Derby County Assistant Head Coach Richie Barker believes Saturday's game against Bolton Wanderers will be as 'tough as it's going to get' for the team in Sky Bet League One this term.
The Rams played out a hard-fought 0-0 draw with the Trotters, who finished in the top six last term, at the Toughsheet Community Stadium last season before edging the reverse fixture 2-1 at Pride Park Stadium.
Speaking to RamsTV ahead of the game, Barker is expecting yet another close contest this year.
On back-to-back wins against Fleetwood and Peterborough...
There's a good feeling around the place but it's still not good enough at the time being for the standards we set - we know we can do more. I was more pleased with the performance after the Wigan game on the opening day, really.
Sometimes though, you have to win when you're not playing so well. In terms of the opportunities created against us in the last two we're not too happy but on the chances we've created, we are reasonably pleased.
Winning is habit and losing is habit and hopefully we're in a good habit.
On what has pleased him in the last couple of games...
I think to go to Peterborough, who I will believe will be in the top six come the end of the season, and have 15 shots or something like that, I thought we could have had a couple more goals than the four we got. There was a little bit more positivity in terms of the final third, the creativity and also players taking information on board that we've been working on in training.
On what pleased him watching the Peterborough game back...
The second half performance, bizarrely. We changed a few things out of possession at half-time and I thought we limited them to less opportunities. I thought we limited them to less final third entries too. The lads took the information on board pretty well and a couple of things with the system we tried to change in and out of possession, so I think it's the second half that pleased me more than the first.
On another week on the training ground...
It's very difficult to improve the players and the unit when you're playing Saturday-Tuesday. You find yourself, if you play three Tuesdays in a row, literally talking about is tactics and that's frustrating from someone that wants to make the players better and it's also frustrating for the lads that aren't getting as many minutes as they were hoping for. It's nice to spend time with the players and try and improve them and their understanding of the game.
On how the new signings Fornah and John-Jules have settled in...
They've settled in well and they are really nice lads. They were two players that we'd had our eyes on for a while. They are great lads at a real great age and are desperate to come in and do well. I was speaking to Tyrese Fornah this morning and he had a real smile on his face. He's so enthusiastic. It's been good for them too because if we were playing Saturday-Tuesday it would be real hard to work with them and good to see how they get on and how they fit in.
On Bolton Wanderers...
They are another team I imagine will be in and around the top six minimum. I watched them on Tuesday in the Carabao Cup and in the first half they gave Middlesbrough a really good game. They are back to where they were a year ago in terms of the statistics. They are a really aggressive, pressing team.
I would imagine that going to their stadium, we'll get a really good entertaining game where we'll have to be at our best in all aspects of the game to get something out of it. They've arguably got one of the best 'number nines' in the division and in terms of winning the ball back high up on the pitch.
It will be as tough as it's going to get this season. We had a tough game against them away last year over Christmas but then we tweaked a few things and beat them at our place. I would expect them to be right up there.
On the away form compared to last year...
We came in last year and the team hadn't scored away from home, so we had to try and change the mindset of going away from home to win games and create chances in different ways.
To score seven goals in two away games so far this season, is pleasing. One was a local derby and the other was against a side that finished in the top six last year. In both of them really we could have conceded more goals but we could have quite easily scored more too.
It's really positive that we're changing that mindset in what's expected away from home and being able to grind out results and make things difficult away from home and we appreciate that home form is important as well, but certainly you have to pick up points away from home if you're to be successful.
On international break coming up...
It doesn't half set the mindset and the positivity if you're to sign off with firstly a good performance and secondly a win. We will be reiterating that we have to leave everything out there because we don't play for two weeks. We need to ensure everything is given. It's literally all guns blazing for 90 minutes and if you can't train for 10 days then don't worry about it, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.
