Plymouth booed off after defeat to Swansea; Wayne Rooney criticises his side’s “naive” defending

Plymouth ended up being booed off after their 2-1 defeat to Swansea; Wayne Rooney criticises his side’s “naive” defending.

Swansea, who had just two shots on target in the game, saw Jay Fulton and Liam Cullen do enough to inflict a third successive loss on Argyle.

The result means that Rooney’s side have now picked up just one win in their previous 10 games and have slipped to second from bottom in the Championship.

“The goals we conceded were naive to say the least, and that was really disappointing from our point of view,” Rooney said to BBC Radio Devon.

“I think there were positives within the game – certainly an improvement on the last two games – but ultimately tonight was about the result and we fell short.”

The likes of Ibrahim Cissoko, Morgan Whittaker and Muhamed Tijani are out injured until early 2025, as is captain Joe Edwards.

However, Rooney adds that the players available to him have to find resilience to stay in games.

“We know we’re going through a difficult moment at the minute,” he said.

“Sometimes when you are going through a difficult moment those small things become big things and seem to go against you, and certainly they have tonight.

“We have to fight through it. We’re gradually getting players back, which is key for us.

“We’re probably missing our front three still, missing our captain until the new year – that’s a big loss and any team would feel it in this league, the quality of players we’re missing.

“But it’s the lads who have come in – it’s a squad game. We have to do better – we have to find a way to show more resilience.

“I know we’ve 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’ve got a really tough game on Saturday, then a really tough fixture list over Christmas.

“We need to find a way to find that resilience and dig in and stay in games more than what we are doing.”

Plymouth’s Wayne Rooney, per Sky Sports: “I am frustrated and disappointed.

“I felt we were the better team in the first half and after the first 10 minutes we played some good football.

“Then we get hit by a sucker punch, the goal.

“Second half they put us on the back foot. For their second goal we had three players around the ball but don’t stop the cross coming in.

“When we got the goal back there was some momentum there and we looked as though we might go on and score (again).

“We tried to cause problems for them, we kept pushing and trying to get something out of the game. We can’t really keep relying on getting late goals.

“I thought we did well to nullify (Matt) Grimes who is their main threat, because he’s a really good player.

“We know we are conceding too many goals – a lack of concentration and a bit of naivety has cost us.

“The first goal coming just before half-time makes it difficult for us. Going two down makes it really difficult for us.

“Once you get that first goal you have something to hold on to.

“There’s no denying we know we are going through a difficult time. We are without four key players but tonight was an improvement on the last two results.”

Swansea’s Luke Williams: “We are still a work in progress and we can see we are creating better chances as we go on.

“We made some good openings in the game. I just think it ebbed and flowed and we lost control a few times and we had to show another side to our game.

“We had to be tough at times. Of course the last 15 minutes is really tough, like a basketball match. I think overall we deserved the victory.

“We created some really good openings early on which didn’t amount to a chance, as well as a few good chances, but you don’t deserve it if you don’t take those chances when they come.

“We stuttered a bit and we lost a bit of control. Over the 90 minutes I thought we were just about value for victory.

“It was a really good delivery from Josh Tymon for the first goal, it was ferocious, really difficult to deal with and that’s why it pops out for Jay Fulton and he was so calm.

“You could snatch at this one so easily or you could hit bodies that are in the way but he tucked it away really calmly.

“It was really good wide play from Myles Peart-Harris for the second because he delivers it brilliantly well and Liam Cullen can play like a 10 or an out-and-out nine, which is really fortunate for me, and he finished like a proper nine.”

Twitter users reacted with Plymouth booed off after defeat to Swansea; and Wayne Rooney criticises his side’s “naive” defending…

@leondfSBT: As long as you keep blaming the players , the worse you’re going to be off before the management change happens. A good manager can make half decent players into a team and stand a chance of survival through a game plan.

@194Royc: 1-2, 90th minute, Rooney sat in the dug out hands in pockets, he should be on the side line shouting directions, urgings players on.

@PAFCRyan: 2-12 in 3 games btw with Sheffield United away up next but hey atleast Brickfields got it’s £45k name change…

@argylesth:
Callum Wright and Darko could not have done anymore tonight. Well done lads.
Rooneys contribution is to take a sip of water every few minutes.

@LeModFootball: Give it Reverend Richard Coles till the end of the season

@91Ziad: Blame Rooney ,the previous manager and the next manager and turn a blind eye to the terrible players we have ? Squad is barely top 5 league 1 level. If the club don’t strengthen in Jan nothing is going to magically happen . At least Rooney has connections and can lure a few names

@robertsmith39: We’ve had it unfortunately. Mid table League One next season at best. Maybe that’s our level. Every Championship match feels like we’re trying to pull off a giant killing.

@StevieWotsa: We will hit rock bottom before we make any improvements. The problem is will these improvements come January be enough for the 2nd half of the season the transfer targets and the money invested will make or break the season. Biggest test for Simon and co yet. #pafc

@N_Macca74: Rooney just isn’t cut out for a championship club as manager, his level is around L2 or possibly Scottish football.

@loucey83: Worse than under foster.

@lwestlake7: A change will not make a difference, wright and gray played well, half the squad start playing when we it’s to late, to many hide away! Defensively we should NOT concede from those two poor crosses into the box it, it’s POOR! We lack quality in the squad, league one standard!

@JoeRendle: 2 points from 5 games, 15 goals conceded. It’s time for a change. Unfortunately as we scored a goal tonight that’ll keep him in the job for another 3 games at least

@TomRenshaw1: A witless novelty act in the dugout instead of a capable, modern day coach. Hope the potential investors are impressed. 💸

@HarryClifton2: Simply the squad is not good enough, we all knew it the beginning of the season, we were set up to fail from the start. So many players stealing a wage, only positive is I think callum wright will be very good for us in league one next year.

@homeslice68: The formation was baffling. The players were disinterested and the worst of it was, Swansea were bang average.

@Bradderz18_: Honest opinion, where do Plymouth think they should be. I’ve seen a few games at home and Rooney plays a good style of football. When you consider both Cissokho and Whittaker are out then he’s got his hands tied. The grass isn’t always greener. I’d stick with the process!

@gtbassett1995: Hard to see where the points are going to come from. Bleak

@PilgrimCas1437: Don’t panic we’ve only got Sheff Utd away on Saturday 🫠

@IanWhite_PAFC: Absolutely awful, Rooney is getting nothing out of these players, I’m resigned to relegation. Second best in every aspect of the game, b look at the fixtures we got coming up

@jh22266: Horrific managerial appointment and terrible summer transfer business. The board/Dewsnip have a lot to answer for.

@HackerByName: Post match interview – erm, erm, unacceptable, erm, erm, erm.

@RhysEvans0123: Do the right thing and go Rooney. Management isn’t for everyone