Rooney reacts to Hull draw
As Argyle drew 1-1 with Hull City at Home Park on Saturday, Wayne Rooney expressed pleasure with the reaction from his players compared to their last Sky Bet Championship outing – but still wants a bit more from his side.
After being second best in their opening weekend loss at Sheffield Wednesday six days prior, a much-improved Argyle showed aggression and snap in challenges, pressing Hull early and creating numerous chances, especially from high turnovers.
They took one of them – from Ibrahim Cissoko, on 52 minutes – but could not add to the tally, and just over ten minutes later Hull drew level, via a good strike by Lewie Coyle.
The game finished level – a result Rooney found it hard to quarrel too much with, but he cut the kind of figure that probably feels like his side missed a good chance to get their first victory of the season.
“I think it was a lot more encouraging – obviously - than last week's game,” he told Argyle TV.
“We played with good energy in getting to the ball. I’m a little bit disappointed with not being clinical enough. I think we created enough good enough chances.
“We knew the way that Hull play; it's really different to any other team in the league, the way they try and build up from the back. They have a lot of rotation with the back players and a big part of our game plan was to try to win the ball back high, then take advantage.
“We did it, especially early on. We got into some really good positions, but I just felt we rushed it a little bit.
“I was disappointed to concede, but it's a great strike by the lad.
“There are details to the goal, which we’ll sit down [and discuss], where we can be better in terms of stopping them getting into that position. The strike's a great strike; you can't do anything about that, but there are details before that, which we'll look at.
“I thought the lads gave everything today, that was the most pleasing thing. After last week, I think they showed the commitment and energy - they wanted to win. We tried to win the game, created by far the better chances, and unfortunately it wasn't to be. We’ll do a bit more work on the training pitch, with our finishing, trying to improve that.”
Although more than 12,000 supporters were inside Home Park for a midweek win over Cheltenham Town in the Carabao Cup, the Hull game was Argyle’s first league game at home this season, and a first league fixture for Rooney as Argyle boss. He had some words of backing for the fans’ support at the close of play.
“The fans were great, [it was a] really good atmosphere,” he said. “They got behind the team right from the start. The moments we need to capitalise on are when the crowds are right behind the team. We're putting them under pressure, we're winning the ball back high - if you score in those moments, I think it becomes a very difficult game for Hull.
“We didn't score, we went in at half-time, regrouped and took the lead, unfortunately we couldn't hold on to it.
“I thought the fans were excellent today, again; they gave me a great reception, which I'm grateful for. Hopefully we can keep picking up points over the next few weeks.”
