I'm gonna whisper this. Saturday 3pm kick off........... Honest it is unless something happens weather wise. Well here we go again with a game that the majority will think we will lose handsomely. Finn Azaz will score a hattrick of course but what they fail to realise is it will be in the wrong net and he will be our hero. Well he was in my dream anyway. IF (notice big if there) we can reproduce the Sheff United performance at Home Park we can beat anyone on our day. The whole World and it's dog are braying for Rooney to fall on his arris and fail at Argyle. This is an opportunity to make them think again and give us all a boost before that dread holiday I keep hearing about. What better time for a miracle I say. COYG
606 used to be a BBC thing, long gone as a separate thing, but it’s still possible to comment on published content (eg match reports). It’s very noticeable there that a significant proportion of the comments on Argyle stuff are from people with no connection with The Greens or whatever club we happen to have played. They’re there solely to make negative comments about Wayne Rooney. To me, Wayne Rooney is just another manager. I support him because I support Argyle. What he did as a player is neither here nor there nor what he might have done unwisely as a young man suddenly thrown under the brightest of spotlights. His managerial record is of some significance but the UK clubs he was at previously had structural problems we don’t have at Argyle. What we do have is a small budget in a tough league but he knew that before he signed up. I’m sure we’d all rather not have all the background noise but it’s all really about win, lose or draw. That would be the case we had Pep Guardiola or some bloke from down the pub.
Grimshaw, Mumba, Szucs, Hardie, Obafemi, Bundu, Gibson, Gyabi, Randell, Galloway, Al Hajj. Subs Hazard, Ogbeta, Houghton, Wright, Gray, Sorinola, Issaka, Finn, Palsson. Unchanged I think,. ARGYLE AT THE MOMENT IN 24th POSITION,
3-3...F/T Gibson...38mins.....Gyabi...72mins.....Bundu...81mins. Howson...50mins.....Hackney...77mins.....Lath...84mins.
I suppose the feeling at the end was “thank goodness we got a point”, Behind that was a crazily fluctuating game in which the correct response is “how did we not win that?” As you may recall, I have a feeling we should take the kickoff rather than choosing ends. We kicked this one off and proceeded not only to camp in their half for at least 15 minutes but to generally dominate the whole half. The second half was of course different right from the start. Perhaps rockets had been inserted in the Middlesbrough dressing room or their tactics had been tweaked. They equalised. We battled back into the lead. They equalised. Rinse and repeat. It’s a point against the team in 6th at the start of the game but it could have been three. The ref was consistent. Consistently wrong in nearly all major decisions, some for us and some against. The big story of the day is three more players subbed off for injuries. This included Ryan Hardie, who hobbled off but then after lengthy work on the touchline was stretched back to the dressing room. Cripes.
Normally I agree with you notdistant but on this occasion I'm afraid I have to differ. First half we started on the back foot and I did think the worst. The first 15 minutes we looked up for the slaughter. But, we weathered that and began to play our way back into the game. For the last 20 minutes of the first half there only looked like one team likely to score and sure enough it was us and we took the lead. We played it out till half time. You couldn't help thinking that we were a changed side. Second half we conceeded almost from kick off and to be fair you couldnearly smell it coming even after a couple of minutes. So, all that hard work to get back into it and take the lead was undone. We then improved again and justifiably took the lead once more. Decent football, great cross and for once it went in. A few minutes later the usual happened and we were on the wrong end of a rebound which could have fallen anywhere and the end could have been anything. Of course it went straight at the foot of one of theirs and into the back of the net. Fluke doesn't do it but it is just symptomatic of Argyle's luck. On we went and once more took the lead. Not against any run of play either. This lead lasted only around 2 minutes and once more the defensive wall disappeared and they equalised. Did we deserve to lose this game? Not one jot of it. Did we deserve to draw this game? In my opinion no again. I think of this as 2 points lost rather than one point gained and I don't care where Middlesbrough are in the league we did not look second best or even equal. Having said that Middlesbrough are a very good side and their passing and movement is probably the best I've seen this season so far. They also had plenty of pace in the pack. Azaz didn't rip up any performance and was kept quiet mostly throughout until subbed. If this game had been against most other sides in this league we would have walked away with all of the points. We scored 3 which is a big plus. We let in 3 which was about normal. Defence needs a good kicking and wake up call. The lino on the lyndhurst side was crap but that is pretty normal these days. The Ref let too many things go and I am convince we should have had a pen somewhere along the way. I would therefore say he bottled the big decisions but then again that isn't unusual either. A decent game to watch and in BC's case get up for.
We’re poor at the back because we don’t have any fullbacks. Galloway got a right chasing from (I suppose) Doak. He’s a decent CB (although he might not get a game up against Szucs & Gibson) but he’s not a FB and certainly not on the LHS. Bali Mumba isn’t a defender at all. To me, we need to play a 5. if by being on the back foot you mean playing it out from the back, it is somewhat nerve shredding and we do lose the ball in some awkward places. I presume it’s part of some tactical plan and you must admit we made Middlesbrough very uncomfortable in the first half and made a bucketful of chances. I had a look at the stats and half time and they confirmed we were all over them: shots, touches in their box…. Very one sided.
No I mean that we were struggling to contain Middlesbrough who were clearly a good side from the off. We kept the ball on zero occasions in that spell and they looked well up for the job and we didn't. However, as said we played our way back into it and had much the better of the second half of the first half. Middlesbrough though kept on making chances throughout and we were lucky they were so poor at finishing on occasions. But, so were they. I wouldn't say we were all over them but I do think we were the better side and given the league positions you could have been forgiven for wondering which one was knocking on the top and which one was at the bottom.
you could have been forgiven for wondering which one was knocking on thetop and which one was at the bottom. As was the case in the first half at Sheffield United.
Ryan Hardie has a knee injuriy but seems NOT to have any internal damage. It’s just a gash but it’s on a bit of the knee that moves so he’ll be unable to play until it heals. He isn’t going to be available for the the Xmas & New Year fixtures but it’s hoped he’ll be able to resume soon after that. I hope all the ignorant northern knuckle-draggers who booed him off have a truly miserable Christmas and all the bad luck in the world in 2025. Michael Obafemi has a groin problem. That could mean anything…..
Also Galloway had to be replaced....so who knows how long he might be out.....he his needed in defence.
With a few minutes to spare (she's in Somerset again ), I've just watched the highlights and interviews. Rooney's again frustrated with the goals conceded and makes a point about the third. As he says, Bundu was on fire yesterday (9/10 from Chris Errington) and Mumba had been told to just give the ball to him and stay in position himself at RB. Instead, at 3-2 up with only 6 minutes to to play, he tries to run past Bundu with the ball, loses it, which leads to a corner which leads to Middlesbrough's third equalizer. Firstly, it's those little things that fans (including me) perhaps don't notice. Secondly, it shows why Mumba, who I love to bits when he's playing in an offensive role, is a menace at RB.
It's always mystified me why Mumba plays anywhere near his own penalty area.....I remember last season ...I believe...he deflacted the ball into his own net when the keeper was there to take it......so unnecessary to not be aware where his keeper was.
