Reaction to 2-1 defeat

[Lobster]

I think there were a lot of inflated expectations on Saturday due to the good news coming out of the club earlier in the week. While the two aren't really related, people seemed to be in high spirits.

 

[memory man]

Too be honest, unless l misread the vibe this weekend l think most people are chilled.

Maybe l’ve read the room wrong, but from what lm seeing l do think some people are being reasonable about questioning the reality of how far we can go with our current budget.

Who knows maybe we smash Peterborough and promotion is the theme next weekend on here. But l do there is some realistic points made about budget constraints.

Whilst budget is a factor in success, I'm now beginning to feel your are perhaps over stating the case. You point in one of your other posts to Luton. What is to say that our manager cannot do for us what Nathan Jones has done at Luton? 11 fit and well organised, tactically-savvy players who "want it more" will mostly beat a poorly prepared side, irrespective of their salary. I think your dismissal of Brighton at Old Trafford as, "a one-off" is unfair. Potter is now plotting the defeat of bigger sides with astute one-off tactical master-classes. And that is where I would like us to be better.I believe we need different approaches for different fixtures, especially away from home. And that doesn't cost a penny. Argyle struggled last season against the top six sides in ability terms, not just their budget ranking.

 

[Green Flash]

How is it so many people seem to know the playing budget of every other club, where is this information? (Edited to add just seen thread on salaries in league one, but I have no faith in that whatsoever)

We had business interruption insurance for covid while most clubs did not, we have no debt, we have money in the bank and new investment, we are likely to have a top 7 average attendance, we now have a corporate hospitality set up bringing in decent income. Why on earth is our budget such as to only make us grateful for midtable?

Hallett himself said he expected us to be challenging near the top of the table while we remain in league one.

 

[RKB]

I’m glad someone started this thread.

I’ve looked back at yesterdays game, and l don’t think we were that much worse than them tbh. The difference was some shambolic defending at the end.

Look at the teams in this league and then look at their budgets. It’s ridiculous. But we have to try to promote a positive outlook else what is the point.

Yet when teams have a transfer money spend pot and wages that double or treble ours l‘m really not sure what people realistically expect.

A team like Charlton sit in our league with a billionaire owner and not many are expecting them to finish in the top 6.

Fans talk about patience. But as soon as we lose that is soon forgotten. If we play badly and win people forget all about the performance and they over hype the team.

We have got some good players. One or two exceptional players. But quite a few average ones. And yet at times we play some good football but unfortunately until that standard is raised we may continue to struggle playing consistently well.

An example is we lost Miller to injury. We played Mumba at LWB. Think he did fine but with him on a yellow we probably needed to take him off. Yet we have nobody else currently to fill that position. So we move Butcher across to wing back. If your an Ipswich or Sheffield Wednesday l think with their squad depth they aren’t having the same issues.

I think we can play better football than last season in an attacking sense. Score more goals. But unfortunately defensively l don’t know if the current personnel can do better than the 18 clean sheets of last season. And that was down to the brilliance of Cooper.

I expect many rollercoaster results over the season. We need better infrastructure to increase turnover which then helps us get better players. That doesn’t sound like a short term fix to me.

If you aren’t in this for the long game, you probably going to get very frustrated with this season.

I agree with most of that other than the fact that we have 3 left wing backs unavailable. That's not down to budget, that's just bad luck.

 

[jimsing]

The first 10 matches of the season always bring up unexpected results. Teams are trying to gel together, new players getting used to the way the manager wants them to play, new tactics from the previous season, they all bring unpredicted results.

Even we, who have kept all our players from last season, are changing formations and have new players to gel.

We should have had a point, but we move on. Other teams are probably saying the same thing.

The last 10 games of the season are the most important ones.

 

[justanotherfan]

I agree with most of that other than the fact that we have 3 left wing backs unavailable. That's not down to budget, that's just bad luck.

I`m not sure Miller is `just bad luck`, if you take an injury prone player then you get a player prone to injuries, sense of deja vue here.

 

[saxman]

i think we are going up

You post that every year Steve and I'm right with you!

 

[JannerinCardiff]

i think we are going up

Even tho we lost against Fleetwood I also think we’ll get promoted this season or at least top 6.

 

[Brechin Hedge]

the players brought in do seem to be an improvement.

however the key issues from last season remain the same. these include an over reliance on Mayor to create chances, no physically strong target man to play back to goal and bring other players into the game.

when Mayor plays well we look good. When he doesn't we look bang average at best.

 

[xmastree]

I agree with most of that other than the fact that we have 3 left wing backs unavailable. That's not down to budget, that's just bad luck.

One LWB we knew was going to miss the first few games. The one we brought in came with a "fragile" warning attached. The third one we chose to lend out. It may be bad luck, but not "just bad luck" as the club's decision making has influenced how the LWB has developed.

 

[Brussels Bureaucrat]

We undoubtedly overachieved last year. I'd be amazed if we change divisions at either end this season, but there's no harm in dreaming of another play-off push. I still think the club is in terrific shape off the pitch, and the direction of travel is obviously in the right direction.

 

[Lancastergreen]

i think we are going up

£10m bet?

 

[Harry]

Two games in! Good to hear balanced feedback re the level of performance and indication of how change of shape is looking ie initial thoughts re possible strengths/weaknesses.

I am sure most fans are pretty open minded for the moment. We'll get an idea over the next few games but for now really???? Won one, lost one, both score lines close so very little info to judge prospects for the season as a whole and so some posters seem to rely on the pre-conceived ideas/agendas as much as any evidence from performance.

 

[Steve Evans]

£10m bet?

if randell plays £20 milion

 

[MGM]

Whilst budget is a factor in success, I'm now beginning to feel your are perhaps over stating the case. You point in one of your other posts to Luton. What is to say that our manager cannot do for us what Nathan Jones has done at Luton? 11 fit and well organised, tactically-savvy players who "want it more" will mostly beat a poorly prepared side, irrespective of their salary. I think your dismissal of Brighton at Old Trafford as, "a one-off" is unfair. Potter is now plotting the defeat of bigger sides with astute one-off tactical master-classes. And that is where I would like us to be better.I believe we need different approaches for different fixtures, especially away from home. And that doesn't cost a penny. Argyle struggled last season against the top six sides in ability terms, not just their budget ranking.

Maybe you right.

I just think having four times the budget of another league club is a significant advantage where you have many more options and quality covering you over a 46 game season.

If you look at Brighton last season they did well. But what was the thing holding them back. Lack of goals. And this costs money.

One of their better players is Welbeck. If he gets injured it really effects their overall attacking threat. It’s the same for Argyle. We lost Hardie at the end of last season and we lost the threat we had in behind. And that was a big loss to the way the team played last season.

Look at the options in forward areas of some of our supposed rivals but the money they spent. I just think at this moment that’s a significant advantage.