Derby County manager Paul Warne has revealed he told his players that they should have been proud of the way that they performed in yesterday’s teatime kickoff against Leeds United, and also tipped the visitors to gain automatic promotion at the second time of asking in May.
The Rams fell to a late defeat at Pride Park after Brendan Aaronson’s late strike secured three points that took the visitors to the top of the second tier, but for the most part of the game Derby County really pushed them, and were competitive in all aspects of the game from start to finish.
Speaking to club media after the game, Warne was full of praise for yesterday’s opponents and for opposing manager Daniel Farke, who knows how to get out of the second tier from previous experiences with Norwich City:
It looked like a very well-worked goal to win it. I thought it would take something special to beat us today. Our backline was really good. All five of them, including Jacob in goal, were really good.
I know every team is going to create chances, and they created a couple. When needed, we made saves and defended well too. I felt that we showed them a bit too much respect at times, but when we were a bit braver and challenged Leeds to get through us, I thought the lads were really good. They can take a lot of confidence from that because I think that’s a top-two team.”
“I’ve got a lot of respect for Daniel Farke and what he’s done as a coach. You use what you have at your disposal and he’s able to call upon very good players. I did feel as the game was going on that they were getting a bit smaller as a team, I was thinking if we could win some more corners or something, we might give ourselves a real good chance. The last five minutes were a bit disappointing because I felt like the match just fizzled out. That’s what the best teams do, they just manage the game.”
That win for Leeds United sees them finish 2024 at the top of The Championship table, somewhere they would absolutely love to be at the end of the season, to avoid playoff heartbreak like they endured at the end of last season at Wembley Stadium against Southampton.
Writers View
It is not often that you see an opposition manager come out after a defeat and give a lot of praise to the opposing side from a genuine place, and you can tell that Paul Warne really feels as though this Leeds side has all the qualities of a promotion-winning side.
The next four for Leeds United include Blackburn, Hull, Sheffield Wednesday and Norwich. Take ten points from an available 12 there, and they may just have built a gap from the challenging teams around them come that huge trip to Burnley at the end of January.
