Following his team’s 3-0 loss at Elland Road on Saturday, Wayne Rooney, the manager of Plymouth Argyle, declared that it would be a “failure” if Leeds United were not promoted this season.

Because of his ties to Manchester United, Rooney received a lot of abuse from the yelling Leeds supporters. However, this did not affect his logic, as he acknowledged that his team was simply defeated by the superior team that day.

Although most people expected them to leave Yorkshire empty-handed, Rooney is more worried about the way the game played out because they didn’t even manage to register a shot over the entire ninety minutes in a drastically altered starting eleven.

The three goals in eight first-half minutes were sufficient to defeat Argyle, who are currently in the bottom three and will have to fight to stop their recent unruly play, which has prevented them from winning any of their previous four league games.

Rooney accepted responsibility after the game and admitted that his team didn’t play up to par, but it was his remarks regarding Leeds’ promotion bid that sparked controversy.

Wayne Rooney issues blunt Leeds United promotion assessment

Being at the top of the table comes with its own set of pressures, but it’s not surprising to see Leeds in the heart of the automatic promotion chase given that they were billed as one of the preseason favourites for promotion.

Daniel Farke’s campaign feels like a “do or die” situation because he is the manager of Leeds United, the supporters are expecting victory, and he failed to get them over the finish line the previous season.

After acknowledging this view, Rooney stated that Leeds must simply finish this season with promotion.

“Leeds is an excellent squad and a challenging opponent. We are attempting to get better from our perspective. Young guys are coming on, and the big club has a nice vibe.

 

Given that Leeds is now in the midst of a promotion race, Rooney’s assertions do have merit, but they won’t be getting carried away just yet due to a number of previous failures.

Wayne Rooney should be more concerned about Plymouth Argyle than Leeds United

Rooney’s remarks on such a terrible afternoon are understandable in part because they serve to divert attention from his team’s poor performance.

But rather than worrying about what Leeds would consider failure, he would be better off thinking about what the Plymouth supporters would consider failure, which is most likely relegation.

Rooney’s Portsmouth stay might be made or broken by these two crucial games against fellow struggling teams Portsmouth and Derby, as they presently sit in the bottom three.

In the aftermath of the Leeds match, Rooney made a suggestion that he was mentally getting ready for Tuesday’s match against bottom-of-the-table Portsmouth since he knew that the game was over when they were behind 3-0.

For Argyle, that is a crucial game, and Rooney is aware that if he loses, his status would probably be closely examined.