LOOK ROO IS TALKING
Wayne has last word
WAYNE ROONEY banned his players from saying anything to Huddersfield – but Derby still did all the talking.
Former Rams Richard Keogh and Duane Holmes, who only left a few weeks ago, returned to Pride Park with Huddersfield.
And Rooney warned he wanted no old pals’ reunion.
Keogh, twice player of the season in seven years at Derby, left in controversy, his contract cancelled after a car crash that involved team-mates Tom Lawrence and Mason Bennett 16 months ago.
Keogh is thought to have won a £2m pay-off from the Rams in an appeal – but he got nothing out of this game.
It was Derby’s sixth win in eight games in a Rooney revival that is carrying them to safety.
Huddersfield had been on such a downer, with eight league games without a win, that Saturday’s 4-1 thumping of promotion-chasing Swansea was a huge shock.
Rooney didn’t want that carrying on and told his players pre-match not to talk to Keogh or Holmes.
They did the talking on the pitch and George Edmundson put them ahead in the 22nd minute.
The defender, who joined on loan from Rangers last month, grabbed his first goal in nearly a year.
Nathan Byrne had caused panic with a corner that was headed off the line by Naby Sarr but Byrne put the ball back in and Edmundson got his head to it for his first goal since Rangers’ Europa League loss to Bayer Leverkusen.
It would have been harder for Derby if keeper David Marshall had not made a good close-range save to turn Fraizer Campbell’s ninth-minute shot over the bar.
Huddersfield hadn’t won away since October and Martyn Waghorn finished them off in the 65th minute with his first goal in four months.
A superb Colin Kazim-richards through ball sent Waghorn free and he drove home with his left foot.
Huddersfield substitute Jaden Brown was sent off for his second yellow card in the 88th minute, after only 13 minutes on the pitch.
ILKAY GUNDOGAN admits Pep Guardiola has been the inspiration behind Manchester City’s magnificent revival.
And the German midfielder believes it could see his side sweep all before them en route to a historic Quadruple haul of trophies.
City were languishing in the bottom half of the Premier League earlier this season but have strung together a stunning 18-game winning streak in all competitions.
Guardiola’s men are now the most feared side in Europe and Gundogan admits they have set the
by JEREMY CROSS bar so high that anything is possible.
He said: “We knew we were not at our best and full credit to our manager.
“He adjusted the right things at the right time, he saw something was wrong, something was missing and that is why he is the best manager in the world.
“We know what we are capable of and if we do all the things we are supposed to do, we try to take all our opponents as seriously as possible and prepare ourselves as well as possible, and if we are able to do so, then we have a really good chance to beat every single opponent.
“That is our target and what we want to achieve until the end of the season. We set the bar ourselves. The Quadruple is nothing that I have thought about, but if it is going to happen
I will take it.”