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Tom Cleverley went down well at a meeting recently with the Senior Greens......he was clapped in and clapped out.

This is quite an upturn in popularity since the months before Christmas when his job looked very precarious as Argyle struggled at the foot of the league and with its rather significant injury numbers.

Cleverley's position improved when he settled for a 4-4-2 system and also because of the introduction of Derek Adams as Director of Football which released Cleverley to concentrate solely on the football aspect of the club.

At present his win %age in league games is 46.2%.....which puts him at present third in the long list of Argyle managers behind Schumacher 54.3% and Sturrock (mk1) on 50.3%.

The above taken from pasoti comments on meeting with the Senior Greens recently.


I must admit that his ability to manage has dramatically improved since he settle for a 4-4-2 system and of course the arrival of Derek Adams to take some of the workload off of him.

Cleverley's record shows a low draw record which emphasis's his high defeat average.....but is that because we have turned draws into wins or is it the opposite that we have turned draws into defeats.....who knows......but what we do know is that the amount of player injuries during the season has been alarmingly high.......is that bad luck or is it because of training practise or poor injury management off the pitch.

So Cleverley has now got a problem that few thought he would have before the new year......the possibility of making the play-offs......and if we do the ability to compete at that level.......what must worry other teams in the play-offs is our ability lately to win away from home.

Any success that Tom Cleverley has this season will obviously draw the attention of other clubs......and the learning curve that he has been on will mean that we lose him to a bigger club at the moment that PAFC start to benefit from him becoming more experienced......there is also the thought that a combination of Adams/Cleverley might interest bigger clubs as well and we could lose both at the same time.

In the early days of Adams arrival the thought was that we where preparing for a future sacking with Adams then taking over.

My personal thoughts of Cleverley are at present being proved wrong......so for Argyle's benefit lets hope that continues and we get something out of this season that was looking very bleak before the new year period.
 
It's not just the 4:4:2. We had a huge turnover of players as well as staff in the closed season and it did take a while to pull them together as a team. The supposed 4:4:2 has at times been more of a 4:4:1:1 or at others, a 4:2:3:1, so he's not just a one-trick pony.

As he's said, he is not wed to any particular formation, although we haven't seen a back 3 for some months even though we've been short of specialist full backs!

Hopefully, the two week break will mean we'll have a few more fit before our next game, including Lauent Tolaj. Based on recent performances, we can compete with anyone in this league if he has a reasonable number of players to pick from. That's not to say we'll definitely win all the requisite games but we won't go under easily.

It's a different thing altogether if we get promoted, but we'll worry about that if and when it happens. I bet Derek Adams is thinking about it though!
 
England v Uruguay.....a total farce......leg breaking tackle not even getting a yellow......another player getting two yellows and staying on the pitch......hardly any shots on goal....players who on this form who will not get into the World Cup squad......just a total farce.
 
The 11 who started were hopefuls who’ve rarely played for England and certainly never as an 11. Nevertheless, the first half was poor although there was some improvement the second.

The only player who stood out for me was Marcus Rashford.

The officiating was abysmal. How the “tackle” on Foden was not a red card I cannot comprehend. Perhaps the ref didn’t see it clearly but there was VAR. Neither was Uruguay’s equaliser a penalty for me. The ball was in the air and both players went for the ball in identical manners. If we’re going to see that in the World Cup, God help us. Then there’s the mystery of the disappearing first half yellow card for Ugarte. I see it’s not listed by the BBC. Shocking.
 
This hasn’t been a good international break for England.

Things I’ve learned:

1) A manager needs to have a strong mind but not to think this extends to weird formations.

2) We have a world class No9 in Kane but his absence requires finding the next best No 9 not playing Phil Foden in that role.

3) Japan are a much much better team than I imagined but we’ll need to beat much better.

4) I’m not optimistic of getting far in the World Cup.
 
I didn't watch it all but what I did watch was not worth watching. They play so slowly a snail would have a chance on the wing. It was boring. There are a fair few Japanese players in the top leagues throughout Europe notdistant. .
 
Yes I appreciate that but I hadn't realised how effective they'd be as a team. Strong in defence throughout, although the keeper is a bit dodgy, and gave England quite a bit to think about at the other end in the first half with good passing for quick breaks.
 
Aribusitamunoipirim Emmanuel "Bim" Pepple to give him his full name....did not get into either of the Canadian squads for the two recent matches.....both draws.....Canada...2-2...Iceland on Mar 28th and also Canada...0-0...Tunisia on Apr 1st.......although he was called up to do the trip.

They have two more friendlies against Uzbekistan and Ireland before the start of the World Cup in June when their first Group B match is against Bosnia Herzegovina.

Six months ago I doubt if Bim Pepple would have thought that he would be in a Canadian squad with the World Cup approaching.....even though not picked for either match squad he must feel encouraged that he got called up for the trip.....who knows.....more goals for Argyle might see him get in the World Cup squad......might be Englands lose.
 
Herbie Kane has returned to his home club Huddersfield due to a hamstring injury he suffered in the Bolton game. This is sufficiently bad to rule him out for the rest of the season. That's a shame. He has a lot of skill.
 
Well done.....Lincoln's manager also achieved 13pts from 15.....including an away win at Cardiff.

But he will surely be manager of the month for April.....seeing that they have been promoted.
 
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