Head Coach Paul Warne has demanded a ‘hardened performance’ from Derby County ahead of their Sky Bet Championship clash at Norwich City on Saturday (3pm kick-off).
The Rams head to Carrow Road with new recruits Sondre Langås and Harrison Armstrong hoping to make their debuts as Derby look to pick up vital points following a run of disappointing run results in the Championship in recent weeks.
Norwegian international defender Langas joined last Saturday after being in attendance for Derby’s 1-0 loss against Sheffield United, while young midfielder Armstrong joined up on deadline day on a loan deal from Everton that will see him spend the rest of the 2024/25 season with the Rams.
The Canaries came out on top in a 3-2 win when the teams met at Pride Park earlier in the season and currently sit eighth in the division.
Warne caught up with RamsTV to discuss the new additions to the squad and preview the weekend’s action.
On new signing Langas and Armstrong…
We've been after Sondre Langås for a while. He's been at the top of our shopping list, if something could happen. We've always liked him. He's got unbelievable spring and great pace, which I always like my backline to have. If you ever leave him one-on-one, he can cover up as well. He's at a good age and a Norwegian international who wants to progress his career. There's a lot of boxes ticked there for us. We really liked him as a lad as well and he is a really good addition to our backline.
Harrison Armstrong was brought to our attention by our recruiters in the summer. They watched him play in pre-season against Preston North End and said that he was right up our street. We tried to sign him in the summer, but it wasn't to be in that window. Ever since then, we've tried to keep on top of it to convince the lad to come here.
Everton's change in manager may have led to a change; we knew that may keep him in their group to get more game time in their first team. However, they wanted him to come out on loan, which is great.
He's a really good addition. He's a young man who's got the maturity of a 28-year-old with many league appearances. He's very mature and really polite, which I like. He's a winner, and he’s been really competitive in training. Both of the new signings will come in and compete as really good additions.
On the squad going into the weekend…
Ryan Nyambe should be training with the squad tomorrow. Callum Elder and Nat Phillips trained with the squad today. If we can get all three back in contention to play a part at the weekend, that is a massive boost.
On Saturday’s clash with Norwich, followed by Tuesday's home game against Oxford and next Friday's visit to QPR…
We're obviously in a bad run, so we need to turn this around with a hardened performance but being a bit more clinical in the final third. We're all working really hard this week to get a Derby County win. I always think we're really competitive in games, but just in those moments, for whatever reason, we're not coming out on top. I do see these three matches in seven days we have coming up as a chance for a good points tally. However, understandably, at the moment we are judged on results, and they're not where we want them to be.
