What is our Number 1 problem ?

[Guiri Green]

Lack of Nous.

 

[demportdave]

There are problems with geography and attracting players down here, but that doesn’t mean we have to expect to be fighting relegation.

Lameiras apart, the lack of goals from midfield has been shocking as has been the inability to ‘manage’ games, particularly when we score first. One of the most damning statistics is the 23 points lost from a winning position. The players lack of mental strength and their losing mentality is the responsibility of the person who signed them and then trains and prepares them on a weekly basis.

The lack of leadership on the field is very obvious. Gary Sawyer is undoubtedly one of the nicest guys to ever play for Argyle but he is also probably the worst ever Captain. Basically, his Captaincy starts and finishes at 2 minutes to 3 each week when he calls Heads or Tails. Once the game starts, he is mute and shows absolutely no leadership at all. In our situation we need a Gerry McElhinney or a Mick Heathcote. Big Gerry was known to threaten his teammates at half-time if he wasn’t happy with their performance as it might cost him his win bonus or to be more accurate, his beer money.

Defensively, the warning signs were there in pre-season after the Yeovil debacle but they were ignored. Constantly failing tactics have been persisted without serious consideration being given to changing things; there is no plan B. Adams lack of tactical nous and almost total inability to make effective in-game changes, such as we saw with Lovell yesterday, is a serious concern and one of his more obvious shortcomings.

Now we have a Manager who has had the players on the training ground for the last 9 months making a ludicrous statement yesterday to say he hasn’t got the time to eliminate the basic mistakes that have been made game after game all season such as stopping crosses, marking your man and putting guilt-edged chances away. What the hell has he been doing on the training ground for all of this time?

What the problem isn’t though is the budget, that has been used by Adams to disguise his own shortcomings.

Most Argyle fans know we don’t have the budget to be serious promotion contenders and maybe not even to have a good go at the play-offs. That will be the case for the foreseeable future unless we can attract other wealthy investors.

However, our budget is not one of a serious relegation candidate either.

We could still afford to assemble a squad of 25 Senior Professionals, which is probably 4-5 too many, along with 9 Junior Professionals. The budget could have been better spent to get quality rather than quantity. The Manager signed too many players who have not played and have not been wanted, even when we have been struggling and have needed to make changes to employ the policy of competition for places he said he wanted at the start of the season to justify signing so many players.

All Managers make mistakes with signings but Adams makes far too many for someone who is supposed to be astute at working on a limited budget. It was one of the main reasons he got the Argyle job.

 

[Torbay Green]

Adams.

Stubborness of the highest order. He doesn't come across as a motivator in interviews and persisted with Macey when clearly the kid was struggling. He plays Ladapo too often and should mix it up by using Taylor more often. Ladapo has scored goals but he can't hold it up and in games where we're under the cosh, you have to have a strong forward to relieve some pressure when the ball gets booted forward.

Banning the media has made him look like a petulant child. He's a football manager so needs to toughen up because criticism comes with the job.

A pee poor start to season............again.
A reasonable mid season run of results and then the all too predictable slide towards May. This has to be looked at more closely. Why do we start so badly?

 

[Leo's Grandad]

We just can't defend - simple...

 

[Shankster]

Adams

 

[Dorset Green]

Conceding too many soft goals.

 

[Quintrell Green]

Some of the older (?) PASOTI members will remember George Graham of Arsenal fame. When he built a team it was from the defence and forward. If DA is to stay he has to get players of good defence ability and then go forward. I don't expect a new "Tony Adams et al", but there must be good defenders out there who would come. I'm still amazed that Sonny Bradley was allowed to leave, which must be down to the budget. This coming season in League 1 (fingers crossed) then the Board MUST speculate a little to guarantee a good team and move on. If they (the Board) don't invest then they will reap what they don't sow and oblivion beckons. :scarf: Surely they could use some academy players - other teams do: if they are old enough to play then play them. They cannot be worse than some of the old-timers that have struggled this season.

A bit earlier than George Graham, the late Don Revie also built his all conquering Leeds team from the back. He could call on some notable players though, namely, Reaney, Cooper, Jack Charlton, Hunter and Paul Madeley to name just a few..I seem to recall he was a bit weaker with his keeper.

 

[Biggs]

After four years at a club, I firmly believe ANY manager at any club will have become deeply unpopular across sections of the fan base unless he’s had extraordinary success like a Howe or Guardiola.

Every single manager will make poor signings, make unpopular decisions and make tactical selections deemed to be wrong. Can anyone think of any Argyle manager who hasn’t consistently done all of the above? It’s part of being a manager in the almost impossible environment of football, where there just aren’t easy decisions.

So it is criminally simplistic to say it’s just Adams. The facts are that his winning percentage is very good, some of his signings have been spectacular and he’s delivered promotion. Along with his Ross County days, he objectively IS a decent manager and those calling him a clown or idiot have absolutely no idea how difficult being a football manager is.

That said, he’s doing SOMETHING badly wrong for us to be so, so, so awful for long periods when we know we’re capable of so much more.

I’m stumped, but whatever the reasons for it and however bad the coaching and recruitment for them has been.... the goalkeeping and defence has been the number one problem.

You just cannot compete in a cutthroat ultra competitive league, with a thrown together defence with no understanding, pace or ability to withstand pressure.

 

[Bristol Rich]

After four years at a club, I firmly believe ANY manager at any club will have become deeply unpopular across sections of the fan base unless he’s had extraordinary success like a Howe or Guardiola.

Every single manager will make poor signings, make unpopular decisions and make tactical selections deemed to be wrong. Can anyone think of any Argyle manager who hasn’t consistently done all of the above? It’s part of being a manager in the almost impossible environment of football, where there just aren’t easy decisions.

So it is criminally simplistic to say it’s just Adams. The facts are that his winning percentage is very good, some of his signings have been spectacular and he’s delivered promotion. Along with his Ross County days, he objectively IS a decent manager and those calling him a clown or idiot have absolutely no idea how difficult being a football manager is.

That said, he’s doing SOMETHING badly wrong for us to be so, so, so awful for long periods when we know we’re capable of so much more.

I’m stumped, but whatever the reasons for it and however bad the coaching and recruitment for them has been.... the goalkeeping and defence has been the number one problem.

You just cannot compete in a cutthroat ultra competitive league, with a thrown together defence with no understanding, pace or ability to withstand pressure.

If he delivers relegation then you'd have to question how decent a manager he really is. Sturrock mark 1 didn't do the above, neither did Pulis or Holloway. If he was to be removed as Argyle manager then he'd either end up in Scotland or at another League 2 club.
If we go down the blame would undoubtedly lay mainly at his door.

 

[Biggs]

It would, yes. And rightly so.

You can be a decent manager and get it wrong, and it’s hard to argue that he hasn’t got it wrong this season.

I’m pro-Adams and I thought we’d sorted ourselves out in 2019 to make it another overall good season. That we’ve collapsed again (incredibly similar to last season) is so, so, so frustrating and perplexing.

It certainly does point to something wrong with his methods for the exact same thing to happen again, which needs to change if we stay up and he keeps his job.

 

[Biggs]

Just a quick observation though, being a football manager is not like a normal job. It’s very hard to know what is a mistake and what isn’t.... you’re throwing a hundred different elements and decisions into a pot and hoping for a good result on a Saturday.

It’s not like me making a terrible spelling mistake in an email, or insulting a client. In football, you really can do all the right things during the week and do your day-to-day job superbly... and lose 0-3 on a Saturday.

That’s why it’s so hard to pinpoint one thing or blame one person. For all this debate, it could be Harry Burgoyne’s injury that was our downfall. Or a falling out we don’t know about. Or the playing budget being way too low and funds going to the grandstand. Or it really is all Derek Adams’ fault.

But it’s likely lots of different things.

 

[Balham Green]

There are problems with geography and attracting players down here, but that doesn’t mean we have to expect to be fighting relegation.

Lameiras apart, the lack of goals from midfield has been shocking as has been the inability to ‘manage’ games, particularly when we score first. One of the most damning statistics is the 23 points lost from a winning position. The players lack of mental strength and their losing mentality is the responsibility of the person who signed them and then trains and prepares them on a weekly basis.

The lack of leadership on the field is very obvious. Gary Sawyer is undoubtedly one of the nicest guys to ever play for Argyle but he is also probably the worst ever Captain. Basically, his Captaincy starts and finishes at 2 minutes to 3 each week when he calls Heads or Tails. Once the game starts, he is mute and shows absolutely no leadership at all. In our situation we need a Gerry McElhinney or a Mick Heathcote. Big Gerry was known to threaten his teammates at half-time if he wasn’t happy with their performance as it might cost him his win bonus or to be more accurate, his beer money.

Defensively, the warning signs were there in pre-season after the Yeovil debacle but they were ignored. Constantly failing tactics have been persisted without serious consideration being given to changing things; there is no plan B. Adams lack of tactical nous and almost total inability to make effective in-game changes, such as we saw with Lovell yesterday, is a serious concern and one of his more obvious shortcomings.

Now we have a Manager who has had the players on the training ground for the last 9 months making a ludicrous statement yesterday to say he hasn’t got the time to eliminate the basic mistakes that have been made game after game all season such as stopping crosses, marking your man and putting guilt-edged chances away. What the hell has he been doing on the training ground for all of this time?

What the problem isn’t though is the budget, that has been used by Adams to disguise his own shortcomings.

Most Argyle fans know we don’t have the budget to be serious promotion contenders and maybe not even to have a good go at the play-offs. That will be the case for the foreseeable future unless we can attract other wealthy investors.

However, our budget is not one of a serious relegation candidate either.

We could still afford to assemble a squad of 25 Senior Professionals, which is probably 4-5 too many, along with 9 Junior Professionals. The budget could have been better spent to get quality rather than quantity. The Manager signed too many players who have not played and have not been wanted, even when we have been struggling and have needed to make changes to employ the policy of competition for places he said he wanted at the start of the season to justify signing so many players.

All Managers make mistakes with signings but Adams makes far too many for someone who is supposed to be astute at working on a limited budget. It was one of the main reasons he got the Argyle job.

Nail on head from Demport again. The point about being unable to sort the defence out is bad enough. He then says Taylor and Ladapo have no understanding :facepalm: :facepalm: :facepalm: So get them working on it day in day out UNTIL THEY BL##DY WELL DO. Clueless manager long overrated. Penny finally dropping for many now, even Biggs!

 

[Tugboat]

It’s hard to say the number one problem because it will make the other critical problems sound not so bad.

I think there’s big problems all pretty equal

- Qualty/ability in key areas (or lack of it)

- Pace in defence

- Poor tactical instructions and training

- Poor setup with opposition scouting

- Leadership from boardroom level


Everything above kind of points back to budgetary constraints but I think Adams has well and truly had his day now and we need to go in another direction. Too much disappointment and frustration has soiled his tenure.

 

[RKB]

I can't remember being more frustrated as an Argyle fan than I am right now. I cannot remember a team that is as inconsistent as this one. Some of the football in our purple patches this and last season was sublime, and yet in the same seasons I have witnessed clueless, spineless capitulations, with no attacking threat, no ability to pass the ball, and a defence incapable of basics. I do not understand why we can be so good and so bad, with the same personnel.

 

[oldage]

Confidence. If your team mates are not up to the job you cannot rely on them. We have weak links in defence,midfield and attack meaning those who have the skills e.g Carey struggle to cover others inadequacies. Imagine going into a game knowing that no matter how well you play your fellow defender,midfielder or striker is not up to it.