I'm still in.

[Devongreenowl]

Looking at past seasons we need around 75 points for a play-off place and 85 points for an automatic promotion place in League 2 . With 36 games left if you divide that into four quarters of nine games we need 18 points from 27 for a play off place and 21 points from 27 for an automatic spot for each of those quarters. An automatic spot may be challenging but a play off place is certainly possible and that is where most of us hoped or expected us to be pre-season. So we are not far off.

Whilst the leakage of goals is disappointing the premise has always been to score more. Whilst attempts at goal may be a questionable statistic the more perceptive measurement of a teams attacking intent and delivery is shots on target. Argyle have the second highest shots on target in League 2 and are in the top 10% of the 91 League teams. When you look at the shots on target per game around 90% of teams fail to make 5 per game. Argyle regularly exceed that.

As may have observed it is not so much the creation of chances that is the problem it is their conversion. The injuries to key forwards is a major factor in the failure to convert. Most of those injuries seem to be to players who did not have a proper pre-season. The constant changes to the striking combination up front is disruptive to the link up play in the final third. The result is a tendency to overplay as runs are not made and intuition and instinct are absent. We seem to have a lot of goal bound shots blocked as a result as we give defenders a chance to recover. Danny Mayor, as glorious as he has been in gliding past players, is particularly guilty of this.

It is not so much a plan B, although a variance in the distribution from Palmer in the first third would be welcome, but a better execution of plan A in the final third. Much work on the training round is needed. Lowe has a good pedigree in the art of forward play but our current crop of forwards still have a lot to learn to make the system effective. Do that and we have every chance of making the play-offs and if we did I'd really fancy our chances. I'm in.

Some good points there. Some of the moaners have been complaining about lack of goals, but I think we are in the top 8 for goals scored. Ok, the strikers haven’t really clicked but that’s because Lowe has hardly been able to select the same two in consecutive games through injury. On Saturday when Telford and Grant were together, Cheltenham were terrified of their pace. As soon as Taylor came on, their back four breathed a collective sigh of relief. I really hope Telford's injury is cleared up soon. The defence is another story and I hope Aimson helps get them organised, but I feel sure Lowe will add to the squad in January.

 

[Keepitgreen]

Most definitely in.

The style of football is a breath of fresh air and I’m convinced the results will come.

Patience is the key.

This for me.

 

[demportdave]

We have been the better team on the end of a few defeats now.

A lot of it is bad luck. Much of it is poor defending. Opposition defenders seem to be able to concentrate for 90 minutes where we can't, and head a ball out of the box instead of watching an opposition player jump and head it past Palmer.

We are also a bit toothless. Newport away we had 70%+ possession and they had more clear cut chances in 5 mins than in 85 mins of us having slow patient build ups.

I do think it will come but the criticism that we have no plan B is valid. Northampton confidently predicted they had a sound gameplan to spoil us, and numerous teams have copied it now. We seem to have all the possession but no answer.

Not trying to be argumentative but I can't agree.

Luck has not been a significant factor, it's simply been a case of very poor defending and equally poor finishing.

We have no natural goal scorers or even players with the desire to get in the box and our defending of simple crosses has been appalling.

We out-pass teams and dominate the possession stats but we just flatter to deceive. On Saturday, Brighton enjoyed a greater percentage of possession in their 0-0 draw than Man City did in putting 8 past Watford, proving that possession statistics are meaningless.

However, shots on goal compared to actual goals scored is more meaningful because it demonstrates how potent a team is. On Saturday, this particular statistic showed how poor we were compared to Cheltenham, reinforcing the point that it is not bad luck just bad finishing.

For all our endless passing sideways and backwards to little or no effect, the opposition only have to put a simple cross into our box to score. It has been happening for most of the season.

As for the way we play and do we have a Plan B, the answer is a very obvious no.

Mayor is a top player at this level but that is well known by all of the other teams in League 2. They know if they stop him, they effectively stop Argyle and to date, it has been a big failing by Lowe to address this serious shortcoming.

 

[Devongreenowl]

I think the stats show that Argyle generally outplayed Cheltenham. Not only were our possession stats higher, our shots and shots on target were far superior. It’s no coincidence that their manager singled out their keeper as man of the match for them. I don’t think we missed any sitters, but then clearly we didn’t score. I totally agree that defensively there is a lot of work to do, but once some of these chances start flying in, it will take the pressure off. I think Aimson will bring stability but he won’t build that overnight.

Personally, I feel that some Argyle supporters are totally over reacting and I sincerely hope they admit they were wrong when Lowe gets this side winning consistently. I doubt most of them will though. People like that tend to just slink off until the next bad run.

 

[Bucklandgreen]

Definitely IN :scarf:

Apart from the defensive frailty in the first half this weekend for their goal , Argyle were undoubtedly on top and superior in every department, especially until we lost Telford. A bad referee knocked the confidence second half , and Cheltenham were more streetwise. I'm sure this will come good.

 

[crownhill pilgrim]

Absolutely prepared to give the team time, but not sure where the idea that we are playing good football is coming from, despite having a lot of the possession (naturally, being the home team), we did not look like a good team. Cheltenham played us like a Stradivarius.

 

[Balham Green]

Lets try to avoid blaming bad luck and referees. Think we tried that last season.
Continually conceding early goals means teams can just sit and defend. Goals change games. The first goal v Cheltenham was criminal. No pressure on the cross and Varney completely unmarked. Until we stop conceding like that we we are in trouble. Was the same V Crawley on Tuesday. First time they got in the box they scored. Then we couldnt hold on to a lead for 10 minutes. So Lowe has major problems. Poor at the back and short of strikers.

 

[Devongreenowl]

Absolutely prepared to give the team time, but not sure where the idea that we are playing good football is coming from, despite having a lot of the possession (naturally, being the home team), we did not look like a good team. Cheltenham played us like a Stradivarius.

What do you base that last sentence on though? Were you at the match? If you were you would have seen that if they played anybody it was the ref!

 

[Pogleswoody]

Absolutely prepared to give the team time, but not sure where the idea that we are playing good football is coming from, despite having a lot of the possession (naturally, being the home team), we did not look like a good team. Cheltenham played us like a Stradivarius.

What do you base that last sentence on though? Were you at the match? If you were you would have seen that if they played anybody it was the ref!

less classical footballing side ... more fiddlers tbh!!

They put the violin in violence! :coat:

 

[oldage]

We have been the better team on the end of a few defeats now.

A lot of it is bad luck. Much of it is poor defending. Opposition defenders seem to be able to concentrate for 90 minutes where we can't, and head a ball out of the box instead of watching an opposition player jump and head it past Palmer.

We are also a bit toothless. Newport away we had 70%+ possession and they had more clear cut chances in 5 mins than in 85 mins of us having slow patient build ups.

I do think it will come but the criticism that we have no plan B is valid. Northampton confidently predicted they had a sound gameplan to spoil us, and numerous teams have copied it now. We seem to have all the possession but no answer.

Not trying to be argumentative but I can't agree.

Luck has not been a significant factor, it's simply been a case of very poor defending and equally poor finishing.

We have no natural goal scorers or even players with the desire to get in the box and our defending of simple crosses has been appalling.

We out-pass teams and dominate the possession stats but we just flatter to deceive. On Saturday, Brighton enjoyed a greater percentage of possession in their 0-0 draw than Man City did in putting 8 past Watford, proving that possession statistics are meaningless.

However, shots on goal compared to actual goals scored is more meaningful because it demonstrates how potent a team is. On Saturday, this particular statistic showed how poor we were compared to Cheltenham, reinforcing the point that it is not bad luck just bad finishing.

For all our endless passing sideways and backwards to little or no effect, the opposition only have to put a simple cross into our box to score. It has been happening for most of the season.

As for the way we play and do we have a Plan B, the answer is a very obvious no.

Mayor is a top player at this level but that is well known by all of the other teams in League 2. They know if they stop him, they effectively stop Argyle and to date, it has been a big failing by Lowe to address this serious shortcoming.

Spot on

 

[oddball]

When respected posters like Graham Clark question Argyle finishing in an Automatic Play Off position as challenging even after nine games , that is quite a sobering thought......On Saturday Argyle had 20 odd shots on goal but onto two on target...nowhere near good enough...if you can't hit the target then why bother shooting at all....you must expect to hit the target most of the time....as for defending the same problems still exist no matter who the defenders are...what is Sloop doing nowadays...argyle clearly need a defensive coach..

 

[HC Green]

The next 4 away league matches are Mansfield, Swindon, Exeter and Forest Green, not the easiest run of games.

 

[JannerinCardiff]

The next 4 away league matches are Mansfield, Swindon, Exeter and Forest Green, not the easiest run of games.

Personally don’t know why I think we might fare better against better teams.. worked against Crewe who have won more games than anyone else in L2 currently.

 

[Devongreenowl]

Lets try to avoid blaming bad luck and referees. Think we tried that last season.
Continually conceding early goals means teams can just sit and defend. Goals change games. The first goal v Cheltenham was criminal. No pressure on the cross and Varney completely unmarked. Until we stop conceding like that we we are in trouble. Was the same V Crawley on Tuesday. First time they got in the box they scored. Then we couldnt hold on to a lead for 10 minutes. So Lowe has major problems. Poor at the back and short of strikers.

I’m far more worried about the defence rather than up top. Those early season clean sheets are a distant memory and a lot of the goals we have conceded have a remarkably similar look to them. We are very vulnerable down our left side which is possibly as a result of Faz going forward so much and offering too little protection to Sawyer. Still doesn’t excuse the very poor marking in the middle by Grant and Varney had so much time to pick his spot on Saturday. It was almost like a training session goal. Personally, I wouldnt describe the problems as 'major' as they should be sortable on the training ground.

 

[Devongreenowl]

When respected posters like Graham Clark question Argyle finishing in an Automatic Play Off position as challenging even after nine games , that is quite a sobering thought......On Saturday Argyle had 20 odd shots on goal but onto two on target...nowhere near good enough...if you can't hit the target then why bother shooting at all....you must expect to hit the target most of the time....as for defending the same problems still exist no matter who the defenders are...what is Sloop doing nowadays...argyle clearly need a defensive coach..

A sobering thought? Not really. I will bet if you spoke to the managers of the top 3 right now, they would feel it is going to be challenging to stay there all season.