Thu 06 Nov - Posted in Breaking News
Time to read: 3mins
Head Coach John Eustace has called on his Derby County side to maintain their focus ahead of Saturday’s Sky Bet Championship visit to Blackburn Rovers (12:30pm kick-off).
Derby will make the visit to Ewood Park having won their last four Championship fixtures, with the most recent being the 2-1 success at home to Hull City on Tuesday night.
As always, Eustace has stressed for everyone to keep a level head and remember that a season is judged over 46 matches and not a small sequence of results, although he is happy with the progress his side has shown in recent weeks.
Ahead of Saturday’s game against Blackburn, who have won their last three fixtures, in the final round of fixtures before the November international break, Eustace sat down with RamsTV at Moor Farm Training Ground on Thursday afternoon.
The lads are looking great. They’ve trained well today, and are in a good place ahead of Saturday, which is a game we are looking forward to.
I don’t think he has stopped smiling, nor have the squad. It was a fantastic goal for him, especially after a difficult time out injured. To come back and only be a bit-part player at the moment is frustrating for him, for sure, but to see him score the winner like that has lifted the whole dressing room. We’re so proud of him and the efforts he has put in to be back playing. It is always important for the group to keep you going and we have a fantastic dressing room with great characters. That is important when you’re building and recruiting correctly to have a dressing room to look after each other in difficult moments.
When you’re recruiting players in their late 20s, clubs can sometimes be reluctant to do that because there’s no resale value and whatnot, which I half understand. You have got to realise what good, experienced players bring to any dressing room and I think we’ve got the best in business in Carlton. I knew about his reputation before we signed him but working with him every day has bypassed that. He has been instrumental up to now and he will continue to be. His experience around the likes of Lars and Patrick Agyemang, and players like, that is great.
They’ve been great recently. They started slowly, like we did, but they’ve done terrific. They’re a good, hard-working team and are coached very well. It will be a really difficult game.
It is relentless. You have to be lucky with injuries and stuff like that. You have to keep believing and over the course of the 46 games in the season you will go on good runs and bad runs. To win four in a row ourselves and three in a row for Blackburn is a great achievement. As always, it is important not to get carried away with it and go into the next game ready and prepared, and I sure both teams will be.
Ewood Park
Middlesbrough
Hull City
Wrexham
Derby County
Norwich City
Birmingham City
Swansea City
Bristol City
