3/1 To Win
Liam Rosenior admitted there is still work to do after
Derby County suffered their first defeat of pre-season following a 1-0 defeat
by Stevenage on Tuesday night.
Elliott List scored the only goal of the game in the first half for the home side as the Rams were left frustrated in their attempts to get back into the contest.
On what was the hottest day ever recorded in the United Kingdom, with temperatures reaching nearly 40 degrees, the Derby players stepped up their preparations ahead of the new Sky Bet League One campaign against the League Two outfit.
Eiran Cashin, Kwaku Oduroh and Louie Sibley played the full 90 minutes whilst Liam Thompson managed 80 minutes, with others playing an hour and 45 minutes respectively.
It was a good work out from the Rams’ players against stern opposition and despite the scoreline, Rosenior believes there are positives to take from the game as he spoke to RamsTV afterwards.
On The Game…
I think it was the perfect work out. It was far from a perfect performance but that’s what you come to expect in pre-season. I wanted this game in our schedule because we are going to face teams like this throughout the season so in terms of preparation for what we are going to face; it was perfect. There is a lot to work on, which I expected. I didn’t expect the performance to be as poor as it was but at the same time we worked the lads really hard yesterday in the heat and it just looked like a tired performance, which you get in pre-season. It gives us an opportunity to work on our weaknesses, work on what we need to be better at and look forward to the game against Leicester City on Saturday. Like I've said a few times lately, it’s about the first game of the season and the 45 after that.
I wanted the lads to play with a bit more urgency tonight. I’m demanding and you get frustrated because you want to see the lads show their capability and potential and we didn’t do that tonight. If you look at results up and down the country, we have just beaten a German top flight side and one a league below in Bradford City; so that happens in pre-season. It gives us work to get into the players on a tactical level. We have got these players together in a short space of time and I’m still confident they are going to come through and produce the goods for us.
On The Work Still To Do On The Training Ground…
I said to the players afterwards that I’m glad this performance has happened now and not in the season. We played against a really direct team in Stevenage and all credit to them for the way they play, but we have to stand up for it. For the experience of the younger players, we haven’t played against many teams who play like that in the Championship so it’s new to them, so this was a fantastic learning tool to dealing with that threat. Also, can we play forward more? There were times where we turned down the opportunity to up the tempo and I want us to be offensive. I want us playing in their half of the pitch and that’s something we will work on going into Leicester CIty.
On The Heat…
It’s always difficult in these conditions. I have to say thank you to the supporters because we know the trains aren’t running as they should have been in this heat and they have still turned up in their numbers. For me, I am aware of the heat and conditions and other teams are at different levels of their pre-season. They look fitter than us. That’s not down to the work we have done with the players, we need to get the work in. We worked them really hard yesterday and I knew today might be a big test for the players and now they will feel better for having those minutes in their legs. I’m aware of where we are at and there has to be a sense of realism for where we are at but we still have a great chance to have a great season.
On The Squad…
David McGoldrick, James Chester and Korey Smith are outstanding players but what we have to do is manage their minutes correctly. James and Korey will be involved on Saturday, which is a game I am looking forward to because it will be a good test, and David McGoldrick just felt a little niggle. It’s nothing serious but we just need to take care of him carefully and make sure he is ready for the 46 games ahead. He showed his ability and quality against Hertha Berlin so we need to make sure he can do that throughout the season.
On Facing Leicester City At The Weekend…
It’s great for me as a coach, for Justin Walker and Jake Buxton to sit down with the players, go through things and see where we can improve. There are a lot of improvements we can make but this is only our third pre-season game and there are two weeks before the start of the season and I’m really happy with the way we can work on what we need to work on, rather than going through pre-season playing great and not ironing out those weaknesses. I apologise to the fans for our performance tonight but it’s all for the bigger picture in terms of making us successful this season.
