Are Argyle Good Enough To Go Up This Season ?.

After 15 games Argyle sit in 6th place, not a bad start really.

The question i ask is ''are Argyle good enough to go up this season''.

Ok, the defence seems solid, results are happening and the team is starting to play well. Can the team continue this form and mount a serious promotion push (not via the Play-Offs, but in one of the 3 automatic spots).

We have seen teams start well in League Two, only to fall away and bow out with a wimper. I just hope Argyle do not end up like that. Yes, they will lose games over the next 6 months, but i hope also that no lasting damage will be done to any promotion push.

In short Yes we can be with a couple of additions in jan and keeping key players fit

No chance of promotion under the Non developer, when Reid is sold in january and Bobby and O'connor go back to their clubs, Argyle will be midtable at best despite having top three support

I think it's a question of who are the four least worst teams in this awful division. Luck will play a big part I feel.

The spine of the team McCormick, Nelson, Reid is there, with support from the others they are good enough. IMO

I think one or two ATD visionaries tipped Luton for a relegation fight after our game up there. They're now top of the league. Point being, this league is almost certainly the least predictable of any of the four.

On current form I think we could quite easily win the league. I also think we could fall away to midtable mediocrity.

On the pitch yes I think so.

Off the pitch no, not a chance.

I think so, yes. We've got a group of players who aren't your Feeney's or Chadwicks anymore. Many/most of them have been there and done it in both this league and the above. And we have finally after months of experimenting seemed to find the best tactical solution to get the most out of our players.

January will be huge if clubs come sniffing after Reid, Nelson or McHugh. Also vital will be our mental reaction once we lose a game. Will we pick ourselves back up or go on an awful run like Torquay?

It's certainly a possibility- off the pitch stuff will only affect us if players start being sold wholesale. It's too early to say on that score.

I agree with Sam.

There's no reason at all that we won't go up this year but we need to hold what we have and build on it not weaken it by selling key players off for it to happen.

On that score expect far more from Smalley in the future than we have seen so far. He did well for Sheridan in this division at Chesterfield and I'm sure he'll do well for us. He could be the "new" signing we need even if we don't add.

Right now though we need to hang on to Bobby Reid for as long as possible. His ball through for Alessandra's goal was a real beauty. Chances are he'll be heading back to Bristol before much longer so we need somebody to step in and show the same drive, vision and ability that he has. When the time comes Tyler Harvey or River Allen will have to step up. The question is: can either of them do it? If not then there's the real new signing we need. Either way if the defence keeps going as it has so far we'll be very close anyway.

I think we can do better than go up and actually win the league which is not the same thing as predicting that we will but it could, with actual real effort to build on the foundations that are already there, happen.

Sheridan has finally found his first choice starting XI and on the pitch it looks better for us than it has for many years.

Once Bobby Reid goes home I say no, plus lose one or two other players in Jan. we won't keep it up is my prediction.

I agree with Pepsi we have a good solid spine to the team and our other promotion teams had the same thing but ably backed up by the other players.
I think we can do it this season and hopefully automatically. It's about the first season in 7 or 8 years that I haven't backed them for promotion so it's bound to happen.

As Bobby Reid will be gone well before January anyway as we can only extend his loan by 1 more month then that's it till the window My hope is Jason Blandton will see the light and start producing the goods we saw him do in his first spell. Kellet im sure we could bring back but its O'Connor that we must re sign in Jan till the end of the season or perm as he such a useful and good player for us

I would still bring in one or two to beef up options and cover. I'd probably allow Allen and Bentley to go out on loans if that happens as they need to be playing football to aide their progression and we are not giving it too them at any level.

Other than that we have a squad good enough to go up. again, keeping key players fit and not allowing too many slip ups in results.

Heh......Jason Blandton.....

zyph wrote:

Heh......Jason Blandton.....

yeah Jason Banton. He hasnt lived up to anything like the hype he generated when he came back here and hasnt done anything of real merit other than the odd glimpses when he can be bothered to suggest that he is going to come good again. I could call that bland.

Yes, we will go up this year. The team will steadily improve and make the top 3.

Bobby's loan ends soon and Rueben will be sold. Going into the business end of the season after Crimbo we will plummet to bottom half.

BRENT OUT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Freathy wrote:

Bobby's loan ends soon and Rueben will be sold.  Going into the business end of the season after Crimbo we will plummet to bottom half.

BRENT OUT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bobby going will have the same affect as Lavery last season, Rueben will be sold for a hundred grand which will be a fantastic deal for the club according to X throbber and his ilk.

sufferedsince 68 wrote:

Freathy wrote:

Bobby's loan ends soon and Rueben will be sold.  Going into the business end of the season after Crimbo we will plummet to bottom half.

BRENT OUT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bobby going will have the same affect as Lavery last season, Rueben will be sold for a hundred grand which will be a fantastic deal for the club according to X throbber and his ilk.

£100,000 for a proven goalscorer lol jesus wept

Freathy wrote:

Bobby's loan ends soon and Rueben will be sold.  Going into the business end of the season after Crimbo we will plummet to bottom half.

BRENT OUT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Freathy predicting Argyle-To-Stay-Up? And easily too! The world has now irrefutably gone mad.

Things must be looking up.

Sir Francis Drake wrote:

Freathy wrote:

Bobby's loan ends soon and Rueben will be sold.  Going into the business end of the season after Crimbo we will plummet to bottom half.

BRENT OUT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Freathy predicting Argyle-To-Stay-Up? And easily too! The world has now irrefutably gone mad.

Things must be looking up.

Not sure I predicted us to stay up. We'll be bottom half going into the new year which means looking down rather than up.

Freathy wrote:

Sir Francis Drake wrote:

Freathy wrote:

Bobby's loan ends soon and Rueben will be sold.  Going into the business end of the season after Crimbo we will plummet to bottom half.

BRENT OUT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Freathy predicting Argyle-To-Stay-Up? And easily too! The world has now irrefutably gone mad.

Things must be looking up.

Not sure I predicted us to stay up.  We'll be bottom half going into the new year which means looking down rather than up.

Having a bit of a chuckle at this but at the back of my mind is the memory of having a bit chuckle at Freathy's comments before.And Freathy being proven to be absolutely correct.

Greenskin wrote:

And Freathy being proven to be absolutely correct.

Can you imagine how much that must rankle the Pig and his farm yard chums?

He who laughs last laughs loudest and all that...

Like when finding out who really does keep a dossier!

Are the owner/board good enough to go up this season? Same ol' Argo.

3 points off the automatic places with over a third of the season played.

Unbeaten in 7 games with good results against Burton, Cheltenham, Swindon and Shrewsbury.

1 goal conceded in 6 league games. The best performing defence in the league (9 goals conceded compared to Bury's 17 and Burton's 20).

Imperious home form, with 19 points out of a possible 24.

A top scorer on 9 goals by the start of November - well on course to smash 10 goals by Christmas, and 20 by the end of the season.

As for the team.

The best goalkeeper in the division - Championship calibre.

Nelson, McHugh, Hartley - 3 of the best individual CBs in the league, a formidable back line since the switch to 3-5-2.

Cox and O'Connor - not the most threatening midfielders in terms of goalscoring - however both win their tackles, with excellent ability to read the game and break down the opposition. We dominate matches and keep possession when these two run our midfield.

Mellor is capable in both attack and defence - a quality Sheridan has not really found in his wing backs in spite of playing 3-5-2 for months and months. Kellett appears to offer the same quality on the left hand side.

Therefore out entire back 5, allowing for Nelson's development as an individual, are vastly improved man for man. As a defensive unit we are formidable, with our strongest defensive performances for decades.

Bobby Reid has proven a breath of fresh air. An attacking midfielder with such stamina and dedication to the clean sheet, that he can be running at a defence one second, then tracking a midfielder the next like he's running the 100m. His aggression in running at defenders makes the opposition commit - and frees up space for Reuben to attack. He's a big part in our new look side, and such a shame we won't finish the season with him.

Reuben Reid one of the best number 9 forwards, and goalscorers in the league - his 9 goals in two and a half months testament to that. Allesandra benefiting from playing alongside Reid and Reid and finding himself with a lot more space and time on he ball. Smalley is looking a great addition off the bench - with the hunger to make clever runs at tired defences, the height and strength to cover for Reid, and a terrific powerful strike on him to make him a goalscoring threat. Morgan is a tough player for any League Two defence to handle.

Together as a package it all bodes well. My only concern is that we need more goals from midfield - we are over reliant on Reuben Reid. Bobby Reid doesn't contribute to goals scored the way Friio used to, for example. If we are going to win an automatic place, we need the likes of Reid, Cox, to a lesser extent O'Connor and Alessandra to start chipping in with more.

We still haven't been comprehensively outplayed by any team in the division. We beat Luton away and looked in control every step of the way. We lost to Wycombe, and it was smash and grab by all accounts. We beat Shrewsbury in a stale but tactical duel, one we came out on top of. We drew with Burton away which is always among the tougher places to visit, and looked good for the point. We lost to Bury away and yet dominated large periods of the match, and sounded unlucky not to come away with more. We beat Southend and totally outplayed them for the points.

These are the teams we are going to be competing with and we have been more than a match for them.

If we can keep this side together, the likes of Bobby Reid and Kellett, and can keep injury free, I am confident of an automatic promotion finish. But things can change in football so quickly. At the moment we are definitely good enough to get promotion, and even win the league, no doubt about it.

I agree ejh and think things have really come together in the last month. Look at our away from in August and September.


Wimbledon and Burton would have been the kind of games we'd lose. On the other hand, they'd have been the kind of games we drew in the Sturrock season. If we can get a home win against Pompey whose away form is pants, it'll all start to look very rosy again.