Rooney previews Home Park Middlesbrough test
As the song (nearly) goes, it’s beginning to look a lot like the Busy Festive Period, as we are obliged to refer to it.
Argyle take on Middlesbrough at Home Park on Saturday, heralding the onset of five games in 15 days, with trips to Coventry City on Boxing Day and Oxford United on 29 December, before a New Year’s Day return to the Theatre of Greens precedes a 4 January game away to Stoke City.
It is hard, though, to define the form in which Argyle come into the quintet of fixtures. Nominally, it is easy – the Greens have lost four in a row, which is happy optimal, but after the nadir of hammerings against Norwich City and Bristol City on the road came a narrow defeat at home to Swansea, and then a performance against league leaders Sheffield United that belied Argyle’s lowly position in the Sky Bet Championship.
Head Coach Wayne Rooney is not defining the Sheffield United game as a success – after all, the Pilgrims did lose the game 2-0 – but he recognises, as does anyone who saw the game, that should Argyle play to that standard that ran arguably the best team in the division very close, then an end to the barren run of points could be nearing an end.
“I really enjoy the Christmas period of games,” Rooney told Argyle TV. “As a player, you’re playing, you're training, recovery, playing. You're playing every few days and if you can build momentum and be consistent in this period then, your whole outlook of where you're at looks a lot different.
“It's an important part of the season for all clubs. For us, we've got tough games, we know that. It’s Middlesbrough, then two tough away games, Bristol City at home, Stoke away. It's a really busy period of tough games but we have to go in there with a belief that we can pick up some really good results.
“I think there were a lot of positives from the last game. The result wasn’t what we wanted, but it was certainly a lot better than the previous game [against Swansea].
“Swansea was an improvement on the previous two games, and I think Sheffield United was an improvement on Swansea, but we need that result. It'd be great if we can get the performance and also the right result.
“A lot of the stuff we did against Sheffield United was really good in terms of taking the ball away from them, building out from the back. Where we have to improve, and where the focus this week has been, is on scoring goals.
“We got into some really good positions, got a lot of final third entries, but we weren't clinical enough. We've worked extremely hard this week on doing that, so hopefully that helps the players going into the game.”
Scoring goals has come rather easily to Middlesbrough this season. They have scored 35 times from their 21 games – by contrast, Argyle have scored 19 – and the visitors a spell in November where they won consecutive games 4-1, 5-1 and 6-2.
With the likes of forwards Tommy Conway and Emmanuel Latte Lath being supplied by former Pilgrims loanee Finn Azaz, Boro sit sixth and will naturally carry a threat as they arrive at Home Park. Rooney, though, believes his team are up to the task.
“Middlesbrough are a different team to Sheffield United,” Rooney said. “Different style of play, different way of pressing, different way of playing out from the back. It's a different challenge, but I think what we have to do is be consistent in in what we're doing in our performance.
“The more we can do that, the better chance we give ourselves of winning. We're gradually getting players back into fitness, so that will certainly help us moving forward.
“We’ve analysed Middlesbrough, they're a good team, and they've got some really dangerous individual players, along with some good patterns of play. We certainly will have to be at our best to win.
“I think they're the third highest goalscorers in the league, but they have conceded goals as well. They have been a bit more consistent over the last few weeks. In the early part of the season, they were a bit inconsistent with results.
“We know if we play at our best, we can cause some problems, so we have to go into there with confidence, build on the performance last week and try to add that extra bit in the final third to help us create more, and score more goals. If we do that, then we give ourselves the best chance.”