Paul Warne says Derby County are heading into a key stage of the 2023/24 season where every three points on offer carries a greater deal of significance from a psychology point of view.
Derby head into Saturday’s home fixture against Port Vale (3pm kick-off) sitting second in the Sky Bet League One table.
Warne’s side, however, head into the match off the back of their first back-to-back losses in the league this term after going down 2-1 at Barnsley last Saturday and Charlton Athletic on home turf in midweek by the same scoreline.
Speaking to RamsTV ahead of the meeting with Darren Moore’s side, Warne reflected on the past week, discussed the pressure on teams at both ends of the league table, previewed the clash with the Valiants and also provided an injury update.
On the mood in the camp following the Barnsley and Charlton defeats...
It doesn't feeling good to lose back-to-back matches, in whatever league or whatever sport you play. You never want to lose back-to-back. The mood in the camp was a bit bruised yesterday when we came back in, but it's been OK today. I've shown the players them some things today, looking back at all the great things they've done over the course of the season. They've got a lot to be proud of, but I'm talking to you off the back of a defeat and a poor home performance.
On whether pressure is building on teams at a key stage of the season...
A little bit, but also after January some teams start to play without fear because they aren't going up and aren't going down - which is the greatest gift in football. You get the lads that are trying too hard and you try so hard that you get worse. And you've got other teams that are fighting for their lives, fighting for contracts and fighting for careers. In the last 10 games especially, you've got players that are going to be out of work in eight weeks' time and they've got that little bit more desire in them. All the games become a lot closer because there's pressure at the top and pressure at the bottom. I don't think there's any more pressure on us than there is on Port Vale or Charlton. Everybody is chasing everything and it all seems more severe now. Every three points seems bigger and every zero points feels much worse, it's the psychology of it all. If two or three teams beat us to the race to go up and they are better than us then they are, they've done well over the course of the season. You might have the odd decision that goes against you, but any team that goes up deserves it.
On how the team get back to winning ways...
In previous seasons I've gone up out of this league with about 15 defeats, so I don't get too obsessed with losses. I leave the ground mortified, but it's about trying to pick the lads up and showing them the good things. There were a few things the other night that, collectively, we just weren't very good at. Sometimes that's due to a couple of players being off-form or sometimes it's an energy thing, but we pick the team that will give us the best chance to win. We never set up to draw, we always set up to win. I feel like, at the moment, we look quite solid even though we are conceding a few more goals than we'd like. Barnsley had three attempts on goal and we conceded two. Charlton had three attempts on goal and we conceded two. I think we are doing quite well box-to-box, but the final bit at both ends is where we just haven't been as good as we would like. It will be a really tough game against Port Vale and may come down to a set-piece again. Darren Moore's teams are always really well motivated and play well, so I know it will be a tough game. I'm trying to set out a team that is going to go out and win. We need to get 25+ points from the remaining matches to give us a right chance.
On the squad's fitness...
It's not good on Ryan Nyambe. I'd like to pretend I don't know, but I do know and he's going to be out for a period of time. James Collins is going along very well so we've targeted him for about three weeks to get back to training. Conor Washington is out on the grass again today and is in a good place. Craig Forsyth should join in with training next week, which is good. The best news for me is Jake Rooney is on the grass today and considering the length of time he has been out, that made my soul smile massively. I'm not saying he will be back in two weeks or something like that but it was just nice to see him out there.
