Cocu Praises Improving Bird After Impressing Against Charlton

Phillip Cocu believes Derby County youngster Max Bird showed his qualities and played what he described as a ‘fantastic game’ against Charlton Athletic on Monday evening.

Bird, 19, played the full 90 minutes in Derby’s 2-1 home win over the Addicks in what was his first league start of the campaign.

The Academy graduate earned his place in Cocu’s starting XI after an impressive showing off the bench in the Rams’ 1-1 draw against Wigan Athletic on Boxing Day.

Bird responded with a dynamic display in the middle of the park as ten-man Derby claimed a valuable three points against Lee Bowyer’s side to round off 2019 in the best possible manner.

He also claimed a fine assist for fellow Academy graduate Jason Knight’s second goal of the night at Pride Park Stadium with a deep cross to the far post from the left-hand side.

Cocu believes Bird should be recognised for his progress after recovering from a challenging start to the campaign.

Speaking to RamsTV, Cocu commented: “He is another player we have to talk about. We cannot just talk about Jason Knight because Max Bird played a fantastic game.

“In his position, with Krystian Bielik sent off early on, there was so a lot of the defensive work with Duane Holmes and he played very well in the midfield.

“Max had a difficult time at the beginning of the season, but I told him have the confidence to give yourself time to get back in form and in shape and leave the bad stuff behind you.

“He did, worked extremely hard and after a lot of good games with the Under-23s and in the last game at Wigan he got his reward.”

He added: “Against Charlton, he got his start. It is just a pleasure to see him playing that well and he is feeling great at the moment, he is enjoying every training session it doesn’t matter what we are doing. There is always a smile all over and it is the positive energy we need.”

Bird is the EFL’s reigning Apprentice of the Year, after being recognised for his efforts on and off the pitch, and he also signed a new long-term deal until the summer of 2022 towards the end of last season.