against challenges like that on a regular basis, whilst this campaign will see them play at a number of first team stadiums over the course of the year too.
The Rams’ second game will see them face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Friday night!
Those are challenges, though, that Elsnik and the rest of the Derby camp welcome and even embrace.
He added: “That’s the level we are aspiring to play at, so it’s always welcoming to play against top quality players.
“There’s no better insight than playing against them to compare yourself to them, see what they do, see how calm they are on the ball and it is a massive challenge.
“It’s one that you can’t be afraid of, though. As a player, you have to have a belief that you can beat them and we proved on Monday that we can compete with those players.”
