Brief Synopsis!!! (Southend)

[Tugboat]

That looked like a team of players with no actual specific roles.

You could get 10 outfield footballers of any role, position, attributes and put them together in a 4-3-3 and I dot think they would have done any worse.

The defence were just hacking balls away as they came in. Wheh they did have time they passed it twice the panicked and went long bypassing the midfield.

Midfield could have been made up of 3 goal keepers because they had no influence or composure and were second to everything.

We could have had a 5ft stumpy up front instead of Taylor and it would have made no difference because his hold up play was ineffective. In fact it may have been the reason why we were so poor having an easy way out for others to jus punt a ball upfield.

I know it’s only the second game but I don’t know what can be done with that CB partnership. It’s slow and uneasy.

4-3-3 for us is dead without a Toumbs style CM who can have some presence because Grant, Fox and particularly Ness were void today.

3-5-1-1 maybe?

 

[Nobby]

Oh dear!!!

I don’t normally take too much notice of statistics but 17 shots, 5 on target for the away team against 5 shots, 2 on target for the home team seems to tell the story of this game.

Southend looked good but perhaps we made them look good.

Very poor performance in the opinion of a self confessed green tint.

One of our shots on target was the penalty. Can't recall another one though??

I believe it was the shot that led to the penalty. Keeper saved a header from Grant I think, it fell to Moore who was then fouled. Then the penalty itself was the second.

Other than that, I remember an effort into the side netting from Ladapo near the end but that's it.

 

[Larry David]

Absolutely dire performance, Southend will be gutted not to come away with 3 points. Clueless and gutless. Best thing about the day? It didn't rain during the 90 minutes.

 

[Dorset Green]

Poor yes, but not shockingly poor, there's definitely a lot of work required. Derek Adams seems to have not achieved much from the pre-season as Argyle were very disjointed today.

Central defence looks a bit lacking in mobility.
Badly need Sarcevic back to bolster midfield, Songo'o made a difference when he came on.
Taylor doesn't look 100% fit I thought he was very poor and should have come off with Lapdo going up front. Having said that the service to him was pretty awful.

It's going to take a few games to sort this out.

 

[oldage]

What do our players do in training during the week? What improvement have the new players made to the team? Plenty of time to sort it out but based on today's and last week's displays the pre season games have done little to gel the team.

 

[djg145]

Well that was disappointing - I had hoped for better.

The team looked like they had never trained or played together, especially the defenders, Southend much the better side.

The only player who stood out for Argyle was Songo'o, he made more tackles then anyone else.

Looks like another slow start to the season, a lot of work required, before we resemble a team of footballers.

Not sure how Shaun McCarthy could describe the first half as 'excellent football' on Radio Devon :funny:

I think we got away with it today - 1 point in the bag - dubious penalty for us and Southend's poor finishing.

 

[Cobi Budge]

Poor and lucky to get a point.

 

[Balham Green]

I left feeling we’d taken a step back in terms of quality. Sonny and Vyner would walk into this team. Sarcevic has no real competition for his place. Fox looked like this might be a season too many (unless injured?)

This demolition and rebuilding each year doesn’t look like a winning formula to me. Early doors but we looked like a patched up league 2 team fresh to league 1.

You might be right, but
A) Vyner was never ours to keep.
B) Bradley's wages could have brought two or three new signings in.
C) We had a much more horrendous start last season and did OK.

There are some signs there that things aren't terrific at the minute, but the back four (especially) need time to gel. Like Mark Pedlar said, I'm not convinced Wootton is starting material and would be more comfortable with Canavan back there for the time being. But they are all literally just getting to know each other. Vyner slotted into a settled capable defence that had won promotion together, so it's hard to draw comparisons. In a monnth I imagine we will look a bit more capable defensively.

'More horrendous start' last season? ? That's more Knibbsworth fake news isn't it? This time last season we had 3 points against a play off team. Don't see the point in sugar coating it anyway. That's 3 worrying performances now including being outplayed by Yeovil.

 

[Cobi Budge]

Macey - 8
Made a number of good saves and good catches, he was the difference between a point and nothing.

Moore - 4
I've got no idea why so many people thought he had a good game, baffling, constantly lost possession and constantly out of position, then again Argyle fans have always had this odd "oh he's quick he must be good" mentality.

Edwards - 4
Again, not sure why he's being praised, a number of errors.

Wootton - 4
Looked worryingly slow and weak.

Smith Brown - 6
Did fine.

Fox - 5
A couple of good challenges but not involved much.

Grand - 5
See above.

Ness - 4
Frequently lost the ball.

Carey - 5
Good penalty but that was about it.

Taylor - 6
Worked hard with little service.

Ruben - 4
Went missing.

All 3 subs failed to make an impact.

 

[tonycholwell]

Hmmm, at half time it looked like a replay of last week at Walsall.

We escaped with a point only because the visitors failed to capitalise on their chances and because of the form of Macey.

Personally, had a good chat to Dave Smith before the game and noted Sparksy and Luggy were very animated throughout the game.

 

[Fat_green_belly]

"Wake up lyndhurst, main stands here, doo da, doo da"
"Drink your women and **** your beer, doo, da doo da day" Something like that anyways. 70s hooligan memory lapse maybe?
Back came the resounding lyndy reply. Zzzzzzzzzzzzz!
Only joshing lyndhursters. Perfectly understandable to slumber a tad whilst watching argyles efforts today tbh.
All summer been looking forward to this. Been sweating buckets i have, with no rain seen anywhere down ere onicknowle way.
Walking down to HP and it now decides after all this time its gonna pish down and drench me. Typically it then stops
when i get in me seat. Grrrr!
Wasnt too bad a view high up in the lyndy though and had lots of other main stand evacuees all around me to make it
feel homelike and main standy. Including a little old lady sat next door, thankfully giving me the room to get my giraffe like legs
into a more comfy position. No more laying down on empty seats and having a kip this season though.

The game from an argyle perspective was pretty dire. The shrimpers looked the better team throughout but then again we did still
managed to claim a battling point. So credit is due for that. My first view of 5 new players plus big freddie coming on as a sub.
The 2 young FB starters, ASB and tafari did look to have some potential. Same with CM conor but they all still look like they need
more gametime at this level if they are to improve us as a team. That may take some time.
Also some extra strength and conditioning stuff from our new ex RM coach might help too. I noticed the new "sgnt major" ollie osborne
taking the pre match training today instead of the now promoted assistant general wottsie.
Matt macey was my MOM today. He kept us in the game with a host of fine saves so he already looks a good addition to the team.
Big freddie came on towards the end and didnt feature much apart from one run with a couple of ronaldo like stepovers
but with an unronaldo like shot into the side netting to finish. More to come from him hopefully.

The same can be said about the team overall including the other newbie and much more experienced scott wootton. This team
performance was a million miles away from what we saw from argyle last season when at their best. Which is a bit worrying
in regards to bettering the 7th place we achieved. Our great run last season was built on solid defence whilst also dominating
and controlling centre mid. This then enabling the TLC triangle to work their magic. I saw none of that today.
Partly due perhaps to the inexperience that i mentioned above but also today we were badly missing our short passing style from
back to front through the GK, back 4 and playmaker foxy. The 2 CBS eddy and woottsy mainly at fault launching way too much
long aerial stuff in lone ranger ryans vicinity. At times they didnt even look to be interested in playing possession based football.
Worse still they also both looked vulnerable when defending, especially to pace. They are already looking far too similar
to play as a pair. Both play like 2 old fashioned stoppers. Both right footers which doesnt help much either.
However, yanner coming on as sub for foxy 2nd half gave them better protection and tbf it did settle them down defensively.
The team settling a tad with it too. A way forward in the short term perhaps? Other CBs are available as well so work still in progress
i guess in this area.

Tactically it was our 433 v their 4411. They had their formation off to a tee whereas we looked to still be in pre season with ours
what with DA chopping and changing personnel and roles again trying to find the solution. Right at the end was probably the
best imho with yanner sitting in front of the CBs and up front a lop sided front 3 with 2 central stikers and a wide winger
in GC10. Mustnt forget argyles brilliant no 10 today. Mostly poor service up to him but still able to put away a great first
half top corner pen when required. A rare highlight today.
Never mind. At least we didnt lose and we can only improve on this now. Surely. :scarf:

 

[djg145]

Macey - 8
Made a number of good saves and good catches, he was the difference between a point and nothing.

Moore - 4
I've got no idea why so many people thought he had a good game, baffling, constantly lost possession and constantly out of position, then again Argyle fans have always had this odd "oh he's quick he must be good" mentality.

Edwards - 4
Again, not sure why he's being praised, a number of errors.

Wootton - 4
Looked worryingly slow and weak.

Smith Brown - 6
Did fine.

Fox - 5
A couple of good challenges but not involved much.

Grand - 5
See above.

Ness - 4
Frequently lost the ball.

Carey - 5
Good penalty but that was about it.

Taylor - 6
Worked hard with little service.

Ruben - 4
Went missing.

All 3 subs failed to make an impact.

Well in my opinion - Songo'o did make a difference, he put some much needed bite into the midfield, he tackled more then all the players who were on the pitch for 90+ minutes.

 

[Metal Green Mickey]

Macey - 8
Made a number of good saves and good catches, he was the difference between a point and nothing.

Moore - 4
I've got no idea why so many people thought he had a good game, baffling, constantly lost possession and constantly out of position, then again Argyle fans have always had this odd "oh he's quick he must be good" mentality.

Edwards - 4
Again, not sure why he's being praised, a number of errors.

Wootton - 4
Looked worryingly slow and weak.

Smith Brown - 6
Did fine.

Fox - 5
A couple of good challenges but not involved much.

Grand - 5
See above.

Ness - 4
Frequently lost the ball.

Carey - 5
Good penalty but that was about it.

Taylor - 6
Worked hard with little service.

Ruben - 4
Went missing.

All 3 subs failed to make an impact.

Well in my opinion - Songo'o did make a difference, he put some much needed bite into the midfield, he tackled more then all the players who were on the pitch for 90+ minutes.

I think so too. Which all points to us needing a decent CM with Songo’o physicality, but better ball skills.

 

[Andy S]

Nice to see that nothing has changed, when it comes to reports from HP from those who were, allegedly, there.

Umpteen different opinions and it's like everyone watched a different game.

Ratings of 3 from some, 7 from others, massive criticism of a player, massive praise for the same player!

Of course, some things never change - Cobi is right and everyone else is wrong!

 

[Steve Evans]

Macey - 8
Made a number of good saves and good catches, he was the difference between a point and nothing.

Moore - 4
I've got no idea why so many people thought he had a good game, baffling, constantly lost possession and constantly out of position, then again Argyle fans have always had this odd "oh he's quick he must be good" mentality.

Edwards - 4
Again, not sure why he's being praised, a number of errors.

Wootton - 4
Looked worryingly slow and weak.

Smith Brown - 6
Did fine.

Fox - 5
A couple of good challenges but not involved much.

Grand - 5
See above.

Ness - 4
Frequently lost the ball.

Carey - 5
Good penalty but that was about it.

Taylor - 6
Worked hard with little service.

Ruben - 4
Went missing.

All 3 subs failed to make an impact.

i disagree about all three subs not making an impact.songo'o was excellent in my opinion.