Wayne Rooney criticised Callum Wright for 'a stupid tackle' which led to his dismissal late in Plymouth Argyle's dismal 4-0 Boxing Day defeat away to Coventry City.

What had already turned out to be a miserable match for the bottom-of-the-table Pilgrims was made even worse when Wright, who was a first half substitute for the injured Mustapha Bundu, was sent-off in the 87th minute for a scything challenge on Coventry defender Joel Latibeaudiere.

With Argyle already having a lengthy injury list, the last thing they needed was Wright to be sent-off and he will have to serve a three-match suspension, which begins away to Oxford United on Sunday. He will also be ruled out of the New Year's Day fixture against Bristol City at Home Park and the trip to Stoke City on Saturday, January 4.

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Rooney had no complaints about the decision of referee Adam Herczeg to show a straight red card to Wright. "He was probably a little bit lucky earlier than that, he had a bit of a wild tackle just before," said the Argyle head coach.

"I get it, I have been there myself as a player, you can get frustrated but he has obviously cost himself in terms of missing the next few games. It's a stupid tackle to make."

Given the apparent hamstring injury to Bundu, Wright would almost certainly have started the game at Oxford, who moved out of the relegation zone on Boxing Day with a 3-2 home win against Cardiff City.

Rooney added: "I haven't had a chance to have a word with him but of course I will. It's a stupid tackle. Yes, emotions run high in games, especially when you are losing the way we were.

"Sometimes it happens but it's such a silly tackle to make and you could see it coming. I know he will be disappointed with himself for the tackle and I will certainly be having a word with him over it."

Argyle's winless away record in the Championship this season has now extended to 12 games, with 10 of those matches ending in defeats. They have conceded an almost unbelievable 33 goals and scored just three times.

It took Coventry only until the fifth minute to open the scoring, when Tatsuhiro Sakamoto headed home at the far post after a cross from Ben Sheaf, and three more goals followed before half-time, with Josh Eccles getting two of them and Ephron Mason-Clark the other one.

Rooney said: "Obviously the game was done at half-time. What I was really disappointed with was the goals we concede. We knew what Coventry's strengths were and we identified them, especially putting crosses into the box towards the back post.

"To concede so early on from exactly what we knew they would do was very disappointing. The big issue for us today was the lads didn't switch on quick enough."

It was the fifth time this season Argyle conceded four goals or more in an away Championship match, following previous heavy defeats against Sheffield Wednesday (4-0), Cardiff City (5-0), Norwich City (6-1) and Bristol City (4-0).

Rooney said: "We have looked into everything, whether that's hotels we are staying in, travelling, we have gone up to games two days before to try and see if that works, we have flown to games.

"We are trying everything to try and see what the best solution is but, ultimately, all of them are small parts I think when you step onto the pitch.

"Today I didn't think we switched on well enough, as individuals and as a team. Of course, players can have a bad game, that's where you need your team-mates to pull you out of that and help you through. I didn't think we did that well enough as a team."

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