Thu 08 Sep - Posted in Breaking News
Time to read: 3mins
Liam Rosenior wants his players to celebrate a landmark achievement for Derby County on Saturday with all three points at Morecambe.
Derby’s Sky Bet League One fixture against the Shrimps, which will be the first-ever competitive meeting between the clubs, will be the Rams’ 5,000th league match.
As one of the 12 founding members of the Football League, Derby will become only the fourth club in English football to reach the impressive milestone.
Rosenior’s side will make the journey to Lancashire looking to return to winning ways after the 3-2 home defeat to Plymouth Argyle last weekend, and they’ll do so with a sold out 1,800 away supporters roaring them on.
Ahead of the meeting with Derek Adams’ side at the Mazuma Stadium, Rosenior sat down with RamsTV to discuss the latest news from the Derby camp ahead of the first fixture of another three-game week.
The situation is looking good this week and we’ve had James Chester and Curtis Davies back training with the group in recent days. Curtis will be in the squad on Saturday, which is a huge benefit to me and the whole group. He is the captain and an important player for us. In terms of James, he has done the last few days’ training and it is great to have another fantastic player close to returning. We need to make sure his fitness levels are right before he comes into the thinking for being in the squad, but he’s not far away at all. Korey Smith isn’t quite ready yet, but he is making progress. We want to make sure he is one hundred per cent right, because he is an important player and character in the group. I’m going to have some positive decisions to make when it comes to picking the team and the bench moving forward. That is something a bit different for us but it’s really encouraging and now I must make sure I make the right team selection for the matches coming up.
The reaction has been good. We had a positive meeting at the start of the week with the players. I was honest with them with my opinion of the game and they took that on board. We were disappointed to lose against Plymouth, but teams lose matches at every level. I have a minimum requirement of what is expected from the players and I don’t think we reached those levels last Saturday. Had we have done; I believe we’d have won the match. To lose after being 2-0 up was a big disappointment, but even more so to me was the performance of myself and the overall group. When I say myself, I am accountable as well. Now, though, it is about a reaction when the matches start again because we have a huge week ahead of us with nine points up for grabs. If we perform to the levels we are capable of, it will put us in a good place.
It will be a big challenge for us. Morecambe can play with a back five or a back four, which they used in their last match against Bristol Rovers. I want every match, whether we are home or away, to be about us and our standards and performance. That is the message to players and we have a really good group here, on and off the field. It is all about us.
It is special for me to be at this club anyway, but to be in charge for the 5,000th league match is a great feeling. It is a great landmark to hit and another reminder to myself and the players of the magnitude of the club we are working for. I hope we can mark the occasion with three points on Saturday.
Mazuma Mobile Stadium
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