Brief Synopsis!!!

[demportdave]

Never deserved that...I'd go as far as saying we just about deserved to win based on the chances created.

Onwards to Tuesday now which is another tough game.

Get your green-tinted glasses off.

2 shots on target against 7 for Scunthorpe, 10 corners for them but only 4 for us and they had a massive 61% possession, even though they were the away team. On those stats, 2-0 is a fair reflection on the game.

We sat 10 yards too deep all match allowing them the time and space to play. Luke Young is wasted in a home game sat in front of the back 3 which is the only place the extremely limited Blizzard can play, but I would prefer Wotton in there. Young should be further forward trying to create something because there is no way that Blizzard will do anything even mildly creative.

As for Sheridan, he once again demonstrated his inability to positively affect a game by changing tactics and/or personnel. At 0-0, they bring on 2 subs whilst Sheridan is leaning against the dugout hoping we can see it out for a 0-0 or perhaps pinch a goal against the run of play.

Good Managers shape and influence matches as they are unfolding but Sheridan only changes things when he is forced to by when it is usually too late and we saw that once again today.

 

[StevePAFC]

Thought you've been quiet recently demportdave...was it because we were doing well by any chance?

in shezza we trust

 

[samjones]

I'm afraid the tictacs were all wrong today. We played far too deep allowing their No 4 loads of time on the ball. The wingbacks in the 3 - 5 - 2 were pushed back so we effectively became 5 - 3 -2 and hence they controlled the midfield.

Subs were left far too late and apart from being fresh legs were probably less effective than what we were doing beforehand.
Was with a Rovers fan last week and he asked what the hell is Blizzard doing in our team as he is completely crap and I have to agree with him

We need a midfield general to allow Young and Hourihane to be more offensive and further forward otherwise it just doesn't work. In reality Blizzard and/or Wotton are not the answer for a promotion chasing team

Scunny were the better team and didn't just play for a draw so whilst it was quite an entertaining game I think we blew it JS

 

[jollygreenjohn]

On chances, it was very much 50/50. But we were, in the end, beaten by an evidently superior team.

They pinned our wing-backs down and forced them to play as regular full-backs. Everything we did when we got the ball was rushed and sloppy.

Blizzard should've been brought off much earlier for a more attack-minded option. He looked lost.

Cole - 7/10.
Blanchard - 6/10.
Trotman - 7/10. Dominant aerially.
Nelson - 6/10. He's better than that.
Berry - 5/10. I'm still unconvinced about him as a wing-back.
Parsons - 5/10.
Young - 7/10. Good ideas, even if they didn't always come off.
Blizzard - 5/10.
Hourihane - 7/10. Should've at very least scored one today. Good, energetic performance.
Reid - 6/10. He had 2/3 good solo runs, but he's, and I keep saying this, basically useless when the opposition have the ball. When the play's near him he'll chase and pressure people (which is why I think he gets tagged by some on here as 'hard-working'), but is very quick to give up and lose interest.
Alessandra - 8/10. Comfortably our best player of the last 2/3 months. Was isolated on countless occasions but he continually made something out of nothing. Hit the post twice.

We should've pressed higher, but Scunthorpe made it tough. They're a very tidy side. Sean McAllister ran the game.

Young the same 7/10 as Hourihane?? Oh come on.

Some are seemingly stubbornly blind to how good our captain is now playing. He got in twice as many tackles and set up more attacks than Young and Blizzard combined. Having good ideas doesn't count if you can't actually carry them out.

 

[demportdave]

Thought you've been quiet recently demportdave...was it because we were doing well by any chance?

in shezza we trust

Like samejones above, many fans thought that once again, Sheridan "managed" the match poorly in terms of his tactics and substitutions and the match stats and result bare that out.

Sheridan has been particularly poor all season in his timing and use of substitutes.

 

[greenwelly]

I enjoyed the game very much...but...I think that other teams attack/dominate possession better than us as they have men available in space for a pass. We seem to rely on either a slow build up or a high ball pumped up, which we rarely gain possession of. We don't seem to close the opposition down or win midfield balls as many of our opposition do. Yes, we have chances, yes we have some shots, but dominating midfield and moving into space for a pass do not seem strengths of ours. Scunthorpe were far superior in these aspects imo today, but I have formed similar judgements when we have played against other opponents.

 

[Argylegames]

We needed fresh legs about 5 minutes before they scored.

But we shouldn't NEED fresh legs before the 100 minute mark! That always annoys me. These players are paid to run for 90 minutes - if they can't then they are defrauding those who are paying them (injuries during the match accepted).

The subs should be tactical or for injury - not because somebody got tired!

 

[Argylegames]

Sheridan has been particularly poor all season in his timing and use of substitutes.

An awful lot of people thought Luggy was bad at the timing of subs, and Pulis, and Fletcher, and ...

 

[Fat_green_belly]

Thats 3 home games i have seen now and argyle are a bit too up and down with
their performances for me to believe that they are a good team yet.
442 against york with a drubbing then a fine 5-0 performance with a mainly
352 but today it seemed more like a defensive 532 with no width which meant we
allowed them to control and boss the game.Second half they forced us back further
and to me it seemed only a matter of time before they scored as defensively
our defenders never looked comfortable within this system.
Then we switched to 442 and worryingly our defence again looked fragile conceding
their second goal too easily.
Negatives.
Young screening the centre backs? Prefer him further up the pitch instead of
blizzard who offers nothing going forward.
Tempo too slow when in possesion.
Wing backs not in the game enough to influence.
As a team i dont believe we closed them down enough.Their number 4 had the
freedom of the park to dictate the play in the second half.
Substitutions too late.Fresh legs were needed earlier.
Positives.
Reid(my MOM) and allesandra were immense and were a real handful to their defence.
Hourihane again was good going forward and worked really hard. Most of our chances
came through these 3 forcing errors and creating chances.
Lovely big crowd(extra dosh for argyle).
We do have some good attacking footballers in the team and on the bench now.

 

[HarlHM]

On chances, it was very much 50/50. But we were, in the end, beaten by an evidently superior team.

They pinned our wing-backs down and forced them to play as regular full-backs. Everything we did when we got the ball was rushed and sloppy.

Blizzard should've been brought off much earlier for a more attack-minded option. He looked lost.

Cole - 7/10.
Blanchard - 6/10.
Trotman - 7/10. Dominant aerially.
Nelson - 6/10. He's better than that.
Berry - 5/10. I'm still unconvinced about him as a wing-back.
Parsons - 5/10.
Young - 7/10. Good ideas, even if they didn't always come off.
Blizzard - 5/10.
Hourihane - 7/10. Should've at very least scored one today. Good, energetic performance.
Reid - 6/10. He had 2/3 good solo runs, but he's, and I keep saying this, basically useless when the opposition have the ball. When the play's near him he'll chase and pressure people (which is why I think he gets tagged by some on here as 'hard-working'), but is very quick to give up and lose interest.
Alessandra - 8/10. Comfortably our best player of the last 2/3 months. Was isolated on countless occasions but he continually made something out of nothing. Hit the post twice.

We should've pressed higher, but Scunthorpe made it tough. They're a very tidy side. Sean McAllister ran the game.

Young the same 7/10 as Hourihane?? Oh come on.

Some are seemingly stubbornly blind to how good our captain is now playing. He got in twice as many tackles and set up more attacks than Young and Blizzard combined. Having good ideas doesn't count if you can't actually carry them out.

He had a decent game, but wasted a few good chances. I think 7/10's fair.

Regarding Young- he's an exceptional footballer. He sees passes no one else in our side would. OK, his execution isn't ALWAYS spot on, but the intention's positive. Again, I think 7/10's fair.

You disagree. Fine.

FWIW, I've been a fan of Hourihane since the very first time I saw him. And got stick for it as well, might I add.

I know he's a good player- you don't need to tell me that.

 

[TomLannigan]

Thought we were really unlucky to lose today, but you can see why Scunthorpe are unbeaten under their gaffer and will almost certainly be promoted. They soaked up our pressure and counter attacked well, and their passing was totally precise. Because of this our wing backs were forced to retreat often and although Berry managed to cope for most of the game I wasn't too impressed by Parsons' attacking and defending. Blizzard was the main reason we lost the battle for possession in the middle of the park. He drifts around and out of position a lot and while this can work against teams worse than us, against top teams like Scunthorpe it simply allows them to keep the ball with ease. We may have been better off playing Paul Wotton, as his intelligence and leadership would have made our midfield more balanced, and allowed Young to push forward more, as I felt he looked restricted for most of the game. Man of the match was Alessandra, who is quickly establishing his place as our best player. Work rate is phenomenal, has the skill to go with it, quick and sharp. It is important that he stays in form for our play off push, but needs to receive better service than today.

Cole- 6/10
Berry- 7/10
Blanchard- 6/10
Trotman- 7/10
Nelson- 7/10
Parsons- 5/10
Blizzard- 5/10
Young- 6/10
Hourihane- 7/10
Alessandra- 8/10
Reid- 7/10

 

[earl grey]

There's something about Norris of him with his energy and quality.

I can't agree 100% but god it got me thinking about it...which is the first time for a while

Some player

 

[PAFC Galactico]

We were struggling for about 15 mins before they scored, they were having chance after chance and that's when we needed the subs and in my opinion that's why we lost the game. Poor management.

 

[PilgrimJosh]

On chances, it was very much 50/50. But we were, in the end, beaten by an evidently superior team.

They pinned our wing-backs down and forced them to play as regular full-backs. Everything we did when we got the ball was rushed and sloppy.

Blizzard should've been brought off much earlier for a more attack-minded option. He looked lost.

Cole - 7/10.
Blanchard - 6/10.
Trotman - 7/10. Dominant aerially.
Nelson - 6/10. He's better than that.
Berry - 5/10. I'm still unconvinced about him as a wing-back.
Parsons - 5/10.
Young - 7/10. Good ideas, even if they didn't always come off.
Blizzard - 5/10.
Hourihane - 7/10. Should've at very least scored one today. Good, energetic performance.
Reid - 6/10. He had 2/3 good solo runs, but he's, and I keep saying this, basically useless when the opposition have the ball. When the play's near him he'll chase and pressure people (which is why I think he gets tagged by some on here as 'hard-working'), but is very quick to give up and lose interest.
Alessandra - 8/10. Comfortably our best player of the last 2/3 months. Was isolated on countless occasions but he continually made something out of nothing. Hit the post twice.

We should've pressed higher, but Scunthorpe made it tough. They're a very tidy side. Sean McAllister ran the game.

Young the same 7/10 as Hourihane?? Oh come on.

Some are seemingly stubbornly blind to how good our captain is now playing. He got in twice as many tackles and set up more attacks than Young and Blizzard combined. Having good ideas doesn't count if you can't actually carry them out.

He had a decent game, but wasted a few good chances. I think 7/10's fair.

Regarding Young- he's an exceptional footballer. He sees passes no one else in our side would. OK, his execution isn't ALWAYS spot on, but the intention's positive. Again, I think 7/10's fair.

You disagree. Fine.

FWIW, I've been a fan of Hourihane since the very first time I saw him. And got stick for it as well, might I add.

I know he's a good player- you don't need to tell me that.

Not entirely sure I'm with you on all your player ratings, but that latest comment is spot on.

Thought Young was good today, several times he picked the ball up from one side of the pitch and found Parsons with a stunning long pass. You need him in there for the creativity he can provide, and his set pieces are often very good.

Seems to me that you can't have a middle ground of any player on any sort of appearance. You either love them or you hate them, seems bizarre to me.

 

[PL2 3DQ]

None of our play off rivals are playing on Tuesday so a win against Chesterfield will put us in a play off position although our game in hand will be gone.

Oxford play Hartlepool on Friday and Southend and Oxford play each other next Monday.