Tough defense and talented offspring. Wayne Rooney, against all odds, attempts a miracle in Derby

Last place in the Championship and 10 points. That doesn’t sound very positive, but in Derby’s case it is an achievement. The club is struggling with points deductions, transfer bans and financial problems. Still, thanks to Rooney, the Rams have at least a small hope of staying up.

In Thursday’s game against Stoke City, Derby led for a long time thanks to a goal from 19-year-old striker Luke Plange. When Tom Ince equalised for the home side in the 78th minute it looked like a draw, but Rooney’s substitutions worked and veteran Kazim-Richards made the difference with 5 minutes remaining. The assist was provided by another substitute, former big talent Ravel Morrison.

For Rooney’s charges it meant 3. …and another 3 points in the table. In total, they won 31 points, but only 10 are credited in the table.

Since the club was forced into receivership at the start of the season due to financial problems, they were deducted 12 points. Subsequently, a further 9 were deducted due to accounting irregularities.

The club also faced a transfer ban, but was exceptionally allowed to sign free agents or bring in players on a six-month loan, as Rooney only had 9 A team players at his disposal at the start of the season.

In short, an absolutely tragic situation. A source at The Athletic website, well aware of the club’s situation, said: ‘I don’t know how they will get out of this. They’re completely f***ed.”

Probably all the fans and probably the players and people at the club saw it the same way. Relegation to League One seemed like a given.

Now, at the start of 2022, it doesn’t look so hopeless. Although Derby are still last in the Championship, they are only 4 points behind penultimate placed Barnsley, and 11 points behind non-relegation placed Barnsley.

This is still far from an ideal situation, but the fans can at least nurture a small hope that a miracle will happen and the Rams will play in League 2 next season. After all, there are still 26 games left.

A lot of credit for that goes to Wayne Rooney, who is doing a great job as manager. Out of 24 games, he has 7 wins and 10 draws. With an underrated team full of youngsters who are getting plenty of space given the circumstances, he’s not afraid to take on the “Big Boys” Championship.

Recently, for example, West Brom lost 1-0 at Derby Stadium after a Kazim-Richards goal. Earlier in the season, when the game was played at West Brom’s ground, the Rams got a valuable 0:0 draw.

In a fantastic game in mid-November, they beat Bournemouth 3-2. They also got a point at Fulham, another team fighting for promotion.

Derby rely heavily on their defence, which is important to Rooney’s system. And there is a lot to fall back on:: only 22 goals conceded ranks the Rams’ defence 4th in the whole Championship. In addition, the club has not received more than 2 goals in any game this season.

Although a large part of the team is made up of youngsters, the defence is an exception. It is led by thirty-six year old stopper Curtis Davies, who has not missed a minute in the league this season. He dominates his teammates in almost every defensive statistic – balls taken away, shots blocked and aerial duels won.

Another seasoned veteran, the thirty-nine-year-old Phil Jagielka, has been playing alongside him most often. These two have a combined age of 75 and over 1,300 games played, giving the young squad the necessary experience.

In the midfield, we can find much younger, but no less interesting players. We are talking about two youngsters in particular – Max Bird (21) and Jason Knight (20). Despite their young age, both have played almost 100 games for the club and are key members of the team.

It’s no wonder they are growing into great midfielders. Indeed, before Rooney, who is also no stranger to the position, Derby were coached by Barcelona and Netherlands mainstay Phillip Cocu and Frank Lampard, one of England’s best midfielders for several years.

Bird and Knight are also interesting from the point of view of other clubs – there will be a lot of interest in them in the summer and it is only a matter of time before they move to a more interesting address.

However, the club have an answer to this option as well. And that is in the form of another youngster, Liam Thompson (19). He impressed Rooney so much that he let him train with the first team and gave him an opportunity in a match in November. He hasn’t missed a game since.

Bird, Knight and Thompson were all members of Derby U18s in the 18/19 season, a team that won Premier League 2. It is this generation that Derby are betting heavily on at the moment. And the youngsters are showing that this is a good move.

But there is no lack of experience in the centre of midfield either. And that’s in the form of Graeme Shinnie, considered by many to be the most important and best player of the season. The 30-year-old defensive midfielder has the most balls won and duels won of the team, on top of adding a goal and 3 assists.

As for the attack, it is mostly handled by offensive all-rounder Tom Lawrence, the team’s most productive player with 5 goals and 3 assists. He is still only 27 and he too could see a move to teams from the top positions of the Championship, maybe even to the Premier League. As his contract expires in the summer, he might say goodbye to Derby in January.

Thirty-five-year-old Colin Kazim-Richards, who has fired Derby’s last 2 wins as a substitute, is also ready on the bench. Another talent, Luke Plange (19), who came from Arsenal’s academy, also got his first chance in the A team in the last 4 games. He rewarded with 2 goals.

Ravel Morrison, once one of the biggest stars of Manchester United’s youth team, was given another opportunity to kick-start his flagging career at Derby. But he never fulfilled his potential. So far in his new job, he has recorded 2 assists.

Only 5 teams in the Championship have fewer losses than Derby. If it wasn’t for the points deductions, the Rams would be quietly in the middle of the table under Wayne Rooney, not far from the play-off positions. Which, given all the problems the club has faced recently, would be a miracle done.

Wayne Rooney, for whom this is also his first managerial experience, is doing a fantastic job at Derby and should not be overlooked in any way. Even in a very unfavourable situation, he has brought many positives to Rams fans and, above all, hope (albeit still very small) that Derby can attempt an even bigger miracle this year after last year’s last-minute retention.

Source: The Athletic, WhoScored