Sky Bet Championship: Derby coach Paul Simpson urges Rams to bounce back
Tuesday 4 November 2014 19:07, UK
First-team coach Paul Simpson has urged Derby to get back to basics when Huddersfield visit the iPro Stadium.
The Rams go into Tuesday night's match on the back of successive Championship defeats to Wigan and Brentford - the last time Derby lost back-to-back league games was in March.
Simpson thinks the 2-1 loss to the Bees at the weekend highlighted the fact that no fixture in the Championship is a given and he has called on the squad to treat the game properly when they face the in-form Terriers.
"We can't take any game for granted; this Championship is a really tough division," Simpson told the club's official website.
"Everyone says each year that it gets tougher and I think we are finding, at the moment, it's a tough league to play in.
"Brentford are a side who have just come into the league and when you are sat at the top of the table, everybody looks at the fixture on the outside and says it is an automatic three points to Derby County.
"It doesn't work that way. Brentford are a good side and they have a good home record. Although we got ourselves into a good position during the game, we didn't go and finish it off.
"The big message that we have given to the players, after the disappointment of the weekend and the disappointment of the previous home game when we lost to Wigan, is to make sure we get back to doing the basic things.
"That's how we got ourselves into a really nice position of sitting at the top of the table and we want the players to get back to that.
"There is the lesson for us. If we don't treat every game properly, don't go about it properly by doing the basic things, you get found out and that's what happened on Saturday.
"We want to get back out playing, get another game and go and do it properly. We are at home [on Tuesday] in front of home supporters, who have been absolutely magnificent in the two away games we had last week.
"We've got to make sure that we go out and put on a performance that will keep them happy and will get us the result."
