One Game at a Time: Difficult Second Season?
Queens Park Rangers (A) August 24th 12.30 (are you sure.....)
Fourth game of the season, third time on Sky, fourth different kick off time. Welcome to the fan friendly, Sky Sports driven, EFL. At least we still have the same manager. Pity poor old Preston who go into their third league game still without a goal in seven matches and already on their third manager of the season.
The Championship is already proving reliably unreliable. Fresh from launching HMS PTL, Wednesday fans are now bemoaning the fact that, after a drubbing on Wearside, their title winning goal difference has already been wiped out, and they now face a limping Dirty Leeds at home, again on Sky, for Friday night entertainment. Itâs Bannon Barry Bannon I feel sorry for. If, as seemed the consensus after Sundayâs hammering, HMS PTL is holed below the waterline, then there is only one player who is going to drown first, and I wouldnât be banking on Josh Windass to make the ultimate sacrifice, to save the mercurial Hobbiton midfielder.
Indeed, all over the table you can find inconsistencies that make meaningful analysis, well, a lot less meaningful. For example, after a possession based dominant first half performance at Burnley, Cardiff sit proudly bottom, having added a five nil defeat to their two nil capitulation at home to Sunderland, who join Burnley on six points. Also there, much maligned Watford, just ahead of the even more maligned Blackburn, now shorn of their scoring behemoth Szmodics, but already 12 goals into their season including Carabao Cup, with only a respectable 25% of them attributed to their departed hero.
Runaway title favourites Leeds are already deeply mired in a relegation struggle, after a single point from two games and an abject home defeat by Boro in the Carabao. With Farke looking as if he is under pressure, Wendies fans are worried that Friday nightâs game is already part derby, part job interview for their kaiser, Rohl. It is a bittersweet irony when a strong home performance against your second closest rivals could potentially lead them to decide they might want to cannibalise your management team.
Meanwhile, Argyle shook off, to some degree, the awfulness of their opening weekend and bagged Wayneâs first Championship point since a goalless draw at St Andrews in late December against Bristol City. The performance was, whilst not perfect, much better, with Argyle dominating the shot stats and touches in the box to a degree unimaginable from the previous weekend. Only an excellent long range shot from Hull captain Coyle denied then the win, after Cissokoâs neat and accurate finish from inside the box. Coming on top of his late double assist Cissoko is fast becoming a fan favourite, although he may be a little stop start if he maintains his yellow card a start statistic for too much longer. This one was for the completely unnecessary shirt discarding after scoring.
Missing from the Argyle starting XI, which had a much more familiar constitution, were Palsson and TJ (completely), and assured Carabao debutant Szuchs. The first two injured and unavailable, the latter carrying a knock but on the bench.
Also missing was the finally departed Cooper, now bench warming for the Blades, and getting a first-hand view of the upcoming opponents for the lunchtime game, QPR.
Rangers started the season as a hot pick amongst those pundits who understand these things, and some, like me, who donât. Their form towards the end of the season was chilli pepper hot, and in coach Cifuentes they seemed to have found the perfect alchemist to make the team a multiple of the sum of its parts. Arriving early November, after the ill-fated course being charted by Gareth Ainsworth had left them with eight points from fourteen games, Cifuentes steadied the ship, and whilst their final run produced a high number of victories that took them comfortably clear of the relegation scrap, only one was what you would call decisive, a four-nil drubbing of Leeds at Loftus Road (or whatever they call it these days). Scoring goals was an issue, with their leading marksmen being putative fugitive from the Belgian Courts Ilias âElectricâ Chair, and long-term fugitive from trapping and close control drills, Lyndon Dykes, who between them managed five less than Morgan.
Both last seasonâs fixtures were draws. A goalless affair in London where Argyles front foot display ground to a halt after the desperate Scarr lunge resulted in a red card and a backs to the wall defensive display, and a torrid Home Park relegation scrap, where a last gasp error by keeper Begovic, aided and abetted by âUncle Albertâ Adomahâs knee meant Argyle escaped with an undeserved point, that ultimately kept them up. Rangerâs finishing was appalling, and we hope that the various recruits they have brought in to remedy that continue in the same vein.
Cifuentes surgery of the squad was anticipated to allow him to continue to improve the form of a side that, based on their final half of the season would have been challenging for the play-offs at the very least. The loss of Chair to a back problem, presumably from carrying the team for a season and a half and counting, and their joint top league scorer this season (with one) in Andersen who seemed to somehow pull his hamstring taking a corner, hampers their creativity somewhat. That said, there is the possibility of a new Danish midfielder arriving in Madsen, and they have improved their forward options substantially with the loan signing of Dembele, who excelled on loan at Blackpool last season, and who is often mistaken for his own Corinthian figure when out and about. Alongside the only player in the division who can see up Barry Bannon nostrils without bending over comes human sushi dish Koki Saito, who gained an assist on debut at Bramall Lane. No mean feat when the assist was via the instep of Lyndon Dykes. I think it safe to say the shot which was glided in off the strikerâs instep almost certainly was aided by it being the most pristine and previously untouched piece of boot leather the striker possesses.
That Cifuentes will make changes is inevitable. Partly because by his own admission he got the selection wrong, which resulted in United easily racking up a two-goal cushion and mainly because, aside from Andersonâs injury, he will be coping once again without the footballing intellectual most likely to win the games equivalent of the Darwin awards, Jack Colback.
Colback, who regularly misses large parts of each season through suspension, managed to get himself sent off for two acts of dissent within around three minutes of each other, to two different members of the officialâs team. What was the dissent about? A heinous assault on a teammate? An egregious penalisation of his side for something that wasnât even a foul? No. What Mad Jack McMad was mad about was the failure of the referee to book an opponent, complaining about a foul by Michi Frey, by waving an imaginary card in the refs face after said foul. And he had to run around forty yards to commit the second offence, so almost thirty percent of the time between offences were spent with him travelling to do it.
Even better, Colback achieved the second booking whilst Rangers were trying to bring on Dykes to try and get an equaliser. It might be worth mentioning here that Mad Jack McMad only joined the game after the half time break as a sub. I wonder who cleans up the froth he leaves behind in the dugout? Thirteen bookings last season, and so only eleven to go this to match his most impressive stat. Someone needs to look at the incentive clauses in his contract.
But Dykes came on and scored with more or less with his first touch, to give Rangers an unlikely, but valuable point. Even so, with a home defeat by the Albion on opening day, and a somewhat fortuitous Carabao Cup win at Cambridge, Argyle head to Loftus Road to face a Rangers side that points wise has actually started worse than Ainsworth did last season. Although without the wild-eyed assertion that the team that had thrashed them, Watford, were likely Champions (fifteenth actually Gareth, mate. Same points as your lot ended up with).
This century has seen Argyle and Rangers trade blows more aften than any other period since the war. Whilst Argyle have only won once in the league there since 1956, they have only lost at Loftus Road twice since that imperious three-nil League Cup win against probably the best Rangers side in their history in 1973/4. That game for many of todayâs fanbase remains the finest single performance by an Argyle side.
Draws are a frequent outcome between the two sides, and the traditional fans mantra of win at home, draw away likely leading to a successful season influences the thinking of many. Alex Ferguson, however, was famously quoted as saying he would never play for a draw.
Statistically he is correct to think that way. Since the advent of three points for a win, logic says that teams should always play for the victory, rather than to avoid defeat. As an example, if you had ten games and you won five and lost five rather than drawing them, your points total would be fifty percent higher. Not only that but your points gain relative to the other sides in the division is commensurately better. Every draw effectively dissolves a point that was otherwise available for one of the sides which is an advantage to the other teams in the division, before they even consider their own result.
The club philosophy espoused by Wayne and his board is to play attacking football, and that certainly appeared to be the style adopted against Hull. Whether the fans on either side will feel the same at nil nil in the eighty-ninth minute remains to be seen.
Argyleâs selection will be impacted by injuries to Palsson and TJ, and at time of writing the seemingly interminable search for new players has yet to yield substantial fruit, although time remains to allow us to do so.
Rangers remain one of the more welcoming sides with an historic rivalry that reminds us both of successful times, with names like Friio and Trigger, Paquette and Furlong, and Gallen for us both featuring large.
That said, in the heat of battle there is one name that can unite us all, hoops and greens alike.
Gavin Ward. In the name of all that is holy, why Gavin Ward?
COYG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Queens Park Rangers (A) August 24th 12.30 (are you sure.....)
Fourth game of the season, third time on Sky, fourth different kick off time. Welcome to the fan friendly, Sky Sports driven, EFL. At least we still have the same manager. Pity poor old Preston who go into their third league game still without a goal in seven matches and already on their third manager of the season.
The Championship is already proving reliably unreliable. Fresh from launching HMS PTL, Wednesday fans are now bemoaning the fact that, after a drubbing on Wearside, their title winning goal difference has already been wiped out, and they now face a limping Dirty Leeds at home, again on Sky, for Friday night entertainment. Itâs Bannon Barry Bannon I feel sorry for. If, as seemed the consensus after Sundayâs hammering, HMS PTL is holed below the waterline, then there is only one player who is going to drown first, and I wouldnât be banking on Josh Windass to make the ultimate sacrifice, to save the mercurial Hobbiton midfielder.
Indeed, all over the table you can find inconsistencies that make meaningful analysis, well, a lot less meaningful. For example, after a possession based dominant first half performance at Burnley, Cardiff sit proudly bottom, having added a five nil defeat to their two nil capitulation at home to Sunderland, who join Burnley on six points. Also there, much maligned Watford, just ahead of the even more maligned Blackburn, now shorn of their scoring behemoth Szmodics, but already 12 goals into their season including Carabao Cup, with only a respectable 25% of them attributed to their departed hero.
Runaway title favourites Leeds are already deeply mired in a relegation struggle, after a single point from two games and an abject home defeat by Boro in the Carabao. With Farke looking as if he is under pressure, Wendies fans are worried that Friday nightâs game is already part derby, part job interview for their kaiser, Rohl. It is a bittersweet irony when a strong home performance against your second closest rivals could potentially lead them to decide they might want to cannibalise your management team.
Meanwhile, Argyle shook off, to some degree, the awfulness of their opening weekend and bagged Wayneâs first Championship point since a goalless draw at St Andrews in late December against Bristol City. The performance was, whilst not perfect, much better, with Argyle dominating the shot stats and touches in the box to a degree unimaginable from the previous weekend. Only an excellent long range shot from Hull captain Coyle denied then the win, after Cissokoâs neat and accurate finish from inside the box. Coming on top of his late double assist Cissoko is fast becoming a fan favourite, although he may be a little stop start if he maintains his yellow card a start statistic for too much longer. This one was for the completely unnecessary shirt discarding after scoring.
Missing from the Argyle starting XI, which had a much more familiar constitution, were Palsson and TJ (completely), and assured Carabao debutant Szuchs. The first two injured and unavailable, the latter carrying a knock but on the bench.
Also missing was the finally departed Cooper, now bench warming for the Blades, and getting a first-hand view of the upcoming opponents for the lunchtime game, QPR.
Rangers started the season as a hot pick amongst those pundits who understand these things, and some, like me, who donât. Their form towards the end of the season was chilli pepper hot, and in coach Cifuentes they seemed to have found the perfect alchemist to make the team a multiple of the sum of its parts. Arriving early November, after the ill-fated course being charted by Gareth Ainsworth had left them with eight points from fourteen games, Cifuentes steadied the ship, and whilst their final run produced a high number of victories that took them comfortably clear of the relegation scrap, only one was what you would call decisive, a four-nil drubbing of Leeds at Loftus Road (or whatever they call it these days). Scoring goals was an issue, with their leading marksmen being putative fugitive from the Belgian Courts Ilias âElectricâ Chair, and long-term fugitive from trapping and close control drills, Lyndon Dykes, who between them managed five less than Morgan.
Both last seasonâs fixtures were draws. A goalless affair in London where Argyles front foot display ground to a halt after the desperate Scarr lunge resulted in a red card and a backs to the wall defensive display, and a torrid Home Park relegation scrap, where a last gasp error by keeper Begovic, aided and abetted by âUncle Albertâ Adomahâs knee meant Argyle escaped with an undeserved point, that ultimately kept them up. Rangerâs finishing was appalling, and we hope that the various recruits they have brought in to remedy that continue in the same vein.
Cifuentes surgery of the squad was anticipated to allow him to continue to improve the form of a side that, based on their final half of the season would have been challenging for the play-offs at the very least. The loss of Chair to a back problem, presumably from carrying the team for a season and a half and counting, and their joint top league scorer this season (with one) in Andersen who seemed to somehow pull his hamstring taking a corner, hampers their creativity somewhat. That said, there is the possibility of a new Danish midfielder arriving in Madsen, and they have improved their forward options substantially with the loan signing of Dembele, who excelled on loan at Blackpool last season, and who is often mistaken for his own Corinthian figure when out and about. Alongside the only player in the division who can see up Barry Bannon nostrils without bending over comes human sushi dish Koki Saito, who gained an assist on debut at Bramall Lane. No mean feat when the assist was via the instep of Lyndon Dykes. I think it safe to say the shot which was glided in off the strikerâs instep almost certainly was aided by it being the most pristine and previously untouched piece of boot leather the striker possesses.
That Cifuentes will make changes is inevitable. Partly because by his own admission he got the selection wrong, which resulted in United easily racking up a two-goal cushion and mainly because, aside from Andersonâs injury, he will be coping once again without the footballing intellectual most likely to win the games equivalent of the Darwin awards, Jack Colback.
Colback, who regularly misses large parts of each season through suspension, managed to get himself sent off for two acts of dissent within around three minutes of each other, to two different members of the officialâs team. What was the dissent about? A heinous assault on a teammate? An egregious penalisation of his side for something that wasnât even a foul? No. What Mad Jack McMad was mad about was the failure of the referee to book an opponent, complaining about a foul by Michi Frey, by waving an imaginary card in the refs face after said foul. And he had to run around forty yards to commit the second offence, so almost thirty percent of the time between offences were spent with him travelling to do it.
Even better, Colback achieved the second booking whilst Rangers were trying to bring on Dykes to try and get an equaliser. It might be worth mentioning here that Mad Jack McMad only joined the game after the half time break as a sub. I wonder who cleans up the froth he leaves behind in the dugout? Thirteen bookings last season, and so only eleven to go this to match his most impressive stat. Someone needs to look at the incentive clauses in his contract.
But Dykes came on and scored with more or less with his first touch, to give Rangers an unlikely, but valuable point. Even so, with a home defeat by the Albion on opening day, and a somewhat fortuitous Carabao Cup win at Cambridge, Argyle head to Loftus Road to face a Rangers side that points wise has actually started worse than Ainsworth did last season. Although without the wild-eyed assertion that the team that had thrashed them, Watford, were likely Champions (fifteenth actually Gareth, mate. Same points as your lot ended up with).
This century has seen Argyle and Rangers trade blows more aften than any other period since the war. Whilst Argyle have only won once in the league there since 1956, they have only lost at Loftus Road twice since that imperious three-nil League Cup win against probably the best Rangers side in their history in 1973/4. That game for many of todayâs fanbase remains the finest single performance by an Argyle side.
Draws are a frequent outcome between the two sides, and the traditional fans mantra of win at home, draw away likely leading to a successful season influences the thinking of many. Alex Ferguson, however, was famously quoted as saying he would never play for a draw.
Statistically he is correct to think that way. Since the advent of three points for a win, logic says that teams should always play for the victory, rather than to avoid defeat. As an example, if you had ten games and you won five and lost five rather than drawing them, your points total would be fifty percent higher. Not only that but your points gain relative to the other sides in the division is commensurately better. Every draw effectively dissolves a point that was otherwise available for one of the sides which is an advantage to the other teams in the division, before they even consider their own result.
The club philosophy espoused by Wayne and his board is to play attacking football, and that certainly appeared to be the style adopted against Hull. Whether the fans on either side will feel the same at nil nil in the eighty-ninth minute remains to be seen.
Argyleâs selection will be impacted by injuries to Palsson and TJ, and at time of writing the seemingly interminable search for new players has yet to yield substantial fruit, although time remains to allow us to do so.
Rangers remain one of the more welcoming sides with an historic rivalry that reminds us both of successful times, with names like Friio and Trigger, Paquette and Furlong, and Gallen for us both featuring large.
That said, in the heat of battle there is one name that can unite us all, hoops and greens alike.
Gavin Ward. In the name of all that is holy, why Gavin Ward?
COYG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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