WAYNE ROONEY was almost lost for words after his Plymouth side were hammered by Cardiff.
The Manchester United legend, serving a one-game touchline ban, watched the drama unfold from the stands.
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And the Pilgrims manager was helpless as Argyle produced a horror show in the Welsh capital.
Former Manchester City talent Alex Robertson fired the Bluebirds ahead in the 16th minute.
Wales international Rubin Colwill made it 2-0 eight minutes later.
Plymouth’s Ibrahim Cissoko was then sent off four minutes before half-time for shoving Perry Ng.
Anwar El Ghazi, Callum Robinson and Chris Willock all netted in the second half to add to Rooney’s misery.
Rooney said: “It’s difficult to put into words.
“I thought we started the game OK, we had decent control and should be 1-0 up, Michael Obafemi had a great chance.
“Beyond that, we got really sloppy, we gave the ball away a lot.
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“We didn’t win tackles or do the basics right.
“In this league, if you don’t do that right, you have difficult days like today.
“It’s difficult watching it from the stands, you want to be there at the side of the pitch trying to help the team.
“Today we have to give Cardiff a lot of credit. They deserved to win the game, they were the better team.”
Rooney, 38, did his best to stay calm after the heavy defeat.
And the former England skipper says he is trying to control his emotions better as a manager.
He added: “I think I’ve always been quite consistent with my messages.
“Of course, you’re angry, upset and disappointed. But I think that’s more when I’m speaking to my players.
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“I’m very upset with the performance because that’s not us.
“The main thing is we have to move on from this quickly.”
Victory means the Bluebirds have picked up seven points from their last three games under caretaker-boss Omer Riza.
And Riza revealed that injured Wales international and former Arsenal star Aaron Ramsey played a key role in Cardiff’s bumper win.
He said: “We had Aaron Ramsey upstairs casting an eye down to give us some information and it all came together well today.
“I said to Aaron that I’d like him to go up there, cast his eye over the game and, if he had anything of importance, to come down.
“To be fair, when he came down and mentioned a couple of things, it was what was in our minds anyway. So we’re all on the same page.”
Cardiff went into the match with the worst goal difference — minus 14 — of any team after nine games of a Championship season since Bolton in 2017-18.
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But they netted five times in a league game for the first time in seven years to move off the foot of the table and up to 22nd place.
And Riza reckons the likes of ex-Aston Villa man El Ghazi and former Arsenal winger Willock have helped transform Cardiff’s attack.
He said: “We’ve found positions for them which suit them. They’ve got to keep that up.
“Rubin was excellent today, his work rate, his intensity.
“The same with Ollie Tanner, same with Callum Robinson, same with Anwar and the boys who came on.
“We need to work. If we do that, we’ll get our rewards.”
Riza is determined to land the Cardiff job permanently after Turkish boss Erol Bulut was sacked by the Welsh side in September.
But the ex-Leyton Orient manager says he is trying not to put himself under too much pressure.
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He explained: “If I do things the right way, treat people the right way, I’ll get my rewards further down the line, whenever that is.
“If it doesn’t come here, it will come somewhere, I’ll just keep working hard.
“We’ve had good conversations here about not putting too much pressure on me. The players have been excellent.
“It’s been coming and now it has to continue. It can’t be a one off.”
