Another Tuesday night match. We don't win many on a Tuesday these days. Oh hang on we don't win many anyway do we. So having established that there are many things that could go wrong we are guaranteed 3 points then. Well you've got to dream ain't you.
if any one is listening, you will be pleased to know i have checked the emergency goalkeeper loan regulations and at this moment in time we are very much eligible. Was going to travel but had a last minute change of plans-sounds like a good game.
Do we need one? Michael Cooper seems to have stepped up to the plate! Keepers rarely get injured compared to outfield players. I'm wondering what the probability is of having 3 out at the same time. Somebody up there definitely seems to have a down on us at present. .
Who is Bryan Douglas when he isn't at home? I suppose this will be looked upon as a decent point away and especially with a kid in goal for half the game. Didn't hear any of it or know any details until a short time ago when I looked at the beeb football site. The stats make it look like we spent loads of time on the wrack. They had a million shots and we had 8 but the stats that count are the ones that show the goals and we only got one each so a points share. The foul count against us shows as 2. That is a very low number and I'd wonder if that was right somehow. Still didn't lose any ground on those around us and a lot of drawn games in league one tonight. Onwards and upwards as they say.
Seen the video highlights....looked like a massacre.....but although they had 25 shots on goal they still only had the same as us....4 on target. What would we do without Carey scoring another great goal.....how many goalkeepers does a team need.....not sure how serious Letheren's injury is....but all credit to young Cooper for doing a great job....we seem to be to easily over-run, without no goal scoring ability beyond Carey....yet Blackburn are only mid-table ?
Sensible.....Bryan Douglas is now 83 years old and Blackburn could of done with him last night to score a winner. Played 438 games for Blackburn between 1952/69...scoring 100 goals for them. He has 36 England caps and scored 11 goals in that time.
Good away point....Brent must know he has to splash out by now and perhaps put stadium revamp on hold before its too late. If Carey can do it why not the rest, they are professional after all. Take shots whenever they have a chance as one has to go in, law of averages!
It seems Kyle Letheren has a torn thigh muscle and will be out for two weeks plus. If McCormick and te Loeke are still not available we would be able to apply for a 7 day loan keeper....which could be continued on a weekly basis until we have two fit keepers available.
I believe the grandstand development is separately funded and Brent has said he will back Adams in signing additional players. The problem is finding them while the window is closed. I don't think it was a question of being over-run last night either. Whether the fans like it or not, Adams sets the side out to defend & counter attack in difficult games like this. By all accounts, including that of the Blackburn manager, we defended magnificently last night. The counter attacking bit would work better, as it did last year, if we had a striker suited to that lone role up front. In Taylor's absence, we don't really have that. More at issue is the type of side he'll put out against Wimbledon (18th) and particularly Rochdale (20th) at home. He's somewhat constrained by having 9 players unavailable but I'd like to see Blissett and Fletcher up front at least against Rochdale.
Blissett and Fletcher not starting and Jervis being given the nod is debateable.....Jervis has played up front before and has not done well....he is better coming in from the wing and can score from there....I feel he is wasted as a lone striker....the job is better suited for Blissett because he has more physical presence and works his socks off (Carl Fletcher's favourite saying) when doing it....how long before Ryan Taylor is back....he will need a few games to get match fit as well.....I wonder if we will hear anything today regarding Simon Church.
Watching a Champ Lge game tonight and Benfica had an 18 year old keeper because of injuries. He did quite well apart from the one goal MU scored and it was down to him. Seems playing 18 year old keepers is becoming a habit. Understand our's did very well but is unlikely to be first choice on Saturday. We really are having a torrid time of it aren't we.
If we could discover...."how to make your own luck".... and then bottle it and sell it, we would soon have a new Grandstand....of course we would have to make sure we didn't sell it to other football clubs....especially Div 1 clubs this season. But surely "good luck" or "bad luck" is a state of mind, isn't it ?....being positive or negative over what your doing. Ok a run of injuries is obviously a downer, especially if they are your star players....but how you deal with it is important.....it gives fringe players the opportunity to state their case and step up to the mark in a positive attitude....if you see it as a disaster situation, then you might bring a negative attitude into the situation and you reap what you've sown. Red cards can at times bring a " everyone's against us" feeling and that can bring a negative result. Adams at times seems to bring on pressure by being too defensive in his outlook, to the extent of dropping back, and not leaving at times someone up field as a target for a quick defensive breakout.....this allows the opposition to put more players forward and flood our half with players....so when we clear the ball it comes straight back because we have no one up field to latch on to it....creating a build up of pressure on our defence without any respite for our defence.....didn't one of Liverpool's past managers say " the best form of defence is to be in the other sides half"....or something similar. Modern players surely take into account how a club interested in signing them play.....you look at Argyle's recent seasons and what do you see, a club who has done well by having a good defence which off-sets their lack of scoring ability.....a striker might say to himself...."I don't want to go their, because I'm not going to get lots of scoring chances, because of how their manager plays the game, just going to be hard graft without much reward. To be honest, I'm more negative then positive in my approach to life....so I rarely take chances and play it safe, so I'm the last person really to tell Adams how to play his team....on paper I think this team should at least be lower mid-table and they can still achieve that.....but Adams does need to think more attacking....having scored only one goal in the first half of matches, makes you think he doesn't want to take risks in the first half of a game.....but if his defence lets him down then we are chasing the game without much scoring ability.....Carey has got us on the score sheet twice in the last week....but we cannot just depend on one player.....we just don't seem to have any real attacking potency from mid-fielders breaking forward, other than Carey scoring from the edge of the box....I hoping to see that change on Saturday at Wimbledon.....the last time I can remember Argyle losing when I was present, was under Peter Reid at Gillingham in the dark days of administration....what a sad desperate bunch of no hopers they were.
