Derby County's Nathaniel Mendez-Laing says both he and the rest of the squad are relishing the trip to second-placed Ipswich Town on Friday evening (8pm kick-off).
The Tractor Boys are flying-high in League One, but Mendez-Laing is eager to see the Rams make an impression at Portman Road in front of the Sky Sports cameras.
The summer signing sat down with RamsTV to discuss his new role under Paul Warne, playing at wing-back, and to preview Friday’s fixture.
On his new role under Paul Warne…
I’m enjoying it, I’ve got experience playing there previously. You get asked to do a job on the pitch and you do it.
I can get on the ball a lot more. I’m getting fitter with needing to get up and down the pitch at wing-back. I’m seeing a lot of the ball and, hopefully, showing a lot more what I can do.
On how the squad are adapting to Warne's style…
Training is very intense. We are all buying into it - it’s only going to benefit us so there’s no complaining. We get all our hard work done and then have a good sleep at night.
Managers come and go in football and players come and go too so you’ve got to be ready to adapt as quickly as possible, as time waits for nobody.
On the Accrington win last Saturday...
It’s one of the craziest two minutes I’ve ever seen in football with the two missed penalties for them and also our second goal, but overall it was a great win. We had good spells in the game, the goals were really good ones, and collectively it was a really pleasing team performance.
Accrington isn’t an easy place to go, the gaffer said they had only lost two games there in 2022 beforehand so we showed good character, fought when we needed to and also played some nice stuff.
On the improving away record…
I don’t really look into all that stuff. It’s a pitch with 11 against 11 and you’ve got a job to do, so you go and do it whether that’s away or at home. The home advantage with fans always helps but our away following is unbelievable as well.
