Wayne Rooney hails ‘world class’ Andre Gray goal for Plymouth Argyle
Gray scored twice for the Pilgrims, including a last-gasp equaliser, as they drew 2-2 with Watford in the Championship match at Home Park last night
Not long before Andre Grey gave Plymouth Argyle a thrilling late equaliser to draw 2-2 with Watford at Home Park, Wayne Rooney acknowledged that he had considered benching the striker.
Grey, a former Watford forward, scored his second goal of the Championship match in the sixth minute of additional time, proving that the Pilgrims’ manager made the right choice. With a well placed shot into the corner of the net, he defeated goalie Daniel Bachmann.
Even though that goal was excellent, Rooney regarded Gray’s opening goal—which tied the score at 1-1 in the 23rd minute—as “world class.” It was quite high praise coming from the England legend.
Vakoun Bayo gave Watford the lead in the eighth minute with a close-range finish, and they dominated the game until Grey met defender Lewis Gibson’s long diagonal cross on the volley and blasted the goal with amazing accuracy.
Shortly before halftime, Ryan Porteous tapped home after Mattie Pollock sent the ball across to him, and the Pilgrims fell down once again after being caught out defending at a free-kick. Before Gray’s key goal against his former employers, Watford was just seconds away from winning the league on the road for the third time this season.
“I’m happy to get a point in the end,” Rooney stated. Watford, in my opinion, is a very strong and talented team, and we struggled to control the game for the opening ten minutes.
“We performed admirably to tie the score after they scored. Andre scored a great goal, and I assumed that was the end of it. After settling into our form for a while, we gave in to a horrible goal from our perspective. It was a cross over the box and a straight free-kick.
“I believed that the second half saw a significant change in mindset. We made it very tough for them (Watford) to apply pressure on us by spreading our center-backs out and using Grimmy (goalkeeper Dan Grimshaw) a bit more.
“We had no trouble locating the vast spaces, but the crossing into the box wasn’t very good. I believe we could have been able to produce a couple more opportunities if that had been better. We persisted in our efforts. I felt that we ultimately earned a point because the guys who came on made a difference once more, which is really crucial to us.”
After signing as a free agent in early October, Grey made just his second start for Argyle against Watford, and he responded by producing two extremely strong finishes.
“I think the first goal is world class, but his second goal is a great finish,” Rooney remarked. I am aware of how challenging that is—the method and focus you require with
“I’m very happy for Andre. He can have a moment, so I decided to leave him on even though I was originally going to take him off just before the second goal. I thought he would make an effect if we delivered a couple more direct balls into the box, and he did, fortunately, with a fantastic finish.
Although the 33-year-old had the last laugh, Grey, who played for Watford from 2017 to 2022, did not receive the nicest response from the Barn Park End’s visiting fans. “Playing against a former club obviously means something a little different,” Rooney stated. The reaction he received from Watford supporters truly caught me off guard.
“Given what he achieved for the club, I felt that was a little disrespectful. Sometimes karma reappears. His two outstanding goals against his old team will undoubtedly hurt the Watford supporters and make their trip home much less pleasurable.
“What he can do for us is what matters to us. Over the past few weeks, we have been putting him through an increasing amount of physical work, and I’m thrilled that he completed the 90 minutes because it allowed him to achieve a fantastic objective.”
Since he is currently the team’s joint leading scorer with three goals, Grey, who has a short-term contract with Argyle until January, is strongly arguing for an
“There are a lot of games from now until January, and we will definitely sit down and talk about how we proceed,” Rooney stated. You can see how valuable he is to the squad and how important he is. Before January, there will undoubtedly be discussions, and we’ll see where they go.
Rooney experimented with a new 3-4-1-2 formation against Watford, with Morgan Whittaker starting at number 10 and Grey spearheading the Argyle attack alongside Michael Obafemi. “I wanted two forwards on the pitch the way I wanted to play,” Rooney stated. After giving the international break some thought, I believe I want to try to get the ball in the box more and
Morgan is most definitely not a wing-back, thus using three at the back requires using wing-backs. I put Morgan in that 10 slot, which gives him a free role in possession, since I believe that a player of his calibre should be tried to get on the squad.
We couldn’t get the ball to him enough after he helped us be fair in the first half by returning to their number 10 and attempting to stop them. A few of half-chances went to him. Tonight, I simply thought it was the appropriate choice.
Gibson was one of Argyle’s three defenders and took over as team captain upon his comeback from a thigh injury that had kept him out of play for the previous four games. “In the first half, we attempted to close the gap, but Watford continued to play a lot of direct balls in behind Gibbo, and they have the speed there too,” Rooney stated. He handled that nicely, in my opinion.
“I believed he set an example when he returned as captain. He kept us moving forward, and in the final moments, I also used him as an emergency number nine, and he gave his life. Considering how many weeks he had missed, I was rather impressed with him, especially when he managed to finish 90 minutes.
