This season has been destined to be an utter clusterfuck since May 21st. You could smell it a mile off. Shitty things around every corner. To think we're in 8th place on the final day of 2022 is remarkable. I think it's a real testament to Gareth Ainsworth's skill as a manager that we're in this position. It really speaks to his character. Fighting against the odds and giving the finger to fate.
It does feel like he completely overthought last night's team selection. Was it really necessary? Are the players left at home really that broken? We have a two-week break after Peterborough United on New Years Day. Wasn't that the time to rest?
It effectively meant we threw the game. I'd be raging if I'd made the sacrifices involved in travelling to Plymouth.
These kind of shenanigans don't tend to work out well either, I recall Martin O'Neill came a cropper doing something similar whilst Aston Villa manager.
Sadly, I fear there are several more shitty things lurking for us in January. I see others have also interpreted Alfie Mawson's precautionary absence as a prelude to a move. Anis Mehmeti being watched by Fulham and Nottingham Forest is hardly a surprise and the forthcoming undisclosed fee will add salt into the wound.
Private ownership is another shitty thing and the pending sale of the club to our next as yet unknown saviours will yet bring more instability.
Mid-table beckons in 2023 and it will be qualified success in this clusterfuck of a season. I have a feeling we'll be dreaming of a mid-table finish in 2024.
At least we're not in Crawley Town's predicament, so there's always that.
Goodness me, what a thoroughly depressing post on which to end another successful year for WWFC (play off final last season, equal on points with the playoff places at the halfway mark this season). I bet you left before the end of that Monty Python classic ‘Always look on the bright side of life…..’
Very bizarre team selection last night, don’t think I’ve ever been so shocked at a team sheet before.
Such a shame as our first 11 versus theirs would have been a great match up and at a venue that we do so well at.
We have been in great form over the last few weeks so to disrupt that (albeit I don’t know what the injury/illness situation is) seems odd on the face of it.
A bit of rotation would have been totally understandable but eight was quite extreme.
Agreed, @Vincey - as far as Vokes, he was only just brought back in for Monday's game. Mehmeti has played every game this season, and Wheeler has been on the form of his life. Eight changes was pressing the nuclear button when it was not needed.
There was a bizarre moment where it felt like there was a glitch in the matrix in the first half where the ball was launched down the wing.
The camera work was a bit odd, but when it came back into focus he wasn't even looking at the ball and just kind of leapt into view. Very strange.
I've seen a few players over the years who are clearly learning how to compete aerially not even looking at the ball a lot of time, leaping into their opponent, and he's definitely along those lines.
As a contrast De Barr has a knack of utterly bundling into players. No wonder someone named him De Barge the other day!
If De Barr can get rid of that reckless streak (and last night's events should really be the moment that tells him to cool it) then he can be some player.
I agree with what has been said about that being a close match, in which we a touch unlucky not to score, Taffazolli's first half header has been mentioned, but I have not seen much discussion about Wheeler's penalty appeal which I think was in added time at the end. Watching on Wanderers TV he definitely seemed confident it should have been given. I could not find it on the extended highlights. I will want to look at the full match replay.
That said a second goal for them always looked possible, although most of their best chances seemed to me to be well managed / saved by Stryjek rather than the failure to score being due to a mistake or bad luck.
I wouldn't be unhappy were we to face that Plymouth side in the play offs, semis or in the final.🙂
GA has Plymouth fans complimenting him on what a gent he came across as last night. It really is a privilege to have a manager whose behavior is always exemplary. Sorry Bristol Rovers fans!
I can’t believe that seven people agreed with these sentiments. How many clubs would swap places with us right now? Some fans just don’t appreciate what a great club we have got.
As ever football is about fine margins. If we had defended that corner as we should’ve done and /or the effort by Vokes had gone on we had picked up a point or even three we would have been praising Gaz as a master tactician.
We never defended the corner though, football is about fine margins and that's why in my opinion you start your best team otherwise your giving the other team an advantage before a ball is kicked.
We're better than being plucky losers who could of scraped a point.
Argyle fan here. Some amusing posts on here. Unless I'm mistaken, Mawson missed a game prior to this game versus us. Excluding him therefore, and any other injuries (as we also have key players out in Azaz, Miller, Grant, Galloway) I make it about roughly 5 players of yours who would be considered 2nd string (correct me if wrong). I'm going to bundle the likes of Wheeler, Grimmer, Horgan and Hanlon as not KEY, in the way that Mehmeti and Scowen may be. In the same way that we have some 2nd string players like them who aren't key.
I've read a few comical posts on here saying that we would get turned over easy had you had your 1st team out. Just for perspective, in addition to our own injuries, we dropped 3 first team starters also, in Mumba, Edwards and Ennis. Additionally, and only against Wycombe (both home and away), we changed shape to a 4-4-2. Every other game has been a 3-5-2 with Mumba and Edwards at full-back. Hence, we were playing a totally different system to our usual pattern, and without any width (as our wide midfield men are not wide players). Some of the comments on here are therefore OTT. You were 3/4 players short compared to us at most. The reality is that on another night we could have scored 3 or 4 last night, long before you even had a sniff. We weren't at our pretty best but we set up purposefully so to combat Wycombe. Sorry lads but we've learned how to play against you after a number of years dealing with your antics and I'm afraid to say that, you got Wycombe'd.
No-one is saying we would have had an easy game against you with our strongest eleven, but we did make 8 changes in the starting line up since the last game.
Due to the close nature of the result and some of our key players causing you problems when they came on posters are right to wonder what might have been different if we'd not prioritised rests and Sundays game but can't see anyone saying we would have won easily.
Well a few posts did say that above. 8 changes true, although again, and correct me if wrong, but as someone who has kept an eye on Wycombe, I don't think Grimmer and Wheeler are levels above Hanlon and/or Horgan for example. I mean, I'm not following closely like you guys are but I would have thought key players for Wycombe are players like Taf, Scowen, Mehmeti, Vokes, McCleary. If people are going to make it out to be 8 lads, then we can probably make a case for 4/5 ourselves. (discounting injuries for reason(s) above).
Think most above would have understood 4/5 changes, 8 was a surprise, if we beat Posh on Saturday we'll be happy with 6 from 9. You're comparing people in different positions btw.
Obita, Mawson, Scowen, Wing, Mehmeti, Vokes and McCleary.
A couple of others we can argue are like for like, but most fans would list those 7 above as in the first choice X1.
So with that in mind, you can see why a lot of our fans were flabbergasted we turned up at top of the league away without them.
The last time I can remember us making such a huge amount of changes - Checkatrade cup aside (!) was the league cup tie away at Man City! A game we were probably going to lose by 5 or 6 either way.
Lectures us on our thoughts on our own side and then compares Grimmer to Hanlan and Horgan. Classic!
Mate, if you don't understand why we would feel we could have got more out of the game with starts from the subs who were giving you all you could handle after coming on, you must be new to football.
I would also caution against kicking us when we are down. Football fortunes always change quick enough to make your head spin.
@ArgyleMan Not taking away from the result, as I'd think that whatever team we put out is fairly irrelevant to you (I'd be delighted if a side made that many changes against us), but our starting line up was a huge shock. Not just in terms of who was left out (and I'd say we had 5 who we'd usually start with not even on the bench!), but who was bought in. Many of our starting XI haven't started and in some cases even appeared for us in months.
It may well be of course that you'd have beaten us whatever side we put out, but I'm not at all convinced by the claim that Schumacher (whom I think is doing a wonderful job) has worked out how to play against us. I'd be frankly amazed if he'd predicted that Wycombe line up! Not saying they were bad players we bought in, but several of them were very short of any recent match experience and at times it showed. I thought we improved significantly once the subs were made and we could easily have earned a point in the end.
Anyway, personally I wish Argyle all the best for the rest of the season, would be great to see you promoted (hopefully alongside us). I've never really understood the dislike of Wycombe some Plymouth fans have/had. Most of it seems to date back to the Derek Adams days though. Fair to say, he wasn't popular amongst Wycombe fans and with Ainsworth! That's all history now though, would like to think both sides have moved on.
Comments
This season has been destined to be an utter clusterfuck since May 21st. You could smell it a mile off. Shitty things around every corner. To think we're in 8th place on the final day of 2022 is remarkable. I think it's a real testament to Gareth Ainsworth's skill as a manager that we're in this position. It really speaks to his character. Fighting against the odds and giving the finger to fate.
It does feel like he completely overthought last night's team selection. Was it really necessary? Are the players left at home really that broken? We have a two-week break after Peterborough United on New Years Day. Wasn't that the time to rest?
It effectively meant we threw the game. I'd be raging if I'd made the sacrifices involved in travelling to Plymouth.
These kind of shenanigans don't tend to work out well either, I recall Martin O'Neill came a cropper doing something similar whilst Aston Villa manager.
Sadly, I fear there are several more shitty things lurking for us in January. I see others have also interpreted Alfie Mawson's precautionary absence as a prelude to a move. Anis Mehmeti being watched by Fulham and Nottingham Forest is hardly a surprise and the forthcoming undisclosed fee will add salt into the wound.
Private ownership is another shitty thing and the pending sale of the club to our next as yet unknown saviours will yet bring more instability.
Mid-table beckons in 2023 and it will be qualified success in this clusterfuck of a season. I have a feeling we'll be dreaming of a mid-table finish in 2024.
At least we're not in Crawley Town's predicament, so there's always that.
Happy soul!
When was it you wrote off our play off chances? After Bolton?
Goodness me, what a thoroughly depressing post on which to end another successful year for WWFC (play off final last season, equal on points with the playoff places at the halfway mark this season). I bet you left before the end of that Monty Python classic ‘Always look on the bright side of life…..’
Very bizarre team selection last night, don’t think I’ve ever been so shocked at a team sheet before.
Such a shame as our first 11 versus theirs would have been a great match up and at a venue that we do so well at.
We have been in great form over the last few weeks so to disrupt that (albeit I don’t know what the injury/illness situation is) seems odd on the face of it.
A bit of rotation would have been totally understandable but eight was quite extreme.
Agreed, @Vincey - as far as Vokes, he was only just brought back in for Monday's game. Mehmeti has played every game this season, and Wheeler has been on the form of his life. Eight changes was pressing the nuclear button when it was not needed.
There was a bizarre moment where it felt like there was a glitch in the matrix in the first half where the ball was launched down the wing.
The camera work was a bit odd, but when it came back into focus he wasn't even looking at the ball and just kind of leapt into view. Very strange.
I've seen a few players over the years who are clearly learning how to compete aerially not even looking at the ball a lot of time, leaping into their opponent, and he's definitely along those lines.
As a contrast De Barr has a knack of utterly bundling into players. No wonder someone named him De Barge the other day!
Now that's a totally different scenario.
That was one of the huge positives of yesterday.
Thompson playing 90mins like he'd never been away.
If De Barr can get rid of that reckless streak (and last night's events should really be the moment that tells him to cool it) then he can be some player.
He reminds me a little of an angrier version of Chicharito the ex Man Utd player.
If he can prove to have the same pace and finishing, we're onto a great find.
Will we play the 2 up front that suits him often enough though?
Before Burton
I agree with what has been said about that being a close match, in which we a touch unlucky not to score, Taffazolli's first half header has been mentioned, but I have not seen much discussion about Wheeler's penalty appeal which I think was in added time at the end. Watching on Wanderers TV he definitely seemed confident it should have been given. I could not find it on the extended highlights. I will want to look at the full match replay.
That said a second goal for them always looked possible, although most of their best chances seemed to me to be well managed / saved by Stryjek rather than the failure to score being due to a mistake or bad luck.
I wouldn't be unhappy were we to face that Plymouth side in the play offs, semis or in the final.🙂
…and I ended it on a positive note too. C'est La Vie.
GA has Plymouth fans complimenting him on what a gent he came across as last night. It really is a privilege to have a manager whose behavior is always exemplary. Sorry Bristol Rovers fans!
I can’t believe that seven people agreed with these sentiments. How many clubs would swap places with us right now? Some fans just don’t appreciate what a great club we have got.
As ever football is about fine margins. If we had defended that corner as we should’ve done and /or the effort by Vokes had gone on we had picked up a point or even three we would have been praising Gaz as a master tactician.
What is it they say?
Expect the worst and you can't be disappointed?
In that case, I don't think your near namesake has ever been disappointed in his life!
Mr67,
We never defended the corner though, football is about fine margins and that's why in my opinion you start your best team otherwise your giving the other team an advantage before a ball is kicked.
We're better than being plucky losers who could of scraped a point.
Another good player we might be losing. If he does go we need to find a defender that can match his game or go even higher
Argyle fan here. Some amusing posts on here. Unless I'm mistaken, Mawson missed a game prior to this game versus us. Excluding him therefore, and any other injuries (as we also have key players out in Azaz, Miller, Grant, Galloway) I make it about roughly 5 players of yours who would be considered 2nd string (correct me if wrong). I'm going to bundle the likes of Wheeler, Grimmer, Horgan and Hanlon as not KEY, in the way that Mehmeti and Scowen may be. In the same way that we have some 2nd string players like them who aren't key.
I've read a few comical posts on here saying that we would get turned over easy had you had your 1st team out. Just for perspective, in addition to our own injuries, we dropped 3 first team starters also, in Mumba, Edwards and Ennis. Additionally, and only against Wycombe (both home and away), we changed shape to a 4-4-2. Every other game has been a 3-5-2 with Mumba and Edwards at full-back. Hence, we were playing a totally different system to our usual pattern, and without any width (as our wide midfield men are not wide players). Some of the comments on here are therefore OTT. You were 3/4 players short compared to us at most. The reality is that on another night we could have scored 3 or 4 last night, long before you even had a sniff. We weren't at our pretty best but we set up purposefully so to combat Wycombe. Sorry lads but we've learned how to play against you after a number of years dealing with your antics and I'm afraid to say that, you got Wycombe'd.
No-one is saying we would have had an easy game against you with our strongest eleven, but we did make 8 changes in the starting line up since the last game.
Aye, speaking of comical.
Due to the close nature of the result and some of our key players causing you problems when they came on posters are right to wonder what might have been different if we'd not prioritised rests and Sundays game but can't see anyone saying we would have won easily.
Well a few posts did say that above. 8 changes true, although again, and correct me if wrong, but as someone who has kept an eye on Wycombe, I don't think Grimmer and Wheeler are levels above Hanlon and/or Horgan for example. I mean, I'm not following closely like you guys are but I would have thought key players for Wycombe are players like Taf, Scowen, Mehmeti, Vokes, McCleary. If people are going to make it out to be 8 lads, then we can probably make a case for 4/5 ourselves. (discounting injuries for reason(s) above).
Think most above would have understood 4/5 changes, 8 was a surprise, if we beat Posh on Saturday we'll be happy with 6 from 9. You're comparing people in different positions btw.
We didn't start
Obita, Mawson, Scowen, Wing, Mehmeti, Vokes and McCleary.
A couple of others we can argue are like for like, but most fans would list those 7 above as in the first choice X1.
So with that in mind, you can see why a lot of our fans were flabbergasted we turned up at top of the league away without them.
The last time I can remember us making such a huge amount of changes - Checkatrade cup aside (!) was the league cup tie away at Man City! A game we were probably going to lose by 5 or 6 either way.
Lectures us on our thoughts on our own side and then compares Grimmer to Hanlan and Horgan. Classic!
Mate, if you don't understand why we would feel we could have got more out of the game with starts from the subs who were giving you all you could handle after coming on, you must be new to football.
I would also caution against kicking us when we are down. Football fortunes always change quick enough to make your head spin.
Yes, it would be good to play Plymouth in the playoffs. Two legs or in the final, I think most Wycombe fans would fancy our chances.
@ArgyleMan Not taking away from the result, as I'd think that whatever team we put out is fairly irrelevant to you (I'd be delighted if a side made that many changes against us), but our starting line up was a huge shock. Not just in terms of who was left out (and I'd say we had 5 who we'd usually start with not even on the bench!), but who was bought in. Many of our starting XI haven't started and in some cases even appeared for us in months.
It may well be of course that you'd have beaten us whatever side we put out, but I'm not at all convinced by the claim that Schumacher (whom I think is doing a wonderful job) has worked out how to play against us. I'd be frankly amazed if he'd predicted that Wycombe line up! Not saying they were bad players we bought in, but several of them were very short of any recent match experience and at times it showed. I thought we improved significantly once the subs were made and we could easily have earned a point in the end.
Anyway, personally I wish Argyle all the best for the rest of the season, would be great to see you promoted (hopefully alongside us). I've never really understood the dislike of Wycombe some Plymouth fans have/had. Most of it seems to date back to the Derek Adams days though. Fair to say, he wasn't popular amongst Wycombe fans and with Ainsworth! That's all history now though, would like to think both sides have moved on.