One Game at a Time: Difficult Second Season?
Cheltenham Ladies College reserves (H) Water Buffalo Cup R1
“When I told people I was going to be a comedian they laughed. Well, they’re not laughing now!’ Bob Monkhouse
Where to begin?
I suppose the biggest element of the black pall that has settled over Home Park and its inhabitants is that, ever since his appointment, the mood music around Wayne Rooney’s appointment has been very much on the ascendent.
After an initial surge of “WTF’s” from inside and outside of the supporter base, the explanations have been rational, the interviews have been on the money, and the signings, on the face of it look measured and heading in the right direction. Optimism is always at it’s highest amongst football supporters before a ball has been kicked in anger. To that end witness the poll of Championship clubs where something like 85% of fan respondents expect their club to be in the play-offs or higher. A mere 6% expect any form of struggle to survive.
Not even the pre-season friendly performances which were somewhat underwhelming, barring a strong showing at our next opponents in the midweek reserves competition that is the Carabao Cup, dispelled the optimism. Minutes in the legs is all that counts. Exciting players that are going to surprise a few people. Patience was urged.
All the while the media attention that came with the high-profile appointment of new Head Coach Wayne Rooney meant that we kept our powder dry whilst the rest of the league in the main launched their campaigns.
Anticipation soared as Sunday, four PM approached. Away at old rivals, the Owls, who, despite a strong end to last season, and a surprisingly active transfer close season, were at least familiar foes, easily despatched at home last season, early in the Rohl reign. One of the causes of the demise of Ian Foster when they triumphed by a single goal at Hillsborough in that torturous and nerve-jangling run- in, they were to be respected rather than feared. Foster strayed too far over that line.
In no way an easy game, but on paper not the hardest either.
What followed was, if Elon Musk were a football fan, best described as, as spectacular a “rapid disassembly event” as many of us have witnessed in our footballing lifetime. And we have had a few.
Personally, I raised my eyebrows at the starting XI. This was a deployment of personnel never previously used in tandem. Gyabi back from having been out for two games. No great surprise at the deployment of the front four, although Bundu as a 10 has yet to convince me. I am a Hardie admirer, as pace is still the one thing that scares defenders, but I can also see the effectiveness of his deployment against tiring legs. Forshaw in the engine room? For sure. Injuries cost us Randell and Houghton. Gibson and Galloway as a pairing in many ways makes sense but it raises the hoary subject of two left foot biased central defenders in the way two right footers never seems to. Palsson on the right, again I can see the argument for. Ogbeta, as the inverting left full back/midfield extra man over Mumba I struggled with given we know Wednesday have pace and power down the flanks.
As pointed out at the time, with Hazard over Cooper (which I was fine with) in effect there has been a wholesale changing of the guard since we won promotion on a sunny day in the Potteries. Still, we knew what was required. Quiet the crowd, stop Bannon Barry Bannon ( c Sky commentary team) from dominating possession and pulling the strings and build on a solid foothold from there.
And to be fair that all worked perfectly well until the kick-off.
The ninety-six minutes that followed was as close to a procession for Wednesday as they will have this season. Bannon Barry Bannon basically played without a glove being laid on him and the only surprise was that it took thirty-five minutes for them to create an unmissable chance for Jamal Lowe to unmiss.
Barring a ten-minute spell just before the goal Argyle were, at best hapless. Outnumbered and overrun in midfield, with only a Forshaw freekick straight into the arms of Beadle to register as a technical shot on target. Our wide players were starved of any meaningful possession, our front players disconnected from the rest of the team, and build-up play was hurried and harried by the Wednesday press.
None of this should have been a surprise given Rohl’s pre-season pronouncements on his preferred style of play and determination to outrun his opponents. They pressed us well. Their first goal came from playing out from the back. They were everything we weren’t but want to be.
The only saving grace was reaching the sanctuary of the half-time dressing room only trailing by a single goal, to allow the coach and his team the time to reorganise, regroup and react.
The side that emerged showed only two changes. Foreshaw replacing Forshaw in name only, either as a result of falling foul of the Delphon Chanseri imposed ban on unofficial shirts or to confuse the Wednesday midfield. If this, and IC7 picking up a discarded Freddie Issaka misprinted top, was devised to sew confusion in the ranks then the only player it seemed to impact was Brendon Galloway. He was unfortunate to get in the way of a header from Lowe, who bullied Ogbeta at the far post, leaving Hazard watching in bemusement as his defensive partners header sailed past him for two-nil.
Changes when they did come were too little too late, although Hardie, Wright and Issaka made some forward impression. The story of the game however continued, with cross after cross and shot after shot. First perennial irritant Windass rammed home from eight yards as his barely tracked amble left him with the goal at his mercy. A final flourish from sub Smith in the last minute of added on cruelty left the score at four nil, and however you spelt it, that was the end of a dismal day.
Much has been made of the problem of the misspelt shirt. Amplified by the media circus that will follow Argyle for as long as we have a “name” in charge, I think it is worth keeping some perspective. A brief peruse of footballing history will show that the same fate has befallen players of much loftier standards and clubs, from Ibrahimovic, via Solskjaer and Jorghino and many more. Casemiro even retains this version of his misspelt name for lucky charm purposes as he was playing so well (it is Casimiro) although I doubt that will be something Adam Forshaw will be aiming to do after this weekend.
So as launches go it wasn’t great. In fact, as launches go it probably wasn’t far off the 1982 Atari 2600 video game launch of ET, a video game that ended up being buried in the New Mexican desert after it was launched. That game was also put together in five weeks, a similar amount of time as our ill-fated pre-season. And despite having invested $21 million for the rights, Atari ended up filing for bankruptcy after a half a billion dollar write down, in a commercial catastrophe that preceded a complete crash in the video game market the following year.
The films creator, Stephen Spielberg, asked the developer, who is now, ironically, a Silicon Valley based therapist, why he didn’t just do a Pac Man variant, rather than the disorienting and irritating game design they came up with? There is some mileage in thinking Inky, Binky, Pinky and Clyde, the Pac Man ghosts, might have made a better job of snapping at the Wednesday midfield heels than our hapless pair.
But launches come and launches go. From the Microsoft Zune to the Apple Newton, the De Lorean car that crashed (financially) before Back to the Future made them cool again, the triumph of hope over reality has many examples. Ford did it with the Edsel car after the war. Heinz did it with garishly coloured ketchups and someone somewhere once persuaded their parent company the Cheeto flavoured lip balm was a thing the world needed. Spoiler alert: it didn’t.
The best thing about the start to the season is all too soon you get a chance to put things right, and fortunately for WRPA that chance comes once again on Sky TV, this time at home and against a side that we have already stuffed five one, albeit in a friendly.
Cheltenham Ladies College reserves have already done one thing we haven't this season, which is won a league game. Although they have also done one other main thing since we last met in earnest which is get relegated. As a result, the squad is much changed from the last time we played them in the League, or indeed the Pizza Pot Van Cup semi-final which saw Callum Burton play the old water bottle three card monte in saving penalties at the end of the drawn game. Wembley followed. Sorry, were you close to forgetting that one too?
In charge I now, replacing Darrell Clarke whose reward for not keeping them up was a one-way ticket to Barnsley, is former Argyle managerial prospect Mike Flynn. Still trying to recover the form that made him a hot prospect at Newport, Flynn is joined at Town by ex -Argyle midfield youth player, and former TV reality game show participant Luke Young. From Deadpool to dead end.
Flynn at least avoided the start that cost Wade Elliott his job when it took Town 12 matches to score a goal. A 96th minute winner from loan signing Ruben Colvill against Flynn’s Alma Mater, County, largely compensated for the tossing away of a two goal first half lead by his side.
Although penalties, should they be required will mean we avoid a trip back to the spa town, we can expect a charge of sorts for the Robins as their ground is now sponsored by EV Charger Points. Everyone wants to go green it seems, although that deal is rather spoilt by the fact the one thing the ground they sponsor lacks (an oversight I am sure) are any changing points. Details, details. I hope all their shirts are correctly spelt.
For Rooney and Argyle a chance to put a disastrous weekend behind them. Or not, but you would hope that there will be enough shame and desire to make amends for that long and fruitless trip. Not Ryan Lowe disastrous, but bad enough.
For the media, a sharpening of pencils and puns, and a nervous couple of days for the kit room at Home Park. I mean would we really sign Wiredu this week of all weeks?
For the fans, the first home game of any kind this season. Then back to the serious points chase as we sit just three points off the top of the table.
Too soon?
COYG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Cheltenham Ladies College reserves (H) Water Buffalo Cup R1
“When I told people I was going to be a comedian they laughed. Well, they’re not laughing now!’ Bob Monkhouse
Where to begin?
I suppose the biggest element of the black pall that has settled over Home Park and its inhabitants is that, ever since his appointment, the mood music around Wayne Rooney’s appointment has been very much on the ascendent.
After an initial surge of “WTF’s” from inside and outside of the supporter base, the explanations have been rational, the interviews have been on the money, and the signings, on the face of it look measured and heading in the right direction. Optimism is always at it’s highest amongst football supporters before a ball has been kicked in anger. To that end witness the poll of Championship clubs where something like 85% of fan respondents expect their club to be in the play-offs or higher. A mere 6% expect any form of struggle to survive.
Not even the pre-season friendly performances which were somewhat underwhelming, barring a strong showing at our next opponents in the midweek reserves competition that is the Carabao Cup, dispelled the optimism. Minutes in the legs is all that counts. Exciting players that are going to surprise a few people. Patience was urged.
All the while the media attention that came with the high-profile appointment of new Head Coach Wayne Rooney meant that we kept our powder dry whilst the rest of the league in the main launched their campaigns.
Anticipation soared as Sunday, four PM approached. Away at old rivals, the Owls, who, despite a strong end to last season, and a surprisingly active transfer close season, were at least familiar foes, easily despatched at home last season, early in the Rohl reign. One of the causes of the demise of Ian Foster when they triumphed by a single goal at Hillsborough in that torturous and nerve-jangling run- in, they were to be respected rather than feared. Foster strayed too far over that line.
In no way an easy game, but on paper not the hardest either.
What followed was, if Elon Musk were a football fan, best described as, as spectacular a “rapid disassembly event” as many of us have witnessed in our footballing lifetime. And we have had a few.
Personally, I raised my eyebrows at the starting XI. This was a deployment of personnel never previously used in tandem. Gyabi back from having been out for two games. No great surprise at the deployment of the front four, although Bundu as a 10 has yet to convince me. I am a Hardie admirer, as pace is still the one thing that scares defenders, but I can also see the effectiveness of his deployment against tiring legs. Forshaw in the engine room? For sure. Injuries cost us Randell and Houghton. Gibson and Galloway as a pairing in many ways makes sense but it raises the hoary subject of two left foot biased central defenders in the way two right footers never seems to. Palsson on the right, again I can see the argument for. Ogbeta, as the inverting left full back/midfield extra man over Mumba I struggled with given we know Wednesday have pace and power down the flanks.
As pointed out at the time, with Hazard over Cooper (which I was fine with) in effect there has been a wholesale changing of the guard since we won promotion on a sunny day in the Potteries. Still, we knew what was required. Quiet the crowd, stop Bannon Barry Bannon ( c Sky commentary team) from dominating possession and pulling the strings and build on a solid foothold from there.
And to be fair that all worked perfectly well until the kick-off.
The ninety-six minutes that followed was as close to a procession for Wednesday as they will have this season. Bannon Barry Bannon basically played without a glove being laid on him and the only surprise was that it took thirty-five minutes for them to create an unmissable chance for Jamal Lowe to unmiss.
Barring a ten-minute spell just before the goal Argyle were, at best hapless. Outnumbered and overrun in midfield, with only a Forshaw freekick straight into the arms of Beadle to register as a technical shot on target. Our wide players were starved of any meaningful possession, our front players disconnected from the rest of the team, and build-up play was hurried and harried by the Wednesday press.
None of this should have been a surprise given Rohl’s pre-season pronouncements on his preferred style of play and determination to outrun his opponents. They pressed us well. Their first goal came from playing out from the back. They were everything we weren’t but want to be.
The only saving grace was reaching the sanctuary of the half-time dressing room only trailing by a single goal, to allow the coach and his team the time to reorganise, regroup and react.
The side that emerged showed only two changes. Foreshaw replacing Forshaw in name only, either as a result of falling foul of the Delphon Chanseri imposed ban on unofficial shirts or to confuse the Wednesday midfield. If this, and IC7 picking up a discarded Freddie Issaka misprinted top, was devised to sew confusion in the ranks then the only player it seemed to impact was Brendon Galloway. He was unfortunate to get in the way of a header from Lowe, who bullied Ogbeta at the far post, leaving Hazard watching in bemusement as his defensive partners header sailed past him for two-nil.
Changes when they did come were too little too late, although Hardie, Wright and Issaka made some forward impression. The story of the game however continued, with cross after cross and shot after shot. First perennial irritant Windass rammed home from eight yards as his barely tracked amble left him with the goal at his mercy. A final flourish from sub Smith in the last minute of added on cruelty left the score at four nil, and however you spelt it, that was the end of a dismal day.
Much has been made of the problem of the misspelt shirt. Amplified by the media circus that will follow Argyle for as long as we have a “name” in charge, I think it is worth keeping some perspective. A brief peruse of footballing history will show that the same fate has befallen players of much loftier standards and clubs, from Ibrahimovic, via Solskjaer and Jorghino and many more. Casemiro even retains this version of his misspelt name for lucky charm purposes as he was playing so well (it is Casimiro) although I doubt that will be something Adam Forshaw will be aiming to do after this weekend.
So as launches go it wasn’t great. In fact, as launches go it probably wasn’t far off the 1982 Atari 2600 video game launch of ET, a video game that ended up being buried in the New Mexican desert after it was launched. That game was also put together in five weeks, a similar amount of time as our ill-fated pre-season. And despite having invested $21 million for the rights, Atari ended up filing for bankruptcy after a half a billion dollar write down, in a commercial catastrophe that preceded a complete crash in the video game market the following year.
The films creator, Stephen Spielberg, asked the developer, who is now, ironically, a Silicon Valley based therapist, why he didn’t just do a Pac Man variant, rather than the disorienting and irritating game design they came up with? There is some mileage in thinking Inky, Binky, Pinky and Clyde, the Pac Man ghosts, might have made a better job of snapping at the Wednesday midfield heels than our hapless pair.
But launches come and launches go. From the Microsoft Zune to the Apple Newton, the De Lorean car that crashed (financially) before Back to the Future made them cool again, the triumph of hope over reality has many examples. Ford did it with the Edsel car after the war. Heinz did it with garishly coloured ketchups and someone somewhere once persuaded their parent company the Cheeto flavoured lip balm was a thing the world needed. Spoiler alert: it didn’t.
The best thing about the start to the season is all too soon you get a chance to put things right, and fortunately for WRPA that chance comes once again on Sky TV, this time at home and against a side that we have already stuffed five one, albeit in a friendly.
Cheltenham Ladies College reserves have already done one thing we haven't this season, which is won a league game. Although they have also done one other main thing since we last met in earnest which is get relegated. As a result, the squad is much changed from the last time we played them in the League, or indeed the Pizza Pot Van Cup semi-final which saw Callum Burton play the old water bottle three card monte in saving penalties at the end of the drawn game. Wembley followed. Sorry, were you close to forgetting that one too?
In charge I now, replacing Darrell Clarke whose reward for not keeping them up was a one-way ticket to Barnsley, is former Argyle managerial prospect Mike Flynn. Still trying to recover the form that made him a hot prospect at Newport, Flynn is joined at Town by ex -Argyle midfield youth player, and former TV reality game show participant Luke Young. From Deadpool to dead end.
Flynn at least avoided the start that cost Wade Elliott his job when it took Town 12 matches to score a goal. A 96th minute winner from loan signing Ruben Colvill against Flynn’s Alma Mater, County, largely compensated for the tossing away of a two goal first half lead by his side.
Although penalties, should they be required will mean we avoid a trip back to the spa town, we can expect a charge of sorts for the Robins as their ground is now sponsored by EV Charger Points. Everyone wants to go green it seems, although that deal is rather spoilt by the fact the one thing the ground they sponsor lacks (an oversight I am sure) are any changing points. Details, details. I hope all their shirts are correctly spelt.
For Rooney and Argyle a chance to put a disastrous weekend behind them. Or not, but you would hope that there will be enough shame and desire to make amends for that long and fruitless trip. Not Ryan Lowe disastrous, but bad enough.
For the media, a sharpening of pencils and puns, and a nervous couple of days for the kit room at Home Park. I mean would we really sign Wiredu this week of all weeks?
For the fans, the first home game of any kind this season. Then back to the serious points chase as we sit just three points off the top of the table.
Too soon?
COYG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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