Plymouth Argyle supporters must remember one fact after Sheffield Wednesday shocker: View | OneFootball

The Pilgrims were caught cold on the Championship opening day, but all is not as bad as it seems

Plymouth Argyle were given an early humbling in the Wayne Rooney era, with the Pilgrims going down 4-0 at Sheffield Wednesday on the opening weekend of the Championship season.

The Pilgrims looked second best in all departments against Danny Rohl’s well-drilled Owls, and paid the price for some sloppy play all over the park, as the hosts ran riot to start their season in style.

But despite all the negativity surrounding the Pilgrims following the first 90 minutes of the season, there is still plenty of time to build a squad capable of competing in the second tier, with Rooney needing time to allow his team to gel.

With five summer signings beginning the opening game of the campaign, a first-choice goalkeeper unavailable and fitness issues in the middle of the park, it was hardly an ideal scenario to be thrown into, and time will only tell whether there is more cause for concern.

Plymouth Argyle pay the price for new-look team in Sheffield Wednesday affair

With just less than half of the eleven that started in Yorkshire arriving at Home Park within the past two months, there was always going to be teething issues for Rooney as the season got underway.

With a pre-season schedule that saw the toughest test come in the shape of League Two sides MK Dons and Cheltenham Town, the trip to Hillsborough marked the toughest encounter for the former Manchester United man to date, in which he failed miserably.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but looking back, the ex-Birmingham City boss may have been tempted to blood less debutants from the first whistle in Owlerton, with the side lacking cohesion as a result.

Having resorted to a new system of four in the backline rather than the tried and tested five in defence, Rooney opted for Nathanael Ogbeta and Victor Palsson as his full back options, with the latter joining the club just two weeks before.

With the likes of Joe Edwards and Bali Mumba on the bench, it seemed to be a clear sign from the new Argyle boss that he is putting his faith in the new signings, with a number of the old guard starting on the bench.

Plymouth Argyle strike force needs time to gel

While Ibrahim Cissoko [pictured] caught the eye with his footwork and trickery on the left-side of attack, the Dutchman failed to find a synergy with his teammates when he did find space to roam into in the final third.

For all of his ball skills and unpredictability, the Toulouse loanee will need to work on his relationship with his teammates if his runs upfield are going to bear fruit, otherwise he will frustrate as much as he succeeds in the season to come.

It was a similar case with Muhamed Tijani when he got himself on the ball, as the Slavia Prague worked tirelessly to outmuscle Di’Shon Bernard and Dominic Iorfa with limited results, and was left isolated in the striker role as a result.

Individualism can sometimes win you games, but a coherent team unit will prevail more often than not - as Wednesday proved to great effect on the weekend - and once they are given time to adapt to each other’s games, this side has the potential to click into gear.