Rooney reacts to Wednesday defeat
Asked what he made of his first competitive fixture in charge of Argyle, Head Coach Wayne Rooney proffered four adjectives.
“Angry, upset, disappointed and, I think, surprised,” he said.
Little wonder. Argyle’s opening game of the 2024/25 season, away at Sheffield Wednesday, ended in a 4-0 scoreline which the Pilgrims could scarcely complain about.
Jamal Lowe opened the scoring for the Owls in the first half, then forced an own goal from Brendan Galloway to make it two. Josh Windass and Michael Smith added goals in the closing stages to round matters off, to send a seriously below-par Argyle home with nothing from their season opener.
“Given the work we've been doing in the pre-season, I'm a little bit surprised by today's performance, I think,” said Rooney.
“We didn’t do the basics of the game well today. That's running, playing with aggression, tackling, getting to the ball, staying with runners, defending crosses. Everything we spoke about before the game, which we felt we had to do today to make sure we could try and get a result, wasn't there.
“We expected the start of the game to be the way it was. We know the atmosphere is really good here. I felt if we could get through the first 20 minutes, we could then grow into the game. We got through the first 20 minutes and then we had a couple of openings, but I thought we were sloppy with the ball.
“We weren't brave enough to take the ball in tight areas. Sheffield Wednesday pressed us well and we didn't deal with that well enough. From our point of view the goals we conceded were [soft]. We knew what Sheffield Wednesday's threat is; they were first in the league last year from crossed goals and cutbacks. We didn't defend them well enough - and we’ve worked on that, so I'm really disappointed with them.
“We got a couple of chances towards the end, switching the play and creating one-v-one situations, but we didn't do that well enough [in the game]. We didn't hold on to the ball well enough to actually make our shape and get into our shape, how we want to go and attack moving forward.”
There are two opportunities for Argyle to bounce back this week, both at Home Park. The Greens meet Cheltenham Town in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday night, before playing Hull City in the Sky Bet Championship three days later.
“We have to try and move on,” said Rooney. “We'll go through this game tomorrow with the players and iron everything out, because it was nowhere near good enough, and prepare them for Wednesday.
“It’s my first competitive game at the club and you don't want it to end the way it has today.
“[Wednesday’s game is a chance] for players to show me they deserve to play because I think quite a few players today were nowhere near good enough and nowhere near at the level they can be. I've said to the players in there, you can lose games of football - that happens - but I never want to be coming in again, like today's game, saying that I felt that we weren't getting to the ball, we weren't tackling, we weren't picking up second balls.
“That's the basics of the game. That's what you have to do in every game, and then it allows you to then use your quality - that wasn't there today. It's not acceptable from that point of view.
“The players have an opportunity now. There will be some changes on Wednesday for the game. The players who come into the team, or the players who play on Wednesday, they’ve got an opportunity to show that they deserve to start the next game after Wednesday.”
