3/1 To Win
Wayne Rooney has urged his Derby County players to remain on their game as they prepare to take on Wycombe Wanderers at Adams Park on Tuesday night (7:45pm kick-off).
Derby will make the journey to Buckinghamshire, for their first-ever competitive visit to the home of the Chairboys, looking to build on Saturday’s 2-1 victory at home to Wycombe Wanderers.
The win over Neil Warnock’s side was the perfect response to the 3-0 defeat to Rotherham United in their last outing earlier this month.
Rooney says Derby, with four wins from their last five Sky Bet Championship matches, must not get complacent against Gareth Ainsworth’s side.
Wycombe, promoted from League 1 last season, are bottom of the table but will be buoyed by their 3-2 success at Huddersfield Town on Saturday after being two goals down just before half-time.
Rooney has made it clear the Rams are set for a tough game and has stressed his side must go into the game with the right mindset.
“I think it will be similar to the Middlesbrough game,” Rooney told RamsTV. “They are very direct, they do not mess around, they don’t try and over-play.
“They get the ball forward and try to get it in the box, so we have to be ready for that. We must be prepared and not give silly free-kicks away in our own half and that they can get into the box.
“We have to manage the game right. If we do that then we will have a chance of getting a win.”
He added: “We know it will be a tough game. I know they are at the bottom of the table, but every game in this league is a tough game so we must be professional. We have to go there with the right mindset, do our jobs and give ourselves the best chance to get the three points.”
Derby’s form under Rooney, first on a temporary basis and then permanently from mid-January onwards, has been promising.
After a poor start to the campaign, the Rams have clawed their way up the table under the 35-year-old and although he’s happy with the progress being made he still sees room for improvement.
He said: “Not just on matchday, but in training, the players have been great. It makes your job easier. I am pleased with the lads; we can improve still so we are working each day to try and do that.
“I think the big difference is each game is different in this league and we will prepare the players for that game and get them ready for that game solely to get the best performance and the best result in each game as they come.”
Looking back on the win over Middlesbrough, secured thanks to goals from on-loan Lee Gregory and Colin Kazim-Richards, Rooney was pleased with the victory but felt Derby’s game-management could have been better.
“It was a good professional job,” Rooney said. “The game panned out pretty much how we thought it would.
“We scored two great goals, but we conceded a very sloppy one. I thought we dug in there and we were not under any real pressure until the last five minutes.
“Our game management can be a lot better than what it was. We need to improve on that and stop giving silly free-kicks away and make it a bit easier for ourselves in the final few moments.
“I thought we controlled the game pretty well and had a bit more possession in the second half but didn’t really create any clear-cut chances. I always felt comfortable other than the last five minutes.”
