This is Derbyshire -- HEAD coach Steve McClaren felt his Derby County team was handed a reality check by Championship leaders Leicester City last night. The Rams crashed 4-1 at the King Power Stadium – a third defeat this season at the hands of the Foxes, who now top the table by seven points. McClaren said the performance was unlike Derby, who had been on a nine-match unbeaten run until they lost against Wigan Athletic on New Year's Day. "It was very disappointing," said McClaren. "That wasn't the Derby County of recent months. "Leicester, give them credit, they were better than us. They were stronger than us and full of running. "We were second best all over the field. "We haven't normally been like that." McClaren collected the manager of the month award for December and many will mention the curse of such an award given how Derby performed. But McClaren was in no mood to criticise his players. "We can't criticise them too much," he said. "We lost only one game in November and didn't lose at all in December. "Law of averages tells you that you are going to lose games, especially in this league. "It just shows that if we are below it, just a little bit, we are going to get found out. "Players were nowhere near their best. Maybe it's a reality check. "Now we have got to be a bit more realistic with this young team. We saw that tonight, it's young and inexperienced in games like this. "We lost our one-on-one battles."
Reported by This is 2 days ago.
This is Derbyshire -- HEAD coach Steve McClaren felt his Derby County team was handed a reality check by Championship leaders Leicester City last night. The Rams crashed 4-1 at the King Power Stadium – a third defeat this season at the hands of the Foxes, who now top the table by seven points. McClaren said the performance was unlike Derby, who had been on a nine-match unbeaten run until they lost against Wigan Athletic on New Year's Day. "It was very disappointing," said McClaren. "That wasn't the Derby County of recent months. "Leicester, give them credit, they were better than us. They were stronger than us and full of running. "We were second best all over the field. "We haven't normally been like that." McClaren collected the manager of the month award for December and many will mention the curse of such an award given how Derby performed. But McClaren was in no mood to criticise his players. "We can't criticise them too much," he said. "We lost only one game in November and didn't lose at all in December. "Law of averages tells you that you are going to lose games, especially in this league. "It just shows that if we are below it, just a little bit, we are going to get found out. "Players were nowhere near their best. Maybe it's a reality check. "Now we have got to be a bit more realistic with this young team. We saw that tonight, it's young and inexperienced in games like this. "We lost our one-on-one battles."
Reported by This is 2 days ago.