Timely break as Rams are dragged closer to danger zone
IT may be almost two weeks until Derby County’s next game, at home to Luton Town, but the fixture is already looming in its importance.
The Rams’ recent run of seven matches without a win has left them treading water in a sea that could become dangerously choppy before the season is up.
Five points separate them and the Championship relegation zone but the margin takes on a slimmer look when third-bottom Rotherham United are factored in, along with Derby’s alarming stumble of late.
Both Rotherham and Sheffield Wednesday, two of the bottom three, won on Saturday, while Derby fell worryingly and woefully short in their 1-0 defeat by Stoke City at the bet365 Stadium.
Rotherham have four games in hand on Derby. Birmingham City and Coventry City fill the two places below the Rams and will be more anxious – but only slightly more.
So has the international break come at a good time for Wayne
Rooney, his staff and the players? Absolutely.
They need time to regroup, rethink and rejig things because they cannot afford more performances like the one at Stoke, make no mistake.
Wayne Rooney was not happy: “It was a very frustrating performance, especially in the first half when it felt like a testimonial game, which is fine for Stoke where they are in the table, but for us that is not acceptable,” he said.
No one argued with his verdict. No one could argue.
The run of five wins in six games during January and February lifted them out of the drop zone. Performances were far from pretty but the players chiselled out victories.
Performances are certainly not pretty now but that winning feeling has become a distant memory.
They did manage to salvage draws against Nottingham Forest, Barnsley and, last Tuesday night, Brentford, when they fought back from two down. That second-half show should have boosted belief, should have left the players itching to build on it against Stoke.
And what an opportunity. Stoke had won only one of their previous six and had scored only four goals in those half a dozen games but Derby squandered the opportunity.
Where was the energy, the purpose, the aggressive front-foot football seen in the second half against Brentford? Instead, we saw a onepaced display lacking in the urgency and quality needed to ask their opponents a serious question.
Stoke created very little themselves but Derby created less. They failed to register an effort on target.
Indeed, they have managed only 10 attempts on target in their last six matches and scored only two goals. Such a blunt cutting edge is not going to bring goals and wins. What it does is heap more pressure on keeping a clean sheet.
Too many players throughout the contest.
Colin Kazim-Richards has struggled to exert the same influence on the team of late and was hampered by the hip problem that made him doubtful for the game.
Louie Sibley, the match saviour against Brentford, did not get involved enough, especially in the first half. Patrick Roberts had bright but fleeting moments.
Wing-backs Nathan Byrne and Lee Buchanan did not offer enough width and threat, while Graeme Shinnie and Jason Knight were second-best in midfield.
Five substitutes were used, one of them striker Cameron Cresswell, who came on for his League debut.
Derby’s two best outfield players on the day were centre-backs Matt Clarke and Teden Mengi, who were joined in a steady back three by laboured
Andre Wisdom, but they could do nothing when Stoke scored after 74 minutes.
Nick Powell is a clever player and should not be given time to pick a pass or cross because he will, and he did for Jacob Brown to catch Derby sleeping at the back post and head past Kelle Roos.
Roos prevented further damage when he pushed out Danny Batth’s header before the final whistle left the Rams with another blank. They have failed to score in half of their 38 League fixtures and prop up the current form table. That is not a healthy place to be ahead of the run-in.
“We look at ourselves, that’s all we can do,” said Rooney. “But obviously the run of form over the last few weeks has not been good enough. We know, if we did not know beforehand, we are in a relegation battle.”
The jaws of relegation are not choosy and standing on a trapdoor is not wise because it can spring open. Derby hold a points advantage but none of the sides in the relegation scrap should consider themselves too good to go down.
The reason Derby are where they are this season is because there have been too many awful performances and this one is high on the list.
A big improvement is needed and that is the task facing Rooney and the players.