Daniel Farke has been speaking on the job Wayne Rooney is doing at Plymouth Argyle ahead of their trip to Leeds United.
Rooney is set to come up against Leeds for just the second time in his managerial career, having also done so with Birmingham City on New Year’s Day earlier this year.
His Blues side were beaten 3-0 by Leeds at Elland Road and that result marked the end of his time in charge at St. Andrews, after just 15 matches in charge.
Incidentally, Saturday’s clash will also represent Rooney’s 15th game as Plymouth manager, though despite his tough start to life in Devon, it is highly unlikely this will again be his last.
Rooney will be keen to end his miserable recent record against Leeds but would have to pull off an almighty upset if he is to do so.
Farke’s pressure verdict on Rooney ahead of Leeds clash
Considering the heights he reached during his player career, it would be fair to say the spotlight is and always will be on Rooney as a manager.
That said, particularly after how his time at Birmingham went it is perhaps even more so now. Many had thought his management career was over.
Leeds will certainly represent a very tough test for Rooney’s Plymouth side this weekend, and his job so far was among the topics discussed by Farke in his pre-match press conference.
Farke believes Rooney is the type of person to be able to handle the sort of scrutiny he constantly comes under and was pretty complimentary of the style of play he is looking to implement.
He said: “Wayne was a world-class player and experienced everything. [There is a] lot of attention and spotlight on them. But he has some experience as a manager. He’s also the type who will never crack under pressure and is also used to being in the spotlight, handling expectation.
“You can his handwriting on his teams. His teams never try to park the bus and go for long balls – they try to play football. Plymouth are brave and go for the game, especially in home games.
“They have good offensive options, [Morgan] Whittaker obviously a key player, in the last seasons. It’s important we don’t allow them to make the game their game. We want to dominate the game as much as possible.”
- READ MORE: Daniel Farke says Leeds United have three new injury doubts ahead of Plymouth at Elland Road
Rooney’s ‘big club’ verdict on Leeds
As a Manchester United legend, Rooney knows all too well the sort of club Leeds is, even if he didn’t come up against them too much as a player.
Speaking ahead of the game, Rooney knows his side will have to soak up a lot of pressure if they are to come away with anything against a ‘historic’ club like Leeds.
He said: “We’re representing the football club, we’re going to try and win. We’ll suffer at times, we have to be resilient and pull together. When we get chances, we need to try and punish Leeds. We’ll be doing everything we can to do that.
“For us, it’s another game. Of course, they’re a big club, historic team, but for us, it’s one of three games we’ve got this week.”
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