Just a tad disappointed by what happened yesterday against Yeovil. Yeovil's third friendly of pre-season and Argyle's first and didn't it show. Carl Fletcher commented that fitness was more important at the moment than results. I still think that pride and confidence should still be important even in a friendly,obviously no one told Chadwick that,getting sent off in a friendly is not a good way to build up his fitness levels......although it certainly tested the fitness levels of the rest of the team for 50 minutes.......that is a rare achievement being shown a red card in what Fletcher claims is only an exercise in achieving levels of fitness before the season starts. Fletcher starting line up included no more than five regular first team players,one new signing and Jimenez a trialist.....this surely put Argyle on the back foot against a higher league club and probably a fitter team than Argyle at present.........wouldn't it of been sounder to start with a recognized defence and built from there.....instead of being weak in defence and paying for it....and making it a difficult up-hill task......even without Chadwick's intervention before half-time. With Chadwick seemingly lined up for a possible three match suspension for our Portsmouth plus two league games start to the season.......we find ourselves even weaker for strikers than we already are at present. Fletcher's comment on that is, "that he insists the club won't be rushing out to buy another striker"......pardon me Carl...are you saying that another striker is not a desperate need at the moment anyway......strewth man....who the hell is going to score the goals then........Chadwick and Feeney will be lucky to score 10/12 goals between them in a season even at this level....Cowan-Hall and Lecointe are still unproven at this level. MacDonald,Hemmings and Walton are no longer part of the Argyle scene.....this to me means that we will be testing are defence to the limit......and Fletcher certainly destroyed it even before Yeovil got a chance to do it.....ok you've got to experiment I know.......but if it ain't broken why maul it about at the start of the match and start with an uphill battle. Eight changes at half-time gave match time to the squad........but although having three goalkeepers in the squad Cole saw the whole match out....it would of been good to have seen what Rene Gilmartin was like.....or was Fletcher worried that playing another goalkeeper when defensively we were all at sea was not a good idea. Next week it's the mighty Truro......and wouldn't the ginger one like to do the same to us as Yeovil did........well possibly we are at rock bottom at present and the only way is up.....hopefully.....if we suffer humiliation at Truro....then my concerns that Fletcher isn't the right man for the job will rise again.
Fletcher insisted Chadwick's red card did not add any pressure on him to strengthen his strikeforce. Fletcher also said "it depends how you want to play your football doesn't it ? If you are Spain you don't play with forwards at all". So does that mean you want to play like Spain Carl ? All you had Carl by the end of last season was an accomplished back four which kept us out of the Conference. The only experienced (non-scoring) forward we have to start the season with is Feeney......is that what you mean by playing like Spain Carl......no forwards anyway. The mid-field lacks a touch of Spain as well Carl........a tad below par with it's passing accuracy I would say, and certainly goal scoring potential is not it's strong point either. So I don't think there is much chance of your team Carl boring the pants off of us with it's ball retention and continual passing.......but the not shooting at goal bit we can probably do.
Never really liked him as a player and certainly not as a manager.......but was hoping that he was starting to learn quickly........but putting out such a poor team selection against a DIV ONE team was not confidence building in anyway........but fitness comes first of course......forget the travelling fans who paid good money to support their team and expected to see them compete against one of the more local opposition.....humiliating comes to mind.
I go away for a few days and apart from nothing happening it seems everything goes wrong as well. Bleddy hell. I had no idea they were even playing Yeovil let alone getting whacked. About all I can say about this is that I hope this was a nightmare wake up and this was the bad news for the season. What I find hardest to swallow is that Fletcher appears to be saying we ain't getting another striker following Chadwicks sending off. It is really hard supporting this lot isn't it.
Hard to understand why Fletcher starts against a Div 1 side with a seriously under strength team.....ok he claims that fitness comes first......tell that to the travelling fans who have paid good money to follow their team away from home. Five regulars,one trialist and one new boy in the starting line up......defence ripped apart by selection along......and didn't it show in the end. Certainly no way to build team confidence in my opinion.......Fletcher needs to get real and stop sodding around.
