Match Day Thread versus Bradford

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sensiblegreeny

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May 23, 2011
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So this is our re-arranged game slotted in when nobody much is playing. They have two ex Argyle players who are likely to be on the pitch. So having one is usually bad enough but how do we survive two? Early kick off this time so we will know soon enough. Will they continue their revival or will normal service be the order of the day. I'm going to be optimistic and say the boys can do it.




COYG
 
I think it’s important he sticks to the 4:4:2 even though we have only one senior striker available.

They have to mark whoever we put up there and that makes space as it did in the Weirdo Cup. Step up Joe Hatch? He tried Bali Mumba as a “No 10” at one point and that didn’t work. Mumba’s much better out wide.

For those unable to attend, it’s on Sky Sports+.
 
Argyle...0-1...Bradford.

Improved performance...???

Stupid penalty...deliberate push in the back.

And the inevitable ex-player scores the penalty.....bright moment the other ex-player doesn't score.

Mention of empty seats in the Mayflower.....hopefully just Christmas shopping.

Cleverley serving out his yellow card by sitting in the stand.
 
In the absence of Tolaj and Pepple, we didn’t persevere with the two-up-front formation which appeared to me to work well against Orient.

Nevertheless, it was a very even, competitive first hour.

Bradford were then given a penalty.

After a tussle in the Zoo Corner, a Bradford player broke free and carried the ball along the goal line with Peggy in hot pursuit. The former went down and the ref gave a penalty. This is the full length of the pitch from us and I can’t say whether it was or wasn’t. All I will say that with Hazard stationed at the near post and the angle almost non-existent, he’d have done well to score directly from there. With that being so, it was daft to bring him down in the box. Apparently that’s what happened.

Towards the end, Ross ended up in a No 9 position and as you’d expect, won a few in the air. Given the success of 4:4:2 at Orient, could we have started like that? Joe Hatch? Desperation I know but these are desperate times.

Argyle tried hard to pull a goal back and in doing so, left a lot of space for Bradford to break into. There were a few half chances but it still finished 0-1.

Amaechi came on, which is a welcome development, but didn’t really get any openings to run at a defender, which is what he does best.

Another game in which we’ve been competitive but come away without a point. I’m beginning to fear the worst unless rabbits are pulled out of the hat in the transfer window.
 
PS

Yes there were a few more empty seats in the Home half of the Barn Park End and the Lower Grandstand.

Those are the areas where the occasional attendees sit and the is the first shopping weekend before Xmas with December monthly pay in the bank. I few signs of regulars being absent.
 
With returning players hopefully strengthening the team....surely results will improve....
If they don't then the management will need to decide if Cleverley is the right man for us.....we have at least a mid-table squad so results should be there.
 
Continued losing results would surely change that....the green army would expect more leadership than accepting Div Two next season.....because Cleverley position was set in stone ...taking the wife shopping might seem more attractive than a Saturday afternoon of accepted failure.
 
Even if it means relegation ?

That will empty the stands and be financially a disaster.
 
I would not fault the players on effort. They put a lot into it with nothing to show for having done so. We are in the relegation zone and Bradford are second. However, remove the final score and show a nuetral the match video and you would be hard pressed to pick them as top of the league stuff. Even the stats show that. Penalty? Other end of the pitch to me so hard to say. Looked like one at the time to be fair but have heard it said it was "soft". Not a great advert for football if honest but we are fighting for our lives. The one stand out for me was the final product or pass in attack. It was generally shockingly poor. Great build up at times and even quite slick but that final cross or pass just wasn't there. When chances were presented the delay in shooting was glaring. They almost seem scared to have a go. Some empty seats. Middle game of 3 home matches in 3 Saturdays. Weather crap and it was on the tele. No great shock there really and I don't read that as protest.
 
notDistantGreen said:
It was crystal clear from what was said at the Forum that there wasno intention to replace the Head Coach.
Click to expand...

In his follow up statement the next day Hallett said......"it is not something we rule out in all circumstances....if we believed that making a change now would improve our chances of avoiding relegation we would act".

So if we keep continually losing it is suggesting to me that there is a possibility that that line could be crossed and they would sack him.....or they might come to an agreement with Cleverley that he stepped down.....so it isn't written in stone that Cleverley wouldn't be replaced until we had been relegated down the divisions until Argyle are playing on the local recreation ground on a Sunday morning.....there is a glimmer of hope.

But of course the best result would be that we got all our players fit and Cleverley became a more accomplished manager and kept us in Div One.
 
Just watched the video.....a soft penalty....but you can't even gently push someone in the back in the penalty area....the player went down and the ref bought it.....if it happened the other end we wouldn't have complained.
 
Not surprised that Cleverley is angry. That is the third game in a row where a Referee has changed the game wrongly. I hear the always blaming others stuff but in this case it is a fact that others were at least partly to blame. That was never a penalty in a million years having now watched it several times. It looked like a trip in real time from a huge distance. Close up there is barely any contact and when he fell over there was none at all.
 
I don't know where you watched the "penalty" but Argyle TV doesn't seem to have a slo-mo facility: YouTube does.

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Even without slo-mo you can see the "push" isn't enough to send him down, especially after another 3 paces, but I thought perhaps Boateng had clipped his heels.

He didn't and it wasn't a penalty.
 
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I saw it better on the ITV highlights programme. They slowed it down properly so no messing with the pictures. He WAS NOT pushed and neither was he tripped.
 
Plymborn said:
Just watched the video.....a soft penalty....but you can't even gently push someone in the back in the penalty area....the player went down and the ref bought it.....if it happened the other end we wouldn't have complained.
Click to expand...
if it was our player going down he would got booked for diving ,, thats our luck at present but after last night its changing...
 
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