Derby County midfielder Max Bird is eager for the team to put in an entertaining performance for the Rams fans in what will be the final home game at Pride Park Stadium until December.
The Rams face Joey Barton's Bristol Rovers on Saturday in Sky Bet League One, and Bird, who is captaining the side in the absence of the injured Curtis Davies, is expecting an improvement from the 0-0 draw with Exeter City on Tuesday evening.
Speaking to RamsTV ahead of the clash with the Gas, Bird reflected on the midweek draw, spoke of his role as stand-in captain and previewed Saturday's fixture.
On the 0-0 draw with Exeter City…
It wasn’t our best performance of the season. We know what we need to do and we know there’s certain elements of our game we need to improve on and get better and we realise that as a team and a squad.
We need to be a bit more fearless, a bit more positive and take the game to Bristol Rovers on Saturday.
On the expectation in the group…
The changing room is full of winners and we need to go and show that. We need to go on a bit of a run and hopefully we can start that on Saturday. The fans will be right behind us and we need to go and put on a show for them and entertain them.
On Paul Warne…
He’s made me feel good. He’s a great guy, a top bloke and has your best interests at heart. I’m enjoying it and we need to go and pick up points for him, for the fans and for the club.
You’ve probably seen in the last couple of matches that I’ve been playing higher up the pitch and he wants me to be a bit more creative and use my box-to-box engine.
I need to start chipping in with goals and assists and off the ball stuff he wants me to be more aggressive and be a bit more dominant in the middle of the pitch. I’m enjoying the high role, I want to express myself a bit more and hopefully help the team win some football games.
On the role of captain…
I’m getting to know the players a bit better. I know the younger lads down to a tee, I know what they need but it’s the senior ones - building the relationships with them which I’m getting better at.
Even though I’m only 22 and still young, I still need to be able either give them a kick up the backside or arm around the shoulder.
I’m still learning leadership qualities I can get better at. Curt is a great role model and he’s been helping me with those things. I can definitely get better at it, but what’s not to like about being captain of Derby County?
On Saturday’s game…
We need to put on a show for the supporters. They pay good money to come and watch us and we need to entertain them and play a good, attractive style of football that they like to see.
We’re working hard, watching clips and watching the games back as a squad to learn how to get better at things like this. We know how good our fans are, home and away they’ve been fantastic. We want to almost set up a run now, pick up three points on Saturday and even though we’re on the road after - we’ve been good since the gaffer came in away from home. We want to carry that on.
