I have been reading the reports on the match. Also I have been reading all the comments on this site, PASOTI etc and it is very depressing.........so many think it is now inevitable that we will be playing Conference football next year. How can three lost points change a situation so dramatically...........it's not as if we're getting beat each week. First yesterday.......Gillingham a reasonable side.......on the fringe of the play-offs........if we get a draw a reasonable result.........if we win great, The facts were that the Gills had illness in the squad and had to make five changes because of it. A shame for them, an opportunity for us to get something extra from this match. We had literally a full squad to pick from so the opportunity was there and the game plan and tactics would need tweakin to take into account that they had players playing out of position and a more inexperienced subs bench. What happened.......Gillingham score a very good goal with a well hit shot from distance.....Cole not at fault,just an excellent strike. Gillingham had to replace two players during the first half,bringing on players from their weakened subs bench.......opportunity for Argyle you would think?. But the biggest plus for Argyle was the sending off of the goal scorer for a second bookable offence (the third time this season) after 31 minutes. Change of tactics......well that was obvious from Gillingham,a case of hang on to what you've got (a 1-0 lead).......spoiling tactics to stop the flow of play became the order of the day........injuries requiring the trainer to spend continual time on the pitch with his (as sensible as already said) magic life giving sponge.......injuries feigned,not for me to say.........but the Referee didn't clamp down on it......the end result was that Argyle were disrupted and frustrated by continual breaks in play. Gillinghams manager was controlling what was happening on the pitch and was doing what was required to win the game. Plymouths manager was doing what was necessary to counter that.........I hope he was.......he must of been doing something......twin strikers from the beginning to unsettle Gillinghams re-jigged line up surely..........em no........I wasn't there to witness Argyles tactics......could someone inform me....who did go to the match, and could see how Fletcher was trying to unlock the Gills re-jigged defence and open the floodgates. Was he getting help from his goalkeeper coach,was he getting help from his other coach,was he getting help from his mentor.........his name escapes me at present.......oh yea....Deehan,......furiously writing notes in the stand I expect.....to pass on to Fletcher at half-time........so Argyle could win the match. We know that that didn't happen......or if it did....... it didn't change one jot of the final outcome. I checked (wait for it sensible) my thread, "Catching Snowflakes" to see how we were placed now compared with my thread......we were on 29pts and we were still on target. The problem was we had dropped so many points that we should have gained from recent matches,and including this game we could or should have had five or even seven more in the pot. That was bad enough in itself......those were the things that you could control.......but what about the things beyond your control......other teams results ?. This was the crux of the problem..........the thing that highlighted the seriousness of our position,as long as the teams around us did no better than us we would feel not so bad.......so what changed yesterday ? This is what upset the apple cart......... Northampton..... should have been thumped at Cheltenham if form has any say.....for most of the match they were winning and lucky for us they only drew in the end......we would have been bottom if that had happened........1pt. Dag & Red..... beat Bradford 1-0 in the 71st minute.....pity a draw would have kept both of them closer to use,........3pts. Hereford..... beat AFC Wimbledon.....you would have hoped Wimbledons away form would have helped us...........3pts. Macclesfield.....you would of expected Bristol R to have won this one especially with Macclesfields away form...........1pt. Barnet.....drew with Rotherham,went to form I expect........1pt. So we lost ground on them all.........and remember Northampton have TWO games in hand.......Dag & Red have ONE game in hand and Barnet have also ONE game in hand. Over the months we have been lulled into a false sense of security......thinking no one down in the basement is doing any better than us....we'll pull through.......but yesterday showed us a different picture.........and the thought of all those recently thrown away points became a reality that could lose us our league status. Why is this team not winning ?....... is it because they are not goodenough or is it because they are badly managed..........we can only use the excuse of our terrible start to the season (1pt from 27pts) for so long..........is it now because of terribly inexperienced management...........last week how did we not win..........we didn't run the clock down by bringing on our third sub..........and we certainly didn't use the spoiling tactics that saw Gillingham over the line. The making up of Carl Fletcher to temporay manager was one thing.........but giving him the job full time so soon into his trial period was rather sudden........and has been proved beyond any doubt to be a disaster...........OK the argument might be we couldn't afford to do anything else..........but the alternative is non league football and PAFC being put back light years from going foreward..........and financially the result is unthinkable. Please folks tell me I am wrong...........or if your not very good liars....... just tell me how you see it.
I see it exactly the same, it was other results by those around us that really screwed us yesterday. I also agree that Fletcher didn't game play the way the Gills manager did. It doesn't look good does it!
It's a grim situation which I think is hopeless. I hope I'm wrong...... I'm not quite sure where any great optimism came from: we've basically had, what, 3 good results all season, namely home to Northampton, away to Bristol Rovers and away to Accrington? Yes, we had a bit better form through February but still too many draws. Whilst maybe we wouldn't have expected much from yesterday in advance, although when a depleted Gillingham squad turned up which then went down to 10 men with an hour to play perhaps we had a right to, the damage was done in not beating Dagenham and Barnet at home. If you don't win those, what chance do you have? We can't take comfort from losing to fluke goals, 95th minute equalisers, bad refereeing etc. For some reason, I had hopes when Brent settled in and new players arrived and even more so when it seemed finally to come right at Accrington, but now I think we're goners. Provided we can scrape as many points from the next 4 games as our rivals, we do still have one possible escape: Northampton, Bradford and Hereford in successive games at the end of this month but I'm not optimistic. What's worrying is that Brent's plan seemed to consist of making the team self-financing from club income and developing the old stand in such a way as to generate future income from facilities for weekday conferences and matchday hospitality. Whilst I accept that's about the only workable plan there is, you wonder what the demand is in Plymouth for the latter at the best of times but at a Blue Square club?
If I can offer some consolation on yesterday without getting bitten. Slightly in defence of your manager. NO ONE knew that Hessy was going to put that team out yesterday and previously he has come in for criticism for his 433 tactics, including from me. However, yesterday was a bit of tactical genius and I cannot believe I am saying that. NO ONE officialy reported that our right back Jack Evans had been injured (obviously you lot failed to pass my message on - lol). Basically his injury had been kept quiet and it was not until 2pm yesterday , that we realised there was to be FIVE team changes, not accounting for match injuries to Tomlin and King. I believe your manager rightly or wrongly was hoping to take a point (probably wrong at home). We normally play 3 up front and no wingers. Evans is a pacey right back covered also by the youth and quality normally of Essam and the experienced King in the centre. Jackman had been previously covering at left back again quick. That was not the team you saw yesterday, most Gills fans know I do not have many good words to say about these three...'hoof ball' Richards and left back Joe Martin with Montrose in the centre but that was the team that was put out. I believe your manager had probably done his homework but could not plan for a completely changed Gillingham team and tactics. With better finishers this could have seriously back fired on Hessy. Am I happy to see the team he put out...No...but in fairness it did the job. Managers plan all week for what they are going to do, how do you compensate with one hours notice, he would have been expecting the long ball from Gazza to Tomlin, Kedwell up front who probably has more height than most in the Gillingham team, Kuffour poaching and with left & right full backs pushing down the wings. I would guess that is not what you saw.
brb there is no consolation and no you won't get bitten (well maybe a playful nibble) for giving an opinion. Your minder got a bit carried away yesterday with his defence of you which wasn't really that necessary. We still love you really. The tactics yesterday started with a 4 - 1 - 4 - 1 set up. Bizaar enough for a home team chasing a result you would think but to give him the benefit of doubt at the beginning maybe he was just trying something new. It was obvious to everyone it wasn't working after 5 minutes. Our players were not used to it and were getting in each others way too often. If he was employing this you would have thought they would have practiced it a bit before the match but it didn't look like they had. He did nothing to change anything except to change a full back for another full back even after you had one sent off. He should have gone with 3 strikers and took a back off completely. But it took till 15 minutes from time for him to even think about it. There isn't any defence for any of that and although I have not been one calling for his head, it is becoming harder to defend him. I think he is not the man for a struggle and he cannot man manage the players into a fight for survival. Yesterday was the first time in ages that I have felt totally let down by him and the players and that we are being slowly but surely consigned to the Conference. I hope that prediction is no better than my score line ones.
sensible - what tactics had you started with in previous games. I have had a look at your performance over the last eight games before yesterday and I think it was only one defeat, albeit five draws but material enough to survive the dreaded drop. Problem was yesterday the other league two results went all against you, undoing all the previous hard work. I agree however, your manager should have changed tactics once he realised the team Hessy was putting out and especially so after Martin's dismissal and more importantly after Tomlin's injury. Since Tomlin has joined us he has scored six goals in eight games. As I have said previously I think your manager may have recognised this and even I could not think how teams could counter our attacks, look at Wimbledon, Accrington, Hereford - regardless of the outcomes we scored eleven goals in those three games. I could be wrong but I think the Gills games may have had more goals than any other team in the leagues. Maybe your manager recognised this but got it dramatically wrong or did he? In fact I believe he might have got it right, he restricted us to one goal. The problem was as the Greens do not need reminding, he left you weak up front and his failing was not to put it right. If your chances had gone in though, maybe we would not be having this discussion today and your manager may have been receiving slightly different praise.
If's but's and maybe's brb but fact is he didn't change anything until it was too late. I also do not recall seeing the formation yesterday tried before. May be wrong but can't recall it anyway. We were the home team and it should be the away side that plays for the point by responding to what the home side puts out not the other way around. We cannot simply rely on the other teams around us obliging with a well earned loss just because we get one. WE need the results to be ours and put the pressure on the others. Our chances did not go in although I wondered how some of them were missed. It should have at least brought a save out of your keeper and been on target rather than over the rainbow. One miss was over the bar and nearly the stand from about 1 yard. Sad part is we are creating chances just not scoring them. Yesterday was the third game in a row we should have won. Out of the 9 points on offer we have managed 2. At this stage it is no consolation to say we should have done this or that or even could have done it. We need to be doing it and we are not. I hope all your players are well today because all that rolling around and laying on damp grass can't be good for them and your physio is not a young man and the exercise he got yesterday was excessive for one of advancing years.
I cannot comment on the time wasting tactics you mention from yesterday, not being there myself. I can assure you that it is not something I have witnessed this season. I can remember when we played Brighton at the beginning of the season in the Carling Cup, it was a blood and guts battle, however, no Gillingham players were rolling around. So let us look at the Gillingham absentees, mostly due to injury, Simon King, Gavin Tomlin, Jack Evans, Connor Essam, Jack Payne, Danny Kedwell, Curtis Weston, Andy Frampton, Barry Fuller, Ross Flitney that's ten and I am not sure I have finished counting and then Joe Martin sent off, Danny Spiller has only just managed to return to the bench, so it was eleven up to yesterday (probably forgot someone). Some league two teams would not even be able to put out a first team with that many injuries let alone come away with 3 points. So rightly or wrongly on this one occasion, I can only assume that they did what they had to do, with the average age of the team remaining on the pitch probably about 19, although probably an exaggeration without checking.
I've already said that I don't blame the players for doing what they did. They fell down, the Ref stopped the game and so they fell down again. It was so many times as to be a complete farce. Not asking for comment but telling you factually as it was as I did witness it. It was the Ref to blame. I know we all like to blame Refs most of the time and it isn't really as it was but on this occasion it truely was him. Your players did what they had to do to get the result. Hateful to watch but they are not there to entertain the home fans when playing away.
Gillinghams changed team, then playing for an hour with ten men cannot be contemplated by a manager during the pre-match planning stages. Managers need to think on their feet during the match and adapt to what is happening........that is unfortunate for Argyle........because Carl Fletcher by then is out of his depth.
