Ok, as requested - first report: Saturday, 13 August 2011 Result: Plymouth 1-4 Rotherham FT Goals: Plymouth - Atkinson 49 Rotherham - Evans 52, Evans 59, Le Fondre 82, Le Fondre 87 Line ups: PLYMOUTH: 23 Cole 02 Berry 05 Zubar 13 Soukouna 19 Gibson 04 Fletcher (Hitchcock 68) 07 Daley 08 Walton 20 Hourihane 21 Atkinson 11 Feeney Substitutes 01 Larrieu, 06 Nelson, 18 Copp, 27 Lecointe, 10 Hitchcock ROTHERHAM: 01 Logan 02 Tonge 03 Newey 05 Cresswell 24 Raynes 04 Harrison 07 Evans 08 Taylor 11 Schofield 10 Le Fondre 23 Grabban (Holroyd 84) Substitutes 21 Warrington, 22 Brown, 15 Bradley, 18 Pringle, 20 Holroyd Ref: Sheldrake Att: 6,015 SUMMARY: First Half: This half saw Argyle playing some interesting passing football, however the end product was not there, Feeney, Soukouna and Daley had shots fly harmlessly wide. Rotherham had the better chances first half with three close attempts after the Argyle defence made errors to let Le Fondre and Evans test Cole. However the goalkeeper stood strong and at the whistle we were even 0-0. Second Half: After a superb debut goal from Atkinson, weaving through two Rotherham defenders and blasting the ball into the back of the net, after four minutes of play, Rotherham went on the attack. Defensive errors allowed Evans to latch onto a free ball and slot the ball past Cole. Only minutes later the same man gained a free header as the ball was sent in by Le Fondre to make it 1-2. Trying to get back into the game Reid sent on Hitchcock for Fletcher. A midfield battle ensued, the ball travelled back and forth before Le Fondre broke through the Argyle back four and slotted home to make it 1-3. After a few non-balls into the box, Feeney latched onto a mis-clearance from Rotherham and fired, the ball was however easily caught by Logan. After the ref played on a possible foul by Rotherham on Hourihane, Le Fondre got the ball inside the box after a scuffle to clear was unsuccessful and he knocked it into the corner of the net. Four minutes of added time ensued and the ref then ended the match. Argyle Player ratings: 23 Cole - seemed nervous and made some positioning errors to say the least. 5 02 Berry - a good performance overall but was caught out in defence occasionally. 7 05 Zubar - An off game for the centre-back, stayed up front after a couple of second half corners which left us a man down when Rotherham attacked. 5 13 Soukouna - A good display, only marked down due to some laid back defending during several of Rotherhams attacks and the goals. 6 19 Gibson - Played well on the left, supported well and was good going forward. 6 04 Fletcher (Hitchcock 68) - Kept the ball and passed well. 6 07 Daley - Excellent going forward, created problems. Needs to practice crossing, some were just ridiculous. 7 08 Walton - As with Fletcher, kept the ball well. However too slow in deciding where to put the ball and often got tackled because of this. 6 20 Hourihane - created chances and supported well, a positive display. 7 21 Atkinson - Excellent debut and goal. Worked hard on the left. 7 11 Feeney - Lone striker for most of the match, looked out matched against the Rotherham backline. 6 Substitutes 10 Hitchcock - unable to make much of an impact after coming on. 6 (let me know if you feel I am being a bit harsh ) MoM: Walton (although I am still trying to work out why) Hobo's MoM: Atkinson - If he can bang in more goals like that this season I will be very happy, a good debut. OVERALL: Some good passing play, but without an end product left us lacking in attack and defensive slip ups left us high and dry. Sorry it is not more indepth but I have been in shock since getting back home... If you have any thoughts please let me know...
Thanks Hobo. Listened to the game and the Player commentary also said Walton played well. For the first 50 minutes i was really optimistic, but as with both our first two games we seem to be playing good football but without a cutting edge. I don't want to be too pessimistic so early in the season so I will put this one down to inexperience. We seemed to lose our way after Fletch went off injured. Thought Feeney was a bit off the pace at Shrewsbury and it sounded like this was still the case today. It's gonna be a long long season methinks and i'm praying that after a few more games together the team will gel more. Having said that Rotherham had quite a few new faces in their team as well and they had the killer instinct. Chance to put things right on Tuesday so going to keep my chin up!
Thanks hobo for that..............there is talk of a player being sold............mentioned I believe at this mornings meeting but not named,........looks like Nelson.........unused sub today..........would surely of stiffened the defence. It looks like they are keeping him wrapped up in cotton wool so he doesn't get injured before a sale. Reading other match reports it seems that Cole was rather lacking today..........also Feeney as a lone striker was not very productive. Overall a depressing result showing the value and the need for quality strikers is a necessity, Rotherham had them we didn't. Add this to the Morning meeting,and the day just wasn't very good. Followed it on PASOTI thread and there did seem to be people cringing when the young boy was brought into it.Guilfoyle didn't take it to well and said so. They say it's darkest before the dawn.......things have got to improve soon.
Result not what we all wanted given the behind the scenes chaos and fans reactions yesterday before the match.Was a demoralising result,whether Rotherham are a good side or not.As Reid always says -we have to carry on fans and players alike,and be there again on Tues night to cheer.Here's hoping
Was out yesterday all day and too knackered when I got home to bother with anything. Pretty fair summary of Saturday in my view. It was hugely disappointing and I would say that there is no way that Rotherham were 3 goals better than we were except that they know where the net is which is paramount. Argyle passed very well and some of the spreading of the ball and switching was very good indeed. Everything was good to watch until the final part which is the important bit. I would say that 3 out of 4 of their goals were more route one than anything which sort of argues against the passing game in terms of end product. Their first was a carbon copy of the Millwall goal. One player who was not at the races for me or any of my colleagues who were with me was Cole. I am not impressed at all with him. No idea on crosses at all and commands nothing. Positional play not the best either even if their forwards did take their chances well. Bring back Larrieu and the sooner the better for me. One thing I hope though is that there is no panick to turn the clock back to hoof it and hope. This is a very young side with limited experience at the moment who will get better with a bit of time. They need a number of matches to gel better and they will. There are some decent young players out there. I just don't want the crowd to start to get on their backs if things don't go according to plan initialy. I don't want people crying out for Reid to "sort it out" to stiffle the way they are playing. I am not about to start putting Argyle in the same category as Arsenal but having gone to a bar after the game and watching some of their match being televised I could not help but notice a similar if less skillful similarity to them. Played some lovely football but could not finish it. People were crying out for this kind of football last season and now they have it should back what they are trying to do and give them a bit of time. I was gutted at the final score as it did not reflect that Argyle were not overrun at all. Results are everything in this business as people have reminded everyone many times and it is a pity that you get nothing for entertainment. Keep the faith people as I'm sure given a bit of time this will pay off. 6000 crowd was pretty good also.
Obviously attractive football is a plus but................as I've said before ( and you don't need the brains of a scientist) goals win matches.......score one more than the opposition and believe it or not you will be successful. Reids priority is definately a goal scorer........and certainly not only one up front when playing at home........Feeney up front by himself is as good as playing with ten men. Fletcher being the only so called playmaker is a little dodgy,I think he will miss more games injured this season because of having too much responsibility without mid-field support. Cole is possibly being picked to curry favour with him.......until he gets regular wages from Argyle.....then Larrieu will be back. Nelson is obviously being wrapped in cotton-wool incase Sunderland come for him.........Nelson and Zubar were last seasons success story........talk about playing with one arm tied behind your back......play him while you've got him,and hope he doesn't pick up an injury........it would have to be a serious injury to stop a sale......anyway he's only going in their youth set-up not the league squad. Administration is a problem,stopping Reid enticing better quality players than one or two of his new signings...........Heinious Heaney has told us that this Tuesday (16th) it will be all sealed and dusted down so why are we worrying about it !!!
Walton was defo MoM for me. Was spraying balls left right and centre, and you could tell he was one of the more experienced heads on the pitch. Add to this some cracking tackles against Millwall (according to AW) and we've got a decent league 2 player on our hands. Can't argue with match report Hobo. I
No bedoboy we don't seriously need a win in the next game but a win would be nice. With all due respect that is precisely what I was getting at with putting pressure on to simply get results. This side will win matches if given the time to gel properly and with some experience. If memory serves we lost was it five out of the first six in our promotion year a few years back. Now, not saying this side will get promoted but I am saying the results will come if they continue doing what they are doing now and tighten up at the back. Yes we need another striker but that is down to resources rather than desire. I just want people to hold off with their demands right now. The actual football is very good.
