Rooney relishing challenge of Millwall trip
Perhaps the biggest positive about Argyle’s 5-0 defeat at Cardiff City on Saturday was that another game was about to soon loom on the horizon.
Four days after the reverse in South Wales, Argyle will swap the Welsh capital for England’s as a trip to South London to face Millwall takes place on Wednesday evening.
“We've got a good opportunity, against another difficult team away from home, to put that right,” said Head Coach Wayne Rooney.
“Saturday was a disappointing day for us; result-wise, performance-wise. It wasn't a great day for us at all. From our point of view, we have to move on from that game and not dwell on it. I'm going to the Millwall game with a lot of positives which we've had this season, and we’ll try to get back on track.
“You need to learn from it. Sometimes it's a good reminder as well. We've been doing really well, we've had some really good performances, but it's a reminder that we are where we are and we have to keep our focus every minute of every game. Otherwise, results like that will happen.”
More than 3,200 fans were in the away end at Cardiff, and around 1,400 are expected at The Den on Wednesday, as the Greens seek their first away win of the season.
“We're always motivated to try to win games,” said Rooney, “but we look at the fans and the away form - since I've been here and even before I was here – which hasn't been great. But the fans are still there. They're still behind the team, supporting the team. We know they're spending a lot of money. We know they're travelling a lot of miles to get behind the team. We just hope that hopefully, on Wednesday, we can give them something to enjoy the journey back afterwards.”
Millwall are one place and one point below Argyle in the Sky Bet Championship table, with ten points from ten games. They have two wins and four draws from those ten games and have drawn their last two.
Under manager Neil Harris, in his second stint in charge, Millwall pulled away from trouble at the foot of the table last season but find themselves 20th at this relatively early stage this time round.
“They're slightly different to what they have been like over the last few years,” said Rooney. “Maybe not as direct as they were, but they play with a lot of intensity. They try to run all over you and rely a lot on second balls.
“We know it's going to be a difficult game. The atmosphere there, if you allow the crowd to take part in the game, can be very hostile as well. From our point of view, we have to go with our game plan to try and get that right for this game on Wednesday.”
Argyle will be without Ibrahim Cissoko for the game, as the winger is suspended having been sent off at Cardiff. Rooney ran through a litany of options for who could step in for the missing Dutchman.
“It’s an opportunity for someone else to come in,” Rooney said. “We've got some good players, some good wide players: Freddie [Issaka], Tegan [Finn], Moose (Mustapha Bundu), Callum [Wright] can play there. Rami [Al Hajj] can play there if we need them to. We've got good options there.”
