That can’t happen again.

[Morepork]

Plymouth post match comment: Darren Moore - “We’re going to get games like that through the season” 

 

Sorry, not acceptable.

 

I’ll caveat what I’m about to say with the following. Fact, it’s very early days for this newly assembled team. We can almost certainly improve and I do think our squad has genuine quality in it. I’m not a fan that “expects” to win, but like most of us I do expect to compete. As I posted a couple of times pre-Morecambe we will lose games across the season, it’s just essential to bounce back quickly from setbacks and prevent bad runs. Once again, by no means should we expect to beat anyone in this league. 

 

That being said, yesterday………

 

Attitude, It wasn’t our biggest problem but I want to touch on it first. I had hoped to never see us roll over against mentally tougher teams again, but despite the early season sound bites around team spirit and togetherness we showed none of that yesterday. 

 

Our attitude was wrong right from the kickoff, we were totally off the pace and never truly met the tempo that Plymouth dictated on the game. More worryingly, we didn’t look like a team that had just spent 2 weeks on the training ground, we looked more like we’d had 2 weeks on the lash in Magaluf……. Many of our away games this season are going to be similar to this, the big boys arriving in their flash pink shirts, crowd and opposition pumped up to get in our faces and send us packing. We have to deal with this mentally. Based on yesterday, its a real concern. A good start has already become an average one, the next two results go against us and all of a sudden it’s a poor one. I didn’t see anyone exhibit fight, a refusal to accept defeat, belligerence in the face of adversity, there was none of that. As a fan, that always cuts deep.

 

Tactics, our main problem…my god. This was always my biggest concern around Moore. He’s clearly a good man manager but he needs some assistance tactically IMO. How are we trying to play? We don’t really do anything well, we just look like a pub team sent out to just play football, no intent, no evident style or tactical approach. Several games in and the only real patterns to our play that I can clearly identify are negative ones I’d want to change.

 

Playing out from the back, a disaster currently, we are consistently asking midfielders to receive average passes, at pace, facing our own goal while under a press. We aren’t good enough technically or tactically to do this. If we continue, every team we play will simply follow the Plymouth blueprint to unnerve and destabilise us. 

 

Our wide and forward players are so isolated, so far they don’t appear to have the pace or creativity to increase our goal output how they are currently deployed. We have to be smarter and more creative, hopefully a fit Windass and Shodipo will add some much needed flair and creativity.

 

We have good central midfielders, nobody can tell me otherwise. But, they need to learn to play together and be in the right combinations. Too often yesterday the opposition were able to progress the ball all too easily because we were all too deep. Another consequence of this is the lack of support our forwards get, again isolated. We really missed Adeniran yesterday, he can support the attack and has the athleticism to progress the ball on the ground. In general we need to be more compact, vertically and across the pitch.

 

Giving possession away too cheaply. Please, make it stop….this has been an issue for several seasons. Poor under the press and worse still the unforced errors, I can’t recall any other team that concedes so much possession.

 

Substitutions, at least they came quicker than they have been. One dimensional, Moore’s idea of a tactical change seems to be to replace one player with another and ask him to do the same thing……

 

I posted previously that the stats suggested we’d overachieved in the first few games, that’s levelling itself out now because we aren’t improving. We are already tactically predictable, easy to disrupt and yesterday even easier to dispatch. That Plymouth side has been bang average up to yesterday and whilst I don’t doubt they are better than that we made them look much better still.

 

Like I said, I expected us to lose games this season because we were out thought by experienced lower league managers, I didn’t expect us to be out fought as well. It’s a worry that in-spite of the seemingly close bond Moore has with the players, they were capable of delivering such a spineless and lacklustre display. That it was so early in the season with places up for grabs only makes that worse in my mind.

 

The manager has had the plaudits for his recruitment in the face of real adversity and that was all fair enough. It’ll be in vain though if he doesn’t significantly improve in a tactical sense. Once you lose the crowd, all the perceived improvement around how the club is being managed, the feel good factor that has been generated to some degree is all at risk, it’s that fragile.

 

PS: Full disclosure, I did buy my iFollow season pass right before the Morecambe game and this could clearly all be my fault…….

[Orlando_Trustful]

Great post. Yesterday was as bad as it has been over the last few seasons. 

 

It's early days with a new management team and a new squad, but questions have to be asked about a lot of things after these last few weeks. 

 

The big worry for me is I just can't work out how we're trying to play, apart from the absurd playing out from the back approach. Yesterday will arguably be Plymouth's easiest game of the season. 

[Dollydaydream]

That's one long winded way of saying Moore out. Well done ruru. 

[Geedee]

That cant happen again?

 

This is Wednesday

 

It can and it will

[Wednesday_Jack]

Could have played for 3 days and not scored…worrying really 

[quinnssweetshop]

Given that display ( it wasn't even that )  that was one of the worst abominations I've witnessed in years supporting us.

Something has had to happen. It was totally and completely wrong from the start.

 

[Deepcar_lights]

 

Players still working out who has the biggest todger.

 

Just hasn't clicked. As if on trial, are they scared to make a mistake and therefore making mistakes?

 

All feels a bit stiff.

 

Need to establish dominance hierarchy and relax. 

 

Hoping it falls into place sooner vs later.

 

A lot of new faces in the building.

 

 

[wiggy]

Great post. Echos my views. But written far better!

[Lincs Owl]

I agreed with everything until you referred to us as 'the big boys'.  

That's the trouble. We're not.  Stop thinking we are.  Those days are well over.  

 

[Morepork]

Just now, Lincs Owl said:

I agreed with everything until you referred to us as 'the big boys'.  

That's the trouble. We're not.  Stop thinking we are.  Those days are well over.  

 

I was talking about how the opposition sees us as the visiting team not how I see us. Make no mistake they view us as a big scalp.

[Hodgyowl]

17 minutes ago, TheOwlsofDodworth said:

 

Players still working out who has the biggest todger.

 

Just hasn't clicked. As if on trial, are they scared to make a mistake and therefore making mistakes?

 

All feels a bit stiff.

 

Need to establish dominance hierarchy and relax. 

 

Hoping it falls into place sooner vs later.

 

A lot of new faces in the building.

 

 

The one who's a bit stiff has the biggest todger obviously, its the missing testicles that worry's me. 

[Humdy]

And there i was thinking this season will be different, but nah, same old rubbish. Can't wait for the 'we learnt a lot from that game' comment from management. Even morecombe let in 4 at home yesterday and we couldn't even get one past them! 

[debram]

1 hour ago, Morepork said:

Plymouth post match comment: Darren Moore - “We’re going to get games like that through the season” 

 

Sorry, not acceptable.

 

I’ll caveat what I’m about to say with the following. Fact, it’s very early days for this newly assembled team. We can almost certainly improve and I do think our squad has genuine quality in it. I’m not a fan that “expects” to win, but like most of us I do expect to compete. As I posted a couple of times pre-Morecambe we will lose games across the season, it’s just essential to bounce back quickly from setbacks and prevent bad runs. Once again, by no means should we expect to beat anyone in this league. 

 

That being said, yesterday………

 

Attitude, It wasn’t our biggest problem but I want to touch on it first. I had hoped to never see us roll over against mentally tougher teams again, but despite the early season sound bites around team spirit and togetherness we showed none of that yesterday. 

 

Our attitude was wrong right from the kickoff, we were totally off the pace and never truly met the tempo that Plymouth dictated on the game. More worryingly, we didn’t look like a team that had just spent 2 weeks on the training ground, we looked more like we’d had 2 weeks on the lash in Magaluf……. Many of our away games this season are going to be similar to this, the big boys arriving in their flash pink shirts, crowd and opposition pumped up to get in our faces and send us packing. We have to deal with this mentally. Based on yesterday, its a real concern. A good start has already become an average one, the next two results go against us and all of a sudden it’s a poor one. I didn’t see anyone exhibit fight, a refusal to accept defeat, belligerence in the face of adversity, there was none of that. As a fan, that always cuts deep.

 

Tactics, our main problem…my god. This was always my biggest concern around Moore. He’s clearly a good man manager but he needs some assistance tactically IMO. How are we trying to play? We don’t really do anything well, we just look like a pub team sent out to just play football, no intent, no evident style or tactical approach. Several games in and the only real patterns to our play that I can clearly identify are negative ones I’d want to change.

 

Playing out from the back, a disaster currently, we are consistently asking midfielders to receive average passes, at pace, facing our own goal while under a press. We aren’t good enough technically or tactically to do this. If we continue, every team we play will simply follow the Plymouth blueprint to unnerve and destabilise us. 

 

Our wide and forward players are so isolated, so far they don’t appear to have the pace or creativity to increase our goal output how they are currently deployed. We have to be smarter and more creative, hopefully a fit Windass and Shodipo will add some much needed flair and creativity.

 

We have good central midfielders, nobody can tell me otherwise. But, they need to learn to play together and be in the right combinations. Too often yesterday the opposition were able to progress the ball all too easily because we were all too deep. Another consequence of this is the lack of support our forwards get, again isolated. We really missed Adeniran yesterday, he can support the attack and has the athleticism to progress the ball on the ground. In general we need to be more compact, vertically and across the pitch.

 

Giving possession away too cheaply. Please, make it stop….this has been an issue for several seasons. Poor under the press and worse still the unforced errors, I can’t recall any other team that concedes so much possession.

 

Substitutions, at least they came quicker than they have been. One dimensional, Moore’s idea of a tactical change seems to be to replace one player with another and ask him to do the same thing……

 

I posted previously that the stats suggested we’d overachieved in the first few games, that’s levelling itself out now because we aren’t improving. We are already tactically predictable, easy to disrupt and yesterday even easier to dispatch. That Plymouth side has been bang average up to yesterday and whilst I don’t doubt they are better than that we made them look much better still.

 

Like I said, I expected us to lose games this season because we were out thought by experienced lower league managers, I didn’t expect us to be out fought as well. It’s a worry that in-spite of the seemingly close bond Moore has with the players, they were capable of delivering such a spineless and lacklustre display. That it was so early in the season with places up for grabs only makes that worse in my mind.

 

The manager has had the plaudits for his recruitment in the face of real adversity and that was all fair enough. It’ll be in vain though if he doesn’t significantly improve in a tactical sense. Once you lose the crowd, all the perceived improvement around how the club is being managed, the feel good factor that has been generated to some degree is all at risk, it’s that fragile.

 

PS: Full disclosure, I did buy my iFollow season pass right before the Morecambe game and this could clearly all be my fault…….

Think this reads Moore is not up to the task, great post. 

[marshy]

Excellent OP. Entirely agree. 

[WalthamOwl]

Excellent post OP. Fully agree with you. 

[unkastav]

32 minutes ago, Humdy said:

And there i was thinking this season will be different, but nah, same old rubbish. Can't wait for the 'we learnt a lot from that game' comment from management. Even morecombe let in 4 at home yesterday and we couldn't even get one past them! 

Exactly. We cant win them all but no way should we take positives from losing to morecambe… this is where it leads to… plymouth 3-0. Every game is winnable in this league, obviously that wont happen but cat footing around after defeats isnt the way to go

[debram]

1 hour ago, Lincs Owl said:

I agreed with everything until you referred to us as 'the big boys'.  

That's the trouble. We're not.  Stop thinking we are.  Those days are well over.  

 

Trouble is the players think they are. 

[brando]

2 hours ago, Morepork said:

Plymouth post match comment: Darren Moore - “We’re going to get games like that through the season” 

 

Sorry, not acceptable.

 

I’ll caveat what I’m about to say with the following. Fact, it’s very early days for this newly assembled team. We can almost certainly improve and I do think our squad has genuine quality in it. I’m not a fan that “expects” to win, but like most of us I do expect to compete. As I posted a couple of times pre-Morecambe we will lose games across the season, it’s just essential to bounce back quickly from setbacks and prevent bad runs. Once again, by no means should we expect to beat anyone in this league. 

 

That being said, yesterday………

 

Attitude, It wasn’t our biggest problem but I want to touch on it first. I had hoped to never see us roll over against mentally tougher teams again, but despite the early season sound bites around team spirit and togetherness we showed none of that yesterday. 

 

Our attitude was wrong right from the kickoff, we were totally off the pace and never truly met the tempo that Plymouth dictated on the game. More worryingly, we didn’t look like a team that had just spent 2 weeks on the training ground, we looked more like we’d had 2 weeks on the lash in Magaluf……. Many of our away games this season are going to be similar to this, the big boys arriving in their flash pink shirts, crowd and opposition pumped up to get in our faces and send us packing. We have to deal with this mentally. Based on yesterday, its a real concern. A good start has already become an average one, the next two results go against us and all of a sudden it’s a poor one. I didn’t see anyone exhibit fight, a refusal to accept defeat, belligerence in the face of adversity, there was none of that. As a fan, that always cuts deep.

 

Tactics, our main problem…my god. This was always my biggest concern around Moore. He’s clearly a good man manager but he needs some assistance tactically IMO. How are we trying to play? We don’t really do anything well, we just look like a pub team sent out to just play football, no intent, no evident style or tactical approach. Several games in and the only real patterns to our play that I can clearly identify are negative ones I’d want to change.

 

Playing out from the back, a disaster currently, we are consistently asking midfielders to receive average passes, at pace, facing our own goal while under a press. We aren’t good enough technically or tactically to do this. If we continue, every team we play will simply follow the Plymouth blueprint to unnerve and destabilise us. 

 

Our wide and forward players are so isolated, so far they don’t appear to have the pace or creativity to increase our goal output how they are currently deployed. We have to be smarter and more creative, hopefully a fit Windass and Shodipo will add some much needed flair and creativity.

 

We have good central midfielders, nobody can tell me otherwise. But, they need to learn to play together and be in the right combinations. Too often yesterday the opposition were able to progress the ball all too easily because we were all too deep. Another consequence of this is the lack of support our forwards get, again isolated. We really missed Adeniran yesterday, he can support the attack and has the athleticism to progress the ball on the ground. In general we need to be more compact, vertically and across the pitch.

 

Giving possession away too cheaply. Please, make it stop….this has been an issue for several seasons. Poor under the press and worse still the unforced errors, I can’t recall any other team that concedes so much possession.

 

Substitutions, at least they came quicker than they have been. One dimensional, Moore’s idea of a tactical change seems to be to replace one player with another and ask him to do the same thing……

 

I posted previously that the stats suggested we’d overachieved in the first few games, that’s levelling itself out now because we aren’t improving. We are already tactically predictable, easy to disrupt and yesterday even easier to dispatch. That Plymouth side has been bang average up to yesterday and whilst I don’t doubt they are better than that we made them look much better still.

 

Like I said, I expected us to lose games this season because we were out thought by experienced lower league managers, I didn’t expect us to be out fought as well. It’s a worry that in-spite of the seemingly close bond Moore has with the players, they were capable of delivering such a spineless and lacklustre display. That it was so early in the season with places up for grabs only makes that worse in my mind.

 

The manager has had the plaudits for his recruitment in the face of real adversity and that was all fair enough. It’ll be in vain though if he doesn’t significantly improve in a tactical sense. Once you lose the crowd, all the perceived improvement around how the club is being managed, the feel good factor that has been generated to some degree is all at risk, it’s that fragile.

 

PS: Full disclosure, I did buy my iFollow season pass right before the Morecambe game and this could clearly all be my fault…….

Excellent post,best on here for a good spell

[Pieman]

Well written and some great points. But come on, have a minute. As I and others have said right from the off, it will be Oct/Nov before we hit our straps. It was a real dose of reality yesterday, possibly what the whole club needed. Let’s look at Ipswich before we start overly moaning…

[Guest Andy W]

2 hours ago, Orlando_Trustful said:

Great post. Yesterday was as bad as it has been over the last few seasons. 

 

It's early days with a new management team and a new squad, but questions have to be asked about a lot of things after these last few weeks. 

 

The big worry for me is I just can't work out how we're trying to play, apart from the absurd playing out from the back approach. Yesterday will arguably be Plymouth's easiest game of the season. 

We were saying the same throughout the game, why are we playing out from the back?. We aren't talented enough to do that. 

A previous post mentioned that we have lots of these players because they aren't wanted elsewhere...they are not by any means world beaters.

Even.the missus was asking what some were there for

Huffing and puffing, nice team huddle before the game, we'll work on it during the week in training etc etc, heard it/seen 100's of times

We are bang average at best, and today's league position could be tge best we do, top 2 no chance

And why can Mr Bannan only use his left foot, surely the opposition only need keep him on t'other side amd he's screwed..but I don't get him anyway

All IMO...