3/1 To Win
Already accustomed to the way a Dutch coach works, George Evans is hoping he can put a personally frustrating 2018/19 campaign behind him and kick off the new season on a positive note.
The midfielder, who can also play at the heart of defence, already has experience working under a Dutch coach from his time at Reading under Jaap Stam.
And the midfielder will be hoping to fight into the manager’s plans after suffering an indifferent campaign last time out after arriving from Reading last summer.
Evans believes there are many similarities to the way Stam and Phillip Cocu like to work and he has enjoyed the past week working under Derby County’s new boss.
“They both want to play good football, they are very good with the small details and the small details make big differences in games,” he told RamsTV.
“We are working a lot and working hard on it now and hopefully we can show that on the pitch.
“It’s more the small details in terms of body shape, things like that, and the way of playing and it does make a big difference.
“You don’t think about it too much at the times but once you realise, you see how much of a big difference it makes so the manager and his staff have been great since they have come in.
“The staff are talking to us a lot and really trying to help us and I can see it’s improving on the pitch.
“We’ve had a lot of practises with passing drills in terms of body shape so we are working a lot on it and you can see the differences when we go into the small-sided games.”
It’s a fresh start for the 24-year-old who struggled for a lot of last season with injuries.
His appearances were restricted to 14 in all competitions and he spoke openly about his struggles.
“It was frustrating, personally,” he admitted. “I was in and out with injuries. When I first came here I started to feel good and when we played Ipswich Town at home I injured my knee.
“It wasn’t an ideal start in the end and then I came back and injured my quad, so there was a couple of things at the start of the season which didn't go well for me. I found it frustrating.
“You’re then playing catch-up and it’s difficult. Mentally it was tough at the time. I had just come to a new club and the old gaffer brought me in.
“I wanted to make a big impact when I came here and I felt like I was fit and ready to go, but as soon as the first home game happened, I injured my knee and it was mentally frustrating.
“Hopefully I can get a good pre-season behind me and hit the ground running.”
And for the time being, Evans is just happy to be back amongst his team-mates and is enjoying his time in Florida.
“It’s nice to be back to see all of the boys,” he said. “Obviously everyone is really looking forward to getting the season going and the hard work continues now and all the boys are putting the hard work in.
“It’s a great set of lads, like we have said many times. It’s a close-knit group and some great lads here who are great friends in and out of football.
“It’s been tough so far, pre-seasons always are, obviously. The weather out here is quite hot and there is little bits of rain out here but it still makes it hard to breath so it’s tough.
“These trips are massive. You want to go into the season starting strong so pre-season plays a big part in it which is why you want to get through the sessions and come out with no injuries.
“You want to try and kick on so you can have a strong part of the season.”
