Very Brief Synopsis

AstiSpumante wrote:

Stevenage were crap and were there for the taking.

The referee was double crap and made some of the strangest decisions I've seen in a long while.

We were feckin' atrocious, hard to believe it was the same team(Norburn aside) that played so well on Saturday.

Same old Argyle.......................thoroughly pissed off.

Second that...

Having read the other comments on the thread I am wondering if I was at the same game!

I'm no way saying what I think is right and everyone else isn't - football is a game of opinions after all - but perhaps having not been to game for a few years and having not seen us rip Exeter to shreads or out play xxxx gave me a different view. For me it was a bit like switching on a random league game on Sky with 2 teams you haven't seen play for a while.

I must admit I was expecting much better. We hardly passed it on the floor. The crowd moaned at every misplaced pass from about 10 minutes in. The opposition were better organised, taller and more dominant in the air and generally more street wise all round.

The tactic (of hoofing a long ball to a lone striker) didn't ever look like breaking them down and there was no back up plan. I'm not sure if the 4-5-1 formation was because the defence needs 5 in front of it to keep them out or if the 4 in midfield couldn't cope 1 on 1 so we needed another one in there just to help. And if anyone tells me Harvey played in the hole, then the 'hole' has dropped back to about 25 yards behind the striker these days.

All in all it wasn't much different to watching our relegation seasons from the Championship or League 1 except Banton/Morgan seemed the target of the fans rather than McLean/Fallon.

But there are a few signs there - Peter Hartley looks like the talking/organising centre half that Coughlan was (without the goals I think). He certainly bossed Nelson about and looked far more of a captain that Curtis did.

The players didn't give up. They kept pressing and trying and the heads didn't drop even though they were creating virtually nothing. Eventually they got a reward for that but it wont happen very often.

If this side is anywhere near the play-offs or promotion then it really will be a poor quality division.

Jon L wrote:

Having read the other comments on the thread I am wondering if I was at the same game!

I'm no way saying what I think is right and everyone else isn't - football is a game of opinions after all - but perhaps having not been to game for a few years and having not seen us rip Exeter to shreads or out play xxxx gave me a different view.  For me it was a bit like switching on a random league game on Sky with 2 teams you haven't seen play for a while.

I must admit I was expecting much better.  We hardly passed it on the floor.  The crowd moaned at every misplaced pass from about 10 minutes in.  The opposition were better organised, taller and more dominant in the air and generally more street wise all round.  

The tactic (of hoofing a long ball to a lone striker) didn't ever look like breaking them down and there was no back up plan.  I'm not sure if the 4-5-1 formation was because the defence needs 5 in front of it to keep them out or if the 4 in midfield couldn't cope 1 on 1 so we needed another one in there just to help.  And if anyone tells me Harvey played in the hole, then the 'hole' has dropped back to about 25 yards behind the striker these days.

All in all it wasn't much different to watching our relegation seasons from the Championship or League 1 except Banton/Morgan seemed the target of the fans rather than McLean/Fallon.

But there are a few signs there - Peter Hartley looks like the talking/organising centre half that Coughlan was (without the goals I think).  He certainly bossed Nelson about and looked far more of a captain that Curtis did.

The players didn't give up.  They kept pressing and trying and the heads didn't drop even though they were creating virtually nothing.  Eventually they got a reward for that but it wont happen very often.

If this side is anywhere near the play-offs or promotion then it really will be a poor quality division.

Spot on, Nelson is a very good defender at this level but I've serious doubts if he's captain material. Hartley on the other hand is the vocal, dominant type and is definitely the captain on the pitch, maybe not in name but by his actions. He's the new signing I've been most impressed with so far.

Accurate, lengthy and detailed assessment there by Greensam.
My only points are :
Mc Hugh constantly looks vulnerable to making a major error at any time so maybe moving to centre back is a good idea.
Allesandra is lost on the wing should be playing in behind Ruben, because Allesandra is fast and small and awkward to mark and he was best last season luking with intent around the box.
Banton remains a hot and cold player for whatever reason, made some great tackles last night and regained the ball but his passing at times was terrible concentration seems an issue.
Morgan at best is able to make a nuisance of himself but he is in the team as a striker - and does he look like getting a few goals, really?
Thing is to get promo a team needs to consistently get points whether they play good or poorly well we did that last night sure, and an excellent penalty it was under pressure.
Over the first three league games Argyle have played one fantastic 45mins of football, obviously the first half last week with 4 pts from 9 so average so far.
Agree with above, seem to have half a squad playing at a good level but then the others could start to gel or be repositioned and it all takes off who Knows?
  

Oh yeah was gonna say think Hartley has been a good signing agree seems captain material tends to read the game well looks imposing physically - just what we need.