Pre-Match Thoughts: "Working Hard To Put It Right" - Mendez-Laing

Derby County's Nathaniel Mendez-Laing believes the squad have looked 'fired up' in training as they look to put back-to-back losses to start the season behind them.

The Rams make the short trip to Burton Albion on Saturday in search of their first win of the 2023/24 Sky Bet League One campaign after going down 2-1 to Wigan Athletic on home turf on the opening day, as well as losing 2-0 to Blackpool in Round One of the Carabao Cup on Tuesday.

Speaking to RamsTV during the launch of Derby County's 2023/24 away strip, Mendez-Laing previewed this weekend's meeting with the Brewers at the Pirelli Stadium.

On the new away kit...

I absolutely love it. I like the colours, I like the pattern and the boys really like it as well - so no complaints!

His thoughts on the opening day defeat to Wigan Athletic...

To be honest I thought we played well and I don't think we deserved to lose the game. There was certainly a lot of positives we can take from it.

Nobody likes to lose the first game but there's a lot of things we can take from that and build on. Tuesday in the Carabao Cup was a bit of a different story but we've had meetings, assessed it and we were out on the training ground working hard to put things right on Saturday.

On playing the 'number ten' role...

I played it towards the end of last season and again the beginning of this one. I enjoy it there. I get the chance to drift about quite a bit, run in behind and mix up my game quite a bit so I enjoy it. We just need some wins to go with it.

On what he's expecting from Burton Albion...

It's going to be a tough game as every game is but with the local rivalry between the two clubs it could make for a more energetic game. It's going to be hard, it's going to be tough but we just need to go and execute our game plan.

On how important it is to get a positive result...

It's massive. It's early doors and nothing is determined after just one game but we also want to start getting points on the board and pulling away from others as quick as we can. That's the objective, that's the aim and we'll be looking to do that on Saturday.

On whether there has been a reaction in training after Tuesday...

Thursday was the first day back in with us being off on Wednesday, but we've been out on the field working on a lot of tactical stuff. I can see that the lads are fired up and I'm sure that that will show on Saturday.