5 things I learned about WazBall at Bristol Rovers

I drove seven hours to watch Rooney's Argyle in action so you don't have to

Welcome to One Team in Devon – and something that will be the closest you’ll find to a match report in this newsletter.

I drove a round trip of seven hours to attend Argyle’s pre-season friendly against Bristol Rovers. Why? Well, it wasn’t for the result, and the 2-1 loss probably offered a fairer assessment of where we are than trouncing Cheltenham or a stop-start against Torquay.

And that’s what I was there for. With limited streaming of games, I didn’t feel I had a handle on what Argyle would look like under Rooney. What exactly is Wazball?

So I went to find out for myself. Here’s what I learned.

If you have questions about the game, feel free to ask in the comments.

1. It’s a loss but there’s no need for panic

We shouldn’t sugar-coat a loss against inferior opposition – and Argyle were disjointed across the park on Tuesday night.

But despite a worrying lack of cohesion playing out against a competent press, they still managed to create a hatful of excellent chances. We had two 1v1s (spurned by Bundu and Hardie), forced two excellent saves, and Cissoko rattled the crossbar with a dipping, swerving Exocet.

But while our attacking was fluid at times, playing out from defence in the first half was poor. Rovers will be far from the most effective pressing unit we’ll face this season, but they had Argyle’s number. And they pressed us into a series of haphazard errors, one leading to the first goal.

The second was another piece of serious disorganisation which ended up with four players around the ball on the right flank, still allowed the cross, with a 2v2 in the box converted.

Those watching the highlights might not appreciate that most of Argyle’s good play was in the first 20 and last 10, and it was a slog for the rest of the time. It’s hard to emphasise how little intensity was in the game during that period.

But while much of the second half meandered, they did correct some of the issues playing out after the break.

2. Wazball is a fluid 4-4-2

You can see here Ogbeta inverting to a high and central position as we play out to form a front five

I was keen to get a look at how Rooney would set Argyle up – after all, much of his extensive pre-Argyle podcasts and interviews talked about an attacking philosophy. But reports from the other pre-season games talk about a 4-4-2. So what gives?

Out of possession, Argyle did line up in a 4-4-2 shape – which switched to a 4-2-3-1 when Wright came on.

But the LB – in this case Ogbeta – routinely inverts, so a lot of the time it can appear as a back three. Forshaw would often rotate with Ogbeta so that he could foray forward.

And I was surprised at how high and central Ogbeta played after he inverted. I was expecting him to pick up wider positions with Cissoko, but that wasn’t usually the case.

That meant, at times, Argyle formed into a front five – with Cissoko, a front two of Bundu and Tijani, joined by Whittaker and Ogbeta. That tallies with Rooney comments that his teams would shape into a 2-3-5 in attack (see above).

There are a few things to note about this shape. Having Whittaker and the silky Cissoko creates an excellent balance for the team with threats on either side, which makes Argyle a different beast from last season.

And Argyle’s new-found physicality also caused Rovers problems.

3. Argyle are massive. Literally

The added size of Tijani, playing with Bundu, Cissoko and Whittaker adds a whole new dimension, both for set pieces and for keeping defenders occupied and creating space for the wide men.

Rooney seems to like the idea of two big strikers, being hit with crosses, and Argyle were keen to get the ball into the box. Quality was lacking on the day, but it was easy to see how we scored five goals against Cheltenham.

4. Square pegs in round holes… for now

Rooney getting off the bus at The Memorial Ground

At Rovers, Argyle were short of several key players, including Gyabi and Randell, who could be first-choice CMs. Edwards is also out, so Victor Pálsson played at right back, presumably to get minutes. He impressed me early on with some good positioning, mopping up a chaotic Rovers break after winning the ball back (again) in the press.

But he didn’t feel like a natural RB. I felt his inclusion stunted Whittaker playing a RM/RW role, because Pálsson was less likely to overlap, and simply played the ball into Whittaker’s feet, leaving him to manufacture and out ball through the Rovers press. I’m sure Whittaker will relish having a more attack-minded player in that position.

Ogbeta also played most of the second half in the midfield two, after swapping with Forshaw – with Bali Mumba placed into LB. There didn’t seem to be too much to pick between Ogbeta and Mumba in that role – but Bali did bring energy in carrying the ball out when the game felt stale.

5. Rooney is all-in on Cooper

It was curious that only Cooper got minutes against Rovers – a bold decision with his future uncertain. I’m not fully sure what to make of it, because even without the chance of Cooper leaving (something Rooney says won’t happen before the first day of the season) you would presume Hazard would need time to adjust to the new style.

It’s fair to say Cooper didn’t have the best game against Rovers – at all.

And it wasn’t just the error for the goal. His kicking was awful. Everyone has bad days, and this is a meaningless game, so I’m not going to get sucked into speculation over his focus.

As a top ‘keeper, we know he will be on top form when it’s required – but it’s quite a statement from Rooney.