Wayne Rooney has revealed his frustration at having to tell his Plymouth players to be "more clinical" after their dismal start to the season.
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Plymouth lost to Stoke CityHave yet to record first winRooney annoyed at repeating messagesWHAT HAPPENED?
Plymouth lost 1-0 to Stoke on Saturday, in what was their fourth game of the season. Argyle are yet to win a game this season, losing 4-0 to Sheffield Wednesday on the opening day, before drawing with both Hull City and QPR.
AdvertisementGetty Images SportTHE BIGGER PICTURE
Rooney believes that Plymouth simply have to be more clinical; they recorded 15 shots, of which seven were on target, against Stoke, but did not manage to find the back of the net. As a result, they now sit 22nd in the Championship.
WHAT ROONEY SAID
Rooney told reporters: "Again, I'm sat here talking about being clinical and being ruthless. If we do that today, I think we win the game.
"We allowed Stoke to still be a threat, especially on transition, second half and they get a goal towards the end. Disappointed with the result but I think there was lots of good things in the game. The big thing for us at the minute is we need to be more clinical. It's the same message I have given the first four games really so that's frustrating."
He added: "They started the first half trying to play more football but after the first 15-20 minutes we pressed them with enough aggression to take that away from them, so I think the game plan was working. I felt if anyone was going to win it, it was probably us but football can be cruel.
"It's a good finish from their lad. It's something we identified, he does that a lot. He cuts in and tries to go near post. We worked with Bali [Mumba] on that and he does everything right really. For a forward, it's clever play, shooting through the defender's legs."
Getty Images SportWHAT NEXT?
Plymouth will have to live with the defeat throughout the international break before taking on promotion hopefuls Sunderland on September 14.
