Match Day Thread versus Northampton

Been a busy old time this month and I am hoping that Tuesday's game hasn't knackered too many Argyle players out given they put in a fair old effort.

Having looked at the league it would seem that this one is one Argyle should win. That's what it says on paper anyway but once again we will be playing on grass. If Argyle could reproduce Tuesday play they would probably win this at a canter. But, it's more a case of get too cocky with the old thought process and something is sure to come along and bite you on the arse. Still the players are playing well currently and it is obvious that Lowe has pounded his ideas into them. It does appear to work where you just relentlessly attack and attack hoping that eventually you will wear down even the most stubborn side. Didn't work at Newport but I think it will work at a lot of grounds. So, can we win this one? I think we can and will.


COYG

 

I will be watching from afar COYG.

 

Is there anybody there?...............

 

Great start 1 - 0 from penalty. Oh hang on it's 1 - 1 Riley. Apparently penalty might have been harsh.

 

Bollox it's 2 - 1 now. This could end up a cricket score at this rate.

 

Even worse it's now 3 - 1. Leaking like a sieve today it seems. Might go and do some gardening.

 

Feck it. Not a good day at the office for sure.

 

Just got home from a pleasant day at Broadstairs.....and what I've been reading is far from pleasant....well beaten by lowly Northampton....yet that lot up the road keep winning and are top of the league.

 

I was beginning to think there was no life left out there at all plym. I've read the report in the Herald and Lowe wasn't very impressed either. He keeps saying "not the finished article" which I hope he doesn't keep repeating all season if we lose a game. Other teams have loads of new players and that's what training is for.

 

Just watched the video.....the penalty happened so fast....without slo-mo you couldn't see anything in detail....it looked as if it hit McFadzean straight in the face....if it hit his hand it looked more like self preservation. the third seemed to take a deflection and gave Palmer no chance.....we did seem to miss two chances from only feet away from the goal line.
Just move on and learn the lesson hopefully....Sawyer got some comments that his time is nearly up ?

 

Sawyer proved that last season, doubts too about Wootton, Canavan but hope changes for next game.....Reading was a cracking game apparently, what happened?

 

A bit of a surprise how Argyle performed yesterday......there seemed from the Reading Cup game encouragement that we were going the right way... and of course we did lose to a Championship side....but this Championship side are only 16th in their league with 7pts from six games.

Reading lost yesterday at home to Charlton 2-0.....but what I noticed was that their team yesterday had a starting eleven that did not include one player from Tuesday nights 4-2 win at Home Park....Boye, Meite and Barrett came on as subs eventually........does that put Argyle's performance on Tuesday night into perspective.

Also will we be able to get through this season using Sawyer, Wootton and Canavan as our main defenders.....7 goals against in the last two matches ( Reading Reserves and struggling Northampton ) might be saying that we will not.

PS.....Injuries....Ryan Taylor has had a reoccurence of his foot injury and Klaidi Lolos dislocated his shoulder in training on Friday.....both rather disappointing.

 

He had Aimson on the bench yesterday and Josh Grant played a half.

By all accounts, George Cooper is quite a talent as is Baxter.... he has options and maybe it's time to refresh, particularly in the back 3.

 

Worth selling Taylor in my opinion if we could get a fair price as his injury has gone on too far and struggling to shake it off. Too big a gamble.

 

Ryan Lowe spoke positively about his contribution yesterday and criticised the service he got from others. I know what you are saying about his injury record, he does take a battering from defenders but I don't think that's going to happen.

 

Lets not get carried away folks. The Reading performance was a pretty decent one against a side who may be the second 11 of a Championship club but if you had been there you would have seen were better than half decent. We lost because there was a rash decision from a young keeper and then we were chasing the game to equalise and they broke quickly. Small margins. Everyone says yesterday was a poor first half and then a half decent second. I have seen their first goal and it was a bit more than harsh to give a penalty in that situation. Happened very quickly but I don't think it even hit his arm. Had that not happened then we would have gone one up not down a few minutes later. Different outcome and possibly a different game. Not completely sure what is the problem in defence right now but lets not scapegoat the three yesterday who played in other matches without conceding at all.

 

Apparently Northampton pressed high up the field to stop our back 3 playing it out. Hence:

1. Too many long balls hoofed up field, which Lowe referred to post-match
2. Lower percentage possession

To quote Argyle Life:

It was the first game all season in the league that saw no Argyle defender complete 80% or more of their passes. Canavan’s figure of 73.3% was far lower than the 92.3% he managed against Walsall. The misplaced passes either went out of play, were long and not held up, or were casually intercepted by a player pressing high up the field.

The problem Argyle face is that, at least when using the back three of Canavan, Sawyer and Wootton, they don’t always possess the skill on the ball to play themselves out of trouble. Canavan may at a push, but when he is pressed like Fox was two seasons ago, the other two struggle to make up for it.

This often, as we’d expect, led to Argyle playing a long ball. This caused two problems. First of all, whilst Taylor was always the target for these passes under Adams, he cannot be nowadays with two strikers lining up alongside one another – and so far, nobody else has demonstrated they can hold up the ball as well as him. In addition, Lowe’s side simply aren’t set up to play long ball football. As we saw on Saturday, even if the ball does occasionally stick, Argyle’s players were rarely in a position to successfully ‘play off’ a target man.

So, to work against a high press, Argyle needed defenders capable of playing the ball calmly, and forwards who could both make use of the long ball. It’s no surprise, therefore, that the Greens improved when Josh Grant and Byron Moore came on after the break. Grant did his first team prospects no harm by controlling the ball well at the back, and Moore was able to offer a new dynamic to Rudden by running onto long balls in behind the Cobblers defence.

 

So maybe the absents of a Plan B then rather than the players suddenly being crap. Once sussed we had no plan B last season so lets see what Lowe and team can come up with before panic sets in.

 

There will be no Plan B under this manager.

https://www.pafc.co.uk/news/2019/september/plan-a-beats-plan-b/

 

I think he's wrong if he really believes he doesn't need one. Surely Saturday showed up the one trick pony flaws. We criticised and criticised Adams for not being flexible. We will have to win an awful lot of matches if Lowe is to avoid the same. Honeymoon period will come to an end at some point.