Shape up or ship out, (Last Chance saloon for some at parkway)

Plymouth Argyle players looking to make an impression on new manager Ryan Lowe may only get the chance to do so in Saturday's friendly at Plymouth Parkway.

After giving the majority of his squad a run out in Tuesday's clash at Truro City, Lowe says he may use Saturday's game to take a closer look at those players he is still unsure of as he puts in place a squad for the forthcoming League Two campaign.

The Pilgrims have a sizeable squad already, but it is packed with lots of young players with limited first team game time. Now, they must show what they can do - and are capable of buying into Lowe's philosophy - or risk being moved on, either on loan or permanently.

“I may need to look at some players now to see if they are going to fit and be around my squad because we have a big squad and we have a lot of youngsters in that squad," Lowe said

Maybe it is a chance for me to have a look at one or two that may need to go and play some games somewhere else, to get more sharpness and that experience of playing men’s football because, as I say, we have a lot of youngsters.

“We will look at that and we may use this game to look at those players and give them a chance to really see where they are at because you can’t really tell much in 45 minutes. But we will be as strong as we can and potentially play two (teams) of 45s (minutes.)"

With this being just the second game of Argyle's pre-season programme, the result remains irrelevant to Lowe as his players continue to build their fitness and get used to his methods and patterns of play

“We haven’t done much work on it, so that’s why I was so pleased (at Truro)," Lowe said. "We did one afternoon on patterns of play with them.

“We are still in pre-season, we still have three and a half weeks to go before the first game of the season and we will now start to implement those patterns of play probably two, three times a week in afternoon sessions, so they will start getting it more.

“The reason why I was so pleased with them is that we showed them a video of 12 minutes and then we did 30 minutes work with them walking through some shape, but they have taken on board exactly what we wanted.

“We can do it a little quicker at times, which we will do, when the pitch is nice and wet and green, like ours. Then you will see the patterns of play come to fruition and it be a bit more ruthless than it was, so we will start implementing more and more of the 11-a-side for what we want. But the lads know. We have addressed it with them early on how we want to play and what we are going to do and they are starting to take it on board very quickly."

Under Derek Adams, Argyle's pre-season schedule was often criticised by supporters, who felt the standard of opposition was not good enough to gear up for an EFL season.

Many attributed that to slow starts made by the Pilgrims under the former boss, but while Lowe insists it will be better next season, he has no qualms with the programme, which he altered to accommodate games with League One clubs AFC Wimbledon and Bristol Rovers.

“A lot of people are going on about the pre-season, but it is what it is," he said. "It’s games of football and it doesn’t matter who you are playing, but it’s nice that we have earnt Truro a few quid, by the way, and probably Plymouth Parkway as well.

I am all for playing the non-League teams and I don’t think it’s a bad pre-season when you look at the fact we are playing AFC Wimbledon out in Spain and then Bristol Rovers here, so I am happy.

“Listen, I would love to have had a Glasgow Rangers or a Liverpool Football Club down here, but it is what it is. Next year, I can guarantee it will be a lot better, but I am not moaning about it. It is just games of football and fitness and that’s what we need."

Good comment about Truro City getting a few quid out of the game, real shame they got relegated.