Man United faithful will have keen eye on Plymouth Argyle, Watford FC developments | OneFootball

The two former Red Devils will go head to head at Home Park this Friday night

With the international break done and dusted, Championship action resumes this Friday night as Watford travel to Home Park to face Plymouth Argyle.

The clash in Devon will pit two former Manchester United teammates against each other as Wayne Rooney welcomes Tom Cleverley to the southwest, with both stars looking to make waves now they have made the move into the dugout.

While Rooney has had something of a tumultuous start to life in the hotseat, Cleverley has enjoyed success in his early days at Vicarage Road, with the Hornets competing towards the top of the Championship since he was given the role on a permanent basis earlier this year.

With the pair both playing a style of football that allows for chances at both ends of the field, Friday’s affair could well be a high-scoring encounter, and there will be likely be plenty of Red Devils keen to see how their former players are getting on after hanging up their boots.

Wayne Rooney’s start to life as Plymouth Argyle boss

Since taking over in the summer, Rooney has had something of a baptism of fire at Home Park, with the Pilgrims enduring a number of ups and downs just a number of months into his tenure.

After a 4-0 hammering to Sheffield Wednesday on the opening day, the Greens have started pinning much of their hopes on their form in front of their own fans, with just one loss at Home Park from their seven outings in Devon this season.

It has been a much different story on the road, with just two points to their name from eight away trips so far, making each and every game at the Theatre of Greens all the more important, such is the disparity in their performances at home and away.

Nevertheless, Argyle are no stranger to giving up chances to the opposition wherever they have been playing this season, as they lead the division in terms of xGA at this point, with 1.43 xGA per 90 at Home Park proving just how easily sides can create a chance at goal against them.

Marry that with the fact that only six teams can top their 1.52 xG going forward at home this season, and there is every chance that we can expect goals on Friday night, with the corresponding fixture last season producing a pulsating 3-3 draw on New Year’s Day.

The goals were of the highest quality that day, with Finn Azaz, Morgan Whittaker and Ryan Hardie all finding the net for the Greens at a sodden Home Park, while Ismael Kone also fired in a top strike of his own at the other end, in between goals from Edo Kayembe and Ryan Andrews.

With their opponents winning just two games away from Hertfordshire this season, Rooney will fancy his chances of picking up more points in front of the TV cameras this weekend, despite Cleverley’s strong start to life in the Watford hot seat.

The former England striker is far from the finished article as a manager at this early point in his career, but he continues to learn and adapt with each passing week, and with the likes of Lewis Gibson and Brendan Galloway potentially returning from injury, the Argyle boss will have more quality at his disposal than before the international break.

Tom Cleverley continues to defy the odds at Watford FC

There were plenty keen to write Watford off at the start of the campaign, with an untested commodity in Cleverley being trusted in the dugout, and just five league wins in 2025 to their name as the season began.

But in their current boss, they have someone who knows the club inside-out, having initially made the move to Vicarage Road as a player back in 2017 on loan from Everton, before going on to represent the club over 140 times in all competitions, adding to his earlier loan to the club from Old Trafford as a 20-year-old.

There must be something ingrained in those who plied their trade with the Red Devils in that they thrive off of trying to play an attacking brand of football, with Sir Alex Ferguson likely having plenty of sway in the way his proteges approach the game.

For just like Rooney, Cleverley has adapted to a style of play that can come up trumps on some days, and be exposed on others, just as a 3-0 defeat at Luton Town and 6-2 win at Sheffield Wednesday exemplifies.

Because just like Argyle, the Hornets have been guilty of giving up too many chances during their games this season, and a metric of 1.52 xGA sees them rank within the top five of the division, leaving them relying on Daniel Bachmann in goal more often than they would like.

For the neutral, it can be an exciting watch, but for anyone with an allegiance to either side, it can make for nervy, pulsating and frustrating viewing all at the same time, with the unpredictable nature of both sides likely to throw up all manner of possibilities for Friday’s affair.

Having made his first Premier League start for Manchester United alongside Rooney back in 2011, there would have been few who would have expected the pair to be in their current positions 13 years later, as they both take their tentative steps towards life calling the shots on the side of the field.

Not every player has what it takes to step up to be the one barking orders from the sidelines, and the correlation between playing ability and managerial success is anything but linear, but the pair’s dedication to the cause cannot be questioned at this moment in time, with both continuing to learn the tricks of the trade on the frontline in one of the toughest leagues to do so.

It is just over ten years since the pair both donned Manchester United shirts on the same field, with Cleverley playing his last match for the club in a 1-1 draw with Sunderland at the Stadium of Light in August 2014, before his departure from Old Trafford the following summer.

A decade on and their playing careers are just a glimmer in the rear-view mirror as the next step in their respective journeys begins, and while there will be plenty of respect between the pair at Home Park this weekend, that winning mentality instilled in them at Old Trafford will still remain, with both wanting to do everything they can to emerge with three points.