There are problems with geography and attracting players down here, but that doesnāt mean we have to expect to be fighting relegation.
Lameiras apart, the lack of goals from midfield has been shocking as has been the inability to āmanageā games, particularly when we score first. One of the most damning statistics is the 23 points lost from a winning position. The players lack of mental strength and their losing mentality is the responsibility of the person who signed them and then trains and prepares them on a weekly basis.
The lack of leadership on the field is very obvious. Gary Sawyer is undoubtedly one of the nicest guys to ever play for Argyle but he is also probably the worst ever Captain. Basically, his Captaincy starts and finishes at 2 minutes to 3 each week when he calls Heads or Tails. Once the game starts, he is mute and shows absolutely no leadership at all. In our situation we need a Gerry McElhinney or a Mick Heathcote. Big Gerry was known to threaten his teammates at half-time if he wasnāt happy with their performance as it might cost him his win bonus or to be more accurate, his beer money.
Defensively, the warning signs were there in pre-season after the Yeovil debacle but they were ignored. Constantly failing tactics have been persisted without serious consideration being given to changing things; there is no plan B. Adams lack of tactical nous and almost total inability to make effective in-game changes, such as we saw with Lovell yesterday, is a serious concern and one of his more obvious shortcomings.
Now we have a Manager who has had the players on the training ground for the last 9 months making a ludicrous statement yesterday to say he hasnāt got the time to eliminate the basic mistakes that have been made game after game all season such as stopping crosses, marking your man and putting guilt-edged chances away. What the hell has he been doing on the training ground for all of this time?
What the problem isnāt though is the budget, that has been used by Adams to disguise his own shortcomings.
Most Argyle fans know we donāt have the budget to be serious promotion contenders and maybe not even to have a good go at the play-offs. That will be the case for the foreseeable future unless we can attract other wealthy investors.
However, our budget is not one of a serious relegation candidate either.
We could still afford to assemble a squad of 25 Senior Professionals, which is probably 4-5 too many, along with 9 Junior Professionals. The budget could have been better spent to get quality rather than quantity. The Manager signed too many players who have not played and have not been wanted, even when we have been struggling and have needed to make changes to employ the policy of competition for places he said he wanted at the start of the season to justify signing so many players.
All Managers make mistakes with signings but Adams makes far too many for someone who is supposed to be astute at working on a limited budget. It was one of the main reasons he got the Argyle job.