Former Derby County boss Wayne Rooney slams his players after ...

Plymouth head coach and former Rams boss Wayne Rooney conceded his team deserved no better after their 6-1 thrashing by Norwich, with Borja Sainz notching his second hat-trick of the season, leaving Argyle to reflect on a third significant away defeat.

"We were nowhere near good enough – we are down to the bare bones with injuries but that is no excuse," Rooney remarked.

"We were fortunate to be only 2-1 down at half-time. You then hope for a reaction in the second half but once they made it 3-1 I thought we went under, which is very disappointing. The players just didn’t look like they thought they could get back in it."

He added, "We need to be a lot better than that – the next 24-48 hours are not going to be very nice for the players."

Rooney also said, "I have praised them a lot this season for their performances at home – but away needs to much better than this and we have got to get to the bottom of why it keeps happening – it can’t carry on like this."

Rooney is credited with doing a good job in a difficult situation at Pride Park, with the club in administration and suffering relegation to League One after a points deduction.

But, after a spell in charge of DC United in the MLS, he suffered a setback at Birmingham, being axed after just 15 matches. His tenure at Plymouth is also proving to be a tough task.

Expressing empathy for the supporters, he said, "I just feel sorry for the fans who have come all this way – they will be not be pleased with what they have seen tonight."

Norwich dominated from the start, leading within two minutes as Sainz scored despite Plymouth's offside protests.

Following unyielding pressure from the team, Sainz bolstered his side's upper hand with a composed finish after 17 minutes. Even though Mustapha Bundu clawed a goal back just prior to the break, following an interception of a risky pass out, the match was largely dominated by one side in the second half.

Shane Duffy expanded the margin to 3-1 by heading home from a corner, and Sainz went on to clinch his hat-trick, elegantly finding the net beyond an unguarded Daniel Grimshaw. Substitutes Anis Ben Slimane and Ante Crnac later executed some fine finishes that spelled further distress for Rooney’s squad.

Johannes Hoff Thorup, Norwich's head coach, expressed his delight in seeing the team return to form after a run without a win in their past seven Championship endeavours. He remarked: "It was great to see the side scoring goals again – that is what pleased me most about tonight. It’s the reason we play the way we do, to create chances and score goals."

"I was really pleased with the way we started the game, it got the crowd going and lifted the atmosphere straight away."

"For 20-25 minutes I thought we were really good but we then dropped off a bit and allowed them back into the game."

"I reminded the players at half-time that they need to be clean and focused on the ball, even when they are on top, and in the second half we were better."

Speaking about the impressive form of Sainz, who now boasts an incredible tally of 15 goals this season, Thorup said: "He keeps getting in the same sort of positions again and again and then shows his individual quality to score the goals."

He added with a touch of concern, "With the way he is playing at the moment I am not looking forward to January, that’s for sure! ".