Forward Mason Bennett has been impressed with the research new manager Phillip Cocu conducted prior to his arrival at Derby County.


Cocu, who was officially announced as the Rams' new boss on Friday, admitted in his first interview with the club that he had watched Derby games from last season as well as other games in the division.

And Bennett, who enjoyed a good season last campaign as Derby reached the Play-Off Final, has already heard first-hand what the new boss thought of his 2018/19 campaign.

“He mentioned about the games last season,” he told RamsTV. “He said it was a really positive season for me but he has seen a lot on what I can improve on.

“He is a top-quality manager and has had a great playing career so you’ve got to take advice off a gaffer like that and that’s what I’m going to do.

“It shows his commitment to the club already. I saw our Chairman, Mel Morris, talking and he said that the gaffer came with his own idea and he has seen what the players can do.

“It’s important as players to know that you’ve got a manager who is committed to club.

“We have little chats between the drills and the sessions, we get a lot of advice and it’s nice to have a different kind of management going on.”


The manager also revealed his intentions to play an attacking brand of football which will excite the Derby County supporters.

It also excites Bennett, who contributed three goals last season in the Rams’ run to the Sky Bet Championship Play-Off Final and one game away from the Premier League.

“The final third is where we like to play and that goes with the whole team,” he said.

“We have a defence, our midfield like to get forward and for the likes of myrself, Tom Lawrence, Florian Jozefzoon, Chris Martin, Jack Marriott and Martyn Waghorn, we all like to play in that final third and he is really helping us develop our playing game.”


For the time being, however, Bennett is happy to be back amongst his team-mates who he has missed over the summer.

“I’m delighted to be back,” he admitted. “It was nice to have the first couple of weeks off and then I started to miss the boys to be honest so I’m delighted to be back.

“We’ve got a tough 10 days out here so we have a lot of team spirit going on and we are getting to know each player and the young lads who have come on the trip.

“It has kicked off right where we left it. We had a few players out on loan last season and some of the young players coming through and it’s nice to see Chris Martin and George Thorne around it. They are big personalities and we all bounce off each other.”