Wayne Rooney said he was ‘angry’ and ‘disappointed’ following Plymouth’s thumping 4-0 defeat at the hands of Sheffield United and admitted the ugly-looking scoreline was thoroughly ‘deserved’.
Rooney, 38, was confirmed as Plymouth’s new head coach back in May, with the legendary ex-Manchester United and England captain succeeding Ian Foster in the hot seat at Home Park.
The appointment raised eyebrows given Rooney’s previous managerial stint in charge of Birmingham City lasted just 15 games, with the club slipping from sixth to 20th in the Championship table.
On his return to England’s second tier, there was yet more misery for Rooney, who said he was excited for a fresh challenge in the build-up – but cut a frustrated figure in the dugout for the most part at Hillsborough.
Jamal Lowe gave Sheffield Wednesday the lead shortly before half-time and a calamitous own goal from Brendan Galloway doubled the hosts’ advantage in the 52 minute.
Josh Windass and Michael Smith both got on the scoresheet in the closing stages as Rooney’s afternoon went from bad to worse, with the defeat ensuring Plymouth sit rock bottom of the table after just one game.
The Pilgrims will be desperate for major improvements when they entertain Cheltenham in the first round of the Carabao Cup on Wednesday night. They return to league action at home to Hull City just four days later.
‘I think the scoreline was deserved,’ Rooney told Sky Sports shortly after the final whistle.
‘I think, from my point of view, the really disappointing thing was the basics of winning duels, second balls, stopping crosses. I think it was four goals from four crosses so the basics of the game were not there so that’s really disappointing for me.
‘As a team, we didn’t play with the confidence which we’ve shown in the last few weeks. We didn’t take the ball well enough, we didn’t handle the crowd early on enough and allowed Sheffield Wednesday to get a foothold in the game.
‘Towards the end of the game, we let the game run out and conceded two more goals. I’m really disappointed and angry because that’s not the performance that I wanted to see.’
Rooney felt Barry Bannan ‘ran the game’ for Sheffield Wednesday, with his Plymouth side found wanting in multiple areas of their lacklustre performance.
‘Everything we spoke to the team about today, which we felt Sheffield Wednesday threats were, was crosses into the box, cutbacks, and Barry Bannan – trying to stop him getting on the ball,’ Rooney added.
‘I think Barry Bannan ran the game, we didn’t close enough to him, we weren’t aggressive enough, we didn’t win our tackles, we didn’t pick up second balls.
‘It’s something to really look at moving forward because that’s satisfactory performance.’
Rooney suggested his players had let down their travelling support and they would be doing everything in their power to ‘make sure that doesn’t happen again’ going forward.
‘Players have to earn the right to play on the pitch, whether that’s a new player coming into the club or a player who has been here for a long time,’ he continued.
‘You have to earn the right to play and, of course, you can lose football games, that happens, but there’s a way in which you want to see your players run. You want to see them work, you want to see them tackle.
‘We had a lot of fans travel down here today, a long way, and the performance we gave them wasn’t good enough so, from our point of view, it’s very disappointing and we have to make sure that doesn’t happen again.’
The former Three Lions skipper went on: ‘The team and the team didn’t play well enough so that was really disappointing.
‘Obviously we’ve got a chance on Wednesday night to try and put that to bed but I’m really disappointed and surprised by today’s performance.’
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