Derby County manager Wayne Rooney reveals instruction he gave his players to halt West Brom threat

Derby County manager Wayne Rooney believes his side were full value for the victory over Valerien Ismael’s West Brom on Monday.

The former England captain watched on as his side scored with their only shot on target in the 1-0 win over the Baggies and was impressed with how his men were able to limit Albion to ‘half chances.’

“Not really,” Rooney said when asked if he ever felt like his team would concede in the 90 minutes.

“They had a few half chances.

“Ryan made a great save towards the end but other than that I felt we dealt with it - the back three were very good.

“We defended the box well.

“I thought it was important that we tried to stop crosses but yeah, I didn’t feel in any danger.”

The Rams boss believes some of Albion’s threat was nullified because of a tactical instruction he had given his players before the game, too.

“What I will say with West Brom is you always worry.

“We tried to force them down Matt Clarke’s side and keep them playing that side of the pitch because we know they are a threat on long throws down their right side.

“We knew we’d have to deal with them at some point throughout the game but we actually dealt with them really well.”

What’s more concerning for West Brom is that the Manchester United legend always felt his side would win - even at half-time when they hadn’t registered a single shot on Sam Johnstone’s goal.

“I felt at half-time we’d win the game and I told the players that,” Rooney added.

“We just had to calm down a little bit - settle the game down a little bit.

“We did it better second-half but the game just turned into a battle really and we outfought a very physical side today.”

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