Are Plymouth Argyle the real deal for promotion...

[Emeraldinho]

I see we are joint favourites now for automatic promotion alongside Donny and odds-on for a top 3 finish with them and Carlisle, according to the Oddschecker website.

 

[German Shepherd]

The standard of football in Div 2 compared to when Argyle romped home with Sturrock is much higher now.

 

[esmer]

The standard of football in Div 2 compared to when Argyle romped home with Sturrock is much higher now.

An awful lot higher. Because the top two leagues are now so heavily populated with foreign players the majority of British players are now playing in the lower leagues which along with better pitches and better qualified coaches mean the standard of league two is far higher than in years gone by. Hardly any of Sturrock's team would get in our team today.

 

[Greenskin]

The standard of football in Div 2 compared to when Argyle romped home with Sturrock is much higher now.

An awful lot higher. Because the top two leagues are now so heavily populated with foreign players the majority of British players are now playing in the lower leagues which along with better pitches and better qualified coaches mean the standard of league two is far higher than in years gone by. Hardly any of Sturrock's team would get in our team today.

Nonsense.Players like Wotton,Couglin,Larrieu,Worrell,Evans,Hodges and Friio acquitted themselves well in the league above and indeed in some cases the league beyond that and would do so today.It was not automatic that players displaced by the influx of foreign players drifted down to the lower leagues-many would have been happy to stay as part of a squad with the increase in substitutes allowed and take the better money on offer.Who in Argyle's current squad would have fitted the description of players pushed down the pecking order from higher division clubs? Most were picked up either from Scotland or clubs of a lower or similar stature to Argyle.

 

[esmer]

The standard of football in Div 2 compared to when Argyle romped home with Sturrock is much higher now.

An awful lot higher. Because the top two leagues are now so heavily populated with foreign players the majority of British players are now playing in the lower leagues which along with better pitches and better qualified coaches mean the standard of league two is far higher than in years gone by. Hardly any of Sturrock's team would get in our team today.

Nonsense.Players like Wotton,Couglin,Larrieu,Worrell,Evans,Hodges and Friio acquitted themselves well in the league above and indeed in some cases the league beyond that and would do so today.It was not automatic that players displaced by the influx of foreign players drifted down to the lower leagues-many would have been happy to stay as part of a squad with the increase in substitutes allowed and take the better money on offer.Who in Argyle's current squad would have fitted the description of players pushed down the pecking order from higher division clubs? Most were picked up either from Scotland or clubs of a lower or similar stature to Argyle.

It is a matter of fact not opinion. Half of the players now in the Premier League and Championship are foreign; therefore half of the players now in the lower leagues would be playing in the Premier League or the Championship but for the influx of foreign players. It also follows that most League two players from yesteryear would today be playing non league football.

 

[Greenskin]

The standard of football in Div 2 compared to when Argyle romped home with Sturrock is much higher now.

An awful lot higher. Because the top two leagues are now so heavily populated with foreign players the majority of British players are now playing in the lower leagues which along with better pitches and better qualified coaches mean the standard of league two is far higher than in years gone by. Hardly any of Sturrock's team would get in our team today.

Nonsense.Players like Wotton,Couglin,Larrieu,Worrell,Evans,Hodges and Friio acquitted themselves well in the league above and indeed in some cases the league beyond that and would do so today.It was not automatic that players displaced by the influx of foreign players drifted down to the lower leagues-many would have been happy to stay as part of a squad with the increase in substitutes allowed and take the better money on offer.Who in Argyle's current squad would have fitted the description of players pushed down the pecking order from higher division clubs? Most were picked up either from Scotland or clubs of a lower or similar stature to Argyle.

It is a matter of fact not opinion. Half of the players now in the Premier League and Championship are foreign; therefore half of the players now in the lower leagues would be playing in the Premier League or the Championship but for the influx of foreign players. It also follows that most League two players from yesteryear would today be playing non league football.

You seem to be saying that there were no foreign players playing in the top two divisions of English football in 2001/02 but there certainly were.No idea what the percentages were but even if only a quarter of the top two division players were foreign it would still weaken the maths of your argument somewhat,without taking into account the more non measurable aspects of the issue.

 

[newquaygreen]

Injuries mean nothing as alll clubs run the same risk. What counts is having quality back-up and the bottle to rest players occasionally plus being prepared to adapt system to the players you have.
So far so good...we defo have a manager that wants to prove himself in England so he will not be for moving which helps.
If things get tricky Wotton can get his boots on again

 

[Alan Turing]

This team is nowhere near as good as Sturrock's promotion side (in my opinion).

But Adams manages them well.
With hard work, good fortune, and if we keep hold of Carey, then automatic promotion is very realisitic.

I have to agree.

In 2001/02, we would go to home games wondering how many we would win by. This season, we're hopeful of seeing a win. That's the difference.

 

[davie nine]

This team is nowhere near as good as Sturrock's promotion side (in my opinion).

But Adams manages them well.
With hard work, good fortune, and if we keep hold of Carey, then automatic promotion is very realisitic.

I have to agree.

In 2001/02, we would go to home games wondering how many we would win by. This season, we're hopeful of seeing a win. That's the difference.

Obviously, I was very happy with our home form in 2001/2, but I do not recall it as 'wondering how many we would win by'. We often had our backs to the wall and Paul Sturrock always had all 11 players in our penalty area when we were defending corners.

For the record, we had 10 wins by 1 goal, 5 by 2 goals and 4 by 3 goals. The 23 games were made up with 2 early defeats and 2 draws.

Most of us are probably apprehensive about this season because of what happened last season, but I do find myself looking forward to our home games and expecting a win. I was happy, however, to take the draw with Portsmouth.

 

[Adam R]

Football has changed a lot since 2001/2. I think that across the board in the Premier League and Football League the notion of people expecting to annihilate the opposition has gone. Ever game is a challenge and whilst going into the game there is a 'favourite' there is no expectation of how many will they win by, most seem happy to just have picked up three points.

Whether that is the lesser teams catching up, the way teams are now set up to play against the 'favourites' or the big teams no longer being as good, the playing field seems to have levelled significantly.

The 'underdogs' are able to play in a way that limits the damage, a 1/3 nil defeat. Oddly over the past few years, the majority of high scoring games seem to have come between two "big clubs" as both teams try to win.

 

[Army green]

I seem to remember some very hard earnt 1-0 wins with backs against the wall defending in that promotion season. Has been nothing of that kind so far this season from the matches I've seen. If we can keep injuries to key players to a minimum then I feel this team will take us up. Keeping Carey after the January transfer window is also important, he is the catalyst to making things happen for us as we are all well aware of. I would rather lose him for nothing at the end of the season and for us to get promotion than sell him for a few quid in Jan and potentially struggle to get over the line without him.

 

[mervyn]

I seem to remember some very hard earnt 1-0 wins with backs against the wall defending in that promotion season. Has been nothing of that kind so far this season from the matches I've seen. If we can keep injuries to key players to a minimum then I feel this team will take us up. Keeping Carey after the January transfer window is also important, he is the catalyst to making things happen for us as we are all well aware of. I would rather lose him for nothing at the end of the season and for us to get promotion than sell him for a few quid in Jan and potentially struggle to get over the line without him.

Spot on.

 

[esmer]

The standard of football in Div 2 compared to when Argyle romped home with Sturrock is much higher now.

An awful lot higher. Because the top two leagues are now so heavily populated with foreign players the majority of British players are now playing in the lower leagues which along with better pitches and better qualified coaches mean the standard of league two is far higher than in years gone by. Hardly any of Sturrock's team would get in our team today.

Nonsense.Players like Wotton,Couglin,Larrieu,Worrell,Evans,Hodges and Friio acquitted themselves well in the league above and indeed in some cases the league beyond that and would do so today.It was not automatic that players displaced by the influx of foreign players drifted down to the lower leagues-many would have been happy to stay as part of a squad with the increase in substitutes allowed and take the better money on offer.Who in Argyle's current squad would have fitted the description of players pushed down the pecking order from higher division clubs? Most were picked up either from Scotland or clubs of a lower or similar stature to Argyle.

It is a matter of fact not opinion. Half of the players now in the Premier League and Championship are foreign; therefore half of the players now in the lower leagues would be playing in the Premier League or the Championship but for the influx of foreign players. It also follows that most League two players from yesteryear would today be playing non league football.

You seem to be saying that there were no foreign players playing in the top two divisions of English football in 2001/02 but there certainly were.No idea what the percentages were but even if only a quarter of the top two division players were foreign it would still weaken the maths of your argument somewhat,without taking into account the more non measurable aspects of the issue.

There were plenty of foreign footballers in the top two divisions in 2001/2 but nowhere near as many as there are now, therefore the standard of the league is far higher today.

 

[Andy Holland]

The standard of football in Div 2 compared to when Argyle romped home with Sturrock is much higher now.

An awful lot higher. Because the top two leagues are now so heavily populated with foreign players the majority of British players are now playing in the lower leagues which along with better pitches and better qualified coaches mean the standard of league two is far higher than in years gone by. Hardly any of Sturrock's team would get in our team today.

Rubbish.

Friio, Wotton, Coughlan, Trigger, Larrieu, Lee Hodges, Worrell, probably even Marino Keith would all get in today's team.

 

[esmer]

The standard of football in Div 2 compared to when Argyle romped home with Sturrock is much higher now.

An awful lot higher. Because the top two leagues are now so heavily populated with foreign players the majority of British players are now playing in the lower leagues which along with better pitches and better qualified coaches mean the standard of league two is far higher than in years gone by. Hardly any of Sturrock's team would get in our team today.

Rubbish.

Friio, Wotton, Coughlan, Trigger, Larrieu, Lee Hodges, Worrell, probably even Marino Keith would all get in today's team.

Maybe Evans, no one else.