Wayne Rooney says his Plymouth players need to get better at the “nasty bits of the game” after their 3-3 draw with Preston.
The Pilgrims came back from 3-0 down to secure a point thanks to Morgan Whittaker’s stoppage-time equaliser.
But Rooney was far from happy with his side’s performance as they dropped to 21st place in the Championship, one point above the relegation places.
“The one thing I never question with the players is their character, they keep going until the end – they’ve shown that a few times this season,” Rooney told BBC Radio Devon.
“But we need to be men – the nasty bits in the game.
“For so many years, the foreign players coming into the league – or we’d play in different countries – they were a bit cleverer than what we were and we need to improve that. We need to learn the little nuances of the game.”
Former England captain Rooney added: “I’m not going to sit here and say ‘cheat’, but just being a bit smarter.
“There’s little things where players con the referee, that happens in the game, and the foreign teams are always better than us at doing that, and I think we’re at times a bit naive and we need to snap out of that.”
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