Wayne Rooney will be hoping to reverse Plymouth Argyle trend after international break: View | OneFootball

The Greens form away from home since their return to the Championship has been a cause for concern

Plymouth Argyle headed into the international break in fine form in front of their own fans, with the Greens winning each of their last three matches at Home Park.

Sunderland, Luton Town and Blackburn Rovers have all emerged from the South West empty-handed in recent weeks, with Wayne Rooney’s tenure as Pilgrims boss catching fire after a slow start.

Despite those strong performances to see off some of the early-season high-flyers, the former Birmingham City chief will still want to see more from his side on the road, with results proving hard to come by out of Devon so far.

With a trip to basement side Cardiff City coming up next weekend, the Pilgrims could have the perfect opportunity to reverse that trend, with just one point on their travels so far this season.

Wayne Rooney’s away record as Plymouth Argyle boss

As has been well-documented by all and sundry, Rooney’s tenure as Argyle boss didn’t get off to the best start, with a 4-0 defeat at Sheffield Wednesday on the opening day giving him the rudest of awakenings in his new role.

Although that day at Hillsborough has since been written off as a bad day at the office, with the Greens gaffer since learning from his mistakes in Yorkshire, it was a sign of things to come with games on the road.

Since then, the Pilgrims have gone to Loftus Road to face Queens Park Rangers, with Adam Forshaw’s early dismissal seeing them play over an hour with ten men, and finishing the match with nine players on the pitch, due to Freddie Issaka’s late red.

A much-lauded 1-1 draw earned Argyle their one and only point on their travels so far this season, with their battling performance deserving of all the credits that came their way.

Since then, slender defeats at West Bromwich Albion and Burnley have followed, with a valiant performance at the Hawthorns decided by a single Josh Maja strike, while Josh Brownhill’s penalty won the Clarets all three points at Turf Moor.

Despite improved performances, it is still just one goal out of four matches for the Greens when they are away from their home comforts, although tight defeats against two sides destined to be chasing promotion aren’t anything to be too disheartened about.

With that in mind, a trip to the Welsh capital could be exactly what Rooney and his side need to get the monkey off their back next weekend, with the Bluebirds struggling to hit top gear so far this season.

With Erol Bulut given the axe last month, City are still on the hunt for a new boss and due to the steady improvement of their displays of late, the Pilgrims will fancy their chances of taking all three points back over the Prince of Wales Bridge.

Plymouth Argyle’s Championship away record

It isn’t just Rooney who has struggled to pick up points away from Home Park since Argyle returned to the Championship, with Steven Schumacher and Ian Foster having similar difficulties in the previous campaign.

Schumacher failed to win a single game on the road before departing for Stoke City, while two of Foster’s [pictured] three wins as Argyle boss came away from Home Park against Middlesbrough and Swansea City, which could say as much of his relationship with the Green Army as much as anything.

You have to go back to April’s trip to Rotherham United, where the interim duo of Neil Dewsnip and Kevin Nancekivell were in charge for the last time the Greens won on the road, with Bali Mumba’s strike proving decisive in the win over the Millers.

In fact, only Rotherham and fellow relegated side Birmingham City had a worse record away from home last season, with Argyle recording just 16 points on their travels, compared to 35 in front of their own fans.

So it is far from a Wayne Rooney issue at Argyle, but the sooner the Greens can start picking up points on the road, and not having to rely solely on their Home Park heroics, the sooner they can kick on in the Championship, and stop having to look behind them at every opportunity.