A Drake but no ducks. Home v Plymouth Sat 7 Jan 15-00.

[TANGODANCER]

No bowling match this one as the Plymouth armada sail in up the Irwell and head for the (Winter) Hill. The Pilgrims are high flyers having four wins and a draw from their last five encounters. Can the super Whites take the wind out of their sails? There seems no better time than right now to do so. Clean sheets a priority for a point, and telescopes focussed on goal nets not fishing ones. Man the watch towers and load up the ammo. Go to it.....

[GhostoftheBok]

They are once again recruiting well and will come here highly motivated.

I feel like we've been let of in the last three matches. Derby and Lincoln should both have had pens against us that would have won them 3 points and we got an early red against Barnsley that handed us a result.

It depends how that Barnsley result lands. If it motivates us to work harder and be more expressive then we are capable of beating Plymouth on our day. If there's even a hint of complacency they will run right over us.

I actually think we might get a result, but maybe that's just hope talking.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

In another thread...

Aside from whatever the hell is going on at MK Dons the season looks basically the way I imagined it would. The teams 1st-3rd are pulling away and 4th-8th are all much of a muchness.

See, I strongly thought MK would drop off - they'd lost their defensive mainman and almost all their goal threat. They were never gonna get 1.93 points per game again, although I didn't quite expect them to plummet to 0.87 ppg and 23rd place. (Indeed my pre-season TW thinkpiece asked "will they revert to something like the two seasons they spent under Russell Martin, gathering respect but finishing 19th and 13th?")

Lest that sound arrogant, I'll freely admit I didn't see Plymouth being top. Indeed I thought/hoped they might tail off, too, considering their abject collapse in spring - their last seven matches, LWDLDDL, took them from hoping for automatics to failing to make the play-offs.

Credit to them for recovering from that, and taking their chances – although the stats suggest they're hugely indebted to Michael Cooper being the division's best goalkeeper; on xG against, they should have conceded the sixth-most goals; instead, only seven teams have conceded fewer – although notably it does include every other top-six team.

Should Cooper fall foul of fitness or form, they'd be very vulnerable; equally, they have overcome a relatively average defence by scoring lots, an average of 1.84 per game. The loss of Morgan Whittaker, coupled with the long-term injury of his fellow attacking-midfielder loanee Finn Azaz, seem to be prompting a slight rejig up front, from a 3421 to a 3412 which looks not unlike ours. They'll be hoping it works. Lots will hope it doesn't.

[pafcprogs]

In another thread...

Aside from whatever the hell is going on at MK Dons the season looks basically the way I imagined it would. The teams 1st-3rd are pulling away and 4th-8th are all much of a muchness.

See, I strongly thought MK would drop off - they'd lost their defensive mainman and almost all their goal threat. They were never gonna get 1.93 points per game again, although I didn't quite expect them to plummet to 0.87 ppg and 23rd place. (Indeed my pre-season TW thinkpiece asked "will they revert to something like the two seasons they spent under Russell Martin, gathering respect but finishing 19th and 13th?")

Lest that sound arrogant, I'll freely admit I didn't see Plymouth being top. Indeed I thought/hoped they might tail off, too, considering their abject collapse in spring - their last seven matches, LWDLDDL, took them from hoping for automatics to failing to make the play-offs.

Credit to them for recovering from that, and taking their chances – although the stats suggest they're hugely indebted to Michael Cooper being the division's best goalkeeper; on xG against, they should have conceded the sixth-most goals; instead, only seven teams have conceded fewer – although notably it does include every other top-six team.

Should Cooper fall foul of fitness or form, they'd be very vulnerable; equally, they have overcome a relatively average defence by scoring lots, an average of 1.84 per game. The loss of Morgan Whittaker, coupled with the long-term injury of his fellow attacking-midfielder loanee Finn Azaz, seem to be prompting a slight rejig up front, from a 3421 to a 3412 which looks not unlike ours. They'll be hoping it works. Lots will hope it doesn't.

Good news then! Azaz back in training

So it has been a funny old week in Devon...comings and goings...mainly comings as it happened which no-one expected in such quantities

Not sure if Azaz will be ready to start yet but if on the bench that's a real bonus.

I do a pre match preview....all very tongue in cheek....and this weeks has a lower than usual opponent content given the Whittaker maelstrom.

I do look at the 7-2 debacle of 1984 and George Oghani though ( and the home game preview/reviews are in a separate file at the top.

https://pasoti.co.uk/threads/one-game-a ... th.121214/

Tough game I think, not many goals in it

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

So it has been a funny old week in Devon...comings and goings...mainly comings as it happened which no-one expected in such quantities

Not sure if Azaz will be ready to start yet but if on the bench that's a real bonus.

I do a pre match preview....all very tongue in cheek....and this weeks has a lower than usual opponent content given the Whittaker maelstrom.

I do look at the 7-2 debacle of 1984 and George Oghani though ( and the home game preview/reviews are in a separate file at the top.

https://pasoti.co.uk/threads/one-game-a ... th.121214/

Tough game I think, not many goals in it

Cheers boss, will have a look.

Our games this season average 2.08 goals, the division's third-lowest. I'm sure either manager, despite natural attacking inclinations, would happily take a 1-0 now.

You've had the run on us recently – we've only beaten you once since Stanley Rous was still alive - and it'll be an interesting test of our progress to see how we go. Your win at ours last spring was typical of our season - not good enough against the better teams - so we'll see in the next fortnight how indicative our win at Barnsley was.

[Worthy4England]

A good read PA, thanks...we're not quite as leaky as we were last season. which we're hopeful won't lead to a goal like your third at your place, last year. That said, we're hardly banging them in up top either. Unless one of us has a horror show, I think it might be a low scoring game too.

[pafcprogs]

Cheers.... I think this one will actually be harder than Ipswich the following week as they have to beat us really and that puts a ton of pressure on them,,,and they don't seem to score bucketloads...

You a re a more physical side so that might cause its problems...

Time will tell

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Cheers.... I think this one will actually be harder than Ipswich the following week as they have to beat us really and that puts a ton of pressure on them,,,and they don't seem to score bucketloads...

You are a more physical side so that might cause its problems...

Time will tell

Weirdly, that's good to hear, considering we spent a while being a soft touch. True, "more physical than Ipswich" is a low bar, but it's still a musical phrase.

[GhostoftheBok]

See, I strongly thought MK would drop off

I expected them to be somewhere around us by the end of the season, even if it took them time to recover.

They've completely collapsed, though - with every signing going wrong for them and the whole place being stunk up.

I have to say I'm delighted, as I hate what the club represents.

[Harry Genshaw]

Mentions of Tommy Tynan, George Oghani and hearing us described as "more physical" has cheered me up no end.

Be nice if we turned up for once in a game against these men. Hat tipped to Schumacher who's doing a far better job than I imagined when Ryan Lowe buggered off.

0-1 defeat

[TANGODANCER]

Can and will any new blood figure against Plymouth? Is it likely, or possible, or too risky agains high flyers?

[The_Gun]

Can and will any new blood figure against Plymouth? Is it likely, or possible, or too risky agains high flyers?

Sounds like Randell will be in the squad, although Jones likely to start in the LWB role, which I have to say doesn't fill me with confidence.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Can and will any new blood figure against Plymouth? Is it likely, or possible, or too risky agains high flyers?

Sounds like Randell will be in the squad, although Jones likely to start in the LWB role, which I have to say doesn't fill me with confidence.

Aye on Williams - BN yesterday:

Evatt insists the deal to sign Williams has not been accelerated because of Iredale’s injury but added that his new signing may need to be “brought up to speed” because of his lack of recent games.

Sounds like he might be bench tomorrow (and it would be a bold move to bring him on for Gethin if we're 1-0 up...), might get an hour in the midweek PJT game?

Tango, Dan Nlundulu will be playing in Lancashire tomorrow... at Morecambe, for Cheltenham. His loan there ends Sunday. He's been playing regularly so I'd expect him to get either 60 or 30 minutes midweek too.

[TANGODANCER]

^^

Ah cheers for that. Maybe no bad thing to keep our settled side (if we have such) in light of the importance of tomorrow.

[Harry Genshaw]

Sounds like he might be bench tomorrow (and it would be a bold move to bring him on for Gethin if we're 1-0 up...), might get an hour in the midweek PJT game?

Bolder than playing the hardworking yet very one footed Jones on the wrong side?

[boltonboris]

I went to the reverse fixture in September and the teams were very, very evenly matched

We missed an absolute shocker of a chance through Baka (after conceding a shocker of a goal in the first half), then 3 minutes later we're picking the ball out of our net and the game's beyond us

The difference on that day, were the strikers. We've got one in good form and they've just lot one. Let's hope we can take advantage of that.. Having a pacey debutant at LWB could also give us a real lift as we've looked lob-sided

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Sounds like he might be bench tomorrow (and it would be a bold move to bring him on for Gethin if we're 1-0 up...), might get an hour in the midweek PJT game?

Bolder than playing the hardworking yet very one footed Jones on the wrong side?

Like Sadlier, Randell Williams is essentially a winger. So yeah: like replacing Gethin, who's played most of 2022 at centre-back, with a winger would be a bold move when 1-0 up against the league leaders...
.

I went to the reverse fixture in September and the teams were very, very evenly matched

We missed an absolute shocker of a chance through Baka (after conceding a shocker of a goal in the first half), then 3 minutes later we're picking the ball out of our net and the game's beyond us

The difference on that day, were the strikers. We've got one in good form and they've just lot one. Let's hope we can take advantage of that.. Having a pacey debutant at LWB could also give us a real lift as we've looked lob-sided

There also wasn't a great deal between us in the home game last season (they scored off a corner, of course they did). As I say it's an interesting test, this one, as both teams have improved.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

I feel like we've been let off in the last three matches. Derby and Lincoln should both have had pens against us that would have won them 3 points and we got an early red against Barnsley that handed us a result.

We've been, erm, efficient. We had three efforts on target at Barnsley and won 3-0. We only had one at Lincoln and drew 1-1. We had two v Derby in the 0-0, and we had 3 v Exeter and won 2-0.

[GhostoftheBok]

We've been, erm, efficient. We had three efforts on target at Barnsley and won 3-0. We only had one at Lincoln and drew 1-1. We had two v Derby in the 0-0, and we had 3 v Exeter and won 2-0.

Exeter is less of an issue. We tore them to bits to get to 2-0 and then got bored. Barnsley I thought was a terrific display, but you have to be wary getting too excited having played ten men. Derby and Lincoln we definitely dodged bullets.

Tomorrow will be huge for both sides. We obviously have to beat them to have any chance of catching them. They will want to make sure they quell any hope we might have of a second half of the season charge. Their boss will have been showing them our points tallies after January and saying "kill these off now."

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

I suspect they'll also be keen to show they can get by without Whittaker - and as our guest notes, if Azaz is back on the bench that's a boon for them.