3/1 To Win
Wayne Rooney says Derby County’s players and staff have had to once again adapt quickly as they continue their preparations for the Christmas and New Year games programme in the Sky Bet Championship.
Derby’s squad has had to face up to several COVID-19 cases in recent weeks with the Omicron variant spreading across the country at a fast pace.
A number of players missed the 1-0 win at home to Blackpool a fortnight ago as they were self-isolating while more cases within the camp followed last week.
Last Saturday’s trip to Cardiff City was cancelled due to COVID-19 cases in both squads and, despite some players still unable to report back for training just yet, Rooney has welcomed a number of individuals back to Moor Farm Training Ground this week.
Derby face promotion chasers West Bromwich Albion at Pride Park Stadium on Monday 27th December (3pm kick-off) in their first festive fixture, before heading to Stoke City on Thursday 30th December (7:45pm kick-off) and Monday 3rd January (3pm kick-off) either side of the New Year.
Rooney has made it clear that the Rams’ players need to be sensible and careful over the Christmas period in order to protect both themselves and their families.
Stricter protocols have been enforced at training grounds by the EFL, rules which were introduced early in the COVID-19 pandemic and clubs are well versed in, and Rooney believes everyone at the club has adapted as quickly and efficiently as possible.
Speaking to RamsTV, Rooney said: “We still have three or four players missing but in terms of the game on Monday we have a squad of players available to play, which is good.
“It will now depend on West Bromwich Albion being the same. You never know, we see games being called off all over the place at the moment, but from our point of view we will be fine.
“The players have to be careful over Christmas. We know it’s a time where a lot of people spend with their families. They just need to be careful and do all the right things to make sure they don’t get it.
“Most of our players have now had COVID-19 recently so we should be fine from that point of view.
“In terms of preparations and training, we are testing the players and staff every day to see how many players we have to train. It’s frustrating but it is what it is and we have to deal with that.”
He added: “It’s much easier this time around to know all the protocols and we are able to deal with it because we’re used to it.
“It’s not ideal and the worrying thing is players coming back from COVID-19 and not being fit. Sometimes you have it without symptoms, but the lads who have symptoms and aren’t well is almost impossible to ask them to play when they’ve just come out of it.”
As well as managing a group of players in order to prepare for matches and get results on the field, Rooney also has the task of leading the squad through another testing time in the COVID-19 pandemic.
The rise in cases in both football and society has been significant of late but, despite that, Rooney is confident the Rams are doing all they can to protect their players.
“All we can do is put everything in place and deal with it the best we can, which we feel we’re doing,” Rooney said.
“The worrying thing is that we are seeing people lose their lives with it, people are getting ill and even more concerning from our point of view is the amount of players you see collapsing on the pitch and the amount of fans you’re seeing in the stands collapsing and having heart attacks.
“Whether that is following a backlash of having COVID-19, we don’t know. It’s a concern for everyone and more so for the players because they’re the ones having to go out and run around.
“It’s concerning but everyone is being told by the authorities that we have to play and we have to keep doing that.”
He concluded: “The lads had a few days off over the weekend and this week whilst we got the training ground cleaned so today (Thursday) is the first day where I’ve had the right amount of numbers and players to look at how we’re going to plan and play and what personnel we have for the game on Monday.
“We should have a couple of players back with us before Monday but what state they come back into in training, I don’t know. Some of them have had symptoms, some haven’t, so it’s something we have to look at and be careful with.”
