Assessment of RLs season

This time last year I didn't think we had 1 single player who would/could fetch 500k in the transfer market. Now I think we have a good number. Now that isnt success, but it's a measure of moving forward.
We have an exceptionally young forward line, all have serious potential. A year older, stronger, wiser and who knows what might be achieved.

An ugly brute of a centre back and a Nalis type midfielder and we would be a totally different side.

It has been a fair season.

The permanent signings of Hardie and Ennis have been pleasing.

In terms of youth development, he has done very well with Cooper and Jephcott. Lolos look like he has potential and Adam Randell looks like he may have something to offer us next season.

The style of football has been very entertaining.

Tactically Lowe has been found wanting far too often though. I don’t see us going up much further unless we diversify from his one formation that opponents can scout and work out without too much research. The amount of times Lowe has been outthought and nullified at half time is staggering.

Defensively we had had a shocking season. Conceded about 15 set piece goals and scored none. We are on minus 16 goals at present. The fact that training three times a week for 7 months hasn’t addressed these issues, I am not confident a couple of months in the summer is going to sort us out. I think Lowe’s Achilles heel is a total lack of regard for the science of defending.

Overall 7/10. The club is going in the right direction. I’d very much like to keep Lowe and everything he has implemented at Argyle than lose him.

It will be interesting what he does next year. It's been a reasonable consolidation year, with some very good spells and some poor ones.

Can he learn from this years shortcomings and is he flexible enough to change? We have the nucleus of a decent team, we just need some leadership and guts to kick on.

slingsby_pobble":ydo4f8fj said:

jerryatricjanner":ydo4f8fj said:

I don't think we limped over the line. I think the final league table will show we were safe with about 8 games to go. Our finishing position will be close to what most hoped for or expected last August. Due to the covid situation it has been an unusual season in many ways and to stay up relatively comfortably is for me a satisfactory season. There are lessons to be learnt and I trust with the personnel we have running the football side of things they will largely be addressed. I think the teams that are coming down this season which looks like Rotherham, Wednesday and Wycombe will possibly be not quite as strong overall as Hull, Peterborough and Sunderland should they be the 3 to go up. My expectation for next season is that we will improve sufficiently to be a top 10 side and in that case we should be close to mounting a challenge for the play offs.

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You don't think we limped over the line? Hardly a sprint finish though, was it? We may well finish 20th which is survival and nothing else. Indeed most of us had resigned ourselves to mid-table mediocrity as early as Christmas. That seems like luxury now.

"Due to the COVID situation blah blah"
Same for everyone, or hadn't you noticed?

RL gets another chance to recruit this summer. His third window. We need to see some shrewd dealing on a limited budget, otherwise we're in for another poor season. We know RL can't turn lead into gold, so he needs to start with decent players. And maybe learn more about man management at the cost of dressing room japes.

In answer to the OP's post:
C-, could and should do better.

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Seconded :thumbup:

oldage":14nb1fam said:

davie nine":14nb1fam said:

mutley marvel":14nb1fam said:

How that we have limped over the line & guaranteed League 1 next season what our are thoughts of RLs performance during this season

What has he excelled at

What has he misjudged

What could he have done better

What will is end of season report card say

What will he be looking to change in readiness for next season

He mentioned on Thursday in is pre match interview that he now realises what is required to be competitive in League 1 but talk is cheap & actions speak louder than words

Watching week in week out for the last couple of months has not been a pleasurable experience- infact i would call this season the rinse repeat season as we all know what is coming even before the boys have kicked off

Hopefully we might be pleasantly surprised next season but mt gut instinct tells me RL is set in is ways :think:

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For someone who was only an observer on here until 2 months ago, you have certainly hit the ground running.
I think that we have managed to consolidate our position reasonably well. 2 dodgy runs of 6 and then 5 defeats have given us some cause for concern and I think that RL will have learnt from crucial mistakes, normally, but not exclusively, made by our loaned defenders. Mistakes in this league are punished more ruthlessly than in League 2 and I believe that he will take action to rectify by recruiting more experience in crucial defensive positions and a stronger and more positive midfield who are capable of taking the pressure off Mayor, if he stays, in moving us forward.
We have the nucleus of a squad capable of challenging for promotion but the quality of summer recruitment is very important.

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"We have the nucleus of a squad capable of challenging for promotion"? We have misfiring forwards,a weak midfield and error prone defence. With Lowe in charge I unfortunately expect more of the same next season.

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Give it a rest Oldage

Ryan despite his inexperience is a step up from some of the deadwood journeyman managers of the past. Even if it’s only in his determination to play attacking football on the ground.

I wouldn’t like to judge him entirely on such a difficult season in many ways.

But I will consider him on next season. He will have the experience of this season to build on, maybe a slightly better budget and possibly a pool of more experienced league 1 or championship level pros to select from, when the financial fallout of this year hits some clubs inevitably.

Year on year improvement in recruitment, team performance and in Ryan’s tactical awareness is what I’ll be happy with.

When you consider everything that has happened this season, I think RL, and his management team, has done absolutely brilliant this season.

davie nine":2g1u0gn4 said:

oldage":2g1u0gn4 said:

davie nine":2g1u0gn4 said:

mutley marvel":2g1u0gn4 said:

How that we have limped over the line & guaranteed League 1 next season what our are thoughts of RLs performance during this season

What has he excelled at

What has he misjudged

What could he have done better

What will is end of season report card say

What will he be looking to change in readiness for next season

He mentioned on Thursday in is pre match interview that he now realises what is required to be competitive in League 1 but talk is cheap & actions speak louder than words

Watching week in week out for the last couple of months has not been a pleasurable experience- infact i would call this season the rinse repeat season as we all know what is coming even before the boys have kicked off

Hopefully we might be pleasantly surprised next season but mt gut instinct tells me RL is set in is ways :think:

Click to expand...

For someone who was only an observer on here until 2 months ago, you have certainly hit the ground running.
I think that we have managed to consolidate our position reasonably well. 2 dodgy runs of 6 and then 5 defeats have given us some cause for concern and I think that RL will have learnt from crucial mistakes, normally, but not exclusively, made by our loaned defenders. Mistakes in this league are punished more ruthlessly than in League 2 and I believe that he will take action to rectify by recruiting more experience in crucial defensive positions and a stronger and more positive midfield who are capable of taking the pressure off Mayor, if he stays, in moving us forward.
We have the nucleus of a squad capable of challenging for promotion but the quality of summer recruitment is very important.

Click to expand...

"We have the nucleus of a squad capable of challenging for promotion"? We have misfiring forwards,a weak midfield and error prone defence. With Lowe in charge I unfortunately expect more of the same next season.

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By nucleus, I mean Mike Cooper, Niall Ennis, Ryan Hardie, Panutche Camara, George Cooper, Luke Jephcott, Adam Randell and, possibly, Danny Mayor, Will Aimson, Conor Grant.
You may not see that as a nucleus but those are my suggestions.
I am sure you don’t agree about Mayor but, of the others, who would you prefer not to have?

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I agree with this assessment of the League 1 standard nucleus in the squad.

I think the fate of our season rested on the centre backs. It was right for RL to let Wooton and Canavan have a shot in L1 after their record last year, but it backfired. We clearly couldn’t get replacements at the right price in Jan so have been on the back foot since then. His gamble to rely on loanees has worked from a perspective that we will stay up but not much more than that.

The test will be whether we can get four decent CBS ideally two permanent experienced CBs plus two better loanees than Opoku and Watts. I’d take a punt on Woods as either a loanee or a one year permanent to supplement two other permanent players.

I also agree that a new RWB is a must as we need Edwards in midfield as a player who can drive forward and break the line with an in form Camara and Mayor. We need multiple ball carriers in midfield.

If we got the back sorted, a top ten finish would be do-able with the quality we have up front.

The main aim in this horrible Covid affected season was to avoid relegation and get through the season relatively unscathed from any potential financial fall out. That has been achieved.

On Ryan Lowe ...

Good
We had an excellent start to the season by only losing once in the first 11 league games, Watts and Hardie looked to be two very good loan signings. Reeves and Macleod arrived with a good pedigree behind them, on paper they were two excellent permanent signings.
Lowe's buoyant character in press conferences gave every one a lift and was reflected in the team performances.
It didn't matter that we conceded four goals away to Wimbledon because we also scored four. We were told Lowe wanted to play attacking and entertaining football and the 4-4 draw was the proof.
Under Lowe's coaching Jephcott continued to score goals and he carried the team in the first half of the season.
Lowe also showed his belief in another youngster by claiming Mike Cooper was his number 1 keeper, he made mistakes along the way but has improved in the second half of the season and is now a very good keeper with a first full season under his belt.

Lowe also deserves credit for breaking the 50 point safety barrier with seven games to go.

The FA Cup run was good for Lowe and the club finances, we raised our game against Charlton, Huddersfield and Sheffield United.

Bad
The lack of tactical nous during games is alarming, there's been no surprise tactical out of left field move during a game to outwit the opposition, it's usually the opposition manager who tactically out-thinks Lowe during games as shown by the massive difference between our first and second half 'results'.

The substitutes rarely make a difference, they are made like for like with no imagination. The last sub that I can remember making a difference was Niall Ennis scoring late against Accrington back in January.

And now the enigma that is Danny Mayor. He's brilliant from around the halfway line to five yards outside the opposition penalty area and then it all falls apart. The opposition don't mind him tearing them apart in areas of the pitch where he can't hurt them.
Mayor scored 12 goals in all competitions in Bury's promotion season so it's one of Lowe's biggest flaws and that he hasn't got the best out of Mayor at Argyle.

The goals we concede you rarely see at other teams, we gift them away and don't make the opposition work hard for the goals.
Similarly we don't score the type of goal that we see other teams score - a far post header from a corner, a direct free-kick going in (btw where is the imagination from our free-kicks?) and apart from Conor Grant we don't score from long range.
These are all bread and butter goals but we rarely score them, this is highlighted even more when the defence is conceding more goals.
4-4 away is great entertainment but not so good when we stop scoring.
Is our lack of penalties (one of the lowest in L1) because we are not in the opposition penalty area too often with all of our football played outside and around the box?

Overall, we have a quiet, inexperienced team with a soft underbelly (we've only come from behind once this season to win a league game) and lack leaders.
However, when things go our way and are not tactically out-thought we look a very good team - Sunderland away, Lincoln at home, Portsmouth and Swindon away - all spring to mind.

Inconsistent, frustrating, exciting. 6.5/10

I think it's simple.

The bottom line is that the defence hasn't been good enough. That has meant that the team is usually under pressure - either behind in games or knowing that conceding a goal is always likely. Without a strong and successful defensive platform it is very difficult for a team to function properly going forwards and that is why Mayor (in particular but others also) has failed to shine as much as he might have done in my opinion.

The defence isn't good enough because of the financial uncertainty associated with Covid. Last summer it was very sensible to offer the existing players another year and it was very sensible for them to accept - at that time there was uncertainty about clubs lasting even six months. It was very sensible to supplement the existing defensive players with young loan signings (Watts, Opoku, Fornah) from Premier League clubs - a relatively cheap way of building a reasonably capable squad. It was then very sensible to let Canavan and Wootton leave in January at a time when Argyle were comfortably positioned in the league - it saved money and allowed those players to be where they wanted to be. It was also very sensible to bolster the squad with more loan signings (Woods, Lewis) especially as the kinds of players that we might want to have signed permanently were almost certainly not available at that time.

All of this decision making seems entirely sensible to me but it has left us weak at the back (almost catastrophically so as the results have panned out). Ryan Lowe can only work with what he has and if that resource isn't good enough he can't magically make it so.

I'm not especially happy with how things have ended up this season but I really don't think it is a fair season to judge the merits of the manager. The summer will be interesting...

We haven't gone straight back down which is a massive plus but we have struggled in this league. The management teams tactical inadequacies are blindingly obvious and my concern around this area is that tactical knowledge doesn't just come to you overnight so to speak. Their recruitment also leaves a lot to be desired.

With the same people in and around the 1st team next season I have a worry that it may prove to be even harder for us especially if Lowe/his staff have not improved in both these key areas. We really need to either get someone in with a bit more tactical nous or a few more experienced players, or preferably both. We also need to have a long hard look at what is driving us to recruit as we are.

For me, next season is a massive one for Lowe. He wont be able to use the excuse that its a new league and we're learning anymore. Hopefully he can step up to the plate.

I'm not a fan of his but I recognise that due to his inexperience he did need this season to take a look and take stock. I just have this nagging feeling that he can talk the talk but I'm not sure he can walk the walk. He has spent all his football life around the lower leagues and having been exposed to that level of football for so long its difficult for someone so immersed in that environment to be able to see beyond that standard. I hope for Argyles sake that he can grow and develop.

So it 6/10 for me.

Martyn":h6oq2cd6 said:

When you consider everything that has happened this season, I think RL, and his management team, has done absolutely brilliant this season.

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Give it a rest!

Voice_of_Reason":1bowg4ac said:

This time last year I didn't think we had 1 single player who would/could fetch 500k in the transfer market. Now I think we have a good number. Now that isnt success, but it's a measure of moving forward.
We have an exceptionally young forward line, all have serious potential. A year older, stronger, wiser and who knows what might be achieved.

An ugly brute of a centre back and a Nalis type midfielder and we would be a totally different side.

Click to expand...

A good number? Be lucky to get £500k for the lot at the moment

Martyn":24l9zq5w said:

oldage":24l9zq5w said:

davie nine":24l9zq5w said:

mutley marvel":24l9zq5w said:

How that we have limped over the line & guaranteed League 1 next season what our are thoughts of RLs performance during this season

What has he excelled at

What has he misjudged

What could he have done better

What will is end of season report card say

What will he be looking to change in readiness for next season

He mentioned on Thursday in is pre match interview that he now realises what is required to be competitive in League 1 but talk is cheap & actions speak louder than words

Watching week in week out for the last couple of months has not been a pleasurable experience- infact i would call this season the rinse repeat season as we all know what is coming even before the boys have kicked off

Hopefully we might be pleasantly surprised next season but mt gut instinct tells me RL is set in is ways :think:

Click to expand...

For someone who was only an observer on here until 2 months ago, you have certainly hit the ground running.
I think that we have managed to consolidate our position reasonably well. 2 dodgy runs of 6 and then 5 defeats have given us some cause for concern and I think that RL will have learnt from crucial mistakes, normally, but not exclusively, made by our loaned defenders. Mistakes in this league are punished more ruthlessly than in League 2 and I believe that he will take action to rectify by recruiting more experience in crucial defensive positions and a stronger and more positive midfield who are capable of taking the pressure off Mayor, if he stays, in moving us forward.
We have the nucleus of a squad capable of challenging for promotion but the quality of summer recruitment is very important.

Click to expand...

"We have the nucleus of a squad capable of challenging for promotion"? We have misfiring forwards,a weak midfield and error prone defence. With Lowe in charge I unfortunately expect more of the same next season.

Click to expand...

Give it a rest Oldage

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Why? Why should we listen to you, Martyn, but not Oldage?

“If you sign a young player who has played less than 100 senior games, you’re taking a big chance” so said Ian Holloway, during his time as Argyle manager....

.... witness... Callum Dyson, Tafari Moore, Ashley Smith- Brown, Jerome Opoku, Adam Lewis, Kelland Watts....

.... no more inexperienced youngsters please, Mr. Hallett... experienced professionals with a track record of leadership and success needed.....