Brief Synopsis!!! (Cambridge)

[Forest of Dean Green]

Plan A works though, the majority of the time, we’re 4th in the league and the form table has shown steady improvement over the course of the season as the players have become more accustomed to the system. Plan A is what we’re about, it’s our philosophy, our style, the way we want to play long term, at all levels of the club. Adaptations and small alterations sure, but a plan B is for when plan A doesn’t work or you don’t have faith in it, which we should.

The point about having a footballing philosophy is continuity, from good results to bad results, from good form patches to poor/average form patches, from sets of players to different sets of players, sometimes if it’s a club philosophy (Swansea for example) even from manager to manager, it’s overarching, it supersedes the short term in the hope of providing long term gain, that’s why we stick to it and don’t move to a plan B willy nilly when things aren’t quite clicking in a particular match, and that’s the right way to go in my view.

Cobi, a well-reasoned post, and I largely agree with what you say. Abandoning a decent philosophy at the first sign of trouble would not be the way to long-term success, and the philosophy, and those behind it, should be given time to improve. Having said that, I feel that what may be bothering many at the moment is not so much the lack of a Plan B, but the narrowness in scope of the Plan A. The current plan A smacks of stubbornness in that there is no apparent change even when the plan is blatantly not working, as was the case against Cambridge. It was obvious to those watching that there was a need for something different to break Cambridge down, but all we got was a change in personnel, not in strategy. The top teams have the kind of "whole club on the same wavelength" philosophy that you advocate, and which I agree with, but they are not afraid to tweak things during a game when needed. To use the wider aspect of their plan A, if you like.

For Cambridge read our performance v Liverpool away in be cup. Sometimes teams set up to draw and even the best in the business can’t play their way through. And you wouldn’t expect a change in philosophy from Liverpool. It was one of those games and in the main, it works. When you are sat in the stands and you hear people shouting to ‘get it forward’ when we have a game based on playing through the thirds, recycling and retaining the ball (being patient) and, mostly, winning, it’s disappointing. This is much better fare but we need to always remember the reason it doesn’t always come off is that we are league 2 and players are inconsistent, sometimes teams set us puzzles we can’t crack, and occasionally we just aren’t on our game. None of those are reasons to lose patience.

I think you would find the reason some fans are losing patience is because we have already wasted a season after last year's debacle. People shout "get it forward" because we waste so much time faffing around at the back. If the players aren't up to it why persist in these tactics against teams like Cambridge?

Adams wasted a season. Not Lowe. He has us in the hunt.

 

[Metal Green Mickey]

I think you find the reason fans are losing patience is because..... they don't have the patience and expect everything to be successful straight away.

It really does make my mind boggle that in Lowe's first season, we talk of these "expectations". Its his first season at Argyle. With a mix n match squad. The fact we are in the automatic promotion mix is good because with our defence and forward line we shouldn't be.

Simply we have a defence that's tries but is slow. Then they just lose concentration too many times for basic mistakes.

We have a forward line where because of injuries and out of form players we rely on a first year professional to score the goals to take us into the top 3.

Look at the squad. We are playing a passing football style with too many bang averages players (below a decent league 2level), which is why we give the opposition so many decent chances to score.

Sarcevic is prime example. Sure he has done better than most this season but I think that reflects how good our squad is when we think he is a key player.

Everyone is hyping this season for promotion. If it happens then good but if not we sort out key areas of our squad and should be in a better & stronger position next season.

I know this won't be the case in the way other fans think if we don't get promoted. I know people will be angry, annoyed and frustrated about being in league 2 again but the simple fact is this team has too many weaknesses you can't resolved in less than 12 months.

We changed our playing philosophy. We have players from the previous regime who simply don't have the player attributes that are required in this current team to play without making basic mistakes. It's those mistakes, and the high volume of opportunities we present the opposition, that unfortunately will probably be our downfall.

We are a good league two team. They are the type that get into the playoffs. It's the very good teams that often win automatic promotion and hand on heart l honestly can't say we are at that standard yet.

 

[Tugboat]

I think you find the reason fans are losing patience is because..... they don't have the patience and expect everything to be successful straight away.

It really does make my mind boggle that in Lowe's first season, we talk of these "expectations". Its his first season at Argyle. With a mix n match squad. The fact we are in the automatic promotion mix is good because with our defence and forward line we shouldn't be.

Simply we have a defence that's tries but is slow. Then they just lose concentration too many times for basic mistakes.

We have a forward line where because of injuries and out of form players we rely on a first year professional to score the goals to take us into the top 3.

Look at the squad. We are playing a passing football style with too many bang averages players (below a decent league 2level), which is why we give the opposition so many decent chances to score.

Sarcevic is prime example. Sure he has done better than most this season but I think that reflects how good our squad is when we think he is a key player.

Everyone is hyping this season for promotion. If it happens then good but if not we sort out key areas of our squad and should be in a better & stronger position next season.

I know this won't be the case in the way other fans think if we don't get promoted. I know people will be angry, annoyed and frustrated about being in league 2 again but the simple fact is this team has too many weaknesses you can't resolved in less than 12 months.

We changed our playing philosophy. We have players from the previous regime who simply don't have the player attributes that are required in this current team to play without making basic mistakes. It's those mistakes, and the high volume of opportunities we present the opposition, that unfortunately will probably be our downfall.

We are a good league two team. They are the type that get into the playoffs. It's the very good teams that often win automatic promotion and hand on heart l honestly can't say we are at that standard yet.

Very well put MGM.

Hard to counter any off that.

 

[Guiri Green]

I think you find the reason fans are losing patience is because..... they don't have the patience and expect everything to be successful straight away.

It really does make my mind boggle that in Lowe's first season, we talk of these "expectations". Its his first season at Argyle. With a mix n match squad. The fact we are in the automatic promotion mix is good because with our defence and forward line we shouldn't be.

Simply we have a defence that's tries but is slow. Then they just lose concentration too many times for basic mistakes.

We have a forward line where because of injuries and out of form players we rely on a first year professional to score the goals to take us into the top 3.

Look at the squad. We are playing a passing football style with too many bang averages players (below a decent league 2level), which is why we give the opposition so many decent chances to score.

Sarcevic is prime example. Sure he has done better than most this season but I think that reflects how good our squad is when we think he is a key player.

Everyone is hyping this season for promotion. If it happens then good but if not we sort out key areas of our squad and should be in a better & stronger position next season.

I know this won't be the case in the way other fans think if we don't get promoted. I know people will be angry, annoyed and frustrated about being in league 2 again but the simple fact is this team has too many weaknesses you can't resolved in less than 12 months.

We changed our playing philosophy. We have players from the previous regime who simply don't have the player attributes that are required in this current team to play without making basic mistakes. It's those mistakes, and the high volume of opportunities we present the opposition, that unfortunately will probably be our downfall.

We are a good league two team. They are the type that get into the playoffs. It's the very good teams that often win automatic promotion and hand on heart l honestly can't say we are at that standard yet.

So, despite being 4th with a slow defence, lightweight attack, poor midfield and a below average squad - just what has Ryan Lowe got right this Season ?

You've more or less written everything off yet continue with your regular forensic analysis. I think we're doing quite well to be honest. The Football is a bit repetitive at times but we've won 10 more than we've lost or drawn and remain on par with the top 3. You never know, we might go up automatically despite being so poor.

I read similar when Derek Adams got us promoted.

 

[Cobi Budge]

Plan A works though, the majority of the time, we’re 4th in the league and the form table has shown steady improvement over the course of the season as the players have become more accustomed to the system. Plan A is what we’re about, it’s our philosophy, our style, the way we want to play long term, at all levels of the club. Adaptations and small alterations sure, but a plan B is for when plan A doesn’t work or you don’t have faith in it, which we should.

The point about having a footballing philosophy is continuity, from good results to bad results, from good form patches to poor/average form patches, from sets of players to different sets of players, sometimes if it’s a club philosophy (Swansea for example) even from manager to manager, it’s overarching, it supersedes the short term in the hope of providing long term gain, that’s why we stick to it and don’t move to a plan B willy nilly when things aren’t quite clicking in a particular match, and that’s the right way to go in my view.

Cobi, a well-reasoned post, and I largely agree with what you say. Abandoning a decent philosophy at the first sign of trouble would not be the way to long-term success, and the philosophy, and those behind it, should be given time to improve. Having said that, I feel that what may be bothering many at the moment is not so much the lack of a Plan B, but the narrowness in scope of the Plan A. The current plan A smacks of stubbornness in that there is no apparent change even when the plan is blatantly not working, as was the case against Cambridge. It was obvious to those watching that there was a need for something different to break Cambridge down, but all we got was a change in personnel, not in strategy. The top teams have the kind of "whole club on the same wavelength" philosophy that you advocate, and which I agree with, but they are not afraid to tweak things during a game when needed. To use the wider aspect of their plan A, if you like.

For Cambridge read our performance v Liverpool away in be cup. Sometimes teams set up to draw and even the best in the business can’t play their way through. And you wouldn’t expect a change in philosophy from Liverpool. It was one of those games and in the main, it works. When you are sat in the stands and you hear people shouting to ‘get it forward’ when we have a game based on playing through the thirds, recycling and retaining the ball (being patient) and, mostly, winning, it’s disappointing. This is much better fare but we need to always remember the reason it doesn’t always come off is that we are league 2 and players are inconsistent, sometimes teams set us puzzles we can’t crack, and occasionally we just aren’t on our game. None of those are reasons to lose patience.

I think you would find the reason some fans are losing patience is because we have already wasted a season after last year's debacle.

Last season's debacle was down to Adams and has nothing to do with Ryan Lowe, it shouldn't be held against him and he shouldn't have to consider it when building his own team/way of playing.

 

[Cobi Budge]

Plan A works though, the majority of the time, we’re 4th in the league and the form table has shown steady improvement over the course of the season as the players have become more accustomed to the system. Plan A is what we’re about, it’s our philosophy, our style, the way we want to play long term, at all levels of the club. Adaptations and small alterations sure, but a plan B is for when plan A doesn’t work or you don’t have faith in it, which we should.

The point about having a footballing philosophy is continuity, from good results to bad results, from good form patches to poor/average form patches, from sets of players to different sets of players, sometimes if it’s a club philosophy (Swansea for example) even from manager to manager, it’s overarching, it supersedes the short term in the hope of providing long term gain, that’s why we stick to it and don’t move to a plan B willy nilly when things aren’t quite clicking in a particular match, and that’s the right way to go in my view.

Cobi, a well-reasoned post, and I largely agree with what you say. Abandoning a decent philosophy at the first sign of trouble would not be the way to long-term success, and the philosophy, and those behind it, should be given time to improve. Having said that, I feel that what may be bothering many at the moment is not so much the lack of a Plan B, but the narrowness in scope of the Plan A. The current plan A smacks of stubbornness in that there is no apparent change even when the plan is blatantly not working, as was the case against Cambridge. It was obvious to those watching that there was a need for something different to break Cambridge down, but all we got was a change in personnel, not in strategy. The top teams have the kind of "whole club on the same wavelength" philosophy that you advocate, and which I agree with, but they are not afraid to tweak things during a game when needed. To use the wider aspect of their plan A, if you like.

A good reply and I accept a lot of what you say. My gripe is simply people suggesting that the system we play isn't working, when it quite obviously is, against Cambridge, maybe not, but overall yes, and the bigger pictures matters more than individual games

 

[Pilgrim Dan]

I think a good benchmark is to compare our position to that of the teams that went down with us.

We are above all of Walsall, Bradford and Scunthorpe and playing much better football than last season.

I think Exeter being above us adds added pressure. I'm hoping that they do their annual capitulation around now, and we can take advantage

 

[oldage]

I think a good benchmark is to compare our position to that of the teams that went down with us.

We are above all of Walsall, Bradford and Scunthorpe and playing much better football than last season.

I think Exeter being above us adds added pressure. I'm hoping that they do their annual capitulation around now, and we can take advantage

I think you'll find that it is us who capitulate as well at the end of the season! The above teams did not go down on goal difference. We are playing better football and at the moment the 4th best of in an awful division. However I still am not convinced by our performances and feel we lack the quality for automatic promotion.

 

[mervyn]

I think a good benchmark is to compare our position to that of the teams that went down with us.

We are above all of Walsall, Bradford and Scunthorpe and playing much better football than last season.

I think Exeter being above us adds added pressure. I'm hoping that they do their annual capitulation around now, and we can take advantage

Darn it Pilgrim Dan, I started to post that very point an hour ago but got sidetracked. In all divisions it’s unusual for a team to bounce straight back after relegation, and I bet if we’d all been told last July that in mid Feb we would be fourth, we’d have been delighted. Can’t see Exeter slide this time though. Too much strength in depth this season, but hope I’m wrong.

 

[Metal Green Mickey]

I think you find the reason fans are losing patience is because..... they don't have the patience and expect everything to be successful straight away.

It really does make my mind boggle that in Lowe's first season, we talk of these "expectations". Its his first season at Argyle. With a mix n match squad. The fact we are in the automatic promotion mix is good because with our defence and forward line we shouldn't be.

Simply we have a defence that's tries but is slow. Then they just lose concentration too many times for basic mistakes.

We have a forward line where because of injuries and out of form players we rely on a first year professional to score the goals to take us into the top 3.

Look at the squad. We are playing a passing football style with too many bang averages players (below a decent league 2level), which is why we give the opposition so many decent chances to score.

Sarcevic is prime example. Sure he has done better than most this season but I think that reflects how good our squad is when we think he is a key player.

Everyone is hyping this season for promotion. If it happens then good but if not we sort out key areas of our squad and should be in a better & stronger position next season.

I know this won't be the case in the way other fans think if we don't get promoted. I know people will be angry, annoyed and frustrated about being in league 2 again but the simple fact is this team has too many weaknesses you can't resolved in less than 12 months.

We changed our playing philosophy. We have players from the previous regime who simply don't have the player attributes that are required in this current team to play without making basic mistakes. It's those mistakes, and the high volume of opportunities we present the opposition, that unfortunately will probably be our downfall.

We are a good league two team. They are the type that get into the playoffs. It's the very good teams that often win automatic promotion and hand on heart l honestly can't say we are at that standard yet.

So, despite being 4th with a slow defence, lightweight attack, poor midfield and a below average squad - just what has Ryan Lowe got right this Season ?

You've more or less written everything off yet continue with your regular forensic analysis. I think we're doing quite well to be honest. The Football is a bit repetitive at times but we've won 10 more than we've lost or drawn and remain on par with the top 3. You never know, we might go up automatically despite being so poor.

I read similar when Derek Adams got us promoted.

It's not forsenic analysis.

It's what happens in majority of games regarding our defense. All l do is comment on what alot of us who regularly go to HP can see.

I said the "team" is good. I never said we have been poor. I said individuals aren't good enough though which is why we see repeative mistakes. Which has happened.

I've praised Lowe on numerous occasions. I think he is doing a decent job given the circumstances of players he inherited. I'd like to see more tactical flexibility but otherwise ld v happy with our approach.

As for the Adams thing, the relegation of last years team couldn't cover up the cracks you could see coming from that style of football from the years before. And that was with Carey and Lameiras in the team, who most fans say were players of a good standard.

I made the post because some expectations for Lowes first 12 months seems unfair, especially when you have managers in this league (with their current team) who had 12 months more to build their squads.

 

[Knibbsworth]

We are a good league two team. They are the type that get into the playoffs. It's the very good teams that often win automatic promotion and hand on heart l honestly can't say we are at that standard yet.

Which three teams in this division are the very good teams then?

 

[Metal Green Mickey]

We are a good league two team. They are the type that get into the playoffs. It's the very good teams that often win automatic promotion and hand on heart l honestly can't say we are at that standard yet.

Which three teams in this division are the very good teams then?

I guess we will find out at end of season.

 

[Knibbsworth]

So you know Argyle aren't a very good team, and can post 1000 word essays on why we won't get automatically promoted. But then don't know what a very good team looks like, and can't name one?

 

[Biggs]

League 2 is about managing your resources so that when looking at the big picture the positives outweigh the many negatives that come when you are in the fourth tier, only able to attract third and fourth tier players and unable to pay transfer fees or big wages. If you can develop some sort of footballing philosophy while getting results, as we have done, then even better.

I'd say Ryan Lowe is doing that pretty damn well, evidenced by us being top or near-top of the form table since a very understandable slow start, and now being four points off the top of the league (at the risk of going off-topic, but Derek Adams also did that damn well for at least 3 out of 4 seasons, but without developing an attacking footballing philosophy and without the new infrastructure supporting him.)

We really don't need lengthy post-mortems when all of us are aware there will always be major shortcomings at this level. Swindon, Crewe and Exeter fans will be seeing major issues in their teams too. This is League 2. Lots of defenders are slow. Lots of strikers can't finish consistently. Lots of midfielders disappear regularly.

 

[Devongreenowl]

I think you would find the reason some fans are losing patience is because we have already wasted a season after last year's debacle. People shout "get it forward" because we waste so much time faffing around at the back. If the players aren't up to it why persist in these tactics against teams like Cambridge?

I think you would find the reason some 'fans' are losing patience, is because they are miserable, moaning idiots in general, who are giving the team and management are hard time despite the fact they are very well placed for automatic promotion.

People shout 'get it forward' because they haven’t got a clue. What is so difficult to understand that when a team like Cambridge comes to defend, mostly with all 11 behind the ball that if you 'get it forward' it will almost certainly be headed or hoofed straight back out again.

Christ only knows what it must have been like on here and Plymouth Live last season, if this is what the likes of you are like when the team are doing well. Oh I forgot, it’s all been luck :facepalm: