What’s gone wrong for Wayne Rooney and Derby County?

What’s gone wrong for Wayne Rooney and Derby County?

Saturday sees a huge Championship relegation clash between Derby and Sheffield Wednesday.

The last game of the season will confirm relegation for three clubs out of Derby, Rotherham, Sheffield Wednesday and Wycombe.

The game between Derby and Sheffield Wednesday is simply a must win game for both sides. A win for Derby would relegate Wednesday and confirm Championship football next season for Derby and Wayne Rooney.

If Wednesday win, Derby would be relegated to League One, but the Owl’s will need Rotherham not to win in order to be safe.

Derby County have lost their last six games and they now find themselves in a relegation dogfight on the last game of the season.

Wayne Rooney hasn’t been able to turn the clubs form around again like he did when he first came in. An impressive start to management rocketed Derby out of the relegation places. Rooney took over Derby at rock bottom of the Championship after the Rams had just won once in the opening 13 games of the season.

Eight wins from Rooney’s first 16 games suggested that Rooney was the man to keep Derby safe but a slump in form in Derby’s last 16 games has left them in the situation they currently find themselves in. It’s been proven that Derby tend to struggle without Krystian Bielik as they’ve only won four games in the 20 that he’s missed this season, losing 12.

Bielik became fit during November this season from a long-term injury sustained last season, but he only managed to play 12 games before picking up another injury. The Polish midfielder proved to be useful for Wayne Rooney during this time as they managed to win six games form 12.

Luckily, Derby’s defence has been impressive throughout the campaign, but this compensates for their awful goal scoring record this season. With just one game to go, Derby are on track to become the second lowest scoring side in Championship history.

They’ve only managed 33 goals this season from 45 games, only four more than the record lowest Championship goal scorers Bolton who managed just 29 goals in 2018/19. Colin Kazim-Richards is the club’s top scorer this season with eight goals, but apart from him, no player has scored more than three.

The squad appears to be very low on confidence and their most recent loss to Swansea won’t have helped that. Wayne Rooney’s side took the lead at Swansea and a win would have sealed their Championship status for another season.

However, two fast Swansea goals dented Derby’s hopes of survival and the slump in form continued. The whole Derby dugout couldn’t believe what was unfolding before their eyes.

This Derby squad lacks character and resilience having just picked up six points from the last 42 available. There are many young players in the squad and their lack of experience could be the reason for the slump in form towards the business end of the season.

The fact that owner, Mel Morris is desperate to sell the club won’t have helped Wayne Rooney and Derby County this season. Takeover talk and financial problems could’ve distracted the playing and coaching staff as its certainly distracted the media away from Derby’s results.

The failed takeover by Sheikh Khaled meant that most of the first team players weren’t paid for over six weeks leading up to Christmas. The failed takeover also impacted Derby’s business in the January window as Sheikh promised a spending spree, but Derby had to rush five loan signings on deadline day instead.

The relegation confrontation on Saturday is an exciting spectacle for neutrals but the stress for fans of Derby County and Sheffield Wednesday is unimaginable. Both clubs are way too big to be in the third division but one of them will find themselves in League One next season.

Three years ago today Barnsley were relegated away at Derby County, and Derby County fans chanted ‘We’ll never play you again’. Derby County could get relegated to League One on Saturday. Barnsley are three games from the Premier League. Parklife.#BarnsleyFC #BFC #DCFC #DCFCfans pic.twitter.com/rorupswTZV

— There Is A Floodlight That Never Goes Out (@FloodlightPod) May 6, 2021

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