Mentality was the buzzword with Gary Rowett as Derby County prepare to hit the road for the second time in a week – this time to face Bristol City.
The Rams’ manager wants to see it in the form of determination, resilience and concentration; particularly away from home where his players are conceding ‘poor’ goals and giving themselves a mountain to climb.
The 43-year-old also wants to see consistency – again, particularly away from home.
He has seen what his squad is capable of most recently in the 5-0 victory over Hull City at Pride Park Stadium last Friday night and for him the challenge has been to pick the bones of that display and find a way of maintaining it, both home and away.
With the Sheffield United game (a 3-1 defeat) still playing on his mind, though, Rowett says a showing of resilience must come first.
He told RamsTV: “I have said it already, but it (the Hull City game) was one good performance and my thought process is purely about how we can replicate it.
“In every game, we have got to find that feeling of needing to do better and needing to react to disappointment and transfer it into having that even we are elated and are playing good football.
“We need to have that desire, that drive and that extra five-yards in the way we close people down and move the ball.
“That’s a challenge that not only we face, but every team in the Championship. We have seen it before.
“Just look at Hull – they won 4-0 before the international break and then lost 5-0 after it. We know that can happen and finding that consistency is now the key at this stage.
“We go to Bristol and we need to show a different kind of resilience in some ways, certainly different to what we showed at Sheffield United.
“We have got to make sure that we don’t concede poor goals and give our opponents a massive help.”
Those comments came after Rowett learned that Derby County have not kept a clean sheet away from home since the 3-0 victory over Ipswich Town at the end of January.
Five of the seven goals the Rams have conceded this term have come on the road.
Assessing that fact, Rowett says there needs to be a tougher to beat mentality if they are to address the issue.
He used the Derby’s most recent away games as examples: “If you look at the Sheffield United game, they were poor, poor, goals that we conceded on the day.
“It was the same at Barnsley on Tuesday night and if you do that you are giving yourself an absolute mountain to climb in every game.”
He added: “Particularly in the League, we have been alright. We haven’t conceded vast amount of goals – seven from six is ok – but we want to be better.
“If you look at Leeds sat at the top of the table they have conceded two goals. You need to have that mentality both home and away.
“We have conceded a couple of goals late on in games – at Bolton and Sheffield United – that have extended that tally and if you take those out of it, it suddenly looks a lot better.
“We can still improve that. Going away from home sometimes, there has to be that mentality that we are going to be strong and we’re going to be tough.
“The good football comes after the we have done the resilient part of the game, it can’t come before.”