Derby County boss Paul Warne makes honest Portsmouth admission ahead of Championship clash
Derby County boss Paul Warne makes honest Portsmouth admission ahead of Championship clash
The Rams have drawn all of their last four matches against Portsmouth in the league
Paul Warne has challenged his players to be more clinical in front of goal if they
are to turn good performances into results.
The Rams earned a hard-fought 0-0 draw against promotion hopefuls Burnley in midweek,
to put an end to a three-match losing streak in the league.
They are now targeting a first victory in seven matches against a resurgent Pompey team that
recently climbed out of the relegation places.
Warne claims he was hugely impressed with his team’s performance against
Burnley but has not ruled out making a few tweaks to the line-up against Portsmouth.
“I was really pleased. Middlesbrough had the same two games as us (against Leeds United and
Burnley away from home) and they got a point from them as well – which shows it’s a good result.
Sometimes you get a gut feeling. I thought we might even steal it at the end at Turf Moor,”
Warne told RamsTV
The ex-Rotherham United boss added: “We were pleased with the performance and, I think,
we got through injury-free. We just need to keep trying to shuffle the pack, with three games in seven days,
to try and keep it as fresh as we can. The lads who have been coming off the bench have had a real impact as well, which is good. Competition for places is good.”
Derby won all of their opening three Championship home games at the start of the season but have only
mustered up one victory since early September when playing in front of their own crowd.
Overall, Derby have won just two of their last 16 league games,
but Warne does not see performances as a major cause for concern.
“I don’t think the performances have changed greatly from the start of the season.
I feel we’ve been really good in every game at home.
We’ve been proud of how the lads played but have just been disappointed with some of the results.
“My attitude hasn’t changed about our performance levels.
It’s much nicer to walk around the pitch at the end of the match when we’ve won,
everyone’s in it to win and we’re in it to entertain the fans.
We don’t have to go a million miles away from what we’ve been doing.
We just have to take our chances when we’re on top.
And, again, it’s a really good Portsmouth team we are up against.”
Derby finished second in the table behind Portsmouth to earn automatic promotion back into the
Championship alongside John Mousinho’s men.
The Rams have drawn all of their last four matches against Pompey and
Warne is more than familiar with the threat they pose.
He added: “In the last six games they’ve drawn three and won three,
and all their front four are firing. They’ve got some real pace and threat – and they’re energised.
“In fairness, they were, over the course of the season, better than us last year by winning the League One title.
I know it’s going to be a tough fixture, but we just have to be our best.
If we can be clinical, we will give ourselves a good chance to win.”
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