Wayne Rooney explains lack of Plymouth Argyle action for Rami Al Hajj

Wayne Rooney has given his reasons why Rami Al Hajj has not featured much for Plymouth Argyle lately as they have found points hard to come by in the Championship.

Rooney described Al Hajj as 'a flair player' and given the Pilgrims' recent run of results Rooney believes players with 'a more natural defensive side to them' and 'who know the league' are needed. Al Hajj joined Argyle from Danish side OB at the end of the summer transfer window for a fee believed to be around £840,000 and signed a contract until June 2027.

After two initial substitute appearances, Al Hajj made his full debut when he played in a 'number 10' role against Luton Town at Home Park on September 27 and scored an excellent opening goal in a 3-1 win.

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It was a promising start from the 23-year-old as the Pilgrims produced some good performances of attacking football early in the campaign. However, that has not been the case so much recently, with Argyle getting just one win from their last eight games and losing four of them.

Al Hajj has started one of the past five matches, the 1-0 home victory over Portsmouth on November 5, and his only other appearance during that time was off the bench in the 70th minute of the 6-1 trouncing by Norwich City at Carrow Road on Tuesday night.

Rooney said: "I think Rami is more of a flair player. Early on in the season we were playing really good football and taking the ball, and that has dropped off a little bit of late.

"Rami needs to be in a team who plays football and at the minute, when we are going through this period, I think we need players in there who have a more natural defensive side to them, and who know the league and what the demands are.

"For Rami, I think it's taking a little bit of time for him to adjust but we keep working on that and hopefully we get him right to have an effect for us throughout the season."

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