Wayne Rooney's evolving Greens: How Argyle are changing under Rooney

We look at how Argyle are changing – and what could lie ahead

We’re six games into the Championship season and Wayne Rooney’s Argyle has been a work in progress. As part of my ongoing commitment to not doing match reports, I didn’t get stuck into post-Sunderland analysis, lest it be a re-run of Ian Foster’s Middlesbrough false dawn.

Performances are improving, though. And at this stage of the season, amid a tough run of games, it’s more important to see a cohesive style of play and an evolution of an identity. Must-win games will come along before long.

I watched the highlights of the West Brom game first, and it was fair to draw the conclusion that the Baggies were good for the win. Their four big chances to zero shone through.

But watching the full match replay, I was surprised – if not *shocked* – by the quality of Argyle’s play. Our use of the ball, play through the press, and attacking build were fantastic. As good as an Argyle team playing away from home as I’ve seen for a long time.

And we should also factor on that West Brom are an exceptional outfit at Championship level. Yes, they are currently top of the league. But that’s reductive at this stage of the season. Their centre-back pairing of Ajayi/Bartley have played together for 70 games and lost just nine. Their squad is studded with attacking class and have a quality manager. To play with that level of freedom away from is a huge testament to our set up and ideas.

But we still lost. We weren’t able to hurt the Baggies with our attacking weapons. There’s another fantastic analysis by Aaron Cusack on exactly why, and a mixture of a lack of clinical passing and off-the-ball movement is still selling Argyle short.

Argyle won the ever coveted ‘best team to play at the Hawthornes and will be fine this season’ award – and there’s a lot of heart to be taken from both the Sunderland and West Brom games.

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Quick one: the lads at Argyle Life have been nominated for Best Podcast (Football League) for the 2024 Football Content Awards. It’s a pretty big deal (my nomination for Best Badly Spelled Newsletter Fanzine 2024 [Football League] must have got lost).

Anyway, the Argyle Life lot are a smashing bunch, and have put A LOT of work into Green and White. Sometimes they even let me talk. Go chuck them a vote…it takes two seconds.

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Tactical evolution

The system under Rooney is still showing signs of flux. It’s clear Argyle are still tweaking their setup to get more from the squad.

The shape is still transforming. The 4-4-2 from the season is long gone. It became a 4-2-3-1, but now looks like a 4-3-3 or 4-5-1 when the wingers tuck in. But even that is simplistic, as we also build with a back three, increasingly utilising Grimshaw as an outfield player. So it’s a simple 3-5-3. Got that? Me neither.

But regardless, there’s more evidence that a midfield two is now becoming a three, with Randell/Forshaw/Gyabi playing closer together. I looked back at the Hull game where Bundu started as a #10/second striker, and struggle to affect the game. There’s a distinct shift.

Another evolution is how Argyle play through the press. Randell is now being used as the furthest midfielder back, covering the defence and also providing an out-ball for Grimshaw. Randell was impressive at the Hawthornes, playing on the half turn, even under pressure. I was crying out to be a position we signed in the summer, but it looks as if Randell can play that role well. His heat map showed he was all over the pitch.

Mumba’s role has also changed, and the way he inverts is fluid. Against the Baggies he inverted less, and made space for Forshaw to play higher. Forshaw was used as the most attacking midfielder, and he adeptly found pockets of space. You would assume that Al Hajj will slot into this position. I wouldn’t expect to see us return to 4-2-3-1 – as I assumed we would when he arrived on Deadline Day – but you wouldn’t rule it out.

I am planning a bigger piece about Gyabi, but for me, he’s one of the most important players. When he plays well, Argyle play well. His ability to win the ball back high, drive forward and create dangerous transitions is crucial, and was key to our win against Sunderland. He had a decent game against West Brom, but his heat map indicated he wasn’t nearly as influential as Randell or Forshaw.

Turning chances into big chances

But there’s little statistical evidence that the improvements so far are producing the outcomes we need: goals.

The adaptation to the 4-3-3 (or something loosely approaching it) is helping Whittaker get himself closer to goal. There were some grumbles about his performance following West Brom, and I can see why. A few attacks fizzled out with him losing the ball/wildly swinging from outside of the box.

My issue (stolen from the Aaron Cusack analysis) is that Whittaker/Cissoko didn’t test the Baggies’ back line enough off the ball. Having Al Hajj alongside Whittaker might also mean that Morgan picks the ball up in more dangerous positions, with defenders less set, more often than he does at present.

Many of our shots still come from outside of the box – which is borne out by the lower xG, and lack of big chances created. We still have failed to create a big chance in any game bar Sunderland.

But so far Rooney and the backroom team has shown that they are adept at not only adapting the style and tactics to this squad – but there’s evidence of coaching and improvement in the personnel too.

There’s also evidence of that in Rooney’s comments about Cissoko – positive comments, but also publicly stating that he wants more. That there are areas of his game to build on – and who better than Rooney to provide that coaching. Saying this in public is a deliberate man management point – but I hope that Rooney is also pushing other players in private. The shape and patterns of the team seem well-drilled at this point, the improvable points seem to be individual decision making.

The corners curse

Speaking of improvable points, I want to point you the way of some excellent work by The Argyle Analyst, who undertook an act of self-harm by watching back every corner taken by Argyle in recent years.

The results are available in his X.com thread – but the below screenshot should act as a teaser. In short, we are woeful at corners. We suck. This is one of the few areas we can look at a team such as Arsenal for inspiration, who have transformed themselves into set piece monsters. The Argyle Analyst points out that improving ourselves to be statistically average could yield a points gain of “c.5-12 additional points” from an added nine goals over a season.

The median point of that – 9 extra points – would have placed us 13th last term. A comfortable mid-table finish.

So one of the most obviously available improvements is still on the table.

Follow @ArgyleAnalyst here.

Summing up

In short, it seems like most fans, I am more than happy in the progression, style of play and performances under Rooney. My pre-season expectations have been exceeded in this regard, especially after the Hillsborough horror show.

It’s reasonable to expect a continued improvement in individual performances, team cohesion, and the addition of Rami Al Hajj – the ceiling of what we could achieve excites me. But, of course, we still need to translate these performances into goals. We’re sitting at the wrong end of the table, amid a terrible run of fixtures.

Putting Luton to the sword at Home Park would be a huge statement.

Another spirited defeat would only highlight a lack of progress in overcoming our shortcomings.