This season (enjoyment?)

[edengreen]

TBH Dave Smiths promotion was my best, First and that team tore teams to pieces in the end. I reckon if we had another 10 games we would have caught Reading.
I also enjoyed the First Sturrock Season. Warnocks wasnt great TBH for me

I understand the OP but as an exile Ive had some great away days this season only seen defeats at morecambe and Morecambe but love coming out with an unlikely win makes the trip much more worthwhile !

 

[Andy in Peverell]

You can't fault the points total or the league position and it seems churlish to moan but we rarely dominate at home and at times have been appalling.
I think most of our best performances have been away when teams attack us and we then counter.

Today was a prime example. Some superb stuff 1st half followed by an underwhelming 2nd where a better team might of nicked a point.
If playing this way gets us up then so be it, the ends justify the means.

Shiltons team never got us up playing the best football I've seen us play so maybe Adams has it spot on.

 

[Metal Green Mickey]

There are moments of 20 min purple patches. It happens now and again and the team look like they have clicked.

Yet the problem I have is not the football as such, but more the mentality of the team. I find it negative. We seem to play in a reactive manner instead of being on the front foot.

Lets face it league two football is always a scrap. Yet you can still play in a style surely where your not holding on for dear life for most of your wins, especially at home. Our normal type of win is like the one we had at Mansfield or Cambridge (away) where we considerably rode our luck numerous times or the backs to the wall, grinding out a home win. I guess its does the job if we get promoted. However, the thread asks if we enjoy what we are watching and I cant say that I do apart from these all too infrequent purple patches for 20 minutes that turns up every now and then.

Like people have said they have seen better & worse. I just think with the players at our disposal its a shame we that if we do get promoted we will limp over the line, like the 3pts we got today, playing in a manner that is very difficult to appreciate. Yet saying this I do appreciate the work rate of the players and believe they are putting in huge degrees of effort. Its just I believe that what they are being asked to do within a team system doesn't work in terms of playing decent football for more than one half of a match.

 

[Biggs]

On what planet is being 11 points clear 'limping over the line'? I wouldn't be surprised to see us closer to 20 points clear at the end of the season.

And if you found the first half and even the second half counter attacks 'difficult to appreciate' then i feel sorry for you. There was some ridiculous interplay there for a League 2 side.

Mickey.... RELAX. The system is working, despite what you think. And remember, simply getting out of this league is priority number one, two and three.

 

[Green Smirk]

Interesting post. I know what you mean, but don't entirely agree.

It's a consequence of being in this league for far too long. Call it arrogance, call it frustration, but I really see L2 as beneath our level. Hence that capitulation last season being even more infuriating.

But don't get disillusioned. We're on the slow climb upwards. I took some plastic Premier League boys to Loooton away and they loved the experience - nothing they get in the top flight. We'll earn our credibility stripes back eventually.

In the meantime, watch Carey's goal again - fitting of any league. COYG!

 

[the corkscrew]

4th tier teams rarely produce free flowing football. Same today as it was in the 4th division 30 years ago. There's a reason the players aren't, with the occasional exception, playing any higher. For us, the aim is get out of here, get up to play better clubs, get better crowds, to fund better players, to get up again. Virtuous circle, and breaking out of League 2 must be the hardest part of it. Nearly there... COYG

 

[Akos Bubacksy]

I must add that I am not a supporter that goes and moans and shouts at players. I am generally quite quiet watching the game.

I am also not saying that Adams, the team and the board are under achieving as they evidently arent.

Also regarding seeing promotions/good football etc in grass roots every week, I agree teams drift up and down but a manager really can set up any team to play with energy (win lose or draw).

 

[X Isle]

Favourite promotion = 2001-2002. Might not have been the prettiest but we were dominant, we were streets ahead of everyone else.

I probably should keep these thoughts to myself but part of me wonders what this team and Adams tactics would look like *IF* we did go up, with not a single chicken counted you understand.

They're not the greatest of margins I accept but in L1 the opposition would on average be slightly less 'agricultural', on average the pitches would be slightly better and on average those we play will pay us a little less respect (it being a slightly bigger pond and us being a slightly smaller fish in it). Added to that our own expectations as fans would be tempered by being a first season in a higher league for a long time, they hinder the team quite often.

All those things could actually help this team. Adams passing and counter attacking tactics would be aided by better pitches, facing less blunt force trauma and teams that think they can take us. The burden the crowd put on the team sometimes, especially when it's not going well, would ease off a bit too.

So as peculiarly frustrating as this season has been maybe, just maybe, any doubts we might have about the worthiness of any promotion we *MIGHT* get are made without putting into context just what a blunt/physical bunch of negative teams we've played on some truly horrendous surfaces.

I baulk at saying 'we're too good for this league' because patently we're not, the wildly undulating performance levels show that. However there could be something in Adams tactical doctrine being slightly better suited to a higher level.

The Liverpool games are where the seed of this theory originated for me. When you get panels of pundits purring in admiration on our defensive tactics and work rate (Steve McWhateverman aside) you have to think to yourself, why don't we see this week in week out?

Maybe the less we see of yer basement league cloggers, the less we face yer mixed martial art style aggression of yer Orients and yer Wycombes the better, the less we have to play on the ploughed fields of little England the better too.

Basically, get up a league and incrementally the better the environment will be for this team and this manager, I certainly trust him to get in good players.

Just get us there and test my theory eh Argyle?

 

[Guiri Green]

Hate this team. Hate Argyle. Hate this division. Load of old carp.

Not celebrating our unlikely promotion should it happen.

Wont be happy until the Championship.

Grrr

 

[Biggs]

Hate this team. Hate Argyle. Hate this division. Load of old carp.

Not celebrating our unlikely promotion should it happen.

Wont be happy until the Championship.

Grrr

*not sure if joking*

 

[jimsing]

Hate this team. Hate Argyle. Hate this division. Load of old carp.

Not celebrating our unlikely promotion should it happen.

Wont be happy until the Championship.

Grrr

You could be waiting a long time!!

 

[Metal Green Mickey]

On what planet is being 11 points clear 'limping over the line'? I wouldn't be surprised to see us closer to 20 points clear at the end of the season.

And if you found the first half and even the second half counter attacks 'difficult to appreciate' then i feel sorry for you. There was some ridiculous interplay there for a League 2 side.

Mickey.... RELAX. The system is working, despite what you think. And remember, simply getting out of this league is priority number one, two and three.

20 point gap....given our inconsistencies

We aren't going to finish on 90+ points and teams below us will see at least some finish around the mid seventies range for the 4th and 5th place off place.

By your calculations we will be promoted after Portsmouth game.

I cant have a reasonable debate with you when you say something like that.... :sigh:

 

[IPA]

I agree with the OP.

I didn't enjoy most of last season and so far the only home game I've really enjoyed this season was Exeter.

I've spent so much money supporting Argyle over the years. I used to drive home from university (Chichester) every other week in the early 90's to coincide with home games and if we were playing on the south coast I would drive to away games too.

I remember when we got relegated to the bottom division for the first time in 1995 after 109 years of never being in that division. I think it was a Tuesday night and we weren't even playing. If I remember rightly Bournemouth had something to do with it and I stood in my kitchen and cried. I couldn't believe my great club had stooped to such lows.

It should never have happened but unfortunately it did and has happened a few time since either by poor management or by greedy and egotistical directors. I'm sick and tired of the pub league referees. I'm sick and tired of seeing the pub league opposition. I'm sick and tired of seeing the Barn Park end empty.

The standard of football we play at home these days is dire. The manager does not seem to know how to set us up to play like a home side but if I remember rightly when he was first appointed Ross County fans warned us that he would divide both our fan base and our dressing room.

The bottom line is, I don't give a flying fudge anymore. I just want my club out of this Mickey Mouse league and if DA achieves this in any way shape or form I'll take it.

COYG :scarf:

 

[Biggs]

On what planet is being 11 points clear 'limping over the line'? I wouldn't be surprised to see us closer to 20 points clear at the end of the season.

And if you found the first half and even the second half counter attacks 'difficult to appreciate' then i feel sorry for you. There was some ridiculous interplay there for a League 2 side.

Mickey.... RELAX. The system is working, despite what you think. And remember, simply getting out of this league is priority number one, two and three.

20 point gap....given our inconsistencies

We aren't going to finish on 90+ points and teams below us will see at least some finish around the mid seventies range for the 4th and 5th place off place.

By your calculations we will be promoted after Portsmouth game.

I cant have a reasonable debate with you when you say something like that.... :sigh:

You what?

I said 'I wouldn't be surprised' if we we end up 'closer to' a 20 point gap than the 11 point gap we have at the moment. I fail to see how that's unreasonable.... tell me if that's more ridiculous than saying we're limping over the line as we sit double figures in points ahead of the play offs?And by the way, we've been pretty consistent to achieve the fantastic position we now occupy.

I didn't present any calculations, but being promoted after the Pompey game is actually entirely possible as we'd need to be 13 points clear afterwards with four games remaining. As we're currently 11 points clear, is it not a bit weird that you've dismissed that notion as laughable and not worth engaging with?

The language you continually use is utterly bizarre given our position. You're clearly glass half empty and I'm glass half full (for reference, GA1984 is glass overflowing). In the words of Brian Clough to Don Revie. 'I'd rather be like me. You'd rather be like you' :thumbs:

 

[Metal Green Mickey]

On what planet is being 11 points clear 'limping over the line'? I wouldn't be surprised to see us closer to 20 points clear at the end of the season.

And if you found the first half and even the second half counter attacks 'difficult to appreciate' then i feel sorry for you. There was some ridiculous interplay there for a League 2 side.

Mickey.... RELAX. The system is working, despite what you think. And remember, simply getting out of this league is priority number one, two and three.

20 point gap....given our inconsistencies

We aren't going to finish on 90+ points and teams below us will see at least some finish around the mid seventies range for the 4th and 5th place off place.

By your calculations we will be promoted after Portsmouth game.

I cant have a reasonable debate with you when you say something like that.... :sigh:

You what?

I said 'I wouldn't be surprised' if we we end up 'closer to' a 20 point gap than the 11 point gap we have at the moment. I fail to see how that's unreasonable.... tell me if that's more ridiculous than saying we're limping over the line as we sit double figures in points ahead of the play offs?And by the way, we've been pretty consistent to achieve the fantastic position we now occupy.

I didn't present any calculations, but being promoted after the Pompey game is actually entirely possible as we'd need to be 13 points clear afterwards with four games remaining. As we're currently 11 points clear, is it not a bit weird that you've dismissed that notion as laughable and not worth engaging with?

The language you continually use is utterly bizarre given our position. You're clearly glass half empty and I'm glass half full (for reference, GA1984 is glass overflowing). In the words of Brian Clough to Don Revie. 'I'd rather be like me. You'd rather be like you' :thumbs:

Do I think a 20 point gap come the end of the season (conversation), is worth engaging in? Well bearing in mind how we have picked up 7 points from the last 3 games you would think its possible. The problem is then we have to remember how we achieve those points. A very fortunate win against Mansfield, a draw against Wycombe where we only just got a foothold in the game by midway in the second half and then Morecambe where after a decent 45 mins we retreated from half time onwards and lost all impetuous.

So to achieve this magical 90 point margin would mean they need 18 points from the last 8 games. Basically 6 games to win. Can they do it? Sure. Will they do it? No. Simply because their performances are so inconsistent (and that's me being positive in describing it in that way) that they cant pick up that many wins because they aren't playing well enough. As for the other teams Luton, Stevenage, Carlisle, Portsmouth you might see two of these teams put some run together. Currently in the form table for the last 10 games are Stevenage at 1 and Portsmouth at 2. So I am thinking 3rd and 4th realistically should get in the high seventies given these teams have proven they can go on decent runs.

So that's why I don't see a 20 point gap. If we finish with a 10 point gap between ourselves and 4th place it will be a remarkable achievement. The Fratton Park encounter will be the pivotal point. Lose that and I feel it will be in for a nail biter end to the season. Especially if Luton win their game in hand.

My language is utterly bizarre is it? Then why are there a number of posts (including this thread), by different people continuing saying how bad the football is and that how fortunate we are to be in the position we find ourselves. You just choose to ignore or dismiss these comments.

Hand on heart, for your sake (and many of the long suffering Argyle fans) I hope you turn out to be right about the way we shall go on to win promotion. I say this because I want us to get promoted, but deep down I know we have been very fortunate to be in the situation we find ourselves, so can logically understand why we may struggle to obtain the results we need between now and the end of the season.

If Argyle don't achieve promotion it will perplex you because you fail to grasp just how bad we have been at times this season. Its got nothing to do with glass half full or empty. The simple fact is Argyle have managed to get here playing a brand of counter attacking, negative style tactics. Open the game up and we get crushed by the worse teams in the division as previous results have proven at home.

Yes its currently doing the job. Yet is it a good brand of football. No. All you see is Argyle in 2nd place. All I see is games like today, where the 2nd half we shut up shop and tried to hold on to a 1 goal lead with a not very convincing defensive second half display which is down to luck, at times, more than judgement.