One Game at a Time: You’re Only Here for Chuck’s Pasties
Ipswich Town (H) March 2nd
If you wanted a physical definition of optimism you only had to look to the corner of the Riverside where a tired and defiant band of Greens awaited the kick-off thinking, ”It cannot be as bad as against the Baggies, can it?”
The game at Boro had all the hallmarks to dread. A side that had no less than three players who could have been lining up for Argyle, although the one who had already scored twice against us was fortuitously injured. One of the longest hikes of the season. A team we had an average at best record against away from home (although as previously pointed out, at a ground we had played one, won one) and on the back of one of the limpest home performances for many a long day.
Still no Forshaw, and Phillips and Devine, our young Spurs, rested. Galloway and Pleggy with Gibson and Miller and Sorinola on the flanks. Mumba held back for his East Anglian derby day perhaps.
After a fan meltdown of epic proportions following the most toothless home match against Albion, the chorus of disapproval reaching almost insane levels of demands for sackings and defenestrations of playing staff, what we wanted was a good start. What we got was beyond expectations.
If Boro fans thought they were going to build on their unexpected win at Leicester, their only concern appeared to be the selection of their goalkeeper Tom Glover ahead of Sonny Dieng. Glover was in action early when a swift counter led to him plalming Gyabi’s effort into the path of Sorinola. The right wing back didn’t get the cleanest connection, giving Glover a second chance, which he palmed into the net. One nil after seven minutes.
And that was the trend set for the match. Boro had the ball and generally did next to nothing with it offensively. Argyle pounced on their mistakes to create chances which Glover would generally palm out into danger and hope to save the rebound. That Teflon sponsorship deal looks a lot closer after Saturday.
Hardie, once again released by Gyabi after a great press by Randell settled the travelling Green nerves with a perfectly placed second after twenty seven minutes. It was almost three, and probably should have been, when Randell pressed again and took a tame shot, perhaps knowing that Glover would offer up a second chance. The rebound was heading in until a brilliant fingertip save from Glover. It was goalkeeping Munchausens's by proxy.
Boro had eleven shots all game, the same number as Argyle had on target. It was a dominant Argyle display, which left Boro fans bemoaning that their keeper was both hopeless and also their man of the match. Two nil could have been five or six. Finn was subbed off after an hour and hopefully will have a much better reunion this week when he visits his former gaffer at the Bet 365. Argyle had their second away win at the Riverside, and their second away win of the season.
Indeed, had it not been for a bizarre set of results, which saw Millwall win at St Marys with 20% possession and two shots, two goals, QPR come from behind to win against hapless Rotherham, assisted by their recently imprisoned but somehow still free midfielder Chair, and ten-man Wendies hold on against Brizzle. Huddersfield and Swansea joined Argyle in chalking up unexpected away wins at Watford and Sunderland. Some things remained reliable, however. Stoke lost their sixth of the last seven games at Cardiff to slip into the grasping maw of the Yorkshire relegation zone and Birmingham, having taken the lead in the Moany Tony Recovery Derby subsided to a three one defeat, taking Mowbray like solace in kicking a few Town players to help rule them out of their trip to Devon.
The return of our erstwhile ardent pursuers Ipswich, complete with their generous donation of out-of-date Towntalk Silver Polish (yep, it’s a thing) leads us, as covered in his pre -match presser to the tale of two coaches. And no, that’s not a slur on the travelling numbers of the tractor boys. This will be the first time Ipswich boss McKenna will encounter Argyle without Schumacher in the Argyle dugout in some capacity. As he pointed out, meeting new coaches is de riguer in the Championship. Seven sides had new managers at the start of the season, and at time of writing two of those had already changed boss, in the case of Sheffield Wednesday, twice.
Other clubs who have already managed three managers in the part season are Huddersfield (Darren Moore again involved) and Millwall whose return to the once dismissed Neil Harris rather annoyingly deprives this writer of the Joe Edwards Derby by-line he had planned since his arrival in November, for our visit to the Den. Then come Birmingham, who after the ill-fated Rooney experiment have seen their replacement’s replacement fall ill so they have a technical fourth incumbent in stepping up assistant Mark Venus. Sunderland have also hit the three-manager level after they quickly realised that Michael Beale was more weird sider than Wearsider, and have a temporary incumbent until the end of the season when it all starts again.
At time of writing the top nine Championship clubs have not changed their management this season. Food for thought?
That isn’t to say there won’t be more changes, as there have been rumblings in Cardiff, Norwich, Watford (obviously you would think, but this season, and perhaps impacted by FFP, has seen the Hertfordshire mafia remarkably sanguine about Valerian Ishmael’s relatively average performance so far) and the Potteries, where remarkably Schuey is the second most secure manager after Darren Moore has started his five and a half year Port Vale contract with three successive defeats.
Rumours too at Ipswich, where an apparent four-million-pound release clause in the McKenna contract hasn’t put off the EPL piranha’s from circling around a man who has delivered a fine season so far. Palace apparently looked before replacing Roy Hodgson with Oliver Glasner, the former Wolfsburg and Eintracht Frankfurt boss. There is still speculation about David Moyes long term prospects at West Ham, and the never ending Ten Hag saga at United.
United of course is where McKenna spent time as assistant manager under both Mourinho and Solskjaer before heading to Suffolk. At the time he worked alongside Boro boss Michael Carrick, although Carrick seems to have had a pass out for the charm school classes, but the outcome of this season’s promotion push by Town will doubtless speak volumes for where McKenna is found managing next season.
Having had a stellar start to the season, mid-December to February was very much a bump in the road for Town, who, having lost their star forward Hirst to injury, and offloaded the former Green ray of sunshine and team man Freddie Ladapo to Charlton's ex Argyle retirement home on loan, managed a single win in seven league games, and topped that off with a home defeat at the hands of Maidstone United in the FA Cup.
Since then, aided by the arrival of Keiffer Moore on loan from Bournemouth and the signing of Not the Top 20 touted Al Hamadi, from Wimbledon, goals, and wins have returned, even if the 4-3 home win over Rotherham was streaky at best. Add to that the return of Cameron Burgess from the Asian Cup after the Australian side were eliminated from the tournament, and apart from Hirst, out for the season and Brandon Williams, currently in the fifth week of a two-week recovery stint back at parent club Manchester United under mysterious circumstances, Town have built a strong squad.
They trek westwards clinging to the rampant Leeds coattails on goal difference and ahead of the stumbling Saints, looking to escape a third successive Home Park humbling, with the last two fixtures in the Theatre of Greens both ending two one to the Pilgrims. In both games Town have taken the lead only to let that slip, last season to two magnificent strikes from Bali and Morgs, after a Ladapo deflected shot looped over Mike Cooper. The previous seasons goals from Jephcott from the goalline and Grant on the surge pulled back a Wolfenden header from a corner.
This season’s return fixture will give Ian Foster his first chance to pick from a fully fit squad, so there are potentially two ex-Canaries that could take on their Tractor boy rivals. One, Mumba has scored in every such match so far, and his tally stands at two-one to Argyle, after his comedy own goal at Portman Road joined his wonder strike at Home Park and his much less deflected than Freddies equaliser at the death in Ipswich to earn a point.
Argyle will be hoping for the rub of the green from the referee after feeling hard done by in recent matches by decisions that could and should have gone their way, although despite the pantomime villain status of the divisions most booked player, red cards have not been a feature of the matches since Danny Mayor was dismissed in Towns last win here. I am grateful to the diligent research of the “not at all bothered about it” Ipswich fans who have trawled through records to disprove any suggestion that said midfielder is subbed after being yellow carded (never in one hundred and eight games), and the fact that most of his bookings are for minor infringements. And that Randell, Scarr and Miller are really naughty too.
Town have yet to lose with tomorrow’s referee in five games this season, and he is apparently being collected on the team bus at Gordano's Services to save his legs, and the game sees the pitting of the Divisions most potent assistor in Leif Davies against the Divisions most potent strike pair in Hardie and Whittaker, one short of thirty goals between them .
No news as to whether Town Shirt Sponsor of the last couple of years Ed Sheeran will be down checking out Home Park as a potential stadium venue for his next tour. Still, it is a step up on the nine or so years the club ran around with Fisons on their shirts, presumably to the sound of fans chanting “You’re S*** and it says you are”.
Still, Fozzy will have drilled “the shape of you” into his squad, so we can expect ”a beautiful game” at the “Castle on the Hill” in Central Park. Argyle seem to have got rid of their Albion “bad habits”, and if Chaplin is on the bench that reduces a chance of a “dive” considerably. The loss of Broadhead and Burns means hopefully McKenna won’t find a “way to break my heart”, and the “new man” Fozzy can get his “A team” to play like “Barcelona”. After all, it is well over “1000 nights’ since Town have won at Argyle.
If we can extend that run it will be nothing short of “magical”.
COYG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ipswich Town (H) March 2nd
If you wanted a physical definition of optimism you only had to look to the corner of the Riverside where a tired and defiant band of Greens awaited the kick-off thinking, ”It cannot be as bad as against the Baggies, can it?”
The game at Boro had all the hallmarks to dread. A side that had no less than three players who could have been lining up for Argyle, although the one who had already scored twice against us was fortuitously injured. One of the longest hikes of the season. A team we had an average at best record against away from home (although as previously pointed out, at a ground we had played one, won one) and on the back of one of the limpest home performances for many a long day.
Still no Forshaw, and Phillips and Devine, our young Spurs, rested. Galloway and Pleggy with Gibson and Miller and Sorinola on the flanks. Mumba held back for his East Anglian derby day perhaps.
After a fan meltdown of epic proportions following the most toothless home match against Albion, the chorus of disapproval reaching almost insane levels of demands for sackings and defenestrations of playing staff, what we wanted was a good start. What we got was beyond expectations.
If Boro fans thought they were going to build on their unexpected win at Leicester, their only concern appeared to be the selection of their goalkeeper Tom Glover ahead of Sonny Dieng. Glover was in action early when a swift counter led to him plalming Gyabi’s effort into the path of Sorinola. The right wing back didn’t get the cleanest connection, giving Glover a second chance, which he palmed into the net. One nil after seven minutes.
And that was the trend set for the match. Boro had the ball and generally did next to nothing with it offensively. Argyle pounced on their mistakes to create chances which Glover would generally palm out into danger and hope to save the rebound. That Teflon sponsorship deal looks a lot closer after Saturday.
Hardie, once again released by Gyabi after a great press by Randell settled the travelling Green nerves with a perfectly placed second after twenty seven minutes. It was almost three, and probably should have been, when Randell pressed again and took a tame shot, perhaps knowing that Glover would offer up a second chance. The rebound was heading in until a brilliant fingertip save from Glover. It was goalkeeping Munchausens's by proxy.
Boro had eleven shots all game, the same number as Argyle had on target. It was a dominant Argyle display, which left Boro fans bemoaning that their keeper was both hopeless and also their man of the match. Two nil could have been five or six. Finn was subbed off after an hour and hopefully will have a much better reunion this week when he visits his former gaffer at the Bet 365. Argyle had their second away win at the Riverside, and their second away win of the season.
Indeed, had it not been for a bizarre set of results, which saw Millwall win at St Marys with 20% possession and two shots, two goals, QPR come from behind to win against hapless Rotherham, assisted by their recently imprisoned but somehow still free midfielder Chair, and ten-man Wendies hold on against Brizzle. Huddersfield and Swansea joined Argyle in chalking up unexpected away wins at Watford and Sunderland. Some things remained reliable, however. Stoke lost their sixth of the last seven games at Cardiff to slip into the grasping maw of the Yorkshire relegation zone and Birmingham, having taken the lead in the Moany Tony Recovery Derby subsided to a three one defeat, taking Mowbray like solace in kicking a few Town players to help rule them out of their trip to Devon.
The return of our erstwhile ardent pursuers Ipswich, complete with their generous donation of out-of-date Towntalk Silver Polish (yep, it’s a thing) leads us, as covered in his pre -match presser to the tale of two coaches. And no, that’s not a slur on the travelling numbers of the tractor boys. This will be the first time Ipswich boss McKenna will encounter Argyle without Schumacher in the Argyle dugout in some capacity. As he pointed out, meeting new coaches is de riguer in the Championship. Seven sides had new managers at the start of the season, and at time of writing two of those had already changed boss, in the case of Sheffield Wednesday, twice.
Other clubs who have already managed three managers in the part season are Huddersfield (Darren Moore again involved) and Millwall whose return to the once dismissed Neil Harris rather annoyingly deprives this writer of the Joe Edwards Derby by-line he had planned since his arrival in November, for our visit to the Den. Then come Birmingham, who after the ill-fated Rooney experiment have seen their replacement’s replacement fall ill so they have a technical fourth incumbent in stepping up assistant Mark Venus. Sunderland have also hit the three-manager level after they quickly realised that Michael Beale was more weird sider than Wearsider, and have a temporary incumbent until the end of the season when it all starts again.
At time of writing the top nine Championship clubs have not changed their management this season. Food for thought?
That isn’t to say there won’t be more changes, as there have been rumblings in Cardiff, Norwich, Watford (obviously you would think, but this season, and perhaps impacted by FFP, has seen the Hertfordshire mafia remarkably sanguine about Valerian Ishmael’s relatively average performance so far) and the Potteries, where remarkably Schuey is the second most secure manager after Darren Moore has started his five and a half year Port Vale contract with three successive defeats.
Rumours too at Ipswich, where an apparent four-million-pound release clause in the McKenna contract hasn’t put off the EPL piranha’s from circling around a man who has delivered a fine season so far. Palace apparently looked before replacing Roy Hodgson with Oliver Glasner, the former Wolfsburg and Eintracht Frankfurt boss. There is still speculation about David Moyes long term prospects at West Ham, and the never ending Ten Hag saga at United.
United of course is where McKenna spent time as assistant manager under both Mourinho and Solskjaer before heading to Suffolk. At the time he worked alongside Boro boss Michael Carrick, although Carrick seems to have had a pass out for the charm school classes, but the outcome of this season’s promotion push by Town will doubtless speak volumes for where McKenna is found managing next season.
Having had a stellar start to the season, mid-December to February was very much a bump in the road for Town, who, having lost their star forward Hirst to injury, and offloaded the former Green ray of sunshine and team man Freddie Ladapo to Charlton's ex Argyle retirement home on loan, managed a single win in seven league games, and topped that off with a home defeat at the hands of Maidstone United in the FA Cup.
Since then, aided by the arrival of Keiffer Moore on loan from Bournemouth and the signing of Not the Top 20 touted Al Hamadi, from Wimbledon, goals, and wins have returned, even if the 4-3 home win over Rotherham was streaky at best. Add to that the return of Cameron Burgess from the Asian Cup after the Australian side were eliminated from the tournament, and apart from Hirst, out for the season and Brandon Williams, currently in the fifth week of a two-week recovery stint back at parent club Manchester United under mysterious circumstances, Town have built a strong squad.
They trek westwards clinging to the rampant Leeds coattails on goal difference and ahead of the stumbling Saints, looking to escape a third successive Home Park humbling, with the last two fixtures in the Theatre of Greens both ending two one to the Pilgrims. In both games Town have taken the lead only to let that slip, last season to two magnificent strikes from Bali and Morgs, after a Ladapo deflected shot looped over Mike Cooper. The previous seasons goals from Jephcott from the goalline and Grant on the surge pulled back a Wolfenden header from a corner.
This season’s return fixture will give Ian Foster his first chance to pick from a fully fit squad, so there are potentially two ex-Canaries that could take on their Tractor boy rivals. One, Mumba has scored in every such match so far, and his tally stands at two-one to Argyle, after his comedy own goal at Portman Road joined his wonder strike at Home Park and his much less deflected than Freddies equaliser at the death in Ipswich to earn a point.
Argyle will be hoping for the rub of the green from the referee after feeling hard done by in recent matches by decisions that could and should have gone their way, although despite the pantomime villain status of the divisions most booked player, red cards have not been a feature of the matches since Danny Mayor was dismissed in Towns last win here. I am grateful to the diligent research of the “not at all bothered about it” Ipswich fans who have trawled through records to disprove any suggestion that said midfielder is subbed after being yellow carded (never in one hundred and eight games), and the fact that most of his bookings are for minor infringements. And that Randell, Scarr and Miller are really naughty too.
Town have yet to lose with tomorrow’s referee in five games this season, and he is apparently being collected on the team bus at Gordano's Services to save his legs, and the game sees the pitting of the Divisions most potent assistor in Leif Davies against the Divisions most potent strike pair in Hardie and Whittaker, one short of thirty goals between them .
No news as to whether Town Shirt Sponsor of the last couple of years Ed Sheeran will be down checking out Home Park as a potential stadium venue for his next tour. Still, it is a step up on the nine or so years the club ran around with Fisons on their shirts, presumably to the sound of fans chanting “You’re S*** and it says you are”.
Still, Fozzy will have drilled “the shape of you” into his squad, so we can expect ”a beautiful game” at the “Castle on the Hill” in Central Park. Argyle seem to have got rid of their Albion “bad habits”, and if Chaplin is on the bench that reduces a chance of a “dive” considerably. The loss of Broadhead and Burns means hopefully McKenna won’t find a “way to break my heart”, and the “new man” Fozzy can get his “A team” to play like “Barcelona”. After all, it is well over “1000 nights’ since Town have won at Argyle.
If we can extend that run it will be nothing short of “magical”.
COYG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
