Wayne Rooney: Derby County boss urges his team to revert to being 'horrible'

Wayne Rooney's Derby have taken 17 points from their 16 games - three wins and eight draws - and their 15 goals conceded is the fourth best in the division

Derby County boss Wayne Rooney has urged his team to be "horrible" as they try to escape from the foot of the Championship table.

The Rams have been bottom since a 12-point deduction was imposed when the club went into administration.

Victory at Barnsley on Wednesday would have lifted them above their opponents, but instead they went down 2-1.

"The last three games, for large portions of them, we haven't been good enough," Rooney told BBC Radio Derby.

"We have to get back to being horrible, hard to play against. We pride ourselves on energy, aggression and it wasn't there [against Barnsley]."

Derby have lost two in a row after a run of five games without defeat - although four of those ended in draws.

"There's a reason the fans are behind the players and that's because they are seeing players running, working hard, battling, playing with aggression, and we can't afford to go away from that. That's the minimum we need as a team," said Rooney.

"We are going through a little bit of a bad period but we have to get back to being aggressive and playing with energy because if the players thought we're better than we are, they certainly know now that we're in a relegation battle, a fight to stay in the division and we need more."

Rooney's team are away to Millwall on Saturday and then their first two games following the international break are against Bournemouth and Fulham, the current top two.