Paul Warne says he has been left feeling ‘paranoid’ and speaks out on Derby’s struggles to the start of the season after being booed off.
The manager said after his side lost 2-0 against Blackpool that some of his players have been distracted by potential moves and he still want to bolster his squad for the new season.
The Rams also suffered defeat against Wigan in League One, and even hough they have been linked with many players, they are still struggling to get their signature.
“Possibly a couple of my players have had their heads turned,” Warne told BBC Radio Derby.
“I feel like they think there is a move or something. It feels a bit strange.”
Derby fans booed the team off at half time midweek – their second home loss already this season.
Wow. This Derby side look like a bunch of amateurs. Waghorn and Cashin doing their best but Nelson just doesn’t look fit. He pulled up in front of us after 16 mins out of breath. Expecting the team to be booed off at half time #dcfc #dcfcfans
— Kerry Vanessa Ganly (@KerryGanly) August 8, 2023
“We are always looking for new, fresh players,” Warne added. “At the moment, if the window shuts tomorrow, it feels like we are short.
“Maybe I am uber paranoid. But that is the job of a football manager. It just feels like we need a couple more players who can hopefully raise the level of everyone.
“I don’t think the performance [against Blackpool] is indicative of what we have in the building, but we just collectively underperformed. And if you do underperform against a really good team you are going to get what you got tonight – and that is very little.”
Derby County: Vickers (GK), Wilson (46′ Ward), Hourihane (C) (46′ Thompson), Bradley (46′ Forsyth), Cashin, Bird, Waghorn (73′ Collins), Smith, Washington (73′ Brown), Elder, Nelson.
Substitutes not used: Wildsmith (GK), Robinson, Rooney, Bardell.
Blackpool: O’Donnell (GK), Connolly, Husband (C) (73′ Tharme), Dale (73′ Apter), Carey (61′ Trybull), Dougall, Virtue (81′ Morgan), Beesley (61′ Joseph), Casey, Thompson, Lyons.
Substitutes not used: Grimshaw (GK), Ekpiteta, Hamilton, Lankshear.
On the game…
We were second best on everything and got beat by a much better team.
We got outplayed, outfought, out-tackled and out-ran. We played the same shape as them but it didn’t look like it.
It’s my job to motivate the lads prior to a game but we looked undercooked and out of sorts.
We got out ran and outnumbered in the midfield so as bad a performance as you can get, we got it in the first half. The first half was disgusting and rightfully so we got booed off. I’ve never managed a team that have got booed off at half-time before but I’d have been entitled to start the boos myself.
I wasn’t best pleased but in fairness none of the players are best pleased either. Nobody wants to underperform.
I apologise to the fans who did kindly turned up and the ones who stayed behind and did kindly clap them off, I have massive respect for that because I don’t think the performance merited it.
“Possibly a couple of players have had their heads turned”
Head coach Paul Warne admitted he felt concerned that members of his squad might see their futures away from the club.
The Rams were comfortably beaten 2-0 at Pride Park by Blackpool in the League Cup 1st round.#DCFC
— BBC Sport Derby (@BBCDerbySport) August 9, 2023
On whether the performance surprised him…
I try not to sugar-coat things when I talk to the press. I try and be honest.
It’s my fault, I’m not saying I’m blameless but with the team we picked I thought we’d have a lot more comfort in the game.
There are loads of things we need to work on because we go into a tough League One game on Saturday at Burton Albion and we need to right a lot of wrongs.
There’s a lot of discussions we need to have as coaches to put it right for Saturday and that’s our job.
On what he said to the players at half-time and full-time…
I said at half-time that it was an embarrassing performance.
Credit to Blackpool. They looked organised, quick, fit and we didn’t and that’s the honest truth and I told them that.
I thanked them for the efforts in the second half but fundamentally we never looked like scoring.
I’m not going to say we played really well. We have to be significantly better, the coaches have to be better, we all have to be better to get the level of performance to take on Burton on Saturday because that sort of level of performance is not what we expect
Twitter users reacted with Paul Warne left feeling ‘paranoid’ and speaks out on Derby’s struggles after being booed off…
@mztty: I want it to work out for Warne so badly, but that today was in the top 5 most awful performances I’ve ever witnessed sadly.
@SantanCraig: Just can’t help feel it’s not going to change… my honest thoughts are that we are bigger than Warne
@r1_harvey: “Out thought, out tackled, out ran”. All Warne was ever going on about in pre season is how much we’ll be out working the opposition! We look knackered from the first whistle.
@PhilKerry6: Can’t defend and can’t score, it’s going to be quite a season isn’t it?
@swigger67: I love Paul Warne as a bloke and desperately want him to succeed but with each passing game I’m losing a bit more faith in his ability. Hope I’m proved wrong but don’t think it’s going to work 😕
@Marsha1051: Out thought, out tackled, out ran. We played the same shape 🤔
@CandyCrushC_nt: It took 45 minutes to work out we couldnt get a ball out from the back because we had 5 players in a front line and a collosall empty hole in the middle of the park, i just dont understand it at all.
@sooperams: The first time in years we have left early, the most embarrassing first half for a long time, came racing back off holiday for that crap!!! Need a response on Saturday 🐏🐏🐏
@jamescairns_: Throwing players under the bus in an interview isn’t going to help motivate anyone
@LoboKnightII: Fans are behind the team, its about time the team repaid the fans by putting in a performance. I’ll back the team 100% W, L or D if they give 100% on the pitch but they did not give anywhere near that.
@Rammie24: Quality signings needed fast your signings so far haven’t been good you’ve only signed Conor Washington because he’s your good friend not because he’s a good striker he’s only here at the club because he’s your good friend sign quality players fast ‼️
@Hyg_Clean_Svs: Can motivate two games in then where do we go from here, Burton is a must win already
@petergabscar: Clowes should be hunting for another manager before the middle of season or it will be to late.
@Derbydan84: Out of his depth. Goes on about players being able to handle crowds of 30K. I think he needs to look in the mirror. #dcfc #dcfcfans
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