Phillip Cocu was disappointed in his side’s 2-2 draw away at Barnsley on Wednesday night, following a plethora of chances to put the game to bed.
The Dutchman saw his side a goal down early on through Aapo Halme but a first half comeback was on the cards thanks to Chris Martin and Tom Huddlestone. It wasn’t to be for Derby, as striker Cauley Woodrow equalised in the dying seconds to deny Cocu back to back wins in the league.
On the back of the result, Cocu said: “I suppose we feel like Leeds now, so for Barnsley it feels great, last second of the game but for us it’s a huge disappointment,”
The Rams were undone by set pieces yet again, a reoccurring theme that has seen them concede nine goals this season out of the fifteen in total in the Championship.
When asked about set pieces, Cocu replied: “It’s a part of football that requests a lot of the players, in defensive style you have to desire to prevent your opponent from an attempt or scoring. In an offensive way, you go in with the intention to score,” Before continuing, “I think we have too many players who are missing a certain percentage of that desire so it’s not always one player, it’s shared by a lot and it was a problem last season too so up until now we haven’t been able to change it so it’s an important issue for us to discuss probably during the international break,”
Another main talking point from the night was the inclusion of Tom Lawrence and Mason Bennett. Both are due in court in two weeks following off the field antics that resulted in captain Richard Keogh injured for up to 15 months.
However, Cocu didn’t believe in isolating the players completely, but rather giving themselves a platform to “give something back”, stating: “The players have to have the possibility to give something back to the team and the fans on the pitch. It’s the only podium they have to give a reaction, a response and it still doesn’t change the fact that what we said as a club, that will definitely happen so they’re not off the hook,”
Cocu also gave time to talk about Chris Martin, who scored his third goal in as many game since pulling a Derby shirt on again: “[He is] Excellent, very important, gives the team goals but also link up play, clever positioning, it’s definitely a positive and I am sure he will continue during his training sessions and extra training sessions, demand him to get better physically and he may even score even more,”
The Rams next face Luton Town at Pride Park on Saturday, hoping to bounce back from a disappointing end to a decent performance at Oakwell.
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