After internet problems AND Christmas to content with, and a careless attitude to reading the reat of the thread, I offer no apologies for possible duplicate comments here.
By far the worst performance of the season. We looked like a team who didn't want the fight, didn't want to really be there yesterday. It was, quite frankly, a bit of an embarrassment. Plymouth had scored twice in a game three times all season, they had fewer points at home than us, they hadn't scored three times in a game in all competitions all season, so to put four past us with such ease shows how inadequate the current crop of players is. This was the seventh time we have conceded more than three goals in a game, and the third time we have conceded four.
The Ingimarsson/Pearce partnership at the back is woefully inept and the same old mistakes keep cropping up. Ingimarsson has time and again shown himself to be a liability recently, and his decision and execution for the challenge for the penalty was embarrassing. Who was marking the guy for their second?! It's a set piece, it's six yards out, it's a free header! The third, nobody tracking the crosser! Bertrand at left back can happily make errors safe in the knowledge that he'll shift off back to Chelsea come season's end (letting the ball go between yourself and the post at a set piece is criminal IMO), and Bryn is, well, Bryn wherever he plays
After such a promising performance without the ball against Swansea, the midfield were just overwhelmed by bouyant Plymouth, although they hardly helped themselves by both finding themselves woefully out of position and totally failing to sufficiently track men time and again (for a great example of this, watch the third goal with Cisse keeping pace with the crosser, but actually running fully 10 yards away from him). McAnuff looked disinterested and ineffective again (see my new thread), although he did put in a decent cross for our goal. This was never going to be Marek's game and was rightfully subbed at half time. His free kick two minutes in set up his performance perfectly. Sigurdsson looked reasonable again and took his goal well, he has to start every game IMO. Cisse was back to the Cisse of old, lots of running and effort but only because he was woefully outfought and constantly found himself in the wrong position as opposition moves progressed.
The attack desperately needs new blood as Shane Long, I'm afraid, isn't particularly good and shows no sign of improving whatsoever. Simon Church was typical Simon Church, not a great first touch, not particularly strong, not particularly quick, not particularly fantastic in the air, and generally just not particularly good. Rasiak - why was he dropped? As if the big target man was not going to be neededin this of all games, where the ball was going to spend a good proportion of game time in the air!
I'm not quite sure what McDermott was thinking yesterday tbh, but more to the point I have no idea why the players weren't up for the scrap yesterday. 4-1 was not a flattering scoreline, it was perfectly justified. This was the worst performance I have seen in a long, long time, and certainly rivals that of the 5-1 defeat at Rotherham in February 2004, not forgetting the 1-0 defeat there a year later. It seems that we're steadily progressing back to where RFC's "traditional" place in the league is, the third rung of English football. Still, I have some new grounds down there that need doing. That's a bonus
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