Hatters boss impressed with how Pilgrims are shaping up under Wayne Rooney
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Luton chief Rob Edwards has been impressed by the way in which former Manchester United and England legend Wayne Rooney has begun his start to life as Plymouth Argyle boss.
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Hide AdThe 38-year-old has been unable to mirror the glittering career that he had as a player, scoring 53 goals for his country and winning a whole host of trophies, including five Premier League titles, plus the Champions League as well, during spells at Derby County and DC United. He then had a disastrous time when appointed Birmingham City boss in October of last year, winning just two, drawing four and losing nine of his 15 matches, sacked in January as the Blues could never fully recover, eventually relegated to League One.
Despite that, Rooney was given another chance when named as Pilgrims manager in May, where it has once again been a difficult start to the campaign results-wise for Argyle, who were beaten 4-0 by Sheffield Wednesday on the opening day of the season. They did see off Cheltenham in the Carabao Cup and drew 1-1 with both Hull and QPR, before exiting the cup to Watford, also losing 1-0 at home to Stoke City.
Plymouth rallied with an impressive and unexpected 3-2 victory over then leaders Sunderland, but were beaten 1-0 by West Bromwich Albion last time out, as they sit 20th in the table on five points. Discussing the impact that Rooney has made, Edwards said: “Their performances have been good, they’re certainly growing in confidence under a new manager and the way they’ve been asked to play now. They’ve got some really good threats on that top line, some tricky customers with some pace and there’s a real clarity in how they play. I like a lot of what they're doing, so it will be a difficult game, another one.”
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Hide AdEven though the former Everton starlet has only spent a brief in charge of the club, eight matches in all competitions, Edwards believes that is enough to get a handle on just how the hosts will look to set up, as he continued: “I think it’s pretty easy, there’s a decent chunk of games there now that we can watch and look at and see what they’re trying to do, key players and trends.
"The more tricky one is when there’s a change in manager and you've got that week, that becomes a little bit trickier as there could be some bigger changes. But there’s a nice chunk of games there to be able to watch and see what Plymouth are trying to do.”
Although struggling for goals so far, scoring just four themselves, the Pilgrims do have their threats though on-loan Burnley forward Michael Obafemi and talented midfielder Morgan Whittaker, a £1m signing from Swansea City. Edwards added: “Those two, Obafemi if he plays, (Ryan) Hardie’s really good and sharp and off the shoulder as well. (Ibrahim) Sissoko’s a tricky winger who can go both ways, likes to come inside, but they've got some big threats on that top line. The way they build, to try and control the game as well is good, you can see a lot of what they're trying to do.”
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