Matchday threads lately are becoming pretty repetitious aren't they. Once again we are playing a team in the bottom section of the league and one who most would expect us to win. The expression "wot could possibly go wrong" comes to mind yet again as a banana skin approaches. There have been several banana skins experienced by other teams over the last few weeks and we are no different. What can we expect? Another 97th minute winner? Will we actually take the lead in a game for a change and not have to come from behind? Will we be so nervous that we will bottle it? Strewth it is a bit painful when you get to the arse end of a season as we are now. Well we can win this one there is no doubting that so I am going to have to say we will and then cross everything again. Please people do NOT go down the route of saying "If we win the next..........we will be promoted" route, We do not want to jinx anything now with over confidence. COYG
It's hard not to keep running "what-ifs" through your head but hopefully Steven Schumacher and his staff will be keeping the player's minds focussed tightly on one thing and one thing only - Saturday's game. He's talked about having a plan for each game, specific roles and objectives for each player. If they focus on that, we have every chance. He calls for patience in the Herald (my emphasis): "They are a hard team to play against. The way they defend, they are really organised. They get really compact in front of their box and the distances are always good between their lines so it's hard to find space. They have got a threat when they break, as it has shown a few times against us, so we have got to make sure that we are aware of that and be mindful of it. What we can't do as a team is get frustrated and then be putting balls in areas that we don't need to. I would call on the crowd to stay patient as well. It's that type of game and if the crowd gets edgy and nervous then that can effect the players." And on the club website: "I think we're going to have to be patient, so again, the fans will play a big part in that because they’ve got to understand that we might have times on the ball where we have to go side to side on the pitch and find little ways in. “It's not a good idea just to kick long balls against Cambridge because the lads at the back head everything, you've got to find ways in to try to beat them. That takes patience and it takes bravery from the players.” Let's hope the fans take that on board. I said while watching the Shrewsbury game that ironically, we look better against the better sides because we have the ability to hit them hard and quickly on the counter-attack. It's harder to prise open the weaker teams that have little intention to attack and instead sit back and deny space That's what we'll probably have to face on Saturday.
Maybe Cosgrove and Mayor are more effective when they play as subs against a tiring team.....coming on for the last 20 minutes for instance. Cosgrove started the last game and got booked and looked a liability for a sending off at times from then on.
Now if you want to put Saturday's game into perspective, read this: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/65348031
Footballers aren't immune from the same things other mortals are prone to. It's sad when any person of a young age gets clobbered with stuff like that. He has my sympathies as do all in the same boat. Many things put football into perspective but what football does is give dreamers an out from the perils of life and something else to focus on.
Two important results today would be Argyle & Exeter both winning.....that would mean Argyle only need two more points for promotion.
Some very good football from Argyle today, best for a while I think. We started n the front foot and got an early goal but then very much against the play, Cambridge equalised with a header after the ball was recycled into the box after a corner was cleared. My nerves did jangle until half time I must admit. We came out for the second half firing on all cylinders though and once Edwards got the second it was all over. Cambridge did try to come out of their shell but the more they tried to get forward, the more dangerous we looked. Good performance, calm and confident. Hard to pick a man off the match: Mayor got the sponsors’ award but Scarr, Edwards, Houghton, Randell and Ennis could all have got the shout.
Watched the video....some good goals there.....bit of form returning. I assume the empty seats might be because of the traffic problems that had been reported.
What empty seats? It was sold out - and looked it as far as I could see, apart from 2 blocks in the Barn Park End for the away fans. Attendance was 16,300.
I'm not going to give a blow by blow account of today because it isn't really recessary. As notdistant describes we came out of the blocks firing and took the lead deservedly. Argyle then did what Argyle do and let one in even though against the run. Second half and it was not that hard to be honest. We did play well today and the goals were all pretty decent. My MOM would have to be Edwards. Captain fantastic and he ran himself into the ground as well as scoring one. Had all the chances been taken we would have still won but it would have been something like 9- 5. We did what we had to do irrespective of what others did. Repeat on Tuesday and I will be more than happy. I did find the antics of /Cambridge quite funny though. They did nothing but take as much time as possible in the first half and some of the second. However, once we took a commanding lead they did nothing but moan and moan at the Ref about time wasting or as we like to call it when it's us time management.
