Whittaker is set to come up against his former club when Swansea are the visitors to a sold-out Home Park in the Championship tomorrow
Steven Schumacher has a simple message for Morgan Whittaker ahead of Plymouth Argyle‘s game against his former club, Swansea City tomorrow: ‘Just be yourself’.
Michael Duff’s Swansea, winners of their last three Championship matches, will be the visitors to a sold-out Home Park and 22-year-old Whittaker is sure to want to impress but Schumacher does not want him to try to force it too much.
The talented attacker joined Swansea from Derby County early in 2021 but it did not work out for him there and that led to him moving to Argyle, at first on loan and then later permanently in a joint club record £1 million transfer in July.
Schumacher said: “Whenever you play against one of your old teams you always look forward to it. I always found an extra five per cent of energy from somewhere and I’m sure he will be the same.
“What I will encourage Morgan to do is just to be himself as well. He doesn’t need to do anything different than what he has been doing.
“He has been getting himself into good areas. One thing I might say about Morgan is that he’s probably trying to shoot too much. He’s desperate to score and we know how strong that left foot is, but there’s times where he doesn’t necessarily need to rush a shot and combine a little bit more.
Whittaker has started nine of Argyle’s 10 Championship matches this season, and came off the bench in the 4-1 defeat at Bristol City, while three of his four goals came in the 6-2 rout of Norwich City on September 23.
He is not the only former Swansea player who could line up against the Welsh side tomorrow. Midfielder Luke Cundle spent last season on loan to City, making 21 Championship starts, 11 substitute appearances and scoring three goals.
Now on loan to Argyle from Premier League club Wolves, the 21-year-old has played 10 games this term, including five starts, and netted three times.
Schumacher said: “He has been really good. He’s a very intelligent player, gets himself in brilliant positions to receive the ball. Whether he has started games for us this year or whether he has come on he has always made an impact.
“He did really well there last year at Swansea and that’s why we were keen to bring him here. He has got an eye for a goal – he has scored three already in however many games he has played for us. It looks as though he’s enjoying it here so we are pleased to have him.”
Schumacher continued: “He always trains well. He always trains with a smile on his face. I’m sure like all players who don’t start every single game he wants to play but it’s not possible for me to pick every player for every game.
“The ones where he has started he has done really well, but I think all three of his goals have been off the bench – and at the Devonport End – so he has got a knack of doing that.
“It’s always a good thing to have in your squad, someone whop can come on and change the game for you. I think he did really well the other night. He was only on for 20 minutes or whatever but made two key passes and got himself into dangerous areas, and that’s what we want from our attacking midfield players.”
Swansea appointed Barnsley boss Duff in June after his predecessor Russell Martin left to take over at Southampton and they failed to win any of their opening seven Championship games.
However, they beat Sheffield Wednesday 3-0 on September 23 and have won their two games since then, away to Millwall (3-0) and at home to Norwich City (2-1).
Schumacher said: “They are in great form. Michael going in there as a new manager it takes a bit of time for him to assess his players that he has got.
“I know he tried one system in the early games of the season similar to what we played at Barnsley and he has changed now to a 4-3-3, and he seems to have found a good rhythm, and they are playing really well.
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