Back from the game - Argyle

[Woodcote Royal]

So anyone who doesn't share your view, or that of a manager who has several relegation's as well as promotions on his CV, should go buy a game instead.

What a silly little man

Its not my view its the way people say things do xyz we would have won.... yeah right.. perhaps
anybody that wants to completely change a system this stage of the season is crazy imo , no offence but you always hear play xxx or yyy , come on now we are talking about pro players and coaches etc

perhaps your system would work better but its gotta rank as unlikely dont you think?

they would need time to adjust , players learn new roles etc

Yep, 4-5-1 is so unlikely to work that we've been beaten by it playing teams at the wrong end of the table how many times this season?

How many teams have Charlton beaten this season?

Pardew took one look at the team Steve Coppell (tactical genius beyond criticism, apparently ) brought to the Valley and said "Stephen Hunt's at left back, boys, fill your boots"

Have you not noticed teams changing formation during games or have you just spent this season in Steve Coppells parking bay on your prayer mat

Why not make some coherent observations of your own rather than slagging off others for daring to disagree with you and the manager you clearly see as being beyond criticism.

[juanpablo]

you have missed the point some how

im mocking the way you guys put your arguments together

I dont agree with everything Coppell does but i dont come on here saying "if we do this we will win"

sorry just makes me chuckle, as i said i want Bikey at deep midfield behind Marek. Perhaps it will work perhaps it wont but i wouldnt put that we would "win by 2 " or "shut out teams all season" Who knows what will happen, just make a suggestion without claiming you know what the outcome would be, perhaps perhaps perhaps

you know you love Steve deep down

[Jobbo no.11]

I have just been on the Plymouth forum and have many very strong views that seem to contradict most on here. Just wondering if whose are closer to the truth seeing as i couldn't make the game yesterday.

1. Our goals where lucky.
2. The Possesion was 50-50
3. Doyle showed no sign of being a premiership player.
4. Their Fans where brilliant and loud
5. Our Fans where awful and quiet.
6. Overall we didnt look like a side going for the title.

[Vicky Pollard]

I have just been on the Plymouth forum and have many very strong views that seem to contradict most on here. Just wondering if whose are closer to the truth seeing as i couldn't make the game yesterday.

1. Our goals where lucky.
2. The Possesion was 50-50
3. Doyle showed no sign of being a premiership player.
4. Their Fans where brilliant and loud
5. Our Fans where awful and quiet.
6. Overall we didnt look like a side going for the title.

[Ian Royal]

you have missed the point some how

im mocking the way you guys put your arguments together

I dont agree with everything Coppell does but i dont come on here saying "if we do this we will win"

sorry just makes me chuckle, as i said i want Bikey at deep midfield behind Marek. Perhaps it will work perhaps it wont but i wouldnt put that we would "win by 2 " or "shut out teams all season" Who knows what will happen, just make a suggestion without claiming you know what the outcome would be, perhaps perhaps perhaps

you know you love Steve deep down

So why are you trying to lay into me? That's nothing like what I said. Why make a suggestion if there is no analysis of how it might help?

[juanpablo]

So why are you trying to lay into me? That's nothing like what I said. Why make a suggestion if there is no analysis of how it might help?

Because Ian you slept with my wife

[Plymouth_Royal]

living in plymouth i have a few friends who support the argyle and got there opinion on us afta the game. But from my point of view:

fed 7 - solid, made no errors and distribution was usual even for a sh1te pitch
rosenior 5 - not his best game and was booked early which may have been playing on his mind the whole match.
pearce 8 - was my man of the match before he went off with stitches. he won everything in the air, made some great tackles and his anticipation is spot on. the guy knows hes got little pace and when he knew the striker was going to turn him he backed off and got an extra yard. really impressed with this kid as its the first time ive seen him play. was unlucky with their first goal as barnes definitely pushed him in the back and i was right behind the goal so i had a pretty good view. great goal from him too!!
doobs 7 - again solid as a rock and played really well with pearcy at the back.
stretch 7 - played his heart out, made some great tackles as well as support for s.hunt and kebe.
kebe 6 - flashes of brilliance and moments of madness from the guy. he took his goal well and one great run where he should of shot instead of laying it off to shunt.
cisse - 6 looked a bit off the pace but he did his job of cleaning up the midfield pretty well and kept things simple.
matejovsky 7 - first time of seen this guy play and you gota love and hate him. he's calm, collected and his vision is unbelievable. some of the passes he put through were amazing. great assist for kebe. sometimes he's too clever though, i remember him taking a quick free kick in the second half and he was anticipating stretch to run down the line, but instead of looking he just knocked it wide but stretch wasnt on the same wavelength. he's not a great tackler and can loose the ball with a too casual pass but he offers so much going forward and most of our attacks were coming though his invention.
shunt 6 - worked hard as usual, got back to help out stretch well but offered little if nothing going forward.
doyle - 7 marked tightly in the first half but wriggled free in the second and was unlucky with his efforts on goal. his one -on - one with roman larrieu was unlucky to go wide and his pass across goal to long was unselfish.
long 7 - yep. the guy had a good game. he ran his socks off, terrorised the full backs when he ran to the channels and he actually had a decent touch in this game, even on a sh1te pitch. one criticism was doyle's pass across goal. he should have tried to get goalside of the defender and he would have had an open net. but otherwise good.

subs
harper 6 - kept things simple and harrassed well.
bikey - 5 - he looked a bit lacklustre when he came on and off the pace but luckily didnt have much to do.

fans - 10! only about 1/6 of plymouths support were singing and we outsung them imo. wasnt impressed by the 2 idiots causing trouble with the stewards though.

overall we we're unlucky not to win, we wernt helped by a poor ref and goal that should not have stood but thats football.

plymouth fans view:
my mate said we were the best team theyve played and he thought there first goal shouldnt have stood either. he couldnt believe the ref or the linesman didnt see it. he thought we should have won the game and that a point was better for them than for us, obviously.

[Ian Royal]

So why are you trying to lay into me? That's nothing like what I said. Why make a suggestion if there is no analysis of how it might help?

Because Ian you slept with my wife

Bitch must have used Rohypnol on me. Can't remember a thing!

[Compo's Hat]

Pretty much agree with what's been said on here already. The pitch was awful though but probably helped the likes of Shane Long who could chase those lost causes because the ball was staying on. Doyle had a stinker, don't know if it was an off day but he wasn't taking those gambles that you expect strikers to make where they nick a goal. Armstrong looked spent at the end, worked his backside off all day despite taking a couple of blows to himself.

Draw was the least we deserved but we could of nicked the win and i probably wouldn't of complained if we had.

"Best in the West!" That's the Westcountry's best football team and it's not something i'd be shouting from the roof tops.

[rg6royal]

Pearce is likely to miss the game on Tuesday because he needed 6 stitches.

[Charles Dapper]

I felt I would like to shout up for Marek.

The creative player we have all been screaming out for...

Yes, he might have given the ball away more that everyone, but then again he was more involved that everyone.

He set up BOTH goals, and a lot of other chances.
By the end of the game Marek, Rosey and Kebe were linking up very well.

Shunt was truely awful, yes for the last 10-15 minutes in went in on every tackle with real determination, but that doesn't make up for how useless he was for the rest of the game. He seems to have forgotten how to cross.

I feel Doobs was at fault for both the goals, the first he allowed a player at the back post behind him, very similar to the 1st Bristol City goal, and the second after Cisse missed out on the ball in the centre, Doobs backed off, although I must say it was a great strike.

Cisse was left wanting in the midfield. Yes he did have a shot that hit the woodwork, but didn't do a lot else.

Long had a brilliant game, and Doyle was as great as ever.

Give Marek a fair chance,

Feds 7 made a couple of ok saves, had a bit of a scarey spill
Rosey 6.5 Got booked very early, so stepped back a bit. Worked better in the attack last 25 mins
Pearce 7 looked ok, good goal, lovely to see him score
Doobs 6 Partly at fault for both goals
Armstrong 8 very reliable at the back had a good game
Kebe 7 went missing at times looked stronger in 2nd have and should have more confidence after a good finsh.
Marek 7.5 set up both the goals, heavily involved in all the play Reading's most creative player
Cisse 5.5 1 shot and that's about all I can remember of him, oh and missing the ball in the centre that lead to the 2nd goal.
SHunt 5 truely awlful, no ideas, crossing awful, although did so some determination in last 10 minutes
Doyle 7.5 worked very hard up front, and had a few very good chances.
Long 8 probably his best game for a long time, worked tirelessly

[Ian Royal]

Pretty much agree with what's been said on here already. The pitch was awful though but probably helped the likes of Shane Long who could chase those lost causes because the ball was staying on. Doyle had a stinker, don't know if it was an off day but he wasn't taking those gambles that you expect strikers to make where they nick a goal. Armstrong looked spent at the end, worked his backside off all day despite taking a couple of blows to himself.

Draw was the least we deserved but we could of nicked the win and i probably wouldn't of complained if we had.

"Best in the West!" That's the Westcountry's best football team and it's not something i'd be shouting from the roof tops.

Surely Bristol count as West?

2nd best in the West is even less to shout about!

[Royal Lady]

I'm glad a few more people are seeing the positives in Marek!! I said very early on that his vision was fantastic - his only problem is that the rest of the team aren't on the same wavelength! More starts for Marek and by the end of the season we could be flying.

[Ian Royal]

I'm glad a few more people are seeing the positives in Marek!! I said very early on that his vision was fantastic - his only problem is that the rest of the team aren't on the same wavelength! More starts for Marek and by the end of the season we could be flying.

The new Caskey! Too good for the rest of the players.

[torbayroyal]

Did anybody else think that the ref had a good game. Best for ages I thought. He let the game flow and was hardly noticed

[Sun Tzu]

1. Our goals where lucky.

No, very good cross and header for the first, very good finish for the second.

2. The Possesion was 50-50

Probably about right although we made better use of ours.

3. Doyle showed no sign of being a premiership player.50
He's a championship player. His touch and general awareness was pretty good. None of their players who they've borrowed from Premiership clubs looked as good. Likewise I thought Marek and Pearce were well above anything on their side.

4. Their Fans where brilliant and loud

They had a little group to our right who sang a fair bit, other than that they were pretty quiet until their second goal but that died down after a couple of minutes. I suspect the ground (which is pretty horrible) makes creating much noise very difficult.

5. Our Fans where awful and quiet.

Hard to tell when you're sat in amongst them. We weren't Man Utd, but we had the odd shout....

6. Overall we didnt look like a side going for the title.

They didn;t look especially like a team fighting relegation. I was told by one of their fans we're the best team they've played and I would say generally we were a better side than them - players generally had a better touch, put moves together better etc etc. Most crucial factor is the league table though - we ARE a team going for the title ! And a team going for the title looks like us....

[handbags_harris]

Can't argue with anything anyone's put on here, all reasonably sound opinions and suggestions for improvement. My only thing about this game is that we are unlikely to see a game in conditions like that for a long time, and as a result can't really read too much into performances in comparison to other games. As it was, we really should have won, in hindsight I'm a bit disappointed that we didn't win. The chances we had and missed were aplenty.

Couple of things noted:

Argyle fans dishing out abuse to Stretch when receiving treatment in the right hand corner, with Larrieu chipping in as well. Utter oxf*rd.

Romain Larrieu (much lauded by Argyle fans) the ropiest keeper we've played this season? Didn't like coming off his line at all!! If anybody thinks Federici doesn't command his area, they need to take a look at this clown.

Inconsistent refereeing. Some aerial challenges of similar ilk were free kicks, some weren't, the most obvious push you'll see on Pearce in the buildup to their first.

For my money Cisse at fault for the 2nd (if any blame can be laid at anyone's feet), easily beaten to the ball leaving a big gap to run into between midfield and defence.

Jimmy Kebe's finish. All season he's been shanking wide or high, or falling over. Finally he gets one right, beautifully megged their keeper.

One eyed Argyle fans afterwards complaining that we were lucky. Distinctly 2nd best in most departments, and really should have been put to the sword. And if they expected to see Premier League class football from Premier League class players in those conditions, then they expect too much IMO (that's not saying I think our team is Premier League class, because it clearly isn't!)

[Snowball]

The more I read about Marek's performances the more I think a 3 man central midfield involving him, Harper and an enforcer (like Cisse or Gunnarsson) would be outstanding in this division. With quality wide forwards capable of scoring goals (SHunt, NHunt, Henry, Tabb and maybe Kebe) it shouldn't reduce our goal threat from reducing to only one striker.

Sadly the earliest we'll see it is next season.

Yes, and you could play Noel wide right giving us the second striker

[Ian Royal]

Don't I mention NHunt as an option?

Oh yes, so I do. The point being he wouldn't be playing as a striker, but as a wide forward. A subtle, but important difference.

[Snowball]

Except that Henry has a good scoring record as does SHunt. Tabb's career has seen quite a good scoring record as I recall and NHunt has shown he can score a fair few.

How many has Shunt got excluding penalties? TWO?

Same as Kebe (but played 5 more games) and Kebe is regularly trashed on here for being no striker.

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