Gary Rowett said in the Derby Telegraph that he takes full responsibility for the awful performance and result against relegation-haunted Burton Albion.
The buck always stops with the manager but players need to take a good look at their commitment and performance levels over the last few weeks. Despite having the impressive win away at Preston North End and the three-nil win against Bolton Wanderers, the Rams have now slumped to two successive defeats for the first time this season.
Admittedly the first of those two defeats was against Wolverhampton Wanderers, who won promotion to the Premiership following their 2-0 win over Birmingham City on Sunday but the Rams have had heavy defeats to the club sitting on the bottom of the table, twice in fifteen days!
Rowett was the golden boy of Championship football just a few months ago as Derby County sat second in the league and looked odds-on for a return to the Premiership but the inexplicable curse of bad form at this time of the season returns as the Rams fall out of the playoff placings for the first time in over four months.
If Rowett is now taking full responsibility, maybe he isn’t the man to take Derby County forward. Is his team selection, tactics, formation to blame. Or is it the players, tiredness, lack of ambition or something else?
With investment in the club at an all-time high, what will be Rowett’s fate if the expectation isn’t reached and Derby fail to get into the top six places?
Worrying time are ahead down at Pride Park, will Mel’s chopping block come out yet again or will the young pretender get a chance to prove his worth?
