I don’t know what the stats looked like but how we got through the first half 0-0 is a mystery. I’m afraid a trend is developing in which teams run a high press on us. We want to play the ball out from the back but we need an alternative to play it long. For that you need a striker with pace. Anybody know where Ryan Hardie is these days? In the second half we were better and I see Rooney says he urged them to go longer at half time. That’s all well and good but we need a mechanism to do that without waiting for half time. Either one of the players has to have the authority to call it or there needs to be better communication from the bench. Once you start hitting balls over the press successfully, it’s takes a brave or foolhardy team to stick at it with the risk of being caught short at the back. That’s how we came back from 3-0 against Preston and it’s how we won this one. It’s not always pretty but needs must. We were better in the second half and just about deserved to win that half. Whether we deserved to win the game as a whole is arguable. My MotM was Darko Gyabi. He’s starting to look like a very, very good player, buzzing around everywhere and a lot of what was bad stopped with him and a lot of what was good started with him. Also a shout-out for Callum Wright, who played the best stuff I’ve seen from him I the final 25 minutes. Also Freddie Issaka, who made the most of slim pickings in the first half.
I failed to mention Callum Wright. Absolutely he made a huge difference when he came on. I would have given him MOM if he had been on longer but it was a close run thing anyway. Apart from him not sure who I would have given it to anyway.
Well the Argyle MotM poll has a choice of: Jordan Houghton Pleggy Kornel Szucs Mattt Sorinola Four defence players probably is a good indicator of how the game went although how Gyabi isn’t there. I don’t know. He must have covered every blade of grass (and plastic) at least three times. Out of those though, it has to be Matty Sorinola just for being Matty Sorinola. He’s always the one for doing selfies with the kids before the game and didn’t he go crazy after the goal…… such enthusiasm. Bad news - looks like a second term for the Big Orange - Donald Trump.
Agree with all that sensible the first half was the worse i have seen this season, we dont have the players at the present time to play it out from the back. we were very lucky first half, they scored in the forst few minutes that was disallowed but the player should have scored before the offside i felt but hey the ref was not great either.. clean sheet and 3 points will do
To be fair, the best teams in the world can be disrupted by a high press but it leaves the other lot exposed and the answer to it is to go over the top to players with pace. We don't seem to know when we need to go to plan B. Also, if you are relying on your FB's for pace, that can make matters worse if they leave you exposed. Whittaker, for all his ability on the ball, is not a speed merchant. Hardie isn't getting a game and yet he's ideally suited to that sort of situation. Issaka and Cissoko do both meet the requirement. So does Mumba, but he's always picked at FB where he's a bit of a defensive liability and his ability to leave defenders for dead is largely wasted. Szucs, Gibson, Pleggy Issaka/Cissoko, Randell, Gyabi, Mumba Whittaker, Al Hajj Hardie
I also forgot to mention in the excitement the Rememberance part of the evening. I instantly thought of Lyndie when the thing started. Despite the announcer giving out the what will happen bit the crowd seemed to just ignore it. The announcer clearly stated......The Last Post will be sounded and there will be a thing from our Captain Joe Edwards followed by the normal minutes silence ended by the Refs whistle. So not hard to follow is it. Step forward Buglers and a very good rendition of the last post was played. Crowd bursts into a round of applause on completion. Then Pompey fans start chanting. Ooops! Second half of last post kicks off and the noise tails away. Completion once more and a round of applause kicks off again. The players join in the minutes applause that should bever have been. The Ref seems to give up and just let it fade away. Lyndie, given his previous involvement in things Military at Argyle must have been hiding his head somewhere in despair. Never happened on his Watch.
Yes it did seem to be a bit of a shambles but I think it was a sort of spontaneous gesture of support for the notion of Remembrance and the Marines and the whole thing. Shambolic, un-military but well meant.
It was quite funny though. I remember once being on a Ceremonial Parade at Dartmouth College. The Captain was in the midst of inspecting the guard and all the Divisions were being inspected by one senior officer or another. During that the RM Band, and remember this was a proper full RM Band was playing incidental music to accompany the saluting and walking up and down the ranks. Suddenly out of nowhere the Band just simply faded out almost as one with the odd note being by just one or two members. Believe me on a Parade Ground it wasn't something that would be missed. The Band Master almost exploded. He barked a few orders and they sorted themselves out and kicked off playing again. The Officers Under Training didn't flinch but the ordinary sailors of which I was one could hardly contain the snickering and laughter. I never found out what happened after in the Band room but I'd guess it wasn't pretty.
What can have caused the simultaneous failure of a whole RM Band? Perhaps whoever printed out the play-list didn't put enough paper in the printer....
