Dreadful. However that was our first home defeat since 1 January.

Indeed and that’s why some perspective is required. We are not perfect. However, that was a horrible performance and so soon after Fleetwood is very concerning. We know our away form is pathetic, so losing what should be a comfortable home fixture now means we need to dig in and either beat Ipswich on Saturday or get some points on the road somewhere. Both would be nice but I’m not getting my hopes up.

January needs to come around quickly and that back line needs strengthening at all three positions. We’ve seen enough evidence now of who has been capable of making the step up to League One and unfortunately, a number of them have shown they are not up to it.

A LWB, RCB, CB and Striker are a must. A RWB would be nice too, but not the priority. Edwards is performing well, and was the only player who looked like he gave a sh1t in the first half last night. Wootton and Canavan should be moved on.

Until then Aimson - Opoku - Watts needs to be the combination. It isn’t perfect, but it served us well enough in our good run until the disaster at Fleetwood.

Our good start maybe got people’s expectations up a little too much. We now need to steady the ship ASAP and grind out a couple much needed wins, and hopefully a clean sheet somewhere.

Dreadful. However that was our first home defeat since 1 January.

Just as well.It's our home form that's propped us up.

Dreadful. However that was our first home defeat since 1 January.

Indeed and that’s why some perspective is required. We are not perfect. However, that was a horrible performance and so soon after Fleetwood is very concerning. We know our away form is pathetic, so losing what should be a comfortable home fixture now means we need to dig in and either beat Ipswich on Saturday or get some points on the road somewhere. Both would be nice but I’m not getting my hopes up.

January needs to come around quickly and that back line needs strengthening at all three positions. We’ve seen enough evidence now of who has been capable of making the step up to League One and unfortunately, a number of them have shown they are not up to it.

A LWB, RCB, CB and Striker are a must. A RWB would be nice too, but not the priority. Edwards is performing well, and was the only player who looked like he gave a sh1t in the first half last night. Wootton and Canavan should be moved on.

Until then Aimson - Opoku - Watts needs to be the combination. It isn’t perfect, but it served us well enough in our good run until the disaster at Fleetwood.

Our good start maybe got people’s expectations up a little too much. We now need to steady the ship ASAP and grind out a couple much needed wins, and hopefully a clean sheet somewhere.

And where are we going to get the money for these" must have "players? Our income has shrivelled up so presumably we will need to shift some players before signing others which won't be an easy ask in the current climate.

Rant time.

How did Ryan Lowe watch that first half, watch Rochdale pull the same trick on us over and over again, and not do anything to counter it?

4, 5 maybe 6 times in the first 45 (or 64!), Rochdale's 4-4-2 cut us open on the counter. We'd have possession on the right hand side, and (as Lowe likes), the opposite wing back needs to get into the box for a deep cross or pass. However, our cross is aimless, and the Rochdale right winger hares off downfield. Obviously our left wing back is too far forward, so Watts has to come across and cover. Then the right striker hits the channel, dragging Canavan across. Leaving a lovely big gaping hole in our defence (which you'd want Fornah to fill, but the less said about his defensive covering ability, the better, which is a shame because he played some good passes tonight). This happened time and time again. All we had to do to counter it was to drop our left wing back back 10 yards. Did Lowe do anything? No.

Credit to Rochdale - whilst their back line looked shaky defensively, going forward they were excellent. Knew exactly how to play us. Out of possession as well, their forwards and midfielders did what Fleetwood did to us - not pressing our back 3 and cutting off the midfield supply. Forcing us to go long. When we do that, we're rubbish.

When this happens, our back 3 need to be better passers of the ball. Wootton can't pass. Neither can Aimson. Watts is normally ok in this regard but he wasn't last night. However, what I will in say in their defence is - how bloody static were our forward players off the ball?! When we went 3 up front, they were terrible! Just standing there waiting. It was like watching a Sheridan performance - absolutely no cohesion, movement or desire.

Individually, despite the issues highlighted above tactically, the defenders were a mess. All 5 of them who played last night were on a scale between below par and absolutely calamitous. The 3rd goal is a pi$$take. The main blame is with Wootton (why on EARTH did he leave it?!) but also, Canavan and Edwards shamefully got nowhere near their men and let them head it wherever they wanted. Edwards at right back in a back 4? No thank you.

As I said in the other thread, we MUST play 2 DM's. One centre back pushes forward to overlap and support the attack, whichever DM is closest slots into the back 3 as cover. It would just balance us so much more.

We actually created a few chances last night - the best of which Jephcott fluffed. But when our defensive players are that bad, even if we'd taken all of our good chances, we'd probably still only be looking at a draw.

I'm starting to worry about Hardie's form, too. I'd start him on Saturday but also be telling him - if your form doesn't pick up soon, then it's goodbye.

BIG reaction needed on Saturday.

Cooper 5

Wootton 3
Canavan 3
Watts 4

Fornah 5

Edwards 5
Reeves 4
Grant 5 MOTM (did well at left wing back, again)
G Cooper 4

Jephcott 4
Nouble 4

Subs: Moore 5, Hardie 3, Aimson 5, Opoku 4, Camara 5.

Begining to show how much Palmer meant to us last year without him we would still be in Div 2 he obvious had a lot of infulence on those in front of him.

Dreadful. However that was our first home defeat since 1 January.

Indeed and that’s why some perspective is required. We are not perfect. However, that was a horrible performance and so soon after Fleetwood is very concerning. We know our away form is pathetic, so losing what should be a comfortable home fixture now means we need to dig in and either beat Ipswich on Saturday or get some points on the road somewhere. Both would be nice but I’m not getting my hopes up.

January needs to come around quickly and that back line needs strengthening at all three positions. We’ve seen enough evidence now of who has been capable of making the step up to League One and unfortunately, a number of them have shown they are not up to it.

A LWB, RCB, CB and Striker are a must. A RWB would be nice too, but not the priority. Edwards is performing well, and was the only player who looked like he gave a sh1t in the first half last night. Wootton and Canavan should be moved on.

Until then Aimson - Opoku - Watts needs to be the combination. It isn’t perfect, but it served us well enough in our good run until the disaster at Fleetwood.

Our good start maybe got people’s expectations up a little too much. We now need to steady the ship ASAP and grind out a couple much needed wins, and hopefully a clean sheet somewhere.

And where are we going to get the money for these" must have "players? Our income has shrivelled up so presumably we will need to shift some players before signing others which won't be an easy ask in the current climate.

Cut Abraham’s loan short and we have two loan slots available, firstly.

After that, some of the fringe players / underperformers being loaned out is not unrealistic. Whilst Wootton and Canavan are not League 1 standard, they are competent League 2 defenders. Finding them a club should not be too difficult. I would imagine both of them are on semi-decent wages too as experienced pro’s.

Beyond that, it all depends on what the squad’s budget looks like. However I’m sure Simon Hallett will be ensuring it is appropriate for our situation and will not take any financial risks in the current climate.

A few minor observations.

Hardie/Jephcott have the best understanding of each others games of all the combinations we have, they are also the best goalscorers we have and provide the best movement. If we are going to play passing football - these two have to start - Sorry Frank.

Midfield - please lets not confuse passing sideways as being negative - retaining possession is part of Lowe's set up, there are players who have made it to the very top of the game by doing the basics well, the idea of the formation is that the wing backs have space to move forward, so passing it sideways to a wing back is not bad. What cannot happen is you pick three midfielders all doing the same (Please note England's performances when they pick Dier/Henderson/Rice in midfield together) - because one you know a midfield isn't coming at you its ridiculously easy to play against. We miss Mayor so much last night it was untrue and deeply worrying. Conor Grant continues to baffle me, when we were 2-1 v Pompey, i thought his 25/30 minute cameo was superb, he came on and gave us everything we needed at the point in the game, his performances since have been woeful, to the point i bet Ryan Lowe has checked Adam Randell's loan deal to see if he can cut it short.

Defenders - on another thread about irrational love of players - i mentioned the name Gerry McElhinney - not a great footballer, old style centre half, but we are crying out for someone of that ilk right now. I want one centre back who is brave, committed and no nonsense. The others can all be "nice footballers" but i would like to see just one defender out there who hates conceding, that it feels like a life or death situation. Too often we have three centre backs who collectively look weak and too busy trying to create space and make nice passing patterns - thats great when you are winning and going well, but when you are conceding too many silly goals, lets just go back to basics and be solid.

Despite all that, it is very easy to lose sight that in 2020 our home form has been excellent and there have been very few if any poor performances until last night. The playing ingredients are there, we've seen enough in the home performances to know we aren't a bad side - over to you RL to restore confidence and get back to the level of performance we should be seeing.

This reminds of a Herald article in the 74/75 promotion season when Tony Waiters' ( ) team lost 5-1 at Wrexham. That had the phrase alarm bells in it.


https://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/sport/ ... ssion=true

We turned up expecting to win last night. Unprofessional and very hard to turn around once you start in that mindset.

Many of the players were poor and unlike others I'd include Jephcott in that who missed a couple of sitters and was otherwise uninvolved.

For their second goal the ball wasn't out of play, it was on the line but not wholly over it (despite Ifollow repeatedly showing a still of it with green grass underneath it, the ball is round!!). Canavan's reaction was shocking.

I really like Ryan Lowe a lot and hope he can turn this around, I suspect he can but if not it could end up spiralling badly the wrong way.

Begining to show how much Palmer meant to us last year without him we would still be in Div 2 he obvious had a lot of infulence on those in front of him.

Yep. There's a lot more to being a good keeper than making saves and - as much as I'd like him to - young Cooper doesn't yet have it.

perhaps lowe, should spend more time down here in plymouth, training the squad, just saying!

I wondered if it was something along these lines. I can imagine him seeing/staying with his family when they went up to Fleetwood (cos he hasnt moved them down yet) and I wonder if the lads weren't afforded a similar privilege. Having one rule for one and one rule for another is not a good team ethic. Like you say, just saying.

We turned up expecting to win last night. Unprofessional and very hard to turn around once you start in that mindset.

Many of the players were poor and unlike others I'd include Jephcott in that who missed a couple of sitters and was otherwise uninvolved.

For their second goal the ball wasn't out of play, it was on the line but not wholly over it (despite Ifollow repeatedly showing a still of it with green grass underneath it, the ball is round!!). Canavan's reaction was shocking.

I really like Ryan Lowe a lot and hope he can turn this around, I suspect he can but if not it could end up spiralling badly the wrong way.

I'm not a fan. I think hes one of those people that says what you want him to say. I wonder if the players are sick of him saying things like 'we're in this together', 'we win and we lose as a team' etc and they see things he says and does that are not of a 'team' perspective at all. I think he is all about himself and not the team.

I have to say something isn’t right. The performances against Fleetwood Peterborough and worst of all Rochdale last night indicate something rotten in the state of Home Park.

Is Danny Mayor ill or injured? Why is Camara not starting games after one fifteen minute spell where we conceded a goal after he lost possession in midfield? Previously he was outstanding now he appears to be a scapegoat. Aimson clearly riled when he was taken off previously, Canavan left out for a young loanee from Fulham. George Cooper looks completely lost and disinterested.

Are there questions over Ryan Lowes man management? Are the players and management team really in this together or has a rift formed? I don’t know but the players confidence looks completely shot to bits. I also think this five sub thing has thrown him, does it help build confidence and continuity continually chopping and changing?

Maybe this is all just a bump in the road? But I think he has his work cut out to get the ship back on course.