Defensive continuity key at Derby

Paul Jewell leaving the club came as a massive shock to me and the rest of the lads. I heard it first on the radio on the way into training. The boys who were at Derby last year reckon the whole relegation experience must have had something to do with it. To have a season like that, even if you weren´t involved for all of it, must take a lot out of you.

Paul said that he thought he´d taken the club as far as he could but I think whoever comes in will still have the same problem he had – we´re still a couple of players short. Our league position shows that, we´re down at the bottom because the squad isn´t strong enough at the moment.

We´ve been unlucky with injuries as well, especially in defence. At Forest last season our success was based on a solid defence that weren´t letting in many goals. But at Derby this year we´ve had Dean Leacock out for a long time, Martin Albrechtsen has had injury problems as well and we´ve had to bring people in on short term deals. What you need is a steady partnership but we haven´t been able to field that this year.