OMG it's another 6 pointer already. My nerves won't stand it much more. For the sexists out there Oh no the Ref is a woman who is card happy. It's gonna be a disaster and even the kick off time means we will know early how bad it is. I hope this is sufficiently downbeat for everyone. COYG
Now that's rather like me continually putting Argyle for an away draw when what I really think is somewhat different. If you don't really, really believe it, Father Christmas won't come.
Port Vale...0...Tolaj...1. Winning is all that mattered......without Lorent Tolaj we would look totally non-league......cannot we find anyone else who could score goals. Tolaj needs wrapping up in cotton wool between matches....don't let him near the training ground.
Probably a deserved win although obviously there was a lot of pressure at the end. Returning to his old club, Tolaj was naturally the centre of attention. I’ll say one thing, he may be a striker in the rapier style rather than the broadsword but he’s not averse to the physical side of the game. He took a few naughty challenges but he gave as good as he got. Immediately after he scored, he got close to one of their CBs and whispered something in his ear. A minute later he took a heavy challenge and just laughed. It was finisher’s goal. Sorinola hit a fast, low cross in front of the right to where Tolaj was double marked but got a yard ahead of them and that was enough to tuck it in at the near post. My MOTM would be Boateng though. Playing in a more advanced role he did well in the defensive and offensive parts of the game. Benarous came on off the bench at 69 minutes and had to go off again 20 minutes later. When will it stop? Port Vale are on a bad run so you could say it’s a game we should win. On the other hand, it was hard fought because of it. Better from Argyle but I do wish we’d pay a bit more attention to the defensive side of the game. We nearly got caught short at the back just minutes after we scored. You might have thought that would be expected and a rigid back 5 for 10 minutes might have been advisable…..
And by the way…. 8,000 there of whom I believe 800 were Greens on a 500 mile round trip. Guess who made all the noise? Now THAT’S what I call support rather than armchair warriors.
For once I listened to this on Radio Devon. Normally I would avoid the radio as a complete no no. I can now see why I don't like the experience. 3 points. Nothing else matters. It was not a pleasant experience. I wonder what all the nay sayers have to say this evening.
It wasn’t pretty to watch either - hard fought but ugly. We looked more robust in a 4:4:2 and of course we have a finisher: great little goal, not spectacular but smart. Double marked but he reacts first and gets to the ball with a yard of space to tap it in from point-blank range. Great scenes too when he went to the fans after the final whistle. Must be galling for the Port Vale fans but that’s football. We had it with Whittaker and Azaz after all. On that point, I can see it coming. If Tolaj goes on topping the goals scored chart in a team that’s struggling, we’ll find it hard to keep him next summer……. He looked really happy in front of the fans yesterday and I’m not accusing him of bad faith…. But if we don’t get promoted, which looks highly unlikely being 12 points adrift, and he goes on scoring, there’s bound to be interest. And if it goes the other way: we bring in a couple of players after Christmas and we actually start dominating games: then he’s going to score so many goals it’ll be an embarrassment.
At least Tolaj cannot leave in January....having already played for two clubs this season....unless he leaves the country....heavens forbid. Mentioning Morgan Whittaker and Finn Azaz....I notice that they both scored yesterday.....Whittaker getting Middlesboro's equalizer at Oxford.....and Azaz going one better by scoring twice for Southampton in their away 5-1 thrashing of Charlton.....memories of past goalscores.....where would we be if Tolaj left....one of the only smart signing we done this season.....and he is rare for Argyle...someone who is fit every week.... Great to get 3pts our first since late September's 4-0 win against Burton......I do wonder if we would have won against any other club at the moment.....can Port Vale be so bad that even we can beat them.....that now means that we have won more away games than home ones at present. We do gamble quite often by taking on injury prone players......Galloway...MacKenzie...Benarous...Amaechi...Paterson...McCabe...Watts. Maybe I'm being unfair putting Amaechi in that category...but he is out a long time......and MacKenzie goes from one injury to the next without even playing. I do worry about Ayman Benarous lasting only 20 minute coming on as a sub......in the second half....will he be out long again ?
We won but only because they were so bad. Here we feckin go again. I do wonder sometimes why some people bother to suggest a passion for the greens. Just give them some feckin credit for once and accept they played "better" than they did. We have won 5 games this season and drawn one. That means we have been better than 5 and as good as one at least. Could we have beaten anyone else???? Well there is the proof we could.
They were physical but we were clearly the better footballing side. I appreciate that that isn’t always enough but one thing’s for sure: it’s easier to bring in muscle than it is class. Most importantly, we looked like a team again and one that was up for the fight. It’s exactly as Cleverley said: that they’d come back rejuvenated from the short break. We haven’t had a home game for what’s seems like an age. Now’s the time for the true supporters to get behind the players, the manager and the club. It’s not all Tolaj. We got several very promising young players. Once we get the ball rolling, it’ll be difficult to stop.
Well I hope your optimism is right notDistant....because if it isn't we're walking blindly into Div Two and beyond. Winning only five of 16 games and losing ten of them is relegation form.....and expecting Cleverley to suddenly become a winner is optimism in the extreme. Our squad in the right hands is mid-table....even with lots of injured players we should be doing better.....the problem is there isn't too many Port Vale's around for our leaky defence to have a clean sheet against......28 goals conceded in 16 games...equates to eighty in a season. Who can remember the last person to score other than Lorent Tolaj....if he becomes injured then what ?....we can't continually bemoan our bad luck. Looking over my shoulder I see little Bromley are at present the equivalent of only five positions behind us....they run their club on very little money and donated green shield stamps (literally) what they do have is a great manager Andy Woodman (how they've managed to hold on to him is a mystery)......ten years ago I would never have believed that it was possible....it worries me that those that run PAFC are not showing enough incentive regarding the seriousness of our position.
