3 hours ago
4 ARTICLE AD
Wayne Rooney has warned his Plymouth Argyle players they face a tough time after their embarrassing 6-1 defeat to Norwich City.
The Manchester United legend suffered his biggest defeat as Argyle head coach as his side continue to struggle in the Championship this season.
2
And they now currently hover above the Championship relegation zone in 20th place following three matches without a win.
“Disappointed, frustrated, I think this season I’ve seen a lot of positives from us and tonight was nowhere near good enough,” said Rooney in an exclusive post-match interview with talkSPORT.
He continued: “We had it at Sheffield Wednesday and Cardiff when we go a goal or two goals down, I think that’s where you have to show that inner fight and that inner pride to not concede more and hopefully try and get something from the game but all the basics in the game tonight were not there and we were nowhere near good enough so I’m not happy."
And in another interview he added: "I could probably put the Under-18 team out there and they wouldn't concede six goals, so I'm very disappointed, angry, frustrated and the next 24-48 hours are not going to be very nice for the players, but we need to get to the bottom of why this is happening."
Asked how they turn it around, he told talkSPORT: “We have to keep working and I think tonight’s result is certainly not something I can brush over and overlook and move on from.
“You know the next 24, 48 hours we’ll have to really address it and iron it out with the players and then obviously make sure we get ready and prepare for Saturday. So yeah it’s not going to be a nice 24, 48 hours but we have to do it.”
They next travel to Ashton Gate to face Bristol City, a team they lost twice to last campaign.
When asked to send a message to the 461 travelling fans Rooney replied: “Tonight was nowhere near good enough and I feel for them tonight because it’s a proud club and all the fans are really proud of the football club as we all are but yeah that was nowhere near good enough.
“We hope and keep working and keep trying to improve. Hopefully we can turn it around and give them some better results away from home.”
At Carrow Road, Argyle got off to an awful start, conceding in the second minute via Borja Sainz who scored his second goal 15 minutes later, slotting past Daniel Grimshaw after a defence splitting run was picked out by Emiliano Marcondes.
2
Plymouth star Mustapha Bundu was next on the scoresheet after 39 minutes but that was all the away side could manage that evening.
Sainz would complete his hat-trick in the second half to stretch his lead as the league’s top scorer to four, with 14 in total.
Shane Duffy, Anis Ben Slimane and Ante Crnac also netted to end Norwich’s seven game winless streak.
But their joy is set to lead to a troubling time for Rooney's Pilgrims.
Argyle fans will hope not to have a repeat of the season prior when they escaped relegation on the final match of the season, beating MK Dons 1-0, to finish one point above Birmingham City.
Meanwhile, Rooney himself is keen to avoid another disappointing managerial tenure after a less than impressive spell with Birmingham last season where he was sacked after a run of two wins in 15.
That spell was hard for the Blues to come back from and heavily contributed to their relegation.
