Derby County Head Coach Paul Warne says he was not happy with the performance of the team in the 2-0 home loss to Fleetwood Town.


An unfortunate own-goal from goalkeeper Joe Wildsmith and a strike from Carlos Mendes-Gomes, both in the first half, saw the Rams fall to their first defeat in Sky Bet League On on home soil since October last year.

Speaking to RamsTV after the match, Warne gave his verdict on the performance.


On the performance...

I've obviously had a bit of debrief with the lads and told them what I wanted to say. I'm embarrassed with the performance, that's probably the politest way to put it.

I thought we were really poor and the first half is the worst I've seen us play. There was no heart about our play; we lost tackles, we lost headers all over the place and we lacked runs. We didn't have any dynamic play to us at all and we were frustrating.

I thought we would see a response from their first goal and we didn't and that was the biggest concern for me.


I'm not there to embarrass players by taking them off in the first half but I needed a reaction from the lads and I was fearful that we'd be 3-0 or 4-0 down before the break and then by that stage the game is gone.

We made changes at half-time too and we were better in the second half without being amazing but we looked miles off the team that I know. I'm embarrassed because I've never seen one of my teams play like that and a bit surprised to a certain extent.

We weren't great in training on Friday and I probably should have been braver and changed the team more, so that's on me but whoever I put out I expect a better performance than that.

In fairness apart from a boos at half-time I thought the fans stuck with the players more than I would have and I've told the players that as well.

We need a reaction this week in training. There's nine games left now but I leave here today hugely disappointed and angry.


On making changes before the break...

It wasn't to embarrass anyone but I thought if the third goal went in then we'd be out of the game.

In fairness you make a change for the impact on those that are still on the pitch, too. I didn't want to do it and I don't ever want to be forced into doing it again but I felt like it needed it and it needed to give the crowd a bit of hope as well.

The performance in the second half was better but it couldn't have been any worse.


On the contrast between this game and the win at Oxford last week...

We haven't lost at home in the league since October, so it's a long, long time ago and I'm not used to feeling defeat here either.

I've got a few theories in my head. I've got to watch the game back and speak to the lads about it and it's disappointing because we were pretty resolute last week away from home and we just didn't look like the same team.

I didn't think Fleetwood did anything amazing apart from turning us, winning first balls and crossing when they had opportunity to do so. From that they won the game and we didn't do any of that.