Rochdale

[Johnny- Glen]

It all feels so much better now that we are mid-table.  There aren't a lot of points between us and the play-off slots, but then its about the same to the bottom too.

A good home win, but it would have been better if we hadn't needed to rely on penalties to get us the win.  Can anyone give a report on the game please (I wasn't there).

[RODGER RUSE]

I agree with the comment about Noone and Mason - and you can add Barnes, Wright-Phillips and others to that list. However, they are totally unaffordable (in terms of their wages and no doubt their desire for a higher level of football) as far as Argyle are concerned. We have to be realistic now. Maybe, if we move up the League consistently and get higher crowds, the budget will increase. We could go on about the players we had in the Championship too, like Sylvan-Blake, but we must move on now and continue to support our current group of players who are skilful, hard-working and effective. I am concerned to hear cries for the Manager to be sacked starting up again. Despite the last two poor results, he is doing a good job and at times has shown tactical flair. I think his substitutions yesterday did not work but he may have had good reasons, out of necessity, for what he did. I was at the Rotherham game. Carl himself expressed disappointment and the quality of football from our team, especially offensively, did not reach the high standards of the previous four games. However, it was good to see the defence looking much tighter against a big, strong Rotherham team who would have slaughtered any team lacking defensive aptitude. I am still confident that we will keep out of relegation trouble this season and achieve a mid-table finish at least, which will mean that progress is happening and should lead to promotion in the next three years. That is the best we can hope for after the troubles of the last four years.

I want to mention some players who were outstanding yesterday: Jake Cole made a few outstanding saves and must be amongst the top three goalies in League 2 now. Curtis Nelson had an amazing game. He has a prodigious leap which enables him to defend well against the tallest strikers. He is also very quick and very fit, reads the game well and in my opinion was Man of the Match yesterday. We need the experience and commanding influence of Darren Purse as captain but his injury this season has affected his mobility and we looked defensively stronger for the presence of Curtis yesterday. I thought Andres Guirerri had another fine game and the match turned in Rotherham's favour when Carl removed him and Madjo in favour of Feeney and the sadly out-of-form Chadwick. Luke Young had another excellent game in centre midfield. Jamie Lowry looked to lack match fitness and the brilliant Connor Hourihane was much missed. Let us hope the team can really turn it on against Dorchester and avoid another setback like that at Stourbridge last year.

COYG - you are doing well enough for me.

[phil wright]

Pity we have come back to earth with a bump in the last two matches although havent read any reports so dont know how we played.

On another note see Mason & Noone both scored for Cardiff today who are flying , makes you sick doesnt it.

[RODGER RUSE]

Sorry you are unable to watch the games, Gary. It would be great to have somebody with your positive attitude at Home Park concentrating on the good points of play and not constantly picking out every little mistake. There is a gentleman who sits near me who takes great joy in constantly letting everybody know that "he is not going to applaud because this awful shower have done something right for once - they should get rid of the whole team and the manager as they are all useless and know nothing about football" (presumably he is a great expert in football tactics!!!) I do agree with your comment about the web site. I have got used to the inferior quality compared with last season but it is really frustrating having to put up with the slow response and the need to refresh every report in order to read it to the end. I don't think anything will be done. The Football League took their decision and have to accept the end product, poor as it is, presumably it just saved costs.

[Gary Johnston]

It's great to read some positive reviews on the games as well as good reports from the youth team, (they are the future). It would appear that there is some good football being played & we are heading in the right direction. Hopefully even better for the remainder of the season. Let's not forget we are rebuilding but the future looks good.(I try not to think of what was happening 12 months ago).

On another note, the 1 complaint I do have is that the PAFC website is still not user friendly. It is a pain trying to read reports on the games & in this modern age of technology, it is a backward step.

Living overseas I don't see games,so like to read as much as I can on the games but on numerous occassions i have given up & gone elsewhere.

Keep up the good work Fletch & with the current squad, I believe we have the makings of a good team.

 

[Johnny- Glen]

Yes, it is very quiet on here.  This blog has had 103 views though, so people are looking if not posting.

[RODGER RUSE]

All gone quiet on Argyle Insider - where are those fans? I watched the FA Youth Cup win against Exeter City last night. My goodness, what a fine bunch of young players Argyle have coming through at the moment! From goal keeper to the strikers, they are a superbly talented group of players. They totally outplayed Exeter and thoroughly deserved to win. I just hope that young talent like Tyler Harvey and River Allen do not fall in to the hands of the Premiership predators! As we have two fine young goal keepers in the first team at the moment, who could fill that position for many years, it would make sense for the Board to accept a big sum for Christian Walton, who is destined to play in the Premiership one day, anyway. However, goal scorers are another matter and it would be great if we could get a couple of seasons out of Tyler Harvey before he moves on. The message for all those doom mongers out there is that Argyle are developing young players who could serve the team brilliantly in years to come, avoiding the need for costly transfer fees.

[RODGER RUSE]

Great result and great performance. We started strongly, scored two early goals and could have had many more by half time. I could see exactly what Carl meant when he described his change in tactics. Instead of continuing rampaging forward in the second half, the team remained composed, well organised and saw the game out comfortably. Playing Guierri just behind the magnificent Madjo was a master stroke by our genius of a manager. Cowan-Hall improves every game. Young and Hourihane are as good a pair of central midfield players we have had for years and all four defenders were superb on Saturday. Both of our penalties were clear cut and Madjo followed Feeney's example by striking them both just right. Carl is learning all the time, becoming a formidable tactician - as often acknowledged by his opponents' managers - and deserves the highest praise. He is following in the footsteps of several other young managers in the Football League who have successfully stepped up from playing to managing. I just hope we can keep him for a few seasons (hopefully he will note that his mate Eddie Howe has realised his mistake in leaving Bournemouth for a seemingly better Club and has returned to where he had such a good start in management). He can take us all the way to the Championship. The next two games could see us either in the play-offs or near the foot of the table again. Either way, I have faith in Carl's ability to achieve great success in the next few years. No coincidence that the moaning minnies have left this site but no doubt we will be flooded with negative blogs and comments as soon as Argyle lose a game or two.