The Derby County duo have been praised heavily after the Rams’ latest friendly.
The Rams are now just over one week away from their 2024/25 Championship season getting underway.
Paul Warne will take his side to Ewood Park for a meeting with Blackburn Rovers on Friday, August 9th.
Ahead of their league opener, Derby County have been undergoing a hectic pre-season schedule.
Derby’s proper pre-season began on July 12th with a 3-0 win over Matlock Town, with a 3-1 victory against Academico de Viseu F.C following four days later.
Derby were beaten 4-0 by Chesterfield on July 24th, handing Warne and co. their first loss of the summer.
The losses have continued to roll in since that tie, with the Derbyshire outfit being beaten by Shrewsbury Town and, most recently, Barnsley.
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David Ozoh and Kayden Jackson verdict given after Barnsley
With the new season so close, Warne is unlikely to be too pleased with his side’s continuing struggles to pick up a positive result.
Pre-season is primarily focused on building fitness and embedding new signings but a string of losses can impact the player’s mentality.
Two stars who have seemingly not been affected by the run of defeats are David Ozoh and Kayden Jackson.
Ozoh was Derby’s best player in the first half of the 4-3 defeat and though the Rams shipped four, the midfielder was defensively solid.
As for Jackson, though he did not score, he shone out of position on the wing.
The duo earned high praise for their display during the match from Derby journalist Dominic Dietrich, who took to X/Twitter to share his verdict.
He wrote: “Been impressed so far with David Ozoh and Kayden Jackson tonight. Jackson looks more at home out on the wing, Ozoh getting stuck in and getting them back on the ball.”
New Derby County signings will have to step up
Ozoh and Jackson are two of the Rams’ seven first-team summer signings so far.
The latter joined the club on loan from Ipswich Town, with Derby’s deal for Jackon taking around a month to complete.
The Crystal Palace midfielder has also joined the club on loan, with Warne already blown away by Ozoh despite his brief spell at Pride Park so far.
Former Crystal Palace manager Patrick Vieira has previously heaped praise on Ozoh and big things are expected of the 19-year-old going into the new season.
After their promotion from League One, Derby are expected to endure a relegation battle in 2024/25.
Warne does not have the highest quality squad and will be relying heavily on his summer additions to help keep Derby up.
But based on their limited showings in pre-season so far, at least two of Derby’s new signings look set to impress this year.