Wayne Rooney admitted he was ‘really disappointed’ with the way Plymouth Argyle conceded both goals in their 2-1 defeat by Swansea City at Home Park.
Rooney stated the Pilgrims had been working in training at getting better at stopping crosses and defending their own penalty area but he felt they did not do that well enough against Swansea, whose only two shots on target during the game resulted in goals.
Jay Fulton put the Welsh side ahead on the stroke of half-time and Liam Cullen doubled their advantage on the hour mark before Mustapha Bundu replied for the home side in the 79th minute. Argyle dropped one position to 23rd in the Championship after just their second home defeat of the season and are two points above bottom-of-the-table Hull City, who host Watford tonight.
Rooney said: “I felt first half we were the better team. After maybe 10 minutes, we played some really good stuff actually, had a few chances, a few half chances, and didn’t take them.
“Then we get hit with a sucker punch of them scoring just before half-time, which was really disappointing because a lot of the stuff we have been working on over the last 10 days is getting to the ball, stopping crosses and blocking shots. We allow the cross to come into the box too easy, we don’t deal with it well enough, a poor clearance and they score. That obviously makes it more difficult.
“Swansea are a good team, we know that, and second half they started well and put us on the back foot. Then, again, I think we had three players around the ball for their second goal and we don’t stop the cross and then we don’t defend the box well enough.
“Other than that I don’t think Swansea had any real chances after that. The goals we conceded were naive to say the least so that was really disappointing from our point of view.
“From there, we get a little bit of momentum back. We get a goal back and then push for the equaliser but just can’t get it. I think there was positives within the game, certainly an improvement on the last two games, but ultimately tonight was about the result and we fell short on that.”
Argyle have had a habit of scoring goals in added time at the end of home matches this term, either turning draws into wins or defeats into draws, but despite Bundu’s 79th minute goal giving them hope of repeating that, this time they could not do it.
Rooney said: “We were putting the ball in the box and trying to cause problems for Swansea, and we just couldn’t quite get that clear chance at goal. The players kept pushing, they kept trying to get the equaliser but we can’t keep relying on late goals.”
One of the positives that Rooney took from the match was the way he thought Argyle dealt with Swansea skipper and influential midfielder Matt Grimes.
Rooney said: “I thought we coped really well with Grimes. He’s the key player for Swansea and we really nullified his moments on the ball. The big thing for us was stopping the crosses, which we didn’t twice and we get punished for it.”
The Pilgrims’ boss also highlighted the hard-working display of Callum Wright in what turned out to be a losing cause. “I thought Callum did a really good job helping out from a defensive point of view, and from an attacking point of view he got into some really good areas,” he said.
Argyle have won just one of their last 10 Championship matches and that was the only time they have not conceded the first goal in a game as they beat Portsmouth 1-0 at home.
Rooney said: “It’s like Swansea tonight, getting the first goal gives them something to hold onto. I felt if we didn’t concede, in the last 15-20 minutes we could really push Swansea, who had a difficult game on Saturday away from home.
“Once you give up that first goal it gives them something to hold onto and they get a bit more energy from that. I think we had a couple of good half chances first half and just couldn’t get that goal. Once we found ourselves on the back foot it was always going to be more difficult.”
Rooney added: “There is no denying, we know we are going through a difficult moment, and sometimes when you are going through a difficult moment them small things become big things and seem to go against you, and certainly they have tonight.
“We have to fight through it. We are gradually getting players back (from injury), which is key for us. We are probably missing our front three still, and missing our captain until the new year.
“All four of them, that’s a big loss and any team would feel that in this league, missing the quality of players we are missing, but it’s a squad game. We have to do better. We have to show a bit more resilience.
“I know we have got a lot of young players in there as well but we have to become men very quickly because it doesn’t get any easier. We have got a really tough game Saturday (away to Sheffield United) and then a really tough fixture list over Christmas. We need to find that resilience, and dig in and stay in games more than what we are doing.”
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