Derby County journalist Ryan Conway has been sharing his thoughts on Rams midfielder Louie Sibley and his appearance during their recent 1-0 defeat against Millwall in the Championship that led to manager Wayne Rooney criticising the player.
This comes after Conway recently uploaded a video onto his YouTube channel where he reflected on the defeat at Pride Park that saw Sibley substituted on in the second half.
On the subject of Sibley, who Rooney said after the game “needs to do more” when he gets the chance to play, Conway had this to say about the player and Rooney’s comments on him.
He said: “I felt bad for him. Louie got, what, 10 minutes – tops. It’s hardly a game where he’s going to be able to settle in quickly and do something – but the idea wasn’t to get him to settle into the game, it was to bring a little spark of magic and look, Louis hasn’t been playing particularly well lately, but I thought the way that Rooney went at him was a little bit rougher than I maybe expected.”
As a product of Derby’s youth system, Sibley made his senior debut for the Midlands club back in August 2019 under former Rams boss Phillip Cocu.
Overall, the 19-year-old, who is currently valued at £2.7 million, has made 41 appearances for Derby in which he has managed to score five goals and provide four assists along the way (per Transfermarkt).
TIF Thoughts on Ryan Conway’s comments on Sibley and his criticism from Rooney…
Given how Sibley managed to hit the woodwork against Millwall after he came on and earn himself an overall match rating of 6.3/10 for his cameo performance, which was higher than some Derby players that started that match and some that played the entire 90 minutes, this suggests that he did his best to try and make something happen to get his side a positive result.
Do you think Rooney's criticism of Sibley is fair?
Yes
No
In our view, if Rooney wants to see Sibley give more out on the pitch, then starting him instead of giving him a few minutes in the second half to make an instant impact may suit the midfielder a bit more to show what he is capable of.
Alternatively, perhaps it was just one of those days for Sibley, Rooney and Derby – and perhaps the manager could have been less harsh on the youngster.