Rooney Eyes Improved Game Management As Derby Prepare For Hull

Wayne Rooney is expecting another tough Sky Bet Championship fixture when Derby County head to Hull City on Wednesday night.

Derby will make the journey to the MKM Stadium to face the Tigers in their third league fixture of the 2021/22 campaign (7:45pm kick-off).

A 1-1 draw at home to Huddersfield Town on the opening day of the season got Rooney’s side off to a steady start, before they tasted a 2-1 lead at Peterborough United last weekend.

Derby have led in both of their league fixtures so far, but only picked up a single point for their efforts.

Rooney has highlighted the importance of game management as Derby look to pick up maximum points against last season’s League One champions.

Speaking to RamsTV, Rooney said: “It will be another tough game.

“Hull are a team that can be direct at times as well as trying to play, so they can mix it up.

“We will have to be at our best to beat them.”

“Two individual errors cost us the game on Saturday,” the manager added. “It is tough because in some ways there’s not much you can do on that.

“If there’s one thing we can do better, it’s our game management to see matches out.

“It was a game we should have won on Saturday, so we need to get back out there at Hull and try to get a positive result.”

Derby’s last visit to the MKM Stadium was a 2-0 loss in the 2019/20 campaign, but the Rams have happy memories of their visits to the home of the Tigers in the 2018/19 season.

They were 2-1 winners in the Championship in the early stages of the campaign under Frank Lampard, having picked up a 4-0 victory over Hull just days beforehand in Round Two of the Carabao Cup.