Pre-Match Thoughts: Warne On FA Cup Draw, Cheltenham And Transfers

Derby County Head Coach Paul Warne is delighted with the current form of his side but believes they have the ability to get even better.

The Rams are on a 16 game unbeaten run going into the match with Cheltenham Town but the gaffer is eyeing even more of an improvement in the second-half of the campaign.

Speaking to RamsTV ahead of the trip to Gloucestershire, Warne gave his reaction to the FA Cup draw, previewed Saturday's clash and gave a January transfer window update.

On his reaction to the FA Cup Fourth Round draw...

I was really pleased to be honest to get West Ham United. I'm really pleased it's a home game and it's always nice to play Premier League opposition so it should be a good tie.

On the win over Barnsley...

It's a very 'coachy' thing to say but the work-rate pleased me the most and nothing epitomised it more than Jason Knight's goal.

The goals and the attempts and crosses were all really good but also every single game there's been a moment where the game can swing and this week was Joe Wildsmith pulling off an amazing save. In those critical moments in football matches the lads are coming out on top.

On Joe Wildsmith...

Fundamentally your success in the most basic terms is your goalkeeper and the top end of the pitch has to be really good, really impressive.

The difference between a good goalkeeper and a great goalkeeper is in those moments when you need your goalkeeper to get you out of a mess. Joe has made saves and he's kept us in games on crucial moments many times.

His distribution has been really good and the more confident he has got - as well as the back four - the more confident the team have got.

Generally I think he's been braver, he's in a really good place, really confident and he's just a massive addition to the defensive line.

On the unbeaten run bringing pressure...

I don't get pressure from it. I'm not sat here thinking we're smoking hot - I think we're semi-attractive!

We're taking little steps but we're definitely better than we were 16 games ago. The thing that pleases me is that we're a lot more athletic than we were 16 games ago. If we keep reinforcing the messages then hopefully we'll win a lot more matches.

If we're unsuccessful against Cheltenham on Saturday then we just have to go on another unbeaten run and that's all you can do.

On Cheltenham Town...

If you go through all of their results this year, they don't take heavy losses. It's not an easy place to go and I also know that they'll probably feel like the underdog so they'll come out fighting. Like any game, our levels are going to have to be so high for us to win.

On the January transfer window...

My honest answer is there's no fresh updates; it's not that exciting. There's two players that I've been chasing. There was one player that I was after that played in the FA Cup last weekend and played really well and now their manager sees him in a different light.

Any players we sign have to be very, very competitive to be part of this team. If you don't want to come and compete then you're not the type of player that Derby County want.

We have to get the right characters, we have to get the right players. At the moment we're in a good place but if we do need to do anything then we're ready to hit the button.