How are things going for John Sheridan has he comes near to one month at PAFC. Well the signs are encouraging.....played three.....won one......drawn two.......no defeats. Of those three games,all played at home, there could be a little tinge of disappointment that we didn't do better......a lack of striker success is rather obvious. On the good side we have only conceded one goal.....although we need to admit that none of the teams we have played have given us to much trouble in that department. Sheridan has brought in six new players....... Ronan Murray..... was the first,...a 21 year old on loan from Ipswich until the end of the season......has yet to excite anyone with his performances. Guy Branston.....released by Aldershot at the beginning of January.....been given a contract until the end of the season....showing good defensive skills & is organising the defence.......like for like replacement for Darren Purse who is now at Port Vale. Anthony Charles.....contract terminated by Northampton.....been signed until the end of season......seems to be fitting in well in central defence with Branston. Rueben Reid.....one month loan from Yeovil until Feb 26th,.....brought in to hopefully score some goals.....misfiring at present but possibilities that he might succeed,....could possibly stay longer. Gozie Ugwu.....Reading youth striker.....one month youth loan until Feb 16th, unfortunately injured in training and has not yet played.....highly recommended.....possible that he could stay longer.....had been recovering from injury before his loan. Jason Banton.....One month loan from Palace.....first game against Dag & Red......promising start. Sheridan has released......Rhys Griffiths.....Joe Lennox.....and Robbie Williams which surprised a few people. Isaac Vassell has been given an extension until the end of season to prove himself.....although that is difficult without reserve games to play for him and others. The Team. Goalkeeper. With Gilmartin injured Sheridan can see how Cole performs......neither quite good enough to be honest.......I wish Christian Walton was a year older....he would then be worth risking. Defence. Berry.....Branston.....Charles.....Bhasera.....plus Nelson....are looking ok under Sheridan. Mid-field.......Cowan-Hall.....Young.....Hourihane.......not really delivering.....all to young and inexperienced......try Wotton or Lowery.....or find someone in the loan window to bring a spark or two to set the strikers scoring. Attack. Banton.....Murray.....Reid.....not yet performing....is it a lack of mid-field support ? Can..... Gurrieri.....Lecointe.....Harvey.....Blanchard.....etc....etc......spark something different to change things around at times. I think Sheridan will get things done for us to stay up this season......if he can build their confidence up to play to their potential. I must comment that being undefeated in these last three games.....would not of probably happened under Fletcher. One more comment......James Brent showed far to much trust in Fletcher being able to do the job.....and must share some of the responsibility for our present position.....lets hope it doesn't prove too costly.
Add Moseley and Macca leaving and I just do not see how we have got stronger. Griffiths swapped for Reid, Macca for Murray and Pickle for Purse nothing improved Charles added bit Williams gone and nothing to replace Moseley hardly inspiring, hope I am wrong but ......... Nothing seen of Ugwu so seems a waste of time but feedback on Banton from little Mexi was good although in his words OK but no Sinclair.... Trying to stay positive but just cannot see where the 10 to 15 goals we are going to need to survive are coming from. Come on Chadders prove me wrong.... Would really have liked to have seen Macca and Griffiths as a true front 2 but guess that aint going to happen now. Would like to see us sign a 30 years plus striker with proven record Phillips, Fowler or the like as a player coach. Seems obvious now we have not got the financial clout to get a younger scorer in. As for the midfield Plym yes too young but neither Wotton or Lowry are the attacking spark we need still a big big hole there. If you pay for the polish will get my boots out and give them a hand. Probably the the best attacking midfielder Argyle have ever had, well in my dreams at least Though in reality I would not be much worst
Not sure I see the signs as being particularly encouraging Plymborn: two home draws against teams placed 20th & 16th respectively and the worst performance for a long time against Accrington by all accounts. We'll have to do a lot better than that to get out of trouble. Perhaps tough games for Bristol Rovers & Wimbledon tonight will help cheer us up. A 6-pointer away at Aldershot on Saturday is a must win - but then, so was Accrington at home.
Just encouraged that we haven't been beaten notDistant.......we were losing similar matches before Sheridan........see I haven't mentioned the previous managers name !
Agree Plym points from games so far is enough, sometimes a lucky manager is better than a good one. Something had to change and with finances available it had to be Fletcher, although the degree of his ineptitude we will never agree on, my concern is we have not strengthened in the slightest. Considering the management options available when we were looking and we got Sheridan, plus the comings and goings in the transfer window tells the real story on this supposed competitive budget we are dealing with. At least another season of survival, if we escape this time, before we offload all the back pay and can invest in a competitive squad. Some interesting things coming out of Swindon in the last few weeks shows that even on the up in the leagues does not bring financial stability. As much as it grieves me to say it a couple of seasons in this league to lick our wounds, rebuild strength and then push on is what we need. When you look at the standard of players we had to release when in admin BWP was last chance saloon with us, Noone "scouse brickie" to quote our resident Argyle expert, Jack Stephens (might have been our defensive midfielder) Mason who in this league would have been banging them in or at least got us a nice transfer fee. We have had to sell the jewels, we found or grew, for a pittance and that will hurt us for a few years. That said we are bringing a few more promising youngsters through than I can ever remember in the past and that bodes well for the future, the stupidest thing we can do now is to lose that network. Biggest disappointment for me this season is Lecointe, I heard he was carrying an injury early on in the season but not sure. Then again when I am disappointed an 18 year old is not our saviour then that really sums up our current situation!!! Just to depress everyone which team is sat at the top of the Championship and has 2 ex Argyle strikers...
I wasn't trying to re-enter the "change the manager" debate, it's done & dusted. I'm now a paid up Sheridan supporter. Objectively though, 2 mediocre home results [if you're being generous] after 4 or 5 players came in during the window are not good enough whoever the manager is. But early days.. he's talked a lot about lack of confidence in the squad he inherited; if he can rectify that and get two or three good results then we may be saved yet.
