Rooney reacts to Sheffield United defeat
Although Argyle came away from Sheffield United with a defeat, there was some cause for optimism despite the 2-0 scoreline.
The Blades scored via Gustavo Hamer just before the 20-minute mark and finally put the game to bed with a Kieffer Moore penalty deep into the contest.
And a contest it truly was. Argyle had plenty of the ball, had chances to equalise, and had the Bramall Lane crowd frustrated on more than one occasion. Sheffield United, who started the weekend top of the Sky Bet Championship, and strengthened their position with this win, may well have expected beating 23rd-placed Plymouth Argyle to be lighter work than they made it.
That said, Argyle Head Coach Wayne Rooney was rightly pragmatic about the afternoon’s action, given that although his side played very admirably, they ultimately lost and had to head home with no points.
“I’m pleased with the performance, and obviously disappointed with the result,” he said, in summary.
“It was a much better performance. I think we came here with the mindset of, firstly, trying to take the ball away from Sheffield United, which we've done, and then secondly, we felt we could get something out of the game.
“I know that might sound a bit crazy after the last few results, but [although] Sheffield United are a good team, and they're an efficient team, we went more with a positive mindset. We got attacking players on the pitch and took the ball away from them.
“We had some good chances. On another day we take them, and then it's a different story.
“I think the reaction [to going 1-0 down] was really good actually. It's everything we've been talking about over the last couple of weeks.
“We still need to improve on the details. There are things we can improve on, in particular: the details of your pass, what foot to pass it to, how you cross the ball. Little things like that, we need to work on and improve.
“It’s something we're really drilling into the players, and trying to get better, because I think if we get the details right on some of the attacking phases we have, we will cause more problems.
“I thought our overall play, having confidence to take the ball from Grimmy (goalkeeper Daniel Grimshaw), right the way through the pitch, was good. I thought our press was good, it caused them problems and forced them to go direct a lot of the time.
“They're unbeaten here. They haven't conceded a goal here all season, and we caused them big problems. We should have scored here today; there's lots of positives for us to look at.”
Argyle have a week without a game, then are back in action with a home game against Middlesbrough which in essence kicks off the festive fixtures, with five games falling between 21 December and 4 January.
As well as discussing how he will manage his squad over the Christmas period, Rooney gave a nod to over 1,100 traveling fans at Bramall Lane, who reacted positively at the final whistle, recognising the effort put in by their men in green.
“For us now, we have to keep working,” said Rooney, “not just on the details and how we want to play, but Christmas is a time when there's a lot of games, and sometimes you neglect the training sessions. We have to keep working, keep pushing the players to try to get fitter.
“The demand on them, what we're asking them to do, is very high. Everyone has to be available; everyone has to be ready to play because of course we need to utilise the squad over this period.
“The support the fans have given us has been excellent. In two or three of the away games, rightly so, [they have given] the players and me [some stick]. We’ve deserved some stick for performances, but I think today they showed [appreciation].
“I think it's important for the players to see that as well, even though we've lost the game, they've seen the effort the players put in, they've seen us trying to do the right things.
“We're always grateful. We know how much money they spend, the travelling they do, especially just before Christmas. I thought the support was excellent.”
