We are doomed before we start. Remember the Stockport game and the officials I drew attention to before the game. Well Sam Fudge is back as a lino again. He was terrible last time and lived up to his name. Will still say we can win this but I will whisper it quietly. COYG
Hazard...Ross...Wiredu...Edwards...Tolaj...Mumba...Mitchell...Oseni...Boateng...McCabe...Ibrahim. Subs. Ashby-Hammond...Paterson...Benarous...Galloway...Pepple...Sorinola...Finn. The return of Mitchell and Ibrahim.....plus Edwards back as captain. Reasonably strong starting eleven.
.................................................Hazard ................Wiredu.......................Ross.........................Mitchell ............Edwards.........McCabe...............Boateng..........Mumba ............................Ibrahim............................Oseni ................................................Tolaj
1-2.....F/T Tolaj...(6mins).....................Bugiel...(44mins) ...........................................Browne...(52mins) Another disappointing home game. 20th and one point above the relegation places.
This game started badly before a ball was kicked .Wimbledon won the toss and elected to make Argyle attack the Devonport End in the first half. That didn’t seem to matter when after only 4 minutes, Tolaj was put through the middle. Not for an instant did a single Argyle fan think he’d miss, I don’t suppose that he thought he’d miss it either. Calm strike to the bottom right corner. Keeper like.a rabbit in the headlights. 1-0. That’s pretty much the end of the good news. Fans criticise the referee at every game but this one was truly bizarre. If there was a common thread between his many strange decisions I think was cowardice rather than incompetence. Rather than give an awkward decision like a penalty, he’d prefer to say that a forward had deliberately fouled the defender even though the defender was behind him and a trip would have required not one but several double-jointed limbs. Theee were many strange decisions but I’m convinced Argyle should have had a penalty while at 1-0 when Oseni (?) was brought down Wimbledon made it hard for Argyle. They pressed as a unit and defended as a unit. I said that our problem was not scoring goals but keeping them out. I thought we defended poorly. I’m not going to point fingers but too many times we let unremarkable situations develop into real threats I appreciate we weee trying to win but attack v defence can’t be an either-or choice.
Go on lets do the Officials first. I say first because this match was more about them than it was about the football which was poor as well. Notdistant, the lino and the Ref bottled most of the decisions. As you know I sit right opposite the 18 yard line so have a great view of the area on the Lyndhurst side. You are right. There was a complete and utter nailed on penalty decision that neither made. The lino had the best view in the house apart from me of course. The foul was so blatant it couldn't possibly be more obvious if you had put it in brackets. He was looking right at it with no players in the way at all. He didn't move a muscle. That was just one. There should have been a second in the same half. I completely despair at the standard of officials in this league now. It is not even incompetance anymore it is just not wanting to give anything contentious at all just in case of something I'm not sure what. The Ref was indeed strange. I am getting so fed up with commenting on officials rather than the game that I am nearly at a point where I don't want to go to games anymore. How sad is that. As for the game itself. I thought they (Wimbledon) bullied us out of this and were very physical. They are obviously well schooled in this type of play. Niggle after niggle and I thought they targetted Weirdu from the start. He is known as a red card waiting to happen and I think they played on knowing that. He was fouled time and time again by their No.9 who pulled him all over the place and at every opportunity. He wasn't even booked which says a lot about him learning. I would guess that Wimbledon went home with every Argyle shirt they could rip off. It was blatant and disgustingly a tactic. We deserved and should have got something out of this game but thanks to the Officials we ended up with another home defeat. I thought Wimbledon were "not very good" just well instructed and schooled.
I do not understand what a Lino’s terms of reference are. They don’t even give throw-ins without reading the ref’s body language first. I had a good view: Closer than you but at an angle. It was a clear trip, absolutely nailed on. You mentioned Wiredo and it’s him I wasn’t going to mention as you probably guessed. He’s a midfielder playing CB and at times it shows. Wimbledon are obviously honouring the memory of their Crazy Gang heritage and I couldn’t possibly count the numbers of fouls we should have got by didn’t. This ref actually managed to give them the other way around……..
What it isn’t is a lack of attacking flair: and that’s the bit that’s difficult to find. In Caleb Watts and Xavier Amaechi, we’re without two of our best offensive players too. We'd be a bit buggered without Tolaj but there aren’t many like him. He makes Ryan Hardie look like a nervous finisher. Beyond that, if I knew the answer, I’d be a football manager too but I do have a few thoughts - or questions really. We don’t have any obviously bad players. It’s therefore down to: Tactics - as modified by injuries. What would Cleverley’s ideal team look like? Injuries - sounds like an excuse but we’ve suffered an awful lot. Experience - it’s a young squad. Very young in some cases. Joe Edwards can be an important on-pitch influence who’s been absent recently. Luck - Sensible and I and 15,500 other Argyle fans think we should have been 2-0 up through a penalty. Wimbledon should have been down to 10 men at some point after the huge number of fouls they committed. Over sophistication. If you were feeling melancholic, you might note that our mission statement says we’ll play attractive football. We have a manager who played for elite clubs and for England. Can you do that in League 1 or do you need to do what Wimbledon do? Buying young players, who will play the type of football we want and boost transfer funds in future years when they move on as mature stars. Together with the investment in the Academy, This is a plan for long-term growth while in the case of the Academy, putting something back into the community. Great idea if it works but does it leave us weaker in the mid-term? Make no mistake, this is a game we should have won but didn’t. That’s bad but not as bad as a game we deserved to lose because they were better than us. They weren’t. I’m a strong supporter of the owner, the Academy plan, the manager, the players, the ball-boys, Pilgrim Pete and the 4 year old who scored a penalty against Pilgrim Pete at half-time, the whole thing. This is not criticism but clearly the plan doesn’t include relegation to League 2. If action is needed, we need to be ready for the transfer window.
My thought is that on average Argyle's squad is as good as the majority of squads in this division. So is the coaching not good enough.....and even more so the tactics might be poor.....which could point to whatever system....three at the back.....four at the back......wing backs......one striker....two strikers......two No 10's.......high press......might need adjusting during play....so reading the flow of the game and adjusting is so important.....are we lacking in the field ? What on paper looked a dominant situation....high percentage of possession... etc...etc....in the end proves nothing....passing continuously along the back....even long passes back to the keeper....what does it achieve in the end nothing. We probably have one of the best strikers in the division Lorent Tolaj.....and he proved that a pass through their defence that he latched onto is playing to his strength....and he made scoring look easy.....so why do we not play to that strength....one up in 6 minutes sound a good foundation to build a win on. Both their goals could be blamed on defensive errors.....ok we might of fared better if we had a Referee who seemed more at home with a white stick.......and why wasn't he more in favour of the home team....that normally gives them an easier game. Exeter on Thursday is starting to look a big match....and not just for Devon bragging rights.......Cleverley has had long enough to sort out how we should play.....prove it on Thursday.
I reject and object to a lot of that. We are trying to play good football. After a season under Muslic it’s a breath of fresh air. I think everyone is aware what Tolaj can and he scored yesterday after a good bit of midfield play. Ultimately, that’s what he needs most but he’s no passenger the rest of the time. He’s not huge but he’s a pain in the butt to defend against. He pushes and shoves far bigger defenders, elbows in their ribs and always getting between them and the ball. He’s quite happy to do the dirty work and doesn’t need to have it put on a plate for him. He’s no shrinking violet.
Will someone poach him in January ?.....if that happens I feel we will be in dire straights......we need Amaechi...Watts & Pleguezuelo back in action soon and somehow keep the rest fit.....which seems an impossible job.....but as I have already said.....a good result against Exeter is necessary.....if we lose that there will be rumbles from the Green Army..............this is the one game that matters most to them and Cleverley needs to take that on board.
