Two Plymouth Argyle striker questions for Wayne Rooney to consider

Plymouth Argyle will enter the latest international break after playing away to Derby County on Saturday. It is going to be their 15th game out of 46 in the Championship so they will be about a third of the way through the 2024/25 campaign.

Wayne Rooney has had to deal with several issues already this term as the Pilgrims' head coach, starting with the fiasco that was the season-opening 4-0 rout at Sheffield Wednesday through to the current injury crisis, which had seven players sidelined for the 1-0 win against Portsmouth at Home Park on Tuesday night.

And, of course, there is the huge disparity between Argyle's excellent home form (14 points from seven games) with their dreadful away record (one goal and one point) so Rooney has had a lot to deal with.

Another issue facing the 39-year-old England legend relates to a position he knows all about - striker. There is no obvious stand-out candidate to lead the attack for Argyle week in week out.

The first question about that is does it really matter? Is Rooney comfortable in utilising one of his three forward options - Andre Gray, Ryan Hardie and Michael Obafemi - depending on the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition defence on a game-by-game basis?

For example, one of Hardie's strengths is using his pace to run in behind. So he would perhaps be a better option against a team who like to play with a high line at the back. Could the powerful Gray be used as a target man to hold the ball up and win headers in away games?

On-loan Burnley striker Obafemi, who came off the bench to score Argyle's 82nd minute winning goal against Portsmouth, perhaps has a combination of the attributes that Hardie and Gray have.

Rooney said about Obafemi after that game: "Michael is a very interesting player, he has got a lot of qualities which can really hurt defenders. Our job is to try and get him doing that more consistently. I have got strikers with all different attributes and what you hope is one of them will be the matchwinner for you."

Hardie has started eight of Argyle's 14 Championship games as their main striker, and also come off the bench five times. He was an unused substitute against Portsmouth, which was the first time this season he had not played in a match. His only league goal came in the 3-2 home win against Sunderland on September 14.

Gray, who signed for Argyle as a free agent in early October, made his full debut against Portsmouth after three previous substitute appearances, which included scoring one of the goals in the 3-3 draw at home to Preston North End on October 26.

Obafemi has now netted twice for the Pilgrims in 10 games, five of which have been starts. He was also on target in the 2-1 home defeat of Blackburn Rovers on October 5.

Clearly, Rooney would want his strikers - whoever he chooses - to score more goals. After all, they have combined for just four between them this term. So a second question for him is whether to consider playing two up front rather than one, and changing from the 4-2-3-1 formation which he has predominantly used?

Could Argyle switch to 3-5-2, for example, utilising Bali Mumba and Matty Sorinola as the wing-backs? Certainly when central defender Lewis Gibson is fit again, which will hopefully be after the forthcoming international break, that would appear to be a viable option.

All football managers always have a lot of issues to deal with. It is what makes it such a challenging job, but also such a rewarding one when you come up with the right answers to the questions. The striker issue at Argyle promises to be a key one for Rooney to handle.

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