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Match Day Thread versus Shrewsbury

Discussion in 'Plymouth' started by sensiblegreeny, Apr 3, 2021.

  1. sensiblegreeny

    sensiblegreeny Well-Known Member
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    Not sure what to make of this one. Shrewsbury are a bit like us this season in that they have lost against some of the crappier sides and yet won against some of the top ones. Their form has been well up and down and that inconsistency has led to them being towards the bottom of the league for a lot of the season. However, they do not appear to be anyone's push over.

    Can we win it? Well of course we can if we turn up. What would be good for a change would be to turn up for 90 minutes rather than the normal 45. I would dearly love to know what goes on in the dressing room at half time with Argyle. Is there something they put in the tea or do they do yoga and forget to snap them out of it before the restart. Whatever it is I want to see them do 90 minutes for once and be a really good watch. Hope they haven't scoffed too much chocolate since the last game.




    COYG
     
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  2. hp_bedoboy

    hp_bedoboy Active Member

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    With all those games we threw away/no show this season should be easily in a playoff place fighting for automatic promotion. A disappointing season so far.....
     
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  3. Plymborn

    Plymborn Well-Known Member
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    Cooper, Watts, Opoku, Aimson, Edwards, Grant, Fornah, Camara, Mayor, Ennis, Hardie.

    Subs
    McCormick, Reeves, Moore, Lolos, Lewis, Jephcott, Tomlinson.

    Watts and Opoku in....and Lewis and Woods out......Has Woods got an injury ?....he did come off last match with one.
     
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  4. notDistantGreen

    notDistantGreen Well-Known Member

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    Back to a 3:5:2 by the looks of it.
     
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  5. Plymborn

    Plymborn Well-Known Member
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    So no defence then....<doh>.
     
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  6. Plymborn

    Plymborn Well-Known Member
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    0-0...H/T.......not really much to say..........:frown:.

    Narrowest pitch I've seen for awhile...I remember Adams narrowing the pitch...but not this much.
     
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    Last edited: Apr 5, 2021
  7. notDistantGreen

    notDistantGreen Well-Known Member

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    Nope 4:2:2:2 or whatever you want to call it with Kel Watts at LB and Joe Edwards at RB.

    Stats suggest Shrewsbury have had all the chances but it hasn't really been like that: we may not have registered a shot but we've had some good moments in their box.

    Scandalous booking of Camara close to half time: trying to win the ball and their guy tuns into him. He cannot dematerialise referee.
     
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  8. hp_bedoboy

    hp_bedoboy Active Member

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    Not the point...if don't shoot don't score. Simple.
     
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  9. Plymborn

    Plymborn Well-Known Member
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    3-0...F/T.....Whalley...52 & 77 mins.....Ogbeta...81 mins.

    So what positives can we take from that result....NOWT.

    Poor first half followed by an abysmal second half.

    The second goal freebie is the sort of thing you see SEVEN YEAR OLDS.....give away ....appalling, pathetic, and just totally embarrassing.

    No mid-field authority at all meant that our strikers had no meaningful shots on goal.

    Watching Mayor going nowhere all afternoon just emphasis's my thought on what is he worth....can't score goals and involved in only five assists all season

    Having no commentary for the first five minutes of the second half didn't really matter.....in fact it would have been better if there was no commentary at all.

    Shrewsbury have a poor home record...only winning four games before todays match....there was never a chance of them losing this game.

    Never did we look able to threaten their defence....having given them the second goal....you wondered when Argyle would start giving it a go to at least show they cared....but I'm not sure they could be bothered.....and I'm not sure I want to listen to Ryan Lowe's post match comments.

    Camara just looks worn out and disillusioned and needs the end of season to come as quickly as possible....why did he get booked...surely the other player ran into him.

    Ryan Lowe needs to answer some questions....mainly what the hell does he say to them at half-time to make them look as if they've lost the will to live.....I'm not sure if he has anything else to offer Argyle....he's got another year on his contract.....maybe someone will come in for him and bring us some hope....what a miserable way to finish Easter.....bet it ain't fun and games on the coach coming home.
     
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  10. Plymborn

    Plymborn Well-Known Member
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    Ryan Lowe was very unhappy about Argyle's performance today.....join the gang Ryan there's lots of us.....although he said that they played terrible.....he didn't offer to resign.....I see no future for Lowe's style of play at Argyle....it doesn't work....we're heading for eighty goals against at this rate....and with Hull in rampant form at the moment it doesn't bode well for the next match.
     
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  11. sensiblegreeny

    sensiblegreeny Well-Known Member
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    I have to pay to go and watch them when allowed and you won't anymore. Please do not tell me that a team passing a ball around is not better to watch than the Adam's style. They are good enough to do it most of the time as are the other teams in this league who also mostly play football nowadays.

    Today was simply forgettable. I will therefore forget it and move on. They were never three goals better than us although they were better.
     
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    Last edited: Apr 5, 2021
  12. notDistantGreen

    notDistantGreen Well-Known Member

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    I'm with Sensible 100%. I know what it's like not to be able to see much of your team so I won't dismiss your opinion because of that. You are not the only one saying those things by any means: there was an absolute torrent of similar negative comment on Twitter after the game, but I don't agree.

    This is a long term project. Simon Hallett has perhaps unusually set himself on a course that's more a philosophy even than a strategy or a plan: financial security: community involvement: transparency: honest but robust dealings, a professional approach using methods akin to financial investment techniques leading to attractive, attacking football which pulls in the fans. He isn't going to deviate from that for short term advantage or to avert a crisis. The Academy has been aligned to the way we want to play and in coming years, managers will be recruited who support those ideals. It's not unambitious: long term residency in the Championship whilst being self financing. Leeds United LOST £65m in 2019/20 in a year in which they won promotion to the Premier League, so that's what you are up against.

    We're only a couple of years in and this year has been badly affected by Covid, which has probably borne more heavily on PAFC than most other clubs. It's come at a time when we are not yet self-financing even under normal circumstances and the loss of ticket income will have constrained what we might otherwise have spent on players. Hallett has put millions into the club and put in more to bridge the Covid spending gap. Expecting him to put in yet more of his own cash is neither reasonable nor in accordance with his beliefs that football clubs should not spend irresponsibly for short term gain at the expense of medium term risk. Don't forget we aren't yet entirely sure whether the 2021/22 season will see the ground full of fans or even with any at all. The season has been compressed into a shorter time period than normal which combined with the travelling we have to do must have made players weary but worse, has reduced the time available between games for preparation and training. We aren't the biggest club in this league but we have a larger fan base than most and an insanely large away support. Nobody knows how many points that's worth per season but 5 more points would have us looking up at the play-off places. Whatever that advantage is, we've been deprived of it this year.

    As Sensible has said, we're capable of glorious football. Yes, we all want results first but I wouldn't want to go back to the Adams days. When we won then, we ground them out. Nowadays, we're capable of blowing other teams off the park. Capable but not yet consistent. We lost yesterday to a team Derek Adams would be proud of. I don't know how big that pitch is but looked like 11 v 11 on a 5-a-side pitch most of the time. We lost to a huge deflection and an individual error from a player who's been one of our best and most consistent all year. **** happens. At 2-0 down, the third in the 81st minute hardly mattered.

    Yes I was gutted to the extent I couldn't even bring myself to comment here yesterday but I'll be back again next Saturday, for better or for worse.

    Ryan Lowe is committed to the Hallett Plan and has the right ideas on how football would be played by angels. He can't be expected to have plans A through to Z but subject to all the above, he could do with 3 or 4 extra players to give him options.. I'm sure that will come with time. How we could do with George Cooper down the left when we need a goal and an equivalent on the right.......... they wouldn't be able to double mark Danny Mayor then.

    In two years under Lowe, we've been promoted and look like consolidating in League 1 under difficult circumstances. I hoped for more and like all fans, I hope for more next Saturday but If we stay up, which we should, I hope next year will be better and that we'll be there to see it.
     
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  13. Plymborn

    Plymborn Well-Known Member
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    A lot of that sentiment I can agree with notDistant.....but to say that we're capable of blowing other teams off the park is a step too far....goals are required to back up such a statement....and to score goals you need attempts on their goal and shots on target....yesterday showed us that isn't happening....and 50 goals in 40 matches (1.25 av per game) is quite a poor result for a team that is supposed to be an attacking team and confirms that it isn't happening.....not forgetting the 63 goals we have conceded many of them gift wrapped.

    Lowe's style isn't working and he isn't a leopard that will be changing his spots...that is obvious.....building a team from the back by having a sound defence isn't anything that Lowe can understand.... and by having favourites like Mayor...who will never be subbed although he has disappeared from site by half-time will never help the cause.

    Hallett's philosophy can be achieved at Home Park and in the Greater Plymouth area.....but it doesn't have to be with the likes of Ryan Lowe and his flawed ideas.
     
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  14. notDistantGreen

    notDistantGreen Well-Known Member

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    We haven't been in a position to achieve thumping victories because we've made too many individual errors in defence. I think we all agree we need more maturity and leadership in the back 3 and the DM role. Lewis McLeod may be the answer if he can stay fit.

    Nevertheless, in our best moments, we've outplayed teams going forward and that goes back before Niall Ennis.

    The Danny Mayor thing is total [spherical objects]. They had two on him yesterday and one on one he's virtually unplayable at this level. I think it was last Saturday, he sent the full back so far the wrong way he had to pay to get back in. I don't think the change in formation has helped him over the last few games and he's suffered from the absence of George Cooper but he is a definite keeper. What's more, we need to tweak the set up to get him as involved as possible. The right pass for any Argyle player is to give it to Danny Mayor.

    If Lowe's ideas are flawed, then so are Jurgen Klopp's and Pep Guardiola's. We don't need to compromise at this level, we just need players who can execute the plan against League 1 opponents.
     
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  15. Plymborn

    Plymborn Well-Known Member
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    Players that can execute the plan unfortunately don't play in Div One.

    Klopp and Guardiola can play that way because they have spent the equivalent of a small countries national debt.

    If you end up with players in Div One executing the skills required for the system to work....then you'll lose them.....you'll need to dumb them down a bit.

    Jephcott's the right idea....let him play a dozen games without scoring....and then turn him into a sub who comes on a does totally nothing....and believe it or not no one wants him.

    We haven't yet copied the Exeter way of selling on and still get later on pay-outs as they progress up the ladder.....behind Jephcott there isn't a promising conveyor belt of talent coming on.....our best two youngsters are helping Torquay to try and get back into the league.

    Lolos has been around for about 3 years.....and yesterday he got 25 minutes....the longest spell he has ever had....but he came on to a situation where there was no midfield help for him... and he and Jephcott could have just as well been sitting down the Hoe for all the chances they were given.
     
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  16. sensiblegreeny

    sensiblegreeny Well-Known Member
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    "Players that can execute the plan unfortunately don't play in Div One" That if I may say so is plainly ridiculous to say. Of course they do otherwise you would get 20 - 20 matches every week. The players may not be top class at doing the passing stuff and score every time but there are more and more clubs adopting the passing game. It is far more pleasing to the eye than the old "Ave it" sides. I cringe sometimes when Argyle play the ball around at the back. That's because I've grown up with the "Ave it" style football from yesteryear. Mostly the players do it quite well and the ball gets out of the defensive section. Sometimes they cock up because they don't quite have the class of the top players. Other times it's expensive and costs us. That is all part of the way we are trying to play at this level. Other teams cock up just as badly as we do. I fail to see what is wrong with players executing the skills required and then being lost to higher clubs. Surely that is the way to produce greater revenue to reinvest in the first team.

    My previous point was that you are only watching Argyle because it's now on iFollow and you can and normally you would not spend money on the viewing. Like notdistant that isn't me criticising it's just pointing out a fact and when supporters are allowed back in and if they stop the filming then you won't be spending anything once more. I on the other hand will be spending several hundreds of pounds and I know which brand of football I would rather see. That is win or lose. I would rather it was win but realise the win bit is a sort of bonus.

    As for the copying Exeter bit well you need to look at the youth set up or rather Academy system that has been introduced. I can tell you that the way the first team play has been set in stone from top to bottom at the club and is a must for anyone who works there or joins as a future star. The difference from a short time ago is startling and if you don't believe me then talk to a parent of a youngster currently there. It is now professionally run from the outset and it WILL produce future stars for us to cash in on. The club recognised, that's Hallett, that we needed to do it right as it was a source of funds for the first team and therefore some who would have rather gone to Exeter previously will not now do that and will sign for us. You can't expect that to produce instant stars but believe me it will produce them in the future.
     
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  17. notDistantGreen

    notDistantGreen Well-Known Member

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    It's obviously the case you can play this style of football at this level. Manchester City have to do it against Liverpool and Real Madrid, we have to do it against AFC Wimbledon and Rochdale. There's no guarantee of success of course but then, neither was there with Derek Adams.

    We all said we needed to strengthen the back 3 at the start of the season and we didn't really do that. We've brought in Premier League youngsters but they're up against experienced strikers. Aimson has done really well in recent games but over the course of the season we given away a multitude of daft goals. We've had Fornah in the DM role in most games and although I think he's done pretty well, that's a key position defensively and linking play. A small improvement there could make a big difference to results.

    As I said, 5 points for example would put us 11th and you could easily find 5 silly goals that have cost us a point or two. OK, that's possibly true at the other end too but I think a couple of key players and the fans back could make a significant difference next season.
     
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