'Sad to see' - How Plymouth Argyle fans reacted to Wayne Rooney's comments after Norwich City hammering | OneFootball

Wayne Rooney has received online criticism following Plymouth Argyle's 6-1 thrashing away at Norwich City

Plymouth Argyle manager Wayne Rooney slammed his side in the wake of Tuesday evening's humiliating 6-1 defeat away to Norwich City, and his comments have sparked mixed reaction among the Green Army faithful.

Argyle's struggles away from home are well-documented and they were put to the sword once again on their travels by falling on the receiving end of a real rout from the Canaries, who consigned them to their biggest defeat of the season with a dominant display.

Rooney's side made the arduous midweek trip to Carrow Road in stronger form of the two sides, with Norwich having failed to record a win in their previous seven matches prior to the clash amid an injury crisis for Johannes Hoff Thorup. You'd never have thought that, though, given just how the game panned out.

Plymouth were put behind after just two minutes when Championship top scorer Borja Sainz opened the scoring before adding another before the 20 minute mark. The visiting side were handed hope shortly before the interval when Mustapha Bundu halved the defecit and threatened to spark an unlikely away comeback, although any such dreams were quashed as Shane Duffy restored Norwich's two-goal lead, before Sainz, Anis Ben Slimane and Ante Crnac all scored inside the final 20 minutes to ensure a routine 6-1 victory.

Chastening defeats on the road are nothing new for Rooney's Plymouth, who have the division's worst away record and have conceded three or more goals on four separate occasions across their 2024/25 travels. Their largest defeat of the campaign, however, undermines the positive form which had been mounted beforehand and places fresh pressure upon the shoulders of Rooney, who is becoming increasingly unpopular among supporters.

It's hard to downplay the importance of Saturday afternoon's trip to 11th-placed Bristol City, which Plymouth and Rooney alike both surely need to take at least a point from. Following yesterday's thrashing, they're now 20th in the Championship and two points above 22nd-placed Hull City.

However, with Cardiff City in action against bottom side QPR tonight, Plymouth could well find themselves dragged even further down towards the relegation zone.

The 39-year-old cut a frustrated figure in the immediate aftermath of his side's defeat at Norwich, where he took time to slam his players for what certainly appears to be a soft underbelly away from home.

When quizzed on how to sum up the evening, Rooney told Plymouth's media team: "Obviously a difficult start, we conceded too early again. I spoke to the players before the game and we conceded in the first few minutes again, it makes it difficult for us.

"We were probably fortunate to go into half-time at 2-1, we tried to regroup and then individual errors, as a team we weren't aggressive enough and didn't win enough tackles, panicking in possession, we weren't taking the ball as well as I know we can and the goals we conceded were way too easy.

"So yeah, a really disappointing night. Of course, I know how far the fans have travelled to get behind the team and I feel for them because that was nowhere near good enough."

Plymouth Argyle fans react to Wayne Rooney's post-Norwich City comments

Argyle supporters were rightly fuming at the result, especially given that those who travelled to Norfolk all the way from Plymouth committed to a round trip in excess of 12 hours.

With that in mind, one supporter fumed at Rooney for not actually apologising outright, even though he did briefly express his sympathy for the travelling fans.

Another fan, who also presumably travelled last night, labelled the performance as "depressing" and outlined how the nature of the defeat was inexcusable, with controversial chairman Simon Hallett tagged in the comment for good measure.

Meanwhile, an interesting point was made by one supporter, who pointed out that Plymouth arguably had worse squads under former managers in Steven Schumacher and Ian Foster but were not thrashed in this manner, at least not on a regular basis.

Though Foster struggled in the job last season and was worse than Rooney overall, the frequency of Plymouth's away hammerings is extremely concerning and has led to the tactical nous of the former Manchester United striker being called into question.

And this next fan seemed to have a bit of sympathy for Rooney, who admittedly has inferior resources at his disposal in comparison to the vast majority of Championship bosses. However, that didn't prevent him from being declared as a "shocking manager" - and the phrase "Rooney out" appears to be growing in popularity.

As you can imagine, some supporters took to X to fire some more expletive-laden messages towards Rooney, which we have chosen not to include, although it's nonetheless clear to gauge the sort of fan reaction which has been sparked.

One Argyle fan just described the whole situation as sad.