Wayne Rooney faces fight to stop Plymouth Argyle season falling apart

It is the big question for all Plymouth Argyle fans. After a nightmare week of two heavy away defeats and 10 goals conceded, can Wayne Rooney and his beleaguered players find a way to turn around their fortunes?

Just 18 Championship games into his managerial tenure at Home Park, Rooney is starting to come under heavy fire from some of an increasingly disgruntled Green Army.

Among other supporters there is an appreciation that Argyle have been hit hard by injuries. Quite why it has been such a large number needs to be investigated because they simply do not have the strength in depth within their squad to cope.

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When Argyle have all their best players available they can be very competitive in the Championship. We saw that earlier in the season with the Home Park wins against Sunderland, Luton Town and Blackburn Rovers. Too many are injured now, though, and a couple for a considerable time more yet.

There is clearly a lack of confidence among the players out on the pitch, which is not surprising considering how dismal their away form is. It is eight defeats from 10 matches on the road and no wins, while they have conceded 27 goals and scored just three.

Their home results are what are keeping them out of the relegation zone - just - but there has been the sense in the past couple of games at the Theatre of Greens that the strain of knowing wins are only likely to come when they are playing there is taking a negative toll on the team.

The reality is Argyle are a small fish in a big pond. The Championship can be brutal for those sides not strong enough and Rooney's Pilgrims are discovering that, and financially they just cannot compete at the moment, even with sell-out home crowds every game so far this season.

So there are clearly issues beyond Rooney's control. No-one expects Argyle at this stage of their development to be pushing for a top 10 spot. Staying up is again the priority this term. However, the way they have collapsed in away games against Sheffield Wednesday, Cardiff City, Norwich and Bristol City is very alarming.

They have conceded four goals in the second half of each of the last two games. That is just not acceptable, and Rooney has to take his share of the responsibility for that. He picks the team and selects the tactics.

It is clear from his post-match interviews after the crushing defeats by Norwich and Bristol City that he has been very upset with the performance of his players. Whether it is ever the right time to make such comments public, or they should always stay within the four walls of the dressing room is up for debate. It can be argued both ways, I think.

Ultimately, though, it is deeds and not words that Argyle really need right now. They have home games coming up against 17th-placed Oxford United, who are a point above them in the table, on Saturday followed by a visit from Swansea City, who are 12th, on Tuesday, December 10.

They have to make them count because their next away match on Saturday, December 14 is against current table-toppers Sheffield United, who with former Pilgrims' goalkeeper Michael Cooper excelling for them have won eight consecutive matches at Bramall Lane without conceding a goal.

It is a sign of how bad things are for Argyle at the moment that the Green Army were singing to the Bristol City supporters during the first half at Ashton Gate: 'How bad must you be, we're drawing away'. Or a couple of times, it was 'We've had a shot, we've had a shot'.

Yes, it was gallows humour, but it was testament to how the fans were justifiably feeling, although it also could not have helped the players to hear it.

It feels as though there is a very real risk of Argyle's season falling apart. The rot has to be stopped before it becomes something out of control. There are still many people willing Rooney to make a success of his job at Home Park because he is clearly so desperate to do so, and also appears to get what the club is all about.

The amount of injuries has clearly worked against him and Argyle. However, his team's performances and results are going to have to improve significantly, otherwise the voices of his critics are only going to get louder and louder.

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