DERBY County have set themselves a target of 15 to 20 clean sheets this season.
The Rams kept 13 in the League last season – 15 in all competitions.
Leicester City and Burnley recorded 18 and 19 Championship shut-outs respectively and filled the two automatic promotion slots.
Tuesday's 2-0 victory over Reading took Derby's number of clean sheets this season to five in 11 games, although three have come in the Capital One Cup.
Head coach Steve McClaren spoke to the squad at the beginning of this week about conceding goals after Blackburn Rovers and Cardiff City each hit two against the Rams.
"It is not just a case of the goalkeepers and the back four, it is about the whole team," said first team coach Paul Simpson.
"We have shown the players. When we lose the ball, we have to recover back into shape as quick as possible. We have to be hard to play against.
"We know we are going to create chances and score goals. So, if we can keep clean sheets then we have got one hell of a chance of winning games."
High-scoring games are becoming a trend.
TV tends to drool over such matches, as we saw last weekend when Manchester United squandered a 3-1 lead against Leicester City to lose 5-3.
Everton lost 3-2 at home to Crystal Palace on the same day having already suffered a 6-3 home defeat by Chelsea!
Defending, generally, within the English game has come under the microscope and is not standing up particularly well to scrutiny.
Asked if the art of defending is fast disappearing, Simpson points out that Derby treat the defensive side of the game seriously.
"I think everybody wants to do the attacking side, everybody enjoys that, but we have prided ourselves on our defending as well. We do defending work all the time," said Simpson.
"Of course it is important. Look at last season, the two teams that went up automatically were Leicester with 18 clean sheets and Burnley with 19.
"We had 13 in the League and something like eight of those came in 17 League games at the end of the season.
"We are playing the style we wanted and we need to keep playing our football but tighten up our defending.
"In the Championship, no-one gives you a result. We don't expect anyone to lay down, we know we have to work hard. We are creating chances but we need to demand clean sheets. To be successful we need to do that.
"We want to try to get 15 to 20 clean sheets this season."
Skipper Richard Keogh was delighted with the clean sheet against Reading on Tuesday.
"We kept a few at the start of the season and in pre-season (six in nine friendlies) and have been a bit unlucky not to keep more," he said.
"We have dominated in some games and then conceded out of nowhere, like we did against Cardiff. It is a team thing and the manager has mentioned it.
"Ultimately, as defenders and a defence, we pride ourselves on clean sheets.
"We have set ourselves a target we feel we should achieve."
