WINTER NEWS

Just read that Stan Bowles has died at the age of 75. I used to think he was a great player in his era. You can't really compare players from back in the 70's to now because of fitness and equipment but in his day he was up there for me.

 

Good to see Brendan Galloway is keeping fit and playing great football.

This of course has come to the notice of other clubs....Galloways' contract expires this summer and Middlesboro, Coventry and Blackburn are showing interest in luring him away from Home Park.

 

He’s playing really well at the moment and long may it last. However, let’s not forget he has a terrible injury record. I’d like him to stay but if other clubs are that daft…..

 

Re Brendon Galloway:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/68437582

 

Darko Gyabi has been voted Argyles' player of the month for February.

Second was Brendan Galloway.

Third was Adam Randell.

Fourth was Mickel Miller.

Blimey has Morgan Whittaker left the club or something.....not in the top four.

 

He has a quiet spell. But then, it coincides with a glut of tiring games against top opponents in which the team didn't play particularly well. Someone like Gyabi, Galloway or Randell can impress by getting stuck in defensively (and they certainly did). That's not Whittaker's game and he relies on receiving the ball in the right way. We've struggled to to do that recently.

No wonder he's been quiet by his very high standards but he hasn't suddenly become a bad player. That said, I don't doubt he's now a marked man. It'll be interesting to see who plays in the other No 10 role on Saturday. Someone performing well there makes it harder to stifle Whittaker as well.

 

A month ago relegation wasn't seen as a worry....but after last night... although we are in 16th place in the league... we are starting to look over our shoulder.

It is possible that after tonight games (Wed) we could drop down to 18th.

On Saturday we have another huge away match at Blackburn....and their present form is similar to ours (rubbish).

We have ten games left,,,five at home and five away...they are.........

1.....Blackburn.....A
2.....PNE.....H
3.....Norwich.....A
4.....Bristol C.....H
5.....Rotherham.....A
6.....QPR.....H
7.....Leicester.....H
8.....Stoke.....A
9.....Millwall.....A
10.....Hull.....H

The games against Leicester & Norwich I'm writing off as automatic defeats.

The rest are winnable....and of course in our present form very losable as well..

If we continue in our present form....I can see us only getting another 7pts ...and very much in the drop zone.

Of those 7pts I'm giving Argyle 3pts at Rotherham....who have become dire...and a definite for relegation.

I'm obviously a cup half empty type and cannot see in our present form who will be scoring the goals for us to turn this around.....but we all know that two consecutive wins could blow the clouds away.....but when do we ever win two consecutive games ?

We do have a really massive game near the end of the season....away to Stoke.....this is more than just 3pts....this is something personal between Argyle and Schumacher and the way he dropped us in the mire by leaving and taking a chunk of our staff with him.....just before Christmas and the new year games.

How can a man be seemingly 100% green and being supported 100% by the owner....who had just spent an evening in the pub talking Argyle football with him.....just disappear a few days later....obviously had already been in talks with Stoke before the evening in the pub ?

Yes Stoke away will be personal on many fronts......even the way Luke Cundle was returned to Wolves to be immediately loaned out to Schumacher at Stoke.

Both clubs might be depending on a win when we meet to stay in the Championship....Yes this is a BIG GAME.

 

I have a strange feeling of being on a parallel universe linked to 2007/8......and the looking forward expectancy of joy or dread for the up coming game at Stoke.

Go back to the 2007/8 season....what happened....we all know very well what happened....Ian Holloway happened....kissing the badge one day and the next day driving off to his new job in Leicester.

Eventually the Leicester away matched turned up....and Sky where showing it live....I found a pub locally that was showing the game....but it was a six nations weekend and the main screen was showing rugby.....so the Leicester v Argyle game was being shown tucked away in a corner....and no one else was remotely interested in it accept little me.

We all know that we won 1-0 with a 34th minute Halmosi goal....what great satisfaction that brought....there was no sound because of the rugby being the main attraction.

So here we are 16 years later looking forward in dread to the third from the end of the season game at Stoke.....a defeat for either side might mean relegation.....you couldn't make it up.

......and we all remember that Leicester got RELEGATED and Argyle ended up mid-table....could this season be a parallel universe happening again with Stoke being relegated and us staying up.....as I said you couldn't make it up.

 

pasoti well pumped up over Ian Foster's management style....how do you change a free scoring team into a team that is losing and finding it hard to score goals in only two months ?

They want him out before it's to late....we mustn't waste all that was achieved during last years magnificent season because we picked the wrong manager.....no punches being pulled over on that website at the moment.

 

Yes but of course at the time they (and we) all wanted the tide of goals conceded stemmed at all costs........ Be careful what you wish for...

I'm as worried as the next fan but the truth is that the departure of Azaz and Cundle without like-for-like replacement, is a very significant factor in this. Nobody at the club could prevent the former and I don't suppose, having just arrived, that Foster had much influence over the recruitment process.

As yet, he hasn't been provided with a full coaching staff. I presume that's deliberate so that it can be done in an organised manner in the summer, perhaps with one or two of the more experienced players already with us playing a part in that. In the meantime, that can't be making it easy for him.

Lastly, we don't know the terms of his contract but I'd be surprised if it's for less than 18 months anyway. If he's sacked, that'll have to be paid up, which is money that could be better spent on players next summer. Any one worth their salt is likely to be in employment whilst the season is active so it's a bad time to be recruiting.

Am I worried? Yes. Am I totally convinced by Ian Foster? Well, as only results count, no, but I think the sudden loss of Azaz and Cundle is probably a bigger factor, brought about as it was let's not forget by their parent clubs' desire not to get into the Financial Fair Play blender. Do I think knee-jerk reactions are a good thing? No I don't.

 

I would think that bringing in....the likes of Phillips, Gyabi, Devine & Sousa is very much with the recommendation of Foster....he knows those players because they have played for him in the England youth set-ups.

They are young and talented....but lacking experience and stamina for the twice weekly slog of Championship football.

Phillips for example was magnificent for the first few games....but continual twice a week grafting tired him out...and no wonder....playing the likes of Leeds cup and league is stamina sapping for seasoned professionals let alone a teenager.

 

Don't forget Neil Dewsnip also has a history with England youth teams.