Match Day Thread versus Ipswich

You have to laugh at some of the crap people post on these Boards sometimes. Some of them still can't get over coming second last term and there is a post on their board from a Leeds person who says Argyle are the dirtiest side they have played this season apart from Millwall. That has to be a first for us being branded dirty. Another on their board was hoping Gnonto would break his leg in the cup game to ruin their season. Loveable chaps one and all aren't they.

Anyway, it's about time Ipswich did their norm in a season and start to bottle it. Whatever happens this Saturday I am betting that Ipswich will not get auto promotion and will even lose out in the playoffs if they stay where they are. We can assist them in that aim and could even be a catalist for starting the process. Despite them bringing their own Ref for the game (apparently this is the 6th time he will have officiated in one of their games this season) all things being equal of course we can win this one. You know you want it Greens.


COYG

 

We’ve had a decent break without a game followed by no need to travel.for once and a very good win at Middlesbrough is still warming us through an otherwise murky week. The other clubs have had a break too but with a new manager and more new players than we expected, we will perhaps benefit more than most.

Michael Cooper is back in the squad and I hope Ian Foster gets the old videos out before picking the team. Darko Gjabi had a MotM game in the left No 10 role with an assist for the second goal while Houghton and Randell didn’t give Middlesbrough a kick in a reprise of their partnership last year. Hardie’s a man on a mission not to let Morgan Whittaker be top scorer and to get into the Scotland squad. Marty Sorinola is fizzing bundle of energy and enthusiasm in an area where we already have good competition for places and didn’t take long to get his first Argyle goal.

Lastly, we’re expecting an important fan to be back after a period convalescing with a pint or seven.

It’ll be tough as they all are in this league but we’re at home and I don’t see why we can’t do this. COYG.

 

He might have to take his hot water bottle.....or at least his hip flask....which is probably roughly the same size.

The trouble with actually going is you generally end up with less match info than sitting in the warm sipping your pint watching it on a screen.....and quite often the loo is easier to get to as well.

 

But the atmosphere is electric these days.

 

If it's that electric can you take along a little pocket heater and plug it in.

 

I will be making the trek back to the home of the Greens again this time around thank goodness. Have to give it a go sometime so this is one I think will be worth the effort. I don't need a heater as it warms the cockles just being there. I am the old fashioned type who uses the loo on the way in and that keeps me happy till on the way out. I could never manage seven pints though. I would have to be camped in the loo if I drank that much liquid. A couple or three does me fine.

I think the way results are going Ipswich will be desperate for the 3 points even more than us. They are going to be hard pressed to keep up with the top two and the playoffs is as good as it might get. Can't see them not qualifying for that. However, this is definately one we can win. They were a good side last season and we managed it. On our day we are as good as anyone in this league and last game would have given the squad confidence for sure. Whittaker hasn't scored for a game so will be kean to step up and Hardie is desperate to close the gap. Should be a cracker.

 

Argyle...0-0...Ipswich...H/T.

 

Argyle...0-2...Ipswich...F/T.

Galloway...63 mins og..........Moore...74mins.

To many bottoms teams winning today.

Only 2pts above the relegation spots.

If we had lost last week at Middlesboro we could be in a relegation spot now !!!

 

Last season, the equivalent game was a classic. This was far from it. The first half was a scrappy, combative affair with Argyle pressing high up the pitch and penning Ipswich into some very nervy attempts to play out.

You always felt one goal would seal the result and it did. The ball flew across the Argyle goal, hit Galloway beyond the far post and flew straight into the goal. As unlucky an OG as you’ll ever see.

After that, Ipswich got the upper hand although if remained scrappy. Miller did hit the post but you can’t say we deserved much.

Their second goal followed a free kick for them 25 yards out which to me, from a distance admittedly, looked as though it should have gone the other way.

I’ll leave the ref and related matters to Sensible. He’ll have quite a bit to say.

 

The Referee not a favourite of the Green Army for his lack of action against some of Ipswich's tactics to stop Argyle playing.

 

Didnt quite go according to plan did it, and although we were as delighted as you to get promoted out of Lg1 last season i dont know anyone who cares what you do, i said i would be happy with a solid mid table finish at the start of the season so naturally we are delighted at how the season has gone so far, and as for promotion ? we are just enjoying the ride so far and if it stops well its been a Hell of a ride.
Good luck for the rest of the season.

 

fieldmarshall simply just feck off and gloat somewhere else. If you think that today was anything other than a pure fluke then you are deluded and I stand by my prediction that you will crumble before the death and may well struggle even with the play offs. I had no particular opinion of your fan base prior to this season and the last but have been driven to the conclusion that the majority are just a bunch of arrogant twats who frankly deserve nothing. Your invasion just props up that opinion and you can take my post and transpose it onto the Ipswich board so you can all have a chuckle to yourselves if you want. Whatever happens to my club this sseason I hope your's doesn't win a thing.

Right my opinion on the day. First half was 50/50 and neither side looked particularly like scoring. The Ref was also 50/50 and seemed to have decided to keep his cards in his pocket no matter what. He could have booked several but in the end decided to book nobody. By doing theat he set the tone. One thing I did notice was the constant moaning at him by the Ipswich players. Moore is simply a moaning mini and if nothing else should have been booked just for that.

Second half was much the same as the first. The one over riding difference was the OG. There is no way on this planet that the ball was going anywhere near the goal. It hit Galloway and simply went in. I am firmly of the belief that had that not happened then the result would have been 0 - 0 because despite the huff and puff neither looked like scoring. The OG seemed to take the wind out of Argyle's sails and they were then chasing the game which made them do stuff differently. The stats do not tell the whole story. The vast majority of Ipswich's efforts were powder puff stuff which would not have beaten my grannie who would be around 150 now. Counts as efforts and on target but in reality were not even worthy of a mention. The foul count however tells you everything you need to know about Ipswich. They are not a pleasant side. I refer to my opening post where a Leeds person had said we were the dirtiest side apart from Millwall. Really? I am disappointed today. Not by the performance but with the overall score at the end which I felt was totally unjust.

Lets now go back to the Ref. He was weak it is fair to say. I am not sure what he was trying to achieve by keepnig cards in pocket but whatever it was he failed. He gave fouls but did nothing else and that sent a message to the players that all they had to do was keep doing what they were. A free kick was as bad as it could get. I also have to comment on one particular moment in the game which came right at the end or near enough. Edwards was heading for a 50/50 challenge with Morsey. Edwards didn't go through with the challenge as he could have. Morsey is one of those players who I would willingly do something naughty to. Had I been Edwards in that situation I might have been tempted to take his leg off at the knee. Not what Edwards is all about so it didn't happen but a red card at that stage of the game would have been worth it. I almost feel guilty for even bringing it up......not.

 

Morsey is a thug. We said so last season and he should have been sent off for a nasty midfield foul at about 20 mins today.

Their centre forward is a big lump and is well suited to a tractor theme. Agricultural. He was consistently fouling when the.ball was in the air and was rarely pulled up for it.

I was very disappointed with Ipswich. They were far and away the best side we played last year and Morsey apart, the most attractive to watch. That’s changed..They’ve gone up a division but their play has gone down one.

The foul count is very one sided on paper but even so, it doesn’t show what it would have been with a decent ref.

Never mind them though. For the first time this season, I am concerned. That’s two very bad home performances on the trot. The front three were hardly in the game again. We seem to have sacrificed good home performances for slightly improved away results. The next few games are going to be tense affairs.

 

I'm not going to start panicking just yet. The results of late have just become freakish and the true results will start to reappear soon enough. There seems to be a crack in the football result norm computer programme right now not only in the Championship but all over Europe and beyond. It's only temporary.

My win of the day was I managed attendance and the walk to the watering hole after without any problems. Couldn't do the 7 pints though so had half of that and am now enjoying a glass of wine to make up for the deficiency.

 

Well that’s very good news. You’ve got until
the 16th to get fully match fit!

It’s a fair old climb to Home Park from the western side isn’t it? Even from the railway station when I was young, it’s down and then back up again. We’re now down all the way to the bottom of the park at Trelawney Road and then all the way up again. And reverse to get home!

 

Town were awful first half and so was the ref throughout, Town were getting going for five or ten minutes before the goal came, and it was always coming one way or another.

It’s not luck though, is it? Pressing and winning most of the 50/50s is not luck. Failing to close Chaplin down so he can get his strike away easily is not luck. The tricky volley for the second is not luck. It all adds up over the 90 minutes, which is why we keep coming out on the right side of results week after week.

I don’t think the goal did take the wind out of Plymouth’s sails - after it came you finally looked a threat at the other end - but if the manager does think it knocked the wind out of your sails, that’s a million miles from a winning mentality and no wonder you’re in a relegation battle.

There’s no-one with better quality at the bottom, but you are going to have to scrap and show more fight to stay in the division.

 

It was a very tight game up to the for the first 60 minutes with both sides playing poorly or negating each other and it was pretty clear one goal could well be enough. It came from a "shot" that was missing by a country mile, pretty typical of the game at that point, which hit our best defender on the far side of the 6 yard box on its way out to the corner flag and flew in instead.

If that's not luck, then I'm a Dutchman. Scoring from what wasn't even a shot on target has to be luck. Nobody said it took the wind out of our sails though:

“We're disappointed to lose the game; of course we are,” said Argyle Head Cpach ian Foster after the game. “We don't like losing games of football, particularly at Home Park.

“We're desperately disappointed in the manner of the first goal. There's nothing in the game up until that point. We nullified their threats really, really well. It’s a wayward shot that's unfortunately hit Brendan and gone in.

“We perhaps didn't react and respond the way we wanted to, and we probably hadn't caused them the problems that we wanted to."

Nevertheless, we were poor by our standards, particularly at home. And he's right: we didn't cause enough problems at the other end. We're 6th overall in the division in terms of goals scored but our front three were hardly in the game yesterday.

Also, when it comes to the 50:50's, the foul count was 11 - 22 and the card count 1 - 3. And those were just the ones you did get penalised for which I'd guess is about half of what it should have been.

 

I like people who are succinct and don't dress it up. Mikel Miller on Argyle TV:

"to concede two crap goals like that, it's annoying man".

I couldn't put it better myself.

 

Of course it’s not luck. It’s just a numbers game. Have chances and shots, a percentage will convert. If it was still nil nil, we’d have kept ramping up the pressure. More often than not, whatever the opposition throws at us, we come out on top.

 

Plymouth had two really good chances, we blocked one, tipped the other one onto the post and kept them out. For our two goals, Plymouth just weren’t sharp.