Brief Synopsis!!!

[tigertony]

Yes we do have a chance and until games left x 3 = less than required we must keep going.
Teams have bad days ! Who thought Mansfield would turnover Rochdale 3 - 0 or Scunny would only draw 2 - 2 with Bury or Burton would go down at Northampton ?

JS has been here 16 months and, overall, has a win ratio of 40%. Thats actually quite high but it seems when we do lose we play absolutely she-ite.

Next Friday we have
> Oxford Utd v York
> Rochdale v Southend
so a win at Bury is vital.

For those who say our games against Port Vale (higher league) were cup ties therefore not a true indication then aren't the play-offs cup-ties ? IF we get there, and the fat one has only checked train times to Torquay so far, we must grab it quick. :scarf:

 

[L G]

Has anyone seen TT and a certain NDG argyle ambassador in the same room?

 

[Fat_green_belly]

Long essay time.
Another poor result and performance with the 352 at home. I thought sheridan would of changed
it after the exeter debacle. Different problems today as our wingbacks tried to be more attacking
but we never kept or passed the ball well enough to use them. The space behind them, especially
our left,was always being exploited. I counted at least 5 unopposed crosses coming in from that side
in the first 5/10 minutes alone. None of the defenders looked comfortable playing this system and as
this is supposed to be a passing formation our players never passed the ball enough.
He should play 442 again so at least the players, especially the defenders, know what they are
supposed to be doing.
Sheridan is losing too many home games and local derbies as well with lots of poor performances. So
criticism of him, despite the league position, is going to continue and increase.
I had reservations when he was appointed and after the 6 games i have now seen they have not
diminished. This pre season he has got to get it right if he is thinking of a long term job here..
Negatives.
Poor defending. Crosses allowed too easily. Thomas not interested and nelson unable to tackle players
going outside him due to him being a right footer. Trotman too slow to be the spare defender to
pick up runners into the area(2nd goal). Blanchards 2 yellows. Too much fouling.
Very little passing and movement between the defenders and midfielders. None of the defenders look
comfortable enough on the ball. Nelson excused as he is on his wrong side. All resulting in the
strikers having to work with scraps again.
Didnt pressure them as much as they pressured us. It should be the opposite as we are the home team.
Pressing and tackling can get the crowd going just as much as a goal.
Playing deep and counterattacking seems to be the sheridan way at the moment. Not good to watch if
it isnt working.
Positives
The 2 forwards not so effective today but still caused problems and as a pair could shoot us out
of this league within a good team. Sean mccarthy perhaps should take some credit for their improvement.
Rubein reids bustling style reminds me of sean mccarthy in his first spell with us before his
exploits in the old first division with joe royles oldham.
Hourihane was my mom today mainly for the effort he put in second half.
Seeing some of the fa cup semi final squad.
Kev hodges. I saw him play for the youth and reserves. His first game away at bury at fullback(18yo?).
His first goal from midfield at home to barnsley(sheer joy on his face). So, so many of those other
games as he improved as a player through the years.
Mark rowe. A talented cornish boy.Left footed midfielder i think but ended up a ciderman converted LB.
John uzzell. Another out of that youth team of the mid 70s.LB.
Johnny hore. Like kev hodges another argyle legend as a player but who failed as our manager.
Martin harvey. Bobby moncurs assistant before his unfair sacking by stuart dawe. He built that team
that got us to the semi final imho. He was sacked the morning after a 5-0 home win.
That season we reached the semi final and nearly got relegated.Then came the mighty ciderman.
Happy memories.

 

[briangreen]

Oxford had the ball - going forward, you had a swarm of players running in all directions towards the Argyle goal, asking - wanting the ball!!!

Argyle had the ball - going sideways and forward - you had no-one running off the ball, nothing for the guy with the ball to pass too, no player wanting the ball.

Owers fitness regime is not very good compared to Oxford's.

Better team won - better even before the sending off - which was stupid Mr Blanchard.

I thought Harbin was the fitness coach, oh well

After todays performance I'm starting to agree that a bit of a clear out is required, although I don't believe a major clear out is needed, we have some very footballers. Without prejudice I think we all know the players who need to be shown the door, for too long now we've had to put up with inconsistent passionless performances in vital areas.
Fans have been upset at John Sheridan's tactics, they can be a bit confusing sometimes, but then again we aren't managers and frankly if the tactics had worked out we would have been declaring JS a genius.
Have to admit both me and my father were more than a little worried seeing Thomas in the wing back position and it played out as we expected and pulled the whole defence out of sync. After Thomas' defensive frailties were exposed against Newport I was surprised they started with the 352 formation, but then that formation had worked out before.
Have to say I saw todays experience as a waste of time and money and despite what the manager says I think the season is over for the greens, but I would like to be proven wrong.
No ratings, but m.o.m. for me was Berry when he came on (should have started)

 

[The Night Riveria]

Just back to Wimbledon.So that was our biggest match of the season .I would never have guessed .Both the Exeter and Oxford games Sheridan has had a chance to change his tactics with the score still 0-0 .(both times found wanting).First half Guerreri reminded me of a dog chasing a stick without much success .Never would accuse him of lack of effort though .Too many players invisible(even Wooton wasn't as vocal as usual .)
Worst part of the day for me .I shelled out £320 for 2014/2015 season ticket next year(another season of counter-attacking football at home .Can't wait ).Sitting with a glass of water and the tablets next to it .

 

[jollygreenjohn]

Some very strange ratings on here. A really awfully depressing performance but to be fair to Sheridan his selection was probably merited after Newport but the players didn't turn up yet again.

Using Thomas as a wing back didn't really work at Newport because he was so poor defensively so he finished as a much more successful out and out winger. So that was the plan yesterday. Hourihane had to drop deep left to cover for him though and so we lost his imperative positive influence in the centre of midfield.

After doing well at Newport, Wotton and Harvey couldnt get in to the game and so we had nothing in the engine room at all.

Stretched at the back and in midfield and with the front 3 isolated we were just so disjointed. Any criticism for Sheridan would be for his seemingly inability to change things when it is obviously failing.
I have to keep reminding myself this is better than recent years. Coming back home depressed after Exeter and this, it certainly didn't feel like it.

I always said watch us go once the early bird season ticket offer is over. 4 wins coming up maybe? The team have never been that good at marketing for the club.

 

[newquaygreen]

After drowning my sorrows I now have the ability to make comment...
Basically we were bullied off the ball to much, their physical prescence was just too much for us. They cheated at every opportunity.
Ref was the worst I have seen for years. every 50/50 went to Oxford
They were up for it, we were not.
Some appalling passing from Wotton and Houraine
Jake had a good game as did Nelson. None of the others really stod out. Reid never was allowed to make a real impact but not for want of trying.
We could have scored a few times but overall it was Oxford's day.
Rubbish away support for a club going for promotion
:banghead:

Oh well we are are out of it yet. Roll on next game :scarf:

 

[Bezza]

..why cant we win Saturday games, particularly at home? Our midweek form is wonderful, all those wins against Fleetwood, chesterfield, Wycombe and Newport, but barely a Saturday win in months...especially at home. I just don't get it. So frustrating that a decent mid week win is never followed up at home...Also agree about Oxford's support. Really poor, but then so are most clubs at this level. Looking forward to the visit of Luton next season they have a really good support home and away and are old rivals of ours! Their home gates beat ours for this season and did last season too I believe.

 

[The Doctor]

Anyone else notice (not for the first time) that Conor Hourihane started to play much, much better as soon as Paul Wotton was taken off? I don't think it is any coincidence. In fact for most of the team it must be pretty irritating having Wotton there pointing fingers and blaming them every time something goes wrong (including Wotton himself misplacing passes, losing the ball, not tracking opposition players).

 

[Frank Butcher]

Anyone else notice (not for the first time) that Conor Hourihane started to play much, much better as soon as Paul Wotton was taken off? I don't think it is any coincidence. In fact for most of the team it must be pretty irritating having Wotton there pointing fingers and blaming them every time something goes wrong (including Wotton himself misplacing passes, losing the ball, not tracking opposition players).

Not sure about that. Hourihane played better when the game was all but lost and he ventured further forward. As others have said, he had been playing a more withdrawn role than of late in order to compensate for Thomas (a poor tactic IMO).

As for Wotton, he was the difference in games such as Fleetwood, Morecambe allowing the other two midfielders to push forward. A combination of his inability to do it week after week these days, and the fact that other managers have sussed it out, means that he seems less effective.

 

[Ollieargyle9]

Anyone else notice (not for the first time) that Conor Hourihane started to play much, much better as soon as Paul Wotton was taken off? I don't think it is any coincidence. In fact for most of the team it must be pretty irritating having Wotton there pointing fingers and blaming them every time something goes wrong (including Wotton himself misplacing passes, losing the ball, not tracking opposition players).

I think it could be more to do with that fact that Blizzard was brought on in support of Hourihane, before hand Hourihane was our only link between defense and attack with Wotton playing a very defensive role, Blizzard came on and played a similar role to Conor which freed Conor up a bit more.

It was poor tactics and a poor formation that let us down yesterday, not Wotton's fault he did his job filling that hole ahead of the defence but he was not responsible for Hourihane being our only midfield player linking up to 4 attacking players.

 

[tonycholwell]

Interesting yesterday, had my Twitter account hacked and then watch an Argyle X1 similarly afflicted.

Don't get me wrong, we didn't look like world beaters Tuesday, but we did score 2 excellent goals, found a genuine winger, not a wing back, found reserves of inner strength from deep down to grind out a win and came away with most of us happy.

So over 8k turn up at Home Park yesterday expecting another spirited performance against a team who have been vulnerable of late, were heartened to find the same team, although not the same squad and what happened?

Nowt!

We had been hacked.

I do not know but guess both genuine left backs are injured, not to see at least one on the bench. It is clear 3 at the back without wing backs has drawbacks, not fully exploited by some teams, particularly Newport on Tuesday but over ran by Oxford time and time again. It was time for a reformation but when Sheridan looked there the cupboard was bare. Oh dear. Its not that the 3 defenders and Jake C didn't play well, they did, but were given no respite. Not for the first time the inability of midfield to play good quality ball to attackers was a source of much pain.

As a wing back give Thomas grief if you must but he is no wing back, but potentially, a very fine winger and a provider to central strikers. If Sheridan believes that he is an asset then he has to build a formation around that strength and move to 4 3 3 .

It is a measure of the quality of this division that we have not performed consistently well, do not have a Plan B and sometimes not even a Plan A yet are still in with a (diminishing) shout of the Play Offs. 4 games left and still the fans can dream.

Wow!

 

[jollygreenjohn]

Anyone else notice (not for the first time) that Conor Hourihane started to play much, much better as soon as Paul Wotton was taken off? I don't think it is any coincidence. In fact for most of the team it must be pretty irritating having Wotton there pointing fingers and blaming them every time something goes wrong (including Wotton himself misplacing passes, losing the ball, not tracking opposition players).

Nothing to do with Wotton, when Berry came on Gurrieri went left and filled the gaping hole behind Thomas and thus releasing Hourihane from that position to his usual role.
Both Gurrieri and Hourihane improved.

 

[xmastree]

Anyone else notice (not for the first time) that Conor Hourihane started to play much, much better as soon as Paul Wotton was taken off? I don't think it is any coincidence. In fact for most of the team it must be pretty irritating having Wotton there pointing fingers and blaming them every time something goes wrong (including Wotton himself misplacing passes, losing the ball, not tracking opposition players).

Nothing to do with Wotton, when Berry came on Gurrieri went left and filled the gaping hole behind Thomas and thus releasing Hourihane from that position to his usual role.
Both Gurrieri and Hourihane improved.

Gurrieri was essentially playing two roles in the final period, covering the whole of the left hand side. He played a lot better in this spell than earlier in the game at RWB.

 

[jollygreenjohn]

As a wing back give Thomas grief if you must but he is no wing back, but potentially, a very fine winger and a provider to central strikers. If Sheridan believes that he is an asset then he has to build a formation around that strength and 4 3 3

Well I agree with that TC but I reckon Sheridan tried to set us up that way but we don't have the midfielders to cope with it defensively or the ability to bring the isolated Thomas into play.