Opinion: This Derby County player has a point to prove after club’s managerial change | OneFootball

Following Wayne Rooney’s departure from Derby County earlier this year, Liam Rosenior would have been hoping to guide the club to a barnstorming start to the 2022/23 campaign.

Named as the club’s interim manager, Rosenior made the perfect start to his time in charge of the club as he led the Rams to victory on the opening day of the season.

A lack of consistency since this particular fixture has resulted in Derby suffering three defeats in the third-tier.

Despite overseeing a 2-1 win over Wycombe Wanderers last weekend, Rosenior was relieved of his duties by the Rams who opted to hand over the reins at Pride Park to Paul Warne yesterday.

Having led Rotherham United to promotion to the Championship in the previous campaign, Warne will be determined to replicate this feat with Derby in 2023.

The Rams’ players will be keen to impress the 49-year-old ahead of the club’s clash with Cambridge United on October 1st.

One of the individuals who will be particularly keen to prove a point is Louie Sibley.

A product of Derby’s academy, Sibley initially made an encouraging start to his professional career as he scored five goals and provided two assists in 11 league appearances during the 2019/20 season.

The midfielder ultimately failed to replicate these performance levels in the previous term as he only managed to find the back of the net on two occasions despite featuring in 30 of Derby’s games.

Although Derby have dropped down a division, Sibley has yet to set League One alight with his displays.

Currently drifting in and out of the club’s starting eleven, the midfielder will need to make some improvements to his game in order to become a key part of Warne’s plans.

In the nine league appearances that he has made this season, Sibley has only chipped in with one assist and is currently averaging a relatively underwhelming WhoScored match rating of 6.53 at this level.

If the 21-year-old is given the nod to feature against Cambridge next month, he will unquestionably need to step up to the mark due to the sheer competition for places in his position.

Conor Hourihane, Max Bird, Jason Knight, Liam Thompson and Korey Smith are all capable of lining up in the heart of midfield.

Whilst Sibley unquestionably possesses the talent required to thrive in the third-tier, it could be argued that he could benefit considerably from the guidance of Warne who has an excellent track-record of getting the best out of his players.

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1) Scott Carson