Well the long awaited match with the Ex. Think for a lot of people this will be more about that than the actual game itself. I see we haven't won at Stoke ever. Always a first time and we can beat them. Go on boys and show the man what he is missing. COYG
We have to go back to our Southern League days....in 1913 we beat them 2-0 away. BUT.....in Dec 1960.....we lost 9-0 there.....early Christmas present.
Stoke...3-0...Argyle....F/T. Hoever...43mins.....Manhoef...45+2mins.....Burger...90+3mins. Now that really hurt against Schumacher....hardly any attacking bite at all....and Stoke haven't scored so many goal at home for ages.
Well that's not good enough, especially in the second half The commentators were rather critical of Morgan Whittaker but complimentary about Alfie Devine. Do we stick or twist with Whittaker? He has the ability to change a game in a moment but those moments aren't happening just when we need them most. We've been saved from worse by Huddersfield taking a thumping from Swansea. The Rotherham v Birmingham City game has had a long delay due to a medical emergency in the crowd. Birmingham have just 1 point from their last 6 away games. Come on you Rotherham-team-nickname. Also playing a blinder is me - not a single point from the matches completed so far.
Another crumb of comfort: Hull only got a goalless draw today and are 6 points off the playoffs. They have to go to Coventry and play Ipswich before coming to Home Park on the final day. Hopefully then, they’ll be out of contention by then and their holiday bags will be lying packed on their beds at home before they board the team coach.
I had bits and peaces of the game the transmition was not great .. i thought until they scored half time nil nil then you blink and 2 down.. Not over yet. win at mill wall is what we need to pick ourselves up and go again.. i may be going to this game .. .
I've avoided watching the video until now....wish I hadn't bothered. How did this team beat Leicester last week.....this week they where terrible.....with Whittaker and Hardie out of form...they could have played until Christmas and never scored....poor service for the forwards... and no midfield noticeable.
Forshaw’s form was patchy to start with and I was doubtful about him but I was very impressed watching him live against Leicester. You can see why he played in the Premiership. The midfield will have been planned with him In it and it’ll have been a blow to lose him from the engine room after only 9 minutes. I don’t suppose that’s the only reason we lost but it didn’t help. Amongst other things, those CM roles are vey demanding physically and players need to be rotated and rested. Hardie and Whittaker haven’t become bad players overnight but if we had a bigger squad, I’m sure they’d have been “rested”. I get the impression, very possibly wrongly mind you, that Whittaker doesn’t actually believe in himself. He looks as if he has the weight of the world on his shoulders at the moment.
It is a puzzle to me how we beat Leicester last week....we seem to have a Jekyll & Hyde situation going on....and if Leicester was white last week...Stoke this week was deepest black. Two games left...away to Millwall....who beat us fairly easy earlier in the season...and who won yesterday at Sunderland....and our last home game in May against Hull. With those two games to play I am hoping that 48pts is sufficient to stay up ...because I haven't got much optimism of us get anything from them. The lack of alternative goal scorers coming in during the last two windows is now showing ....we have depended on Whittaker and Hardie getting the goals...but we have run them into the ground....Hardie has only been a shadow of his true self over the last 10 games or so....and has played far to many minutes this season. Whittaker with the ability to turn things around has been kept on the field forever...hoping for that bit of magic....but he also is only the shadow of the goal scorer we have depended on too much this season. One reason for this is that we are lightweight in the midfield department....we have brought in Forshaw to help out....he has the ability to help....but he no longer has the body to deliver....and as notDistant has already said...yesterday we fell apart after he got injured so early in the match. That must of hurt yesterday shipping three goals to a team that didn't seem able at times to buy a goal at home....after a goal mouth melee which brought four bookings which seem to light their touch paper...we just seemed to be completely unsettle and gave two goals away in as many minutes....and the game was gone from us....and they turned the knife in injury time adding a third. We are a team desperate for a manager,,,,and that needs sorting out well before the pre-season starts....will it mean that we will have money available by Whittaker moving on...probably not for as much as we would like to see....will Coopers fitness concerns be ok and maybe he moves on as well. We seem to be proud at the way we "found" the players to bring in this season....but personally I think that was our downfall...especially in January we could only bring in players we could afford or loanees just out of the kindergarten with talent.....you might be ok in Div One doing that but not in the Championship. Any monies gain from sales need to be wisely used to bring in genuine Championship players to strengthen this very brittle squad....a settled season is needed without the highs and lows that we have been subjected to this season....and to help us get the taste of Schumacher out of our system.
Neither of these make good reading. https://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/sport/football/neil-dewsnip-makes-candid-assessment-9234009 https://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/sport/football/plymouth-argyle-player-ratings-stoke-9234015
