Compare and contrast as Rams turn the tables on Boro
ROONEY’S MEN SHOW IMPROVEMENTS THEY HAVE MADE SINCE THEIR LAST MEETING WITH TEESSIDERS
IT is less than three months ago but it feels much longer.
Derby County were mauled at Middlesbrough in late November and sat at the bottom of the Championship on six points from 13 games, licking their wounds. They had failed to score in four matches and were without a win in nine.
The outlook was bleak.
Fast forward to last Saturday and the return fixture with Middlesbrough, which the Rams won 2-1 with goals from strikers Lee Gregory and Colin Kazim-richards to climb out of the relegation places.
It was not a classic, it wasn’t a performance to write home about but the character on show, the determination and togetherness, the appetite to compete, was very different to that painful night on Teesside.
On taking up the manager’s reins, Wayne Rooney set out his plan.
He spoke of simplifying matters and going back to basics. He demanded hard work from the players in training and in matches, and the first task was to become difficult to beat.
The key was to master the basics, a staple diet of any performance, and secure enough positive results and enough points to move away from trouble in the Championship.
That remains the mission and there is still a bumpy road and much hard work ahead but a record of seven wins and four draws in the 15 games since Rooney took sole charge of the team, assisted by his coaching staff, highlights how Derby are much more difficult to beat than they had been in the first three months of the season.
There have been hiccups, notably home and away against Rotherham United, although four wins in the last five matches rather points to that collapse in the final 15 minutes in South Yorkshire at the start of this month as being more of a blip than anything else. Derby have conceded only one goal in those four wins.
No-one promised it would be pretty. Needs must at certain times in seasons and there will be other defeats.
The mark of a team is how it reacts to a setback. Derby reacted to the defeat by the Millers by beating Middlesbrough.
There is a different feeling around the team and the squad.
“I think it is clear for everyone to see. The one thing this team has is character and a great togetherness,” said Rooney, when he was reminded of what had happened at Middlesbrough.
“After the Middlesbrough game away I know (Middlesbrough boss) Neil Warnock said to one of our coaches that we are a good group of players, good individuals but we are not a good team,” said Rooney, before adding: “The difference you see now is we have got good individuals and we are a fantastic team.
“The work-rate the players are putting in, the engagement every day in training has been fantastic.”
Rooney’s decision to go with two up front paid off as Colin Kazimrichards and Lee Gregory, making his first start since joining on loan from Stoke City, proved pivotal in the victory over Middlesbrough.
Gregory headed home from close range in the 15th minute, finishing a well-worked set-piece from the training ground – Martyn Waghorn’s excellent corner was headed back across goal by Lee Buchanan for Gregory to finish.
Kazim-richards doubled the lead just after the half hour when he rifled a shot from 22 yards in off the underside of the bar.
“Colin has got that in the locker, it was a fantastic strike, too quick for the keeper to react,” Rooney said.
The ball whistled above Marcus Bettinelli and Kazim-richards has now scored six goals in his 15 starts since joining the club as a free agent, a strike rate of a goal every 2.5 games.
Derby conceded a sloppy goal before the break when Neeskens Kebano found the net and Middlesbrough had most of the possession in the second half without really troubling keeper David Marshall.
The Rams’ game-management in the closing stages was not the best as they invited pressure by giving away too many free kicks. Fortunately, their defending was sound.
“The last 10 minutes, the way we defended the box, the clearances,
the headers, putting bodies on the line showed the character of this group,” Rooney added.
In the final few minutes, defender Teden Mengi, another of the Rams loan signings, went on for his debut.
Character, determination and togetherness, and an appetite to compete – Derby will need all those ingredients in their performances again in two away games in four days this week against Wycombe Wanderers and Watford.