Cocu: “It’s A Blow To Lose Lawrence - We Have To Solve It”

Phillip Cocu has admitted he’s frustrated to have lost Tom Lawrence for Derby County’s back-to-back home games against Charlton Athletic and Barnsley.

The Welsh international picked up his tenth booking of the campaign in Derby’s 1-1 draw at Wigan Athletic on Boxing Day.

As a result, Lawrence must sit out the Rams’ next two games in the Sky Bet Championship either side of the New Year.

Cocu says the forward must try to find a way to avoid accumulating so many cautions, particularly given he has been a near-ever present for Derby so far this season.

With Lawrence missing for the Pride Park Stadium double-header, Cocu says the Rams must find a solution from within to cover for the 25-year-old’s absence.

“It is not positive for us to lose Tom for two games, especially when one of your strikers or wingers early in the season gets ten bookings,” Cocu told RamsTV.

“He has to learn to use his aggressiveness in a different way to avoid all these yellow cards because it is bad for him but also bad for the team because he is an important player for us.

“Now he cannot play for two games and at the moment we don’t have too many options, so we have to try to solve it.”

Lawrence has scored five goals in all competitions so far this season for Derby from 22 appearances in the Sky Bet Championship.