Coventry City 4-0 Plymouth: Wayne Rooney thrashed by Frank Lampard in first-half blitz | OneFootball

A Coventry City side led by Frank Lampard thrashed Wayne Rooney's Plymouth Argyle 4-0 on Boxing Day in a result which leaves the future of the former Manchester United legend in the balance.

Lampard took over the Sky Blues at the end of November, inheriting a side which had established themselves as a top-half Championship outfit under Mark Robins. Rooney has been at the helm of Plymouth since the summer, but is still awaiting his first away win with Argyle.

The south coast side were resoundingly thrashed on their trip to Coventry Building Society Arena, shipping four first-half goals without response. Callum Wright completed an ignominious afternoon for Plymouth with a red card in the 87th minute.

Rooney and Lampard won 70 England caps alongside one another and faced off 28 times for their various club sides, including finals of the FA Cup and Champions League. But the pair are a long way from those glittering showpiece events.

Despite sitting firmly at the foot of England's second tier, Rooney insisted that he was the "right man" to remain at the helm of Plymouth. "Yeah, I believe I am," the former Everton forward insisted post-game. "I know how football works, I'm not stupid. You need to pick up results.

"The biggest frustration for me all season is we look like two different teams home and away. So psychologically, is there an issue? It's something we’re looking at. I'm sure the fans have questions and a lot of people from the outside will. I'll do my best to answer them."

Victory for Lampard lifted Coventry up to 15th in the Championship table - ten points adrift of the play-off spots - but the former Chelsea boss did not revel in the win. "The longer you do this for, and I'm not absolutely a young manager any more, you understand that here is the time that this is going to happen," Lampard told reporters.

Plymouth's struggles are not solely Rooney's doing. The Pilgrims have been ravaged by injury this season, leaving room in Thursday's starting XI for a full senior debut for 16-year-old midfielder Tegan Finn. The academy graduate was not alive when Rooney lined up alongside Lampard for the first time in an England friendly victory over Serbia and Montenegro - a nation which no longer exists in that current guise.