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[Steve Evans]

Probably a naive question from someone who didn’t watch the game, and apologies if already mentioned, but. How can a game be lost when Argyle has so much of the possession?

Because it was backwards and sideways possession in front of Northampton with virtually no idea how to create an actual opening.
It was almost disrespectful, as if we just needed to show how many times we could pass across the back and Northampton would stand aside and applaud us on our way to goal

precisely up the line and even when they do pass it sideways it is usually inaccurate. :furious:

 

[mervyn]

I think possession stats would be far more relevant if they measured possession in the opponents half only. All possession before that, with eleven opponents behind the ball, is meaningless.

 

[Quintrell Green]

Probably a naive question from someone who didn’t watch the game, and apologies if already mentioned, but. How can a game be lost when Argyle has so much of the possession?

The Liverpool manager has been asking the same question for weeks and his players are a tad more skilful than Argyle's!

 

[philevs]

If we had 51 points on the board I would be happy to play Law and Tomlinson to see whether they are potentially up to it but I still have nightmares from the 2018 season.

Before I completely lose my marbles though please give Ben Reeves a decent run in the side rather than ten minutes here and there. He gets the ball down and he can actually drive us forward by passing through the middle towards the opposition goal rather than just backwards and sideways ad nauseum.

There is a part of me that wonders whether Lowe is very good or very lucky? He is undoubtedly very lucky that Jephcott returned from Truro and has been on fire until recently but what of the goal returns to date from Hardie and Ennis? We look toothless in attack if Jephcott isn’t scoring.

I appreciate Lowe can’t score for them but is he developing them? Hardie if anything seems to have gone backwards and Jephcott looks a shadow of his former deadly self lately. Camara seems to have stagnated and his powerful bursts forward are only glimpsed rather than a regular occurrence.

Thankfully Danny Mayor who is our one creative spark signed from Bury and has largely been consistently good. George Cooper prior to his injury was a shadow of the player he was last season.

I suppose this is a league higher better quality and that is a big factor but if we are to seriously think about consolidating and maybe pushing towards challenging for promotion the side needs a major overhaul particularly at the back in the close season and a prayer that Danny Mayor signs a contract extension.

Well said.

 

[philevs]

On the subject of Sawyer, Lowe seems to have been saying for weeks and weeks "Gaz Sawyer is almost ready". Is he fit, or likely to be in the next week or two?

Probably recovered, but not match fit.

No competitive games being played for him to get up to speed.
Lowe has tunnel vision when it comes to signing defenders and prefers tippy tappy possession footballers to the more physical sort.

As I see it Opoku is physical but he can also play 'tippy tappy', which makes him exactly what RL likes. I thought Woods was pretty much looking the part yesterday, until he lost control and got himself sent off.
I wonder if RL will try and get in an emergency loanee CB?

Only keepers can be emergency loan signings.

Oh dear!

 

[phil thefluter24]

Tonights result is exactly why those amongst us with a touch of realism thought all along a mid table finish this season would be a good result. We are way to inconsistent to get any where near the play offs.
As regards tonight its difficult to see anything we got right from the team selection to the "performance" of the players on the pitch. For me RL still seems an enigma jury still out on him. He seems to see saw between getting it spot on or so wrong as happened last night

 

[Biggs]

I think there's a danger of getting caught up in individual results here though, as disappointing as they are.

The big picture is that under Lowe, we've got promoted then (barring absolute catastrophe) have consolidated with a decent season in League One with a brief play-off flirtation.

Next season is the one where we'll have a clearer idea of how good the management team is, so far it's probably an 8/10.

 

[Nobby]

Probably a naive question from someone who didn’t watch the game, and apologies if already mentioned, but. How can a game be lost when Argyle has so much of the possession?

Because it was backwards and sideways possession in front of Northampton with virtually no idea how to create an actual opening.
It was almost disrespectful, as if we just needed to show how many times we could pass across the back and Northampton would stand aside and applaud us on our way to goal

We don't have anybody comfortable playing in the "10" space. Mayor and Camara both like to pick the ball up deep and travel. Hardie likes to go in behind. Jephcott should be dropping in really, but it's not his strong suit. It means our passing ends up like a horseshoe. It was the same against Rochdale. We struggle when up against teams who just sit there and let us attack them.

The obvious solution in games like this would be to play four at the back and put an extra midfielder in behind the strikers. George Cooper probably the most naturally suited but currently unavailable. Maybe Reeves could do it, but his performances when he has played have been pretty bang average. However, we don't tend to stray from the 3-5-2, so we're unlikely to see it.

In terms of the criticism of 'safe possession'. I'm quite happy to watch an Argyle team dominate possession. At least if we have the ball we have less defending to do. More often than not dominating possession will lead to us scoring more and conceding less. However, we're not the finished article. We are a mid-table side and sometimes we're going to have bad days and bad results like last night.

I think everyone collectively agrees that we're good enough to stay up but too inconsistent and lacking in quality to sneak into the playoffs. Before the season started all of us would have been pleased with a mid-table finish. So I'm not sure there's much value in getting overly frustrated every-time we have a bad result.

 

[esmer]

The problem last night was tactical. Northampton stood off our back three and packed the midfield making it difficult to “play through the lines” or get our wing backs in possession high up the pitch. They were quite happy to allow us long spells of knocking the ball sideways along our back three which invariably ended up with us being reduced to playing long balls into the channel, a tactic we are simply rubbish at and which most times ends with giving the ball back to our opponents to mount an attack. It’s something the manager and staff need to work on because Rochdale also successfully employed the same tactics against us. I don’t pretend to know the answer but maybe tweaking the formation to have two deep lying midfielders with Mayor in the number ten role may help which will give us more numbers in midfield. Being more fluid could help because we do at times look a bit rigid and pedestrian. Perhaps having the capability to change to a 433 would help which would unsettle the opposition if nothing else. Whatever, Lowe and his staff need to get their thinking caps on and arrive at a solution, blaming the players isn’t the answer.

 

[Herts Green]

Tonights result is exactly why those amongst us with a touch of realism thought all along a mid table finish this season would be a good result. We are way to inconsistent to get any where near the play offs.
As regards tonight its difficult to see anything we got right from the team selection to the "performance" of the players on the pitch. For me RL still seems an enigma jury still out on him. He seems to see saw between getting it spot on or so wrong as happened last night

Exactly. Mid table was always going to be the outcome and that will represent a good season. I’m really looking forward to next season. With three or four decent signings there’s no reason why we can’t be genuine challengers.

 

[Balham Green]

Tonights result is exactly why those amongst us with a touch of realism thought all along a mid table finish this season would be a good result. We are way to inconsistent to get any where near the play offs.
As regards tonight its difficult to see anything we got right from the team selection to the "performance" of the players on the pitch. For me RL still seems an enigma jury still out on him. He seems to see saw between getting it spot on or so wrong as happened last night

Exactly. Mid table was always going to be the outcome and that will represent a good season. I’m really looking forward to next season. With three or four decent signings there’s no reason why we can’t be genuine challengers.

Could say that with the vast majority of teams. I think a Micky Evans or poor relation type up front to hold the ball up and bring in other players would make a massive difference.

 

[davie nine]

On the subject of Sawyer, Lowe seems to have been saying for weeks and weeks "Gaz Sawyer is almost ready". Is he fit, or likely to be in the next week or two?

Probably recovered, but not match fit.

No competitive games being played for him to get up to speed.
Lowe has tunnel vision when it comes to signing defenders and prefers tippy tappy possession footballers to the more physical sort.

I’ve got to agree with you there, oldage. I’ve called it a ‘blind spot’ with regard to signing experienced, commanding, influential central defenders.
They are so important in the spine of the team when games are not quite going according to plan.
The inexperienced players sometimes need to be ‘bullied’ into concentrating.

 

[Old Gunner]

I posted about having the right attitude on the build up thread, particularly after a good win. The attitude and application was poor...we inevitably lost. Don’t know if Argyle employ a sports psychologist, but they should do. We will win on Saturday.