Derby County Head Coach Paul Warne believes Ipswich Town are ‘one of the best teams in League One’ and will provide the Rams with a real solid marker on Friday evening.
The Tractor Boys currently sit second in the table but go into the game at Portman Road off the back of two successive defeats in all competitions.
Speaking to RamsTV in the lead up to a big night under the lights on Friday, Warne spoke of the hectic schedule ahead, the recent FA Cup First Round draw and the challenge that Ipswich will pose his side.
On the FA Cup draw…
In my career as a manager and a player, I’ve had loads of banana skin games and non- league opposition. It should be a good game at Torquay but I expect it to be really tough.
I’m well aware of the difficulty of playing against that type of opposition and especially away from home; it will be a real atmosphere with a good crowd - no doubt. It is another away game - we don’t have enough of those in November!
On the November schedule…
It’s a bit bonkers. To go through the whole month away from the home makes it even more apparent that we need to pick up points at home - and see what you can win away. Two are cup games, but we’ll look forward to it.
The Pride Park pitch will be in really good nick, but it will need to be to get us through the winter because we will be loaded up.
On the quick turnaround ahead of Ipswich…
We’ve done a bit of shape work today and out of possession stuff and had a pretty lengthy meeting. Normally we’d have a debrief on last night’s game against Manchester City Under-21s in the Papa Johns Trophy but we simply don’t have the time.
I’ve spoken to a few individual players and shown them a few clips that I wanted to. Physically it hasn’t been a great drain but tomorrow we’ll do a lot more in possession stuff and set-pieces. On Friday we’ll have an opportunity in the hotel to get more meetings in to them to really nail down some points.
On Ipswich themselves…
We’re playing one of the best teams in the league. When we looked at Ipswich and how they play, they are full of confidence. They’ve got a really strong squad and have really prepared themselves for this League One fight. They are at the top of around 10 statistics we look at. They actually beat us in nine of the 10, so that’s where we’ve got to get to if we want to be in their position in the league. It is a case of little steps but it will be a good indication of where we are.
They keep the ball really well. They don’t just keep it, but for a reason and try to manipulate an opportunity. At times they leave virtually a front five against your five - similar to Manchester City. Their pressing per defensive action is the best in the league so as soon as they lose it they are coming after you to get it back, which is impressive. You can be an attacking side when you have the ball and that gets you so much but if you’re an attacking side that scores loads of goals and when you don’t have it you work really hard to get it back - you have utopia really.
The fact that it’s virtually a sell-out at Portman Road, it will be a really good atmosphere. The lads go into it with a real belief. We’ll go there as always and try and take the game to them and try and win but we have to be respectful of their strengths. Especially at home, they have a plethora of strengths that we need to stop.
On whether Ipswich is a marker for the Rams…
I’ll probably look at it like that afterwards, not beforehand. We will assess it and I’ll watch the game back on the bus. I think they’ll finish in the top two because of their strength in depth and the start they’ve had – so anyone that finishes above them is up. At the moment, we’re trying to work out where we see their weaknesses and every team has weaknesses.
If we lose 3-0 it’s not the end of the world; we’ve got another game three days later. That’s the joy of football. If we win 3-0 it doesn’t mean we’re going to get automatically promoted and we’ve got everything sussed because we haven’t - it’s a constant evolving thing. It’s a constant learning curve.
The more time we’ve been in the building, the more we are learning about individuals and with January coming up it makes you think about things and where you need to move things around.
On the squad fitness…
I’m not sure whether Friday will come too soon for Conor Hourihane. He will train on Thursday but we’ll find out from the doctor as to whether or not he can have a full session. Jason Knight is a bit sore from Tuesday. He hasn’t trained today but hopefully he’s available. We’ll know a lot more in 24 hours.
And on the coffee machine being fixed…
It’s a big positive! I don’t want a plaque on the wall but I like to think in years to come I’ll be remembered as that guy!
