Plymouth Argyle v Crawley Town FC Match day thread

VillageGreen wrote:

Three points is three points and a fitting way to end the year. On top by two points.

Plymouth Argyle 23 15 3 5 37 24 13 48
Carlisle United 23 12 10 1 44 28 16 46
Doncaster Rovers 23 14 4 5 45 31 14 46
Portsmouth 23 11 6 6 36 22 14 39
Luton Town 23 10 8 5 34 21 13 38
Wycombe Wanderers 23 11 5 7 30 25 5 38
Cambridge United 23 10 5 8 31 26 5 35
Blackpool 23 9 7 7 36 24 12 34
Colchester United 23 9 6 8 34 29 5 33
Barnet 23 8 9 6 32 33 -1 33
Exeter City 23 9 3 11 29 27 2 30
Grimsby Town 23 8 6 9 29 27 2 30
Yeovil Town 23 8 6 9 25 26 -1 30
Stevenage 23 9 3 11 35 38 -3 30

One of the top three will miss out i think because Portsmouth and Luton will get stronger with decent signings, i predict a fifth placed finish for Jimmy's brave boys, followed by defeat in the playoff semi finals to Wycombe.

Crap game and Crawley were probably one of the worse teams to come here, we weren't much better in the first half, upped it in the second half, for me it wasn't a game we were ever going to lose, oh for a sharp striker !

Graiser wrote:

Crap game and Crawley were probably one of the worse teams to come here, we weren't much better in the first half, upped it in the second half, for me it wasn't a game we were ever going to lose, oh for a sharp striker !

Nothing is on his way.

Or even Nathan, bloody spell check

shit game again. We won though but alot of of cards shown for both teams. Not sure what Miller has done to a few argyle fans bar that fat feck pieface to warrant the abuse he was getting from my block.

top of the league half the season gone i pray to all the gods that we actually strengthen the squad next month and not go another window in jan do naff all which cost us promotion twice.

Not a classic but Argyle were competent enough, although Crawley had a gilt edged chance just before HT when their striker chipped McCormick in a 1 on 1 but chipped the crossbar as well, could have been a different story if that had gone in. Loads of fouls mostly from Crawley [thought the ref actually favoured Argyle a bit today] and a multitude of bookings including one for Threkeld for transgressing the ridiculous over celebrating rule after he put Argyle ahead from a well worked goal from a throw in. Smith came on and immediately took one for the team by rugby tackling their player on the halfway line when he looked to be clean through. One or two scares at either end before Tanner put matters to bed with a good finish after being set up by Jervis on the counter attack. Argyle badly needed this win,crucial to capitalise against less than outstanding opposition to keep the wolves from the door.

We were nowhere near as good going forward as we were on Boxing Day but looked more assured at the back. Crawley were poor and first half we were not much better. Had to be a sub and thought he could have taken off either full back or 'wide' man to be honest. Miller was the unlucky one.

Second half was better, we were dominating when we scored but don't think the change in formation to wing backs worked at all and that left Crawley always in with a sniff. They could, probably should, have had a penalty minutes after we went ahead, then Smith was lucky to stay on after his rugby tackle. Being 1 yard inside his own half probably saved him but the bloke was away on goal if he hadn't been taken out. Luke also made a good save just before we scored the second.

One player who has improved this season and is fast becoming just about our best player is Oscar Threlkeld. I'd say he is a better right back than Miller, better left back than Purrington or Sawyer and better in midfield than Smith or Donaldson although apparently Adams wasn't happy with him there in the first half today. At least he can control a ball and find a pass where as the ball still bounces off most of the others too easily at times.

Thanks for the reports.

Angry wrote:

shit game again. We won though but alot of of cards shown for both teams. Not sure what Miller has done to a few argyle fans bar that fat feck pieface to warrant the abuse he was getting from my block.

top of the league half the season gone i pray to all the gods that we actually strengthen the squad next month and not go another window in jan do naff all which cost us promotion twice.

Miller was/is getting ripped apart on Free Talk. I think he was the chosen one when the season started. Maybe it saved changing too many letters from Mellor to Miller. Like Mellor he has played all but 3 league games and we are top so he must be doing OK overall.

tigertony wrote:

Angry wrote:

shit game again. We won though but alot of of cards shown for both teams. Not sure what Miller has done to a few argyle fans bar that fat feck pieface to warrant the abuse he was getting from my block.

top of the league half the season gone i pray to all the gods that we actually strengthen the squad next month and not go another window in jan do naff all which cost us promotion twice.

Miller was/is getting ripped apart on Free Talk. I think he was the chosen one when the season started. Maybe it saved changing too many letters from Mellor to Miller. Like Mellor he has played all but 3 league games and we are top so he must be doing OK overall.

You're obviously not familiar with situations whereby weak players are effectively carried by the rest of the team. It was difficult to replace Mellor with an inferior model but that feat was achieved with the acquisition of Miller. At least Mellor offered something going forward.

My opinion is that he is better than Mellor and has not done much wrong. Yesterday he had a bad half but was no worse than Purrington on the other side.

Miller is probably the better defensively than Mellor but not much between them, but he certainly buggered up yesterday, but overall I prefer Miller to Mellor.

Do we know for sure if it was a tactical switch and not an injury ?

sufferedsince 68 wrote:

VillageGreen wrote:

Three points is three points and a fitting way to end the year. On top by two points.

Plymouth Argyle 23 15 3 5 37 24 13 48
Carlisle United 23 12 10 1 44 28 16 46
Doncaster Rovers 23 14 4 5 45 31 14 46
Portsmouth 23 11 6 6 36 22 14 39
Luton Town 23 10 8 5 34 21 13 38
Wycombe Wanderers 23 11 5 7 30 25 5 38
Cambridge United 23 10 5 8 31 26 5 35
Blackpool 23 9 7 7 36 24 12 34
Colchester United 23 9 6 8 34 29 5 33
Barnet 23 8 9 6 32 33 -1 33
Exeter City 23 9 3 11 29 27 2 30
Grimsby Town 23 8 6 9 29 27 2 30
Yeovil Town 23 8 6 9 25 26 -1 30
Stevenage 23 9 3 11 35 38 -3 30

One of the top three will miss out i think because Portsmouth and Luton will get stronger with decent signings, i predict a fifth placed finish for Jimmy's brave boys, followed by defeat in the playoff semi finals to Wycombe.

Blackpool could pose a threat as the season edges nearer to its end, as could Colchester. I think Cambridge will have a little run-in,before fading away. Exeter may impress also ?

I still think Argyle will finish in third Place, with Doncaster and Portsmouth fighting it out for the title and runner-up. Carlisle to fall into the Play-Off areas. As for Luton, a Play-off Final might be on the cards for them, possibly Vs Blackpool.

1) Doncaster
2) Portsmouth
3) Argyle

Blackpool, Carlisle, Luton and Wycombe in the Play-Off Semi-Finals. Barnet will not make the grade, despite their recent signings.

Jon L wrote:

My opinion is that he is better than Mellor and has not done much wrong.  Yesterday he had a bad half  but was no worse than Purrington on the other side.

Probably agree with this. I was by no means a Mellor hater but there seems to be a bit of rose coloured specs being worn when remembering his stint at Argyle whereby he was regularly slaughtered by sections of the support in relation to the defensive howlers to which he was prone [Northampton,Wimbledon readily spring to mind]. Miller is definitely no Nisbet, Poole or Connolly in the going forward stakes but by the same token, there haven't been may occasions when goals conceded could directly be attributed to him and when it boils down to it, the first job of a defender is to defend-anything else is a bonus and Argyle's overall defensive record can't be criticised too much . There was one laughable incident in the first half yesterday when there were murmurs in the crowd about "fecking Miller" when he hoisted a ball to the far post which in fact turned out to be an excellent cross from which Argyle created a reasonable chance-looks like some minds have already been made up about the bloke.

Argo will fall completely away and two teams from nowhere - perhaps Exeter and Grimsby - will even edge us out the play-offs. Prepare for the second half of the season from hell.

I think it will finish:

Doncaster (C)
Portsmouth (P)
Wycombe (P)

Playoffs:
Carlisle
Grimsby (P)
Exeter
Luton

Promotion is Argyles to lose,if the club really want promotion back the managers judgement by letting him sign Quality players not just squad fillers.  .....Over to you Jimmy.

Jim thinks why spend money when we are top anyway.

Greenskin wrote:

Jon L wrote:

My opinion is that he is better than Mellor and has not done much wrong.  Yesterday he had a bad half  but was no worse than Purrington on the other side.

Probably agree with this. I was by no means a Mellor hater but there seems to be a bit of rose coloured specs being worn when remembering his stint at Argyle whereby he was regularly slaughtered by sections of the support in relation to the defensive howlers to which he was prone [Northampton,Wimbledon readily spring to mind]. Miller is definitely no Nisbet, Poole or Connolly in the going forward stakes but by the same token, there haven't been may occasions when goals conceded could directly be attributed to him and when it boils down to it, the first job of a defender is to defend-anything else is a bonus and Argyle's overall defensive record can't be criticised too much . There was one laughable incident in the first half yesterday when there were murmurs in the crowd about "fecking Miller" when he hoisted a ball to the far post which in fact turned out to be an excellent cross from which Argyle created a reasonable chance-looks like some minds have already been made up about the bloke.

It'd be difficult to split Miller and Mellor defensively. Both for me have been the consistent weak link. It isn't necessarily earth shattering howlers resulting in goals conceded that have given Miller the rep he has. Having watched him all season, he misplaces too many passes and gets beat far too easily for me. He's at a lower standard than his team mates in their respective positions - a 5 or 6/10 player way more often than a 7 or 8/10.

pepsipete wrote:

Jim thinks why spend money when we are top anyway.

That's a school of thought I've always followed, Pete. The better Adams does on the pitch this month, the more likely the squire will try to squeeze through on even less  outlay. He's got an algorithm and austerity hair trigger for everything, as we saw last year. It's in his blood, until it comes to his own fees of course, for services honed to perfection at the bailed out Citigroup. Not to mention Akkeron hotels and Oldway mansion. And, I wonder how the world agriculture king is doing in Romania these days ? Will he ever finish constructing that website ?  When you add it all up, it doesn't.

Apologies to all those that just want to talk about the football