The three forwards in Rooney’s squad are Andre Gray, Ryan Hardie, and Michael Obafemi, who scored the game-winning goal for the Pilgrims against Portsmouth on Tuesday night.
Following their away game against Derby County on Saturday, Plymouth Argyle will begin the most recent international break. They will be roughly one-third of the way through the 2024–2025 season since it will be their fifteenth game out of 46 in the Championship.
As head coach of the Pilgrims, Wayne Rooney has already had to cope with a number of problems this season, beginning with the season-opening 4-0 thumping at Sheffield Wednesday and continuing with the current injury crisis, which resulted in seven players missing Tuesday night’s 1-0 victory over Portsmouth at Home Park.
Rooney has had a lot to cope with because of the stark contrast between Argyle’s terrible away record (one goal and one point) and their stellar home record (14 points from seven games).
The 39-year-old England veteran is also dealing with a problem with a position he is well-versed in: striker. There isn’t a clear front-runner to spearhead Argyle’s attack each week.
Does it truly matter? it is the first inquiry regarding it. Is Rooney at ease using any one of his three forward options—Andre Gray, Ryan Hardie, and Michael Obafemi—based on the opposition defense’s advantages and disadvantages in each particular game?
Hardie’s ability to sprint in behind is one of his strong points, for instance. Therefore, he can be a better choice when facing a side that prefers to play with a high line at the back. Is it possible to hold the ball up and win headers in away games by using the strong Gray as a target man?
Obafemi, a striker on loan from Burnley, may possess some of Hardie and Gray’s qualities. He came off the bench to score Argyle’s game-winning goal against Portsmouth in the 82nd minute.
“Michael is a very interesting player, he has a lot of qualities which can really hurt defenders,” Rooney remarked of Obafemi following that match. It is our responsibility to try to convince him to do that more frequently. I have strikers with a variety of skills, and you’re hoping one of them will win the game for you.”
In addition to coming off the bench five times, Hardie has started eight of Argyle’s 14 Championship games as their primary striker. For the first time this season, he did not appear in a game, as he was an unutilized replacement against Portsmouth. On September 14, he scored his lone league goal in the 3-2 victory over Sunderland at home.
After three prior substitute appearances, including one goal in the 3-3 draw at home against Preston North End on October 26, Gray, who joined Argyle as a free agent in early October, made his full debut against Portsmouth.
Obafemi has now scored twice in ten games for the Pilgrims, five of which he has started. On October 5, he also scored in Blackburn Rovers’ 2-1 home loss.
Rooney would obviously like his strikers, whoever he selects, to score more goals. Ultimately, they have only managed to score four points between them this term. Therefore, his second question is if he should think about playing two up front instead of one and switching from the 4-2-3-1 formation that he has been using most of the time.
For instance, could Argyle use a 3-5-2 formation with Matty Sorinola and Bali Mumba as the wing-backs? That would seem to be a feasible alternative once Lewis Gibson, the central defender, is healthy again, which should happen after the upcoming international break.
Every football manager has a lot of problems to handle. It’s what makes the work so difficult, but when you figure out the answers to the problems, it’s also so satisfying. Rooney will likely have to deal with the striker problem at Argyle.
