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Brief Synopsis

Dreamgreen

🏆 Callum Wright 23/24
✅ Evergreen
🌟Sparksy Mural🌟
May 28, 2004
3,641
1,758
Salisbury, Wiltshire
An interesting line up from Argyle. The front line bingo continues with Hardie and Ennis starting this time, Jephcott´s turn to warm the bench. No Aimson, no Woods – no idea of the formation ! Formation bingo says it could be 3-5-2 perhaps or 4-4-2, with Watts as Centre Back or something else ? Craske, Tomlinson and Lolos on the bench.

Sunderland looking weaker upfront with Wyke and McGeady not involved, through injury or being cautious and rested for upcoming play-off games. McFadzean and Remi Matthews on the bench for them.

Well our formation was 4-4-2 or the 4-2-2-2 derivative.

Argyle were very competitive in the first 20 minutes. Hardie had half a chance on 15 minutes but couldn´t get his feet sorted out. On 19 minutes Argyle had an excellent claim for a penalty when Edwards was fouled, alas, as our season has already demonstrated, Argyle do not get awarded penalties.

A minute later a long punt up field put Stewart away. He could have been offside, or he was played on by Watts, no one knows. What we do know is that he ran through and slotted past Cooper. 0 v 1.

On 27 minutes Ennis had a glorious chance inside the six yard box, following a cross by Hardie which, via a Sunderland defender´s chest, fell to Ennis who swung his leg and the ball went miles wide.

Power narrowly missed from a “training ground” corner move on 39 minutes which could have buried the game for us.
Camara was booked on 42 minutes for a slightly late challenge.

Mayor came very close to equalising on 44 minutes but his shot lacked venom and the goalkeeper made a good save low down.

Sunderland´s Gooch hit the post on 45 minutes following another break away move.

Lowe was booked at half time, presumably for complaining about not getting the penalty decision.

Although not faultless, Law, Camara and Fornah all had good first halves.

Both Law and Opoku were booked within 8 minutes of the re-start.

Then came an eventful minute. On 62 minutes, a Grant cross and Edwards headed in the equaliser. Lolos came on straight away for Hardie. Almost in the same minute, Opoku was sent off for a second yellow, following Camara losing the ball in a dangerous area. From the resulting freekick, Cooper and Edwards somehow kept the ball out of the net.

Tomlinson came on for Ennis to bolster the defence with the man disadvantage.

With all the play in Argyle´s half, Stewart headed onto the bar on 75 minutes. Edwards was then booked for an earlier foul in that build up.

Following a foul just outside the area by Law, the ref gave Sunderland a penalty. Maguire scored it. 1 v 2.

Reeves came on for Camara and McCormick came on for Cooper, so may be Luke´s last game at Home Park.

Hume wrapped the points for Sunderland with a goal in the second minute of added time. A shot was parried by Luke but it went straight to Hume who had an open goal. 1 v 3.

A slightly harsh score line but we were toothless up front.

Whilst a few mistakes were made (who didn´t), MoM Law.
 

PL2 3DQ

Site Owner
🏆 Callum Wright 23/24
Jade Berrow 23/24
✨Pasoti Donor✨
🌟Sparksy Mural🌟
Oct 31, 2010
24,130
10,005
On the face of it it's another heavy defeat but you have to factor in the performance of referee James Bell who has already shown 8 red cards this season.

Today he was Sunderland's secret weapon and 12th man. A red card for Opoku, 6 yellows for Argyle including one for Ryan Lowe, an offside goal given and a penalty to Sunderland for a foul outside of the box. We also had a nailed on penalty area for a foul on Edwards not given.
There were no yellow cards awarded to the Sunderland players.

The poor performance from the ref was matched by our defence, in particular Opoku who at one stage tried to dribble past 3 Sunderland players in his own penalty area!

We started the game well, as we usually do, but Stewart raced clear from what looked like an offside position and scored from a very difficult angle when really Cooper should have done better.

At the half time whistle Lowe walked across the pitch to speak to the ref and was shown a yellow card.

Our goal came from our best move when Mayor and Grant combined on the left and Edwards headed in at the far post.

Straight after Camara lost the ball on the edge of the area, Opoku dived in when knowing full well he was already on a yellow card and Bell gleefully showed his now customary red card. It was so predictable from the ref and Opoku who really didn't need to be so reckless and dive in when on a yellow, he should have taken his chances that the Sunderland player would not have scored. Inexperience once again.

Not finished there Bell awarded a penalty to his teammates when Law fouled outside of the box. There was a debate whether Bell would take the penalty himself but left it for Maguire to score.

Soon after Luke McCormick came on for Cooper to make his 349th and possibly last appearance for Argyle.

He did make one good save but it fell loose and Hume just beat Bell to the ball and tapped in the third.
Reeves made his contracted 10 minutes and it was good to see Tomlinson make his league debut.

So the last 14 games have produced two wins, two draws and 10 defeats with 30 goals conceded. A real poor and deflating end to the season.

This game mirrored our whole season - a good start, awful defending, inexperience and a lacklustre finish.

With a better ref we might have won, with a better defence we might have won. Oh well.

Man of the Match - Edwards.

Cooper 5, Edwards 7, Watts 5, Opoku 3, Law 6, Fornah 5, Grant 7, Mayor 6, Camera 5, Ennis 5, Hardie 5. Subs - Tomlinson 7, McCormick 6, Lolos 6, Reeves 6.
 
Sep 28, 2005
156
12
Tunbridge Wells
Played some decent football in the first 70 minutes. Lack a killer instinct in front of goal and we missed Aimson in defence. Conor Grant improves us. Lots of change needed to make us competitive.
 
Mar 14, 2009
5,148
277
Season ending and we all relived. However, next season we will still have this manager.

Lots of questions and not many answers.

1. What is our system now under Lowe?
2. Why are players not improving under him? In fact progressively getting worse
3. Why does he shoe horn players into not their best positions. Last season it was Cooper at LWB, this season we have Camara at RM now. C Grant best position is LB because of his crossing ability. Like we saw today. Created our goal from a good cross. That was his best moment but otherwise he doesn’t influence play from CM.
4. Where is our creativity under Lowe? Our final pass / cross is woeful.
5. Can he tactically adapt within games? How come he has only changed the course of one game when we have been behind? How come he hasn’t influenced games with his substations?

If you think lm being harsh then think about next season. People are expecting a top 10 push.

We are going to have a completely new team. Will take time for team time to gel. A number of months. It’s not like we just have to add in a few positions. On top of this you have managers with bigger budgets and proven in this league. Adkins of Charlton, Cowley of Portsmouth, Appleton of Lincoln etc...

It’s not like we finishing the season strongly. It’s 2 wins from the last 15. We don’t have a strong, solid base to build from.

Lucky we are good off the pitch. Well run. On the pitch we are currently a shambles.
 
Feb 15, 2005
1,485
298
When we scored and RL brought on Lolos, why didn’t he also bring on Tomlinson as it seems Opoku was hunting a second yellow so could end his season prematurely.
 

oddball

Pasoti Quiz Winner
✨Pasoti Donor✨
Dec 30, 2004
4,089
63
Conor Grant MOM for me ...a solid performance and set up the goal....as for the loanees.....Not good enough at this level....Postey....you can blame the referee...if you like ...but we just can't defend ....that's not just today but over the season....
 

oddball

Pasoti Quiz Winner
✨Pasoti Donor✨
Dec 30, 2004
4,089
63
Conor Grant MOM for me ...a solid performance and set up the goal....as for the loanees.....Not good enough at this level....Postey....you can blame the referee...if you like ...but we just can't defend ....that's not just today but over the season....
 
Aug 8, 2013
705
390
A few thoughts....

There was the penalty that was but wasn't, and the penalty that
wasn't but was;
if Sunderland's first goal was offside, we were further hard done by, if
it wasn't, it was a ridiculous goal to concede;
Fornah had a fine game, and looked as though he might be playing
for a contract;
Law still has some rough edges defensively, but I like a lot about his play;
Edwards was excellent again;
Opoku will not be missed, and if Aimson is still injured, Tomlinson could be
in line for a start next week;
as well as the well-documented defensive deficiencies, we also suffer from
ponderous build-up, and truly atrocious delivery into the box (one cross each
from Law and Grant excepted today);
it will be a very interesting summer;
bring on Gillingham.
 
Jan 16, 2010
12,975
1,682
plymouth
that was an unacceptable performance against a team that hadn't won in seven matches,easy to see why as they are ordinary.some of our players have been going through the motions for ages.a miserable second half of the season.man of the match for me was ryan law with special mention to ennis, lolos and tomlinson for doing very well especially lolos for having to plough a lone furrow.i won't do ratings today.
 
Apr 1, 2009
4,307
2,501
Metal_Green_Mickey":13mwz41r said:
Season ending and we all relived. However, next season we will still have this manager.

Lots of questions and not many answers.

1. What is our system now under Lowe?
2. Why are players not improving under him? In fact progressively getting worse
3. Why does he shoe horn players into not their best positions. Last season it was Cooper at LWB, this season we have Camara at RM now. C Grant best position is LB because of his crossing ability. Like we saw today. Created our goal from a good cross. That was his best moment but otherwise he doesn’t influence play from CM.
4. Where is our creativity under Lowe? Our final pass / cross is woeful.
5. Can he tactically adapt within games? How come he has only changed the course of one game when we have been behind? How come he hasn’t influenced games with his substations?

If you think lm being harsh then think about next season. People are expecting a top 10 push.

We are going to have a completely new team. Will take time for team time to gel. A number of months. It’s not like we just have to add in a few positions. On top of this you have managers with bigger budgets and proven in this league. Adkins of Charlton, Cowley of Portsmouth, Appleton of Lincoln etc...

It’s not like we finishing the season strongly. It’s 2 wins from the last 15. We don’t have a strong, solid base to build from.

Lucky we are good off the pitch. Well run. On the pitch we are currently a shambles.

"People are expecting a top 10 push". Really? Who is? Can you name a couple of them? On the back of what?

There is absolutely nothing at present that could lead any sane person to expect a top 10 push. When we've made a few signings, it's possible that there might be the fuel to stoke such expectations, particularly if we manage to net some competent experienced defenders. Until then, anyone with such expectations is a fantasist.

I'd agree that we are well run off the field, but that, at some point, has to translate to the core activity - winning football matches.
 

demportdave

🍌 Bomber Harris.
Jul 6, 2005
3,750
1,532
Metal_Green_Mickey":5clfktot said:
Season ending and we all relived. However, next season we will still have this manager.

Lots of questions and not many answers.

1. What is our system now under Lowe?
2. Why are players not improving under him? In fact progressively getting worse
3. Why does he shoe horn players into not their best positions. Last season it was Cooper at LWB, this season we have Camara at RM now. C Grant best position is LB because of his crossing ability. Like we saw today. Created our goal from a good cross. That was his best moment but otherwise he doesn’t influence play from CM.
4. Where is our creativity under Lowe? Our final pass / cross is woeful.
5. Can he tactically adapt within games? How come he has only changed the course of one game when we have been behind? How come he hasn’t influenced games with his substations?

If you think lm being harsh then think about next season. People are expecting a top 10 push.

We are going to have a completely new team. Will take time for team time to gel. A number of months. It’s not like we just have to add in a few positions. On top of this you have managers with bigger budgets and proven in this league. Adkins of Charlton, Cowley of Portsmouth, Appleton of Lincoln etc...

It’s not like we finishing the season strongly. It’s 2 wins from the last 15. We don’t have a strong, solid base to build from.

Lucky we are good off the pitch. Well run. On the pitch we are currently a shambles.
Micky, I often agree with you and your constant but constructive criticism of Lowe and his tactics, or lack of them.

The final third of the season has been an absolute shambles, if not a disgrace and certainly an insult to the fans. Lowe and many of the players should hang their heads in shame. The well-meaning but very naive Argyle fans who took deep offence with the suggestion that some players were not giving their all must be feeling rather silly now, as well as really fed up and badly let down.

I would take issue with you over Grant though Mickey. Being able to put in a decent cross doesn't make you a good LB. The main job of any LB is to stop the numerous crosses going in to the box from where we have conceded so many goals this season.

Grant might have done OK in a few games as a temporary LB under Adams in the bottom Division at home against lowly opposition, but he is neither a LB or WB. His best position is as one of 2 holding midfielders sat in front of the Back 4.