Brief Synopsis!!!

[Mark Pedlar]

Six of Sheridan's summer signings came from teams who played in a higher league than Argyle last season, I believe we have the players to get us promoted with some loans along the way, what we don't have is a stable formation, a gameplan and players who know their roles week in, week out.

Sheridan needs to pick 11 players, settle on one or maybe two formations and go with that for the next 10 games at least.
How many formations has he used this season? There was another new one last night.

Totally agree. We had played well in our last 135 minutes or so. All we needed to do was replace Morgan and Alessandra but in the same roles. Smalley wide right for Alessandra and Banton/Thomas for Morgan wide left. Instead we had wholesale personnel and formation changes.

God knows what we're going to look like on Saturday.

 

[Verte]

Sheridan needs to decide on a formation and the personnel and stick with it. Instead of worrying about the opposition make them worry about us!

I do think the home and away team idea is a good one and I think he will turn it around but my patience is thinner today....

 

[tonycholwell]

Against Exeter it worked with Harvey playing just behind Reid, so given the withdrawals of Morgan and Alessandra why didn't Sheridan go with a formation they players know against Wycombe, with Harvey behind Reid and Banton and Smalley out wide?

Instead we had a new strange formation and it was obvious the players didn't know what they were doing, Wycombe took advantage and scored what proved to be the winning goal.

A quiet drive home and a good sleep. I'd hoped to have felt differently this morning, but I don't, this was dire and there is no masking it. To top it off, the goal was something we will not see Luke repeat as long as he wears an Argyle shirt.

I agree with Posty here but it is symptomatic of Sheridans reign that he sets his teams up to draw 0-0 from the outset, but this year he has a Plan B which is to make substitutions early. I'm not sure how much of a confidence booster it is to tell a lad he doesn't play in the correct position and try to convert him to a midfielder, then ask him to play the position you say he isn't good enough for (Harvey). Boy, confusing.

To persist with McHugh as a left back which is clearly alien to him is both poor for the player and the team. Besides one bad pass (awful!) from Purrington, he still looks a proper left back and must wonder how his career has gone so badly in such a brief few months.

But overall, we do what we have done for too many years now, pass the ball between the back four nicely, then it gets hoofed and lost, mostly. From high it is easy to see the acres of space with no Argyle player moving into, it is easy to see the lack of movement, it is just a shame no member of the management can't or won't see this as well and then correct it.

Another defeat from the "likes of........" school of thought but in truth another game we didn't deserve to win. I know it was a Tuesday evening, but as a club we can't afford too many sub 6k attendances, we now go on to Saturday, more with fingers crossed than in total conviction.

COYGs

 

[Tony Flags]

The performance last night was abysmal,
The tactics deployed were just dismal,
Our midfield wasn’t there,
Distribution was a mare,
And the result was to some cataclysmal

 

[cheshiregreen]

Some interesting and considered views on this thread.

After Bury, Sheridan came out with the statement about playing different players home and away. No problem with him taking that approach, but, why stick it out into the public domain?

This means teams expect us to set up differently before we have even started. At the same time, he made claims about some players who are better away than at home - to be honest, I don't know who he was thinking of and there have been few clues in recent selections.

I sense the tide on here is turning against Sheridan, he (and we) need a consistent run of form very soon.

 

[TomLannigan]

I struggled to even work out the formation we were playing last night. It was supposedly a 4-3-1-2, yet Banton seemed to be hugging the left side despite the fact he was in centre mid (???). It could have been a 4-2-2-2 but again, the attacking midfielders Harvey (in the middle) and Banton (out wide) made the team completely balanced. Sheridan appeared to be rocked by the late withdrawals of Alessandra and Morgan, as I reckon both would have started over Smalley and Banton, who were both awful. I often wonder sometimes whether Banton has the mindset to become an established football league player, the talent is obviously there but this season he's contributed very little so far. It's a shame our attacking inadequacies are costing us as the defence is actually turning out quite well. Hopefully we will see a changed team on Saturday but god knows what the formation will be!

McCormick- 5
Mellor- 7
Nelson-7
Hartley- 7
McHugh- 6
O'Connor-6
Norburn- 5
Banton- 5
Harvey- 5
Smalley- 4
Reid- 7

Cox- 6
Purrington- 6

 

[esmer]

I think the criticism of Sheridan for last nights performance is a bit unfair. I think the problem was that too many players had an off night. O'Conner, who has been exceptional so far this season, was very poor in the first half (he did a lot better in defense in the second); Cox was well below his usual standards again; Norburn had his moments but never imposed his passing on the game; Banton had a real stinker; both left backs did little going forward and Smally's contribution was, to be kind, minimal. Also, it can't be said that Sheridan didn't try and change things, we had a 4213 in the first half, flirted briefly with a 352 before finishing the game with a 442. He also made three substitutions (two at half time). It's hard to see what else he could have done, in the end whatever formation is played and tactics deployed the players have to perform and last night too few did.

 

[pedro91]

Errington says Smalley was up front with Reid and Harvey in the hole behind him

 

[PL2 3DQ]

Errington says Smalley was up front with Reid and Harvey in the hole behind him

Yes, although I saw it as Harvey slightly to the right in the old inside right channel and Banton very wide on the left with Norburn and O'Connor behind those two in a strange 4-2-2-2 formation which gave the team a lop-sided look and meant Mellor had no-one in front of him.
All very confusing whatever formation it was, especially for the players who struggled with this but looked much happier (and played better) in the second half when Sheridan went to regulation 4-4-2.

 

[L G]

I also thought that Cox was lucky not to pick up a second yellow card when he blocked their midfield runner. the ref bottled it somewhat and just called captain Curtis over and gave him a good ticking off.

 

[Tugboat]

Just the fact that we changed our formation 3 times last night and the fact that we change it nearly every other game without result is alarming.

 

[Balham Green]

Credit to Sheridan. He has now got two different systems - one to lose at home and one away. What a manager! The worst since Williamson.

 

[Lesley Somerville]

Agree with Tony, we are very static and don't use space in the midfield to link up with the strikers, choosing instead to hoof it up. The constant changes don't help. It just all seems disorganised and desperate, which doesn't inspire the fans or, perhaps, the players? Not sure what will happen but I don't feel optimistic

 

[memory man]

Just the fact that we changed our formation 3 times last night and the fact that we change it nearly every other game without result is alarming.

Absolutely spot on. You would have hoped after the pre-season and the fixtures now completed that he would know what his best eleven is. Not only does he appear to be a million miles from that, he is clearly has no idea of what the best formation is - for a squad that is now very much of his own making. Every manager will be driven by the game and have to tweak things from time to time. But JS just makes wholesale changes within 90 minutes. Whatever benchmark you judge him on, he is now struggling to maintain any shred of credibility.

 

[Nobby]

I didn't go last night, i'll stress that first, but I am bored to the f*cking heavens of hearing about Nathan bloody Thomas!!!

The guy has done absolutely nothing in an Argyle shirt bar a few cameos last season. His only all round good performance was Newport away and that's it.

Just like Tyler Harvey, he's done nowhere near enough to justify a starting sport, regardless of what we do or don't see in training.

Part of me genuinely hope we give him a start on Saturday just so we can finally dispel the myths about his apparent Messi-esque ability.

It's embarrassing, our saviour is apparently someone who is yet to manage a full ninety minutes in professional football?!

Argyle's problem is we only have one player of real genuine quality - Reuben Reid* - and when he can't get in the game, we don't perform. We have no plan B, the team is unbalanced and there is a complete lack of cohesion in the midfield.

*ignoring McCormick because he's not really relevant to the point as a goalkeeper.