One Game at a Time:
Charlton Athletic (H) March 4th
After shipping five goals for the third time this season you can forgive Argyle fans a degree of trepidation, as others around us either continue to grind out wins (Wednesday) or finally seem to be getting somewhere closer to their money’s worth on spend (Yipswitch finally bagging back-to-back wins for the first time since October last year). Barnsley, Derby and Bolton all look to be gathering momentum as well.
It is all very well looking at the match stats and seeing that the game appeared much closer than the five two score line suggested in terms of chances generated. Football fans live in the here and now, and so the latest result always assumes greater importance than historic ones. It is like the Gamblers Fallacy, where future events are forecast based on past results, even when those past results may have little or no bearing on the outcome being predicted.
Of course, it could simply be that many people with a history of following Argyle simply expect the worst. So, for every point made that Posh have won five of their last seven games (until a ten man goalless draw at home to Charlton in midweek) the counter argument would swiftly follow that, yes but they got thrashed by Bolton five nil at home. The same Bolton that capitulated to Pompous 3-1, a team Argyle defeated by the same score some fortnight back. Go figure, as they say in the States.
Regular readers (yes, both of you) will recall that I sometimes delve into classical literature for appropriate epithets, and I make no excuse for doing so again. One of the greatest works of reference the Universe has ever seen, The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, has emblazoned on its cover, the words “Don’t Panic!” Given that the circumstances in which the hero of that tale, Arthur Dent, first reads the Guide involves the destruction of his home, as well as his home planet, they seem to be appropriate for the slightly headless chicken response to a league defeat that, when all is said and done, was hardly long odds against.
It is also true that thinking about HHGTTG and the words they portray got me thinking about another classic use of those words by the BBC and the similarity of the characters from the series that best embodies the kind of panicky response seen early Saturday evening on almost any football fan forum where things have not gone to plan/form/expectation.
Dads Army, originally titled the Fighting Tigers, is as much about human frailty and societal mores as it ever was about beating the Nazis. Its archetypes seem to appear on all fan-based chat forums in roughly the same sequence when things go wrong.
So, I will start with the archetype that I most aspire to after a bad result like Posh. I would be Private Godfrey, with my “Please Sir, may I be excused” as I stay well away from the maelstrom of opinions unleashed. Well for a while at least.
First to arrive in our Church Hall of Pilgrimage will be the Frasers, with “we’re doomed, all doomed” intoned in a slow, heavy Scottish accent and much rolling of eyes. As with the show, these prophetic words are often accompanied by rambling examples of why this is the case.
Following the Frasers, come the Mainwaring’s, who clearly know best what should be done to resolve the issues. Never mind they have no actual experience of managing the situation they are commenting on, they KNOW what should be done, and they are going to let everyone know what that is. At length.
As sure as night follows day, we then see the arrivals of the Wilsons, who examine the solutions suggested by the Mainwarings and, in calm and measured tones, enquire of their fellow supporter, “Do you really think that’s wise, sir?”
Alongside the Wilsons we now also receive the input of the Jones and Pikes. The Pikes are those that want to see the best in the situation and so are looking for the silver lining in the situation. As we all know the likely reaction to this will either be “Not now Frank” from the Wilsons or “Stupid Boy” from the Mainwarings.
The Jones arrive with two distinct messaging types. One is purely tactical, based in historic experience and is best summed up as “They don’t like it up ‘em sir.” It will often gravitate to areas such as why we don’t score from corners/free kicks or why we faff about with short corner routines. More recently it has also focussed on clearing techniques from the goalmouth area. The other response from the Jones, is the aforementioned “Don’t Panic” which generally has the effect of instilling precisely the opposite reaction.
Finally, we have the Walkers. The simple solution for these people is to head to the black market. “I can get you a nice ex Ligue Un goalie, slightly gammy knee but has done a Europa league quarter final. Free agent but we will have to get a few quid on the wage bill. How about an Estonian international defensive midfielder. Just finished a trial at Hoffenheim but I reckon I can persuade him to jump on a ferry.”
At this point the episode will come to an end with the moderators, a la Warden Hodges (put that thread out!), or the Verger (You can’t post that on here), and in true sitcom style the group all fall back into line (with one or two staying out of step with Corporal Jones), as we gather ourselves for the next challenge.
The positive thing after a five-goal drubbing is how likely are we to meet a team capable of doing that to us in the very next game?
Oh!
Enter stage right Charlton Athletic, scorers of five against us at the Valley earlier this season when things looked very different for our prospects, and also with a six-nil win at Home Park in the recent enough memory for us all to still wince at the thought. Mind you we do have a different keeper since those games so maybe that will help.
Charlton v Argyle fixtures tend to have plenty of goals in them generally. In the late fifties and early sixties the clubs swapped 6-4 victories on consecutive days, having had the same scoreline at Home Park the previous season, but a tame five two to Charlton at the Valley. We have only had two scoreless games in the history of the fixture, the first game at the Valley pre-war and the only time the clubs met at West Hams ground whilst Charlton soldiered around East London when the Valley was out of commission. There you go, nailed on nil-nil.
The clubs have already shared five goals at HP when Argyle progressed in the Papa John’s Round of 32, by the highly appropriate score of 3-2. Just the Round of 2 to go now, as they will probably call the Final.
It is fair to say that these are turbulent times (still) for the Addicks fans, with their latest unpopular owner, Thomas Sandgard, pulling out of a deal to sell the club to a group fronted by Charlie Methven, he of the coloured cords and controversial ownership of Sunderland. Sandgard, quoting unspecified breaches of the exclusive deal he had signed, appears to be in throes of selling the club to an Atlanta based waste recycler. Now is that a metaphor or what?
The main rationale for this appears to be that the waste recycler will pay more. Whilst Methven and his entourage threaten legal action for compensation for the breach, Sandgard has installed ex West Ham and Portsmouth CEO Peter Storrie, who presided over various debacles at Pompous including two administrations, in his time there. The hierarchy that had arrived at The Valley for the SE7 group have now departed, except for manager Dean Holden.
You can see that Sandgard might want to get the deal concluded before the arrival of the new Independent Football regulator, as with the track record of past owners, the jailing of Richard Rufus for fraud and the current owner seemingly tearing up agreements on a whim, one can imagine the first question on the new Fit and Proper Persons ownership test will be “Have you ever or would you ever want to be the Owner of Charlton Athletic? “
A yes would no doubt bring instant disqualification.
Since the arrival of Dean Holden as manager, albeit with the promise of a contract from new owners that would now seem not to be arriving any time soon, if ever, Charlton have been punching above their weight. Never more so than in the last game at Posh, where lively forward Jenison Rak-Saki somehow escaped with a yellow card for his full-blooded WWE assault on Josh Knight after the home defender lashed out. It seems an absurdity that Marvin Johnson is banned for an elbow because he was seen but not identified for Wednesday at Ipswich, but Rak-Saki escapes proper punishment because he was seen, and mispunished by the referee.
Having sold the troublesome (to us at least) Stockley to Fleetwood in the window, Charlton are struggling in front of goal. Miles Leaburn has been carrying a hip injury, and Chuks Aneke was ruled out for the rest of the season after an injury hit weekend and midweek. This may mean we get another sight of the youngster Kanu who scored his first Charlton goal in the Papa John’s game mentioned earlier.
In what is highly likely to be another home sell out, it will be a great opportunity to get the promotion journey back on track. Perhaps our newfound scoring prowess from corners, plus the best available rotation of strikers in the division, can finally combine with a previously stingy defence at Fortress HP to deliver a fifteenth home league win and form that on its own would be play-off challenging.
Above all, the crowd would well advised to remember the words of Beckham. Not David, nor Brooklyn. Not even Posh, Romeo or, heaven forfend, Harper. Odell Beckham Jr, wide receiver for the Giants and Cowboys, Superbowl LVI winner, and maker of what was called the “greatest touchdown catch ever seen”.
“There are always going to be bumps in the road. There’s always going to be this and that, adversity. You just overcome it. It’s what I have done all my life.”
You just know deep down he was saying to himself, “Don’t Panic!’
COYG!!!
Charlton Athletic (H) March 4th
After shipping five goals for the third time this season you can forgive Argyle fans a degree of trepidation, as others around us either continue to grind out wins (Wednesday) or finally seem to be getting somewhere closer to their money’s worth on spend (Yipswitch finally bagging back-to-back wins for the first time since October last year). Barnsley, Derby and Bolton all look to be gathering momentum as well.
It is all very well looking at the match stats and seeing that the game appeared much closer than the five two score line suggested in terms of chances generated. Football fans live in the here and now, and so the latest result always assumes greater importance than historic ones. It is like the Gamblers Fallacy, where future events are forecast based on past results, even when those past results may have little or no bearing on the outcome being predicted.
Of course, it could simply be that many people with a history of following Argyle simply expect the worst. So, for every point made that Posh have won five of their last seven games (until a ten man goalless draw at home to Charlton in midweek) the counter argument would swiftly follow that, yes but they got thrashed by Bolton five nil at home. The same Bolton that capitulated to Pompous 3-1, a team Argyle defeated by the same score some fortnight back. Go figure, as they say in the States.
Regular readers (yes, both of you) will recall that I sometimes delve into classical literature for appropriate epithets, and I make no excuse for doing so again. One of the greatest works of reference the Universe has ever seen, The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, has emblazoned on its cover, the words “Don’t Panic!” Given that the circumstances in which the hero of that tale, Arthur Dent, first reads the Guide involves the destruction of his home, as well as his home planet, they seem to be appropriate for the slightly headless chicken response to a league defeat that, when all is said and done, was hardly long odds against.
It is also true that thinking about HHGTTG and the words they portray got me thinking about another classic use of those words by the BBC and the similarity of the characters from the series that best embodies the kind of panicky response seen early Saturday evening on almost any football fan forum where things have not gone to plan/form/expectation.
Dads Army, originally titled the Fighting Tigers, is as much about human frailty and societal mores as it ever was about beating the Nazis. Its archetypes seem to appear on all fan-based chat forums in roughly the same sequence when things go wrong.
So, I will start with the archetype that I most aspire to after a bad result like Posh. I would be Private Godfrey, with my “Please Sir, may I be excused” as I stay well away from the maelstrom of opinions unleashed. Well for a while at least.
First to arrive in our Church Hall of Pilgrimage will be the Frasers, with “we’re doomed, all doomed” intoned in a slow, heavy Scottish accent and much rolling of eyes. As with the show, these prophetic words are often accompanied by rambling examples of why this is the case.
Following the Frasers, come the Mainwaring’s, who clearly know best what should be done to resolve the issues. Never mind they have no actual experience of managing the situation they are commenting on, they KNOW what should be done, and they are going to let everyone know what that is. At length.
As sure as night follows day, we then see the arrivals of the Wilsons, who examine the solutions suggested by the Mainwarings and, in calm and measured tones, enquire of their fellow supporter, “Do you really think that’s wise, sir?”
Alongside the Wilsons we now also receive the input of the Jones and Pikes. The Pikes are those that want to see the best in the situation and so are looking for the silver lining in the situation. As we all know the likely reaction to this will either be “Not now Frank” from the Wilsons or “Stupid Boy” from the Mainwarings.
The Jones arrive with two distinct messaging types. One is purely tactical, based in historic experience and is best summed up as “They don’t like it up ‘em sir.” It will often gravitate to areas such as why we don’t score from corners/free kicks or why we faff about with short corner routines. More recently it has also focussed on clearing techniques from the goalmouth area. The other response from the Jones, is the aforementioned “Don’t Panic” which generally has the effect of instilling precisely the opposite reaction.
Finally, we have the Walkers. The simple solution for these people is to head to the black market. “I can get you a nice ex Ligue Un goalie, slightly gammy knee but has done a Europa league quarter final. Free agent but we will have to get a few quid on the wage bill. How about an Estonian international defensive midfielder. Just finished a trial at Hoffenheim but I reckon I can persuade him to jump on a ferry.”
At this point the episode will come to an end with the moderators, a la Warden Hodges (put that thread out!), or the Verger (You can’t post that on here), and in true sitcom style the group all fall back into line (with one or two staying out of step with Corporal Jones), as we gather ourselves for the next challenge.
The positive thing after a five-goal drubbing is how likely are we to meet a team capable of doing that to us in the very next game?
Oh!
Enter stage right Charlton Athletic, scorers of five against us at the Valley earlier this season when things looked very different for our prospects, and also with a six-nil win at Home Park in the recent enough memory for us all to still wince at the thought. Mind you we do have a different keeper since those games so maybe that will help.
Charlton v Argyle fixtures tend to have plenty of goals in them generally. In the late fifties and early sixties the clubs swapped 6-4 victories on consecutive days, having had the same scoreline at Home Park the previous season, but a tame five two to Charlton at the Valley. We have only had two scoreless games in the history of the fixture, the first game at the Valley pre-war and the only time the clubs met at West Hams ground whilst Charlton soldiered around East London when the Valley was out of commission. There you go, nailed on nil-nil.
The clubs have already shared five goals at HP when Argyle progressed in the Papa John’s Round of 32, by the highly appropriate score of 3-2. Just the Round of 2 to go now, as they will probably call the Final.
It is fair to say that these are turbulent times (still) for the Addicks fans, with their latest unpopular owner, Thomas Sandgard, pulling out of a deal to sell the club to a group fronted by Charlie Methven, he of the coloured cords and controversial ownership of Sunderland. Sandgard, quoting unspecified breaches of the exclusive deal he had signed, appears to be in throes of selling the club to an Atlanta based waste recycler. Now is that a metaphor or what?
The main rationale for this appears to be that the waste recycler will pay more. Whilst Methven and his entourage threaten legal action for compensation for the breach, Sandgard has installed ex West Ham and Portsmouth CEO Peter Storrie, who presided over various debacles at Pompous including two administrations, in his time there. The hierarchy that had arrived at The Valley for the SE7 group have now departed, except for manager Dean Holden.
You can see that Sandgard might want to get the deal concluded before the arrival of the new Independent Football regulator, as with the track record of past owners, the jailing of Richard Rufus for fraud and the current owner seemingly tearing up agreements on a whim, one can imagine the first question on the new Fit and Proper Persons ownership test will be “Have you ever or would you ever want to be the Owner of Charlton Athletic? “
A yes would no doubt bring instant disqualification.
Since the arrival of Dean Holden as manager, albeit with the promise of a contract from new owners that would now seem not to be arriving any time soon, if ever, Charlton have been punching above their weight. Never more so than in the last game at Posh, where lively forward Jenison Rak-Saki somehow escaped with a yellow card for his full-blooded WWE assault on Josh Knight after the home defender lashed out. It seems an absurdity that Marvin Johnson is banned for an elbow because he was seen but not identified for Wednesday at Ipswich, but Rak-Saki escapes proper punishment because he was seen, and mispunished by the referee.
Having sold the troublesome (to us at least) Stockley to Fleetwood in the window, Charlton are struggling in front of goal. Miles Leaburn has been carrying a hip injury, and Chuks Aneke was ruled out for the rest of the season after an injury hit weekend and midweek. This may mean we get another sight of the youngster Kanu who scored his first Charlton goal in the Papa John’s game mentioned earlier.
In what is highly likely to be another home sell out, it will be a great opportunity to get the promotion journey back on track. Perhaps our newfound scoring prowess from corners, plus the best available rotation of strikers in the division, can finally combine with a previously stingy defence at Fortress HP to deliver a fifteenth home league win and form that on its own would be play-off challenging.
Above all, the crowd would well advised to remember the words of Beckham. Not David, nor Brooklyn. Not even Posh, Romeo or, heaven forfend, Harper. Odell Beckham Jr, wide receiver for the Giants and Cowboys, Superbowl LVI winner, and maker of what was called the “greatest touchdown catch ever seen”.
“There are always going to be bumps in the road. There’s always going to be this and that, adversity. You just overcome it. It’s what I have done all my life.”
You just know deep down he was saying to himself, “Don’t Panic!’
COYG!!!
Last edited:
