Match Thread Plymouth Argyle (A) FAC 3pm 9th Feb

[binomial]

The Chiesa buy is on Hughes, there was an interview by Chiesa where he said Hughes went out of his way to get him onboard and even spoke Italian well, blah blah...
I guess for 10m ain't going to complain but yeah, don't quiet get the belief in a player who has been barely fit or able to play RW to the ability we need in PL or CL or even FA Cup against cold evening at Plymouth.

Signing Chiesa isn’t the problem, as we knew what we were getting.

The problem is in the last 2 windows, he’s been the ONLY one through the door to help the squad this season. That’s a fucking shambles.

Factor in we still haven’t addressed any of the contracts, Hughes is the first one that needs fucking off.

 

[tomasjj]

Chiesa wasn't worse than Jota or Diaz.
One difference was Chiesa was involved in the game and tried to create something, but mostly failed.
Diaz runs towards a player with the ball, then decides to pass it sideways.
Jota was not involved, but had one very good shot.

 

[rubans]

Chiesa wasn'

Don't leave us hanging...

 

[Dreambeliever]

Don't leave us hanging...

Like Chiesa today the rest of the sentence was invisible.

 

[Farkmaster]

I slept through this, sweating with fever in bed. Kid had the flu and now I do too. Silver linings.

 

[Dreambeliever]

I slept through this, sweating with fever in bed. Kid had the flu and now I do too. Silver linings.

Shiver linings.

 

[Beamrider]

Chiesa wasn't worse than Jota or Diaz.
One difference was Chiesa was involved in the game and tried to create something, but mostly failed.
Diaz runs towards a player with the ball, then decides to pass it sideways.
Jota was not involved, but had one very good shot.

I'm not usually a fan of Karen Carney's punditry, but she called it spot on at half-time. Jota wasn't getting as involved as he should because he was worried about getting injured. That's understandable, but it shows why he was the wrong choice today. We needed a physical player up front who would butt heads with their central defenders, and we didn't (don't) have one - Nunez is probably the closest.

 

[Donavan Ried]

But that doesn't explain how they still did nothing and were gifted a pen.

Our front 3 couldn't turn a page, let alone turn a man.

People are overegging how weak our team was.

Kelleher - starter for most sides
Tsimi - starter for a lot of sides
Quansah - regular for league leaders
Gomez - starter for most sides
Endo - solid player and starts for most
Elliott - usually much fucking better and highly regarded
Diaz, Jota and chiesa - all first team regulars for the current leaders of the league

I'm not fucking having this "oh it was a weak side" bollocks. There was more than enough fucking quality there to beat fucking Plymouth

Those players didn't perform.

obviously not, could of play a stronger midfield.

 

[MomoWASright]

Said 13% Imperial Stout. Dark cherry chocolate overload.

 

[WheresMeTea]

Terrible performance from all today, Elliott was worst player on the pitch and got even worse as the game progressed. He and Quansah have regressed badly under Arne. Jota anonymous for most of the game and Chiesa looked like he was afraid to get hurt. Now we need to thrash the bitters and forget about today.

 

[MomoWASright]

I'm not usually a fan of Karen Carney's punditry, but she called it spot on at half-time. Jota wasn't getting as involved as he should because he was worried about getting injured. That's understandable, but it shows why he was the wrong choice today. We needed a physical player up front who would butt heads with their central defenders, and we didn't (don't) have one - Nunez is probably the closest.

I think out of the forwards Jota was the one hung out to dry. When he had the ball there was three grocks there. When Diaz and Chiesa had the ball they had the full back and the spare CB in front of them and they just didn’t have the balls to skin them. Those two should’ve bamboozled what was in front of them.

Once it was apparent it wasn’t working then Nunez should’ve been on as that big unit up front.

 

[StevieM]

That's a reaction 5 mins after the match. This game will have zero affect on the 1st team - absolutely zero. And when we beat Everton to go 9 points clear Arsenal will be the ones with massive pressure on them, one further slip from them and it's already done.

So you say - but it will have an impact - it already is - maybe it wil galvanise us to “be better”, maybe it will lead to questions.

Jonathan Liew said it best in The Guardian :

“For Liverpool the echoes of this game will continue into next week, and possibly well beyond. Will the slight scheduling respite be worth the humiliation, the stunted momentum, the realisation among their title rivals that Liverpool’s vaunted squad depth may not be all that it seems?”.

 

[MomoWASright]

So you say - but it will have an impact - it already is - maybe it wil galvanise us to “be better”, maybe it will lead to questions.

Jonathan Liew said it best in The Guardian :

“For Liverpool the echoes of this game will continue into next week, and possibly well beyond. Will the slight scheduling respite be worth the humiliation, the stunted momentum, the realisation among their title rivals that Liverpool’s vaunted squad depth may not be all that it seems?”.

If we win the rest, nobody will give two shits. If we go into games following the other rounds “rusty” then we will get it with both barrels.

 

[tomasjj]

The media is full of these hopeful stories of Liverpool’s fall from grace.
That is what they all wish for.

 

[Buddha]

A simple sorry would have been better…the fuck is he on about?

Elliott said: "I mean, the arguments could go on forever, to be honest. I was so close to him and I said to the referee, ‘Do you expect me to jump with my arms by my side? That’s just not a natural way of jumping.’ I was trying my hardest to block the ball and my arm was up there but it was about a metre away from the player shooting.

"But it’s football, it’s a kick in the teeth really. It’s not nice to lose this way and it’s not nice for it to be on you, as I gave away the penalty. So, unfortunately it’s just one of those things. I need to keep my head up and keep pushing on."

 

[peterhague]

So you say - but it will have an impact - it already is - maybe it wil galvanise us to “be better”, maybe it will lead to questions.

Jonathan Liew said it best in The Guardian :

“For Liverpool the echoes of this game will continue into next week, and possibly well beyond. Will the slight scheduling respite be worth the humiliation, the stunted momentum, the realisation among their title rivals that Liverpool’s vaunted squad depth may not be all that it seems?”.

He's a complete twat.

 

[darkstarexodus]

A simple sorry would have been better…the fuck is he on about?

Elliott said: "I mean, the arguments could go on forever, to be honest. I was so close to him and I said to the referee, ‘Do you expect me to jump with my arms by my side? That’s just not a natural way of jumping.’ I was trying my hardest to block the ball and my arm was up there but it was about a metre away from the player shooting.

"But it’s football, it’s a kick in the teeth really. It’s not nice to lose this way and it’s not nice for it to be on you, as I gave away the penalty. So, unfortunately it’s just one of those things. I need to keep my head up and keep pushing on."

It was as stonewall as you get.

I appreciate his enthusiasm for the Super Bowl but signalling touchdown in our 18 yard box was ill advised.

 

[StevieM]

He's a complete twat.

He may be - but he’s also an entertaining writer and he’s not entirely wrong.

We don’t beat Everton and watch the noise rise.

Beat them and it all goes away.

 

[StevieM]

If we win the rest, nobody will give two shits. If we go into games following the other rounds “rusty” then we will get it with both barrels.

This is the problem - just raises the temperature a little on the Everton game - and there’s zero chance they won’t now think if they get stuck in, they can get a result.

 

[peterhague]

He may be - but he’s also an entertaining writer and he’s not entirely wrong.

We don’t beat Everton and watch the noise rise.

Beat them and it all goes away.

It's just always the same tedious freak out after a game like this.

Just as an example: squad depth isn't for playing a reserve XI that can take on all comers. It's about having lots of good options to slot in and out of a reasonably complete first XI. It's about covering all your bases, not some notional shadow team that can maintain some percentage of your first team's performance levels.

Once you take everyone out and start a whole new team you're not measuring squad depth anymore, you're just gambling that the opposition is even shitter than the inevitably shit team you've put out.

Which is to say: today's result basically says nothing about our squad depth, which is still as good as it's always been (albeit imo has always been a bit overrated: there are weaknesses that seem to get glossed over in all the hype we've generated recently).

 

[StevieM]

It's just always the same tedious freak out after a game like this.

Just as an example: squad depth isn't for playing a reserve XI that can take on all comers. It's about having lots of good options to slot in and out of a reasonably complete first XI. It's about covering all your bases, not some notional shadow team that can maintain some percentage of your first team's performance levels.

Once you take everyone out and start a whole new team you're not measuring squad depth anymore, you're just gambling that the opposition is even shitter than the inevitably shit team you've put out.

Which is to say: today's result basically says nothing about our squad depth, which is still as good as it's always been (albeit imo has always been a bit overrated: there are weaknesses that seem to get glossed over in all the hype we've generated recently).

I don’t necessarily disagree, I think we rotated just a little bit too much as we lacked the midfield platform to control the game - although the Gomez injury played a part.

I also think it’s incorrect to say it tells us nothing.

Like I said, maybe it pushes us to be better from here on, maybe it doesn’t - football’s as much about mentality as skill / it’s what those players do next that now matters.

I probably would have put Curtis on and if he wasn’t fit, I probably would have given Macca his place to have a bit more experience in there.

You saw the feel good feeling around the club last season when we played the kids and won and you saw the drop off when we lost a couple of games.

 

[peterhague]

I don’t necessarily disagree, I think we rotated just a little bit too much as we lacked the midfield platform to control the game - although the Gomez injury played a part.

I also think it’s incorrect to say it tells us nothing.

Like I said, maybe it pushes us to be better from here on, maybe it doesn’t - football’s as much about mentality as skill / it’s what those players do next that now matters.

I probably would have put Curtis on and if he wasn’t fit, I probably would have given Macca his place to have a bit more experience in there.

You saw the feel good feeling around the club last season when we played the kids and won and you saw the drop off when we lost a couple of games.

It might seem like a cop-out but ultimately if we need to win every game to avoid collapsing then we're fucked anyway, because we sure as hell were never going to do that.

 

[Hyena]

Can't be arsed tbh.

It'll be a completely different 11 against Everton - who weren't going to shit in their pants even if we beat Plymouth 8-0.

A good reality check for our squad, if anything.

 

[StevieM]

It might seem like a cop-out but ultimately if we need to win every game to avoid collapsing then we're fucked anyway, because we sure as hell were never going to do that.

With 15 games to go last season, the only game City “lost” was the FA Cup final (lost on penalties to RM in CL - 3 draws and 12 wins in the league.

Arsenal won 13 of their final 15 league games, losing only 1 and drawing the other and went out of the CL, narrowly after a draw then 1-0 defeat to Bayern. Their one league defeat came in between the 2 Bayern games.

If you look at how our season unfolded, we drew to Utd and followed that up with defeat to Atalanta & Palace with the week and our season was over.

So, yeah, there is an expectation that we would win just about every game - because that’s the only way to be sure we win stuff - we’re fortunate that City are out of it, but little losses like this “can” puncture confidence and change a season in an instant (for good or bad - Arsenal’s loss to us galvanised them).

We win our next 2 matches and, while not home and dry, we’re very close.

We’re just about to go into a 5 game sequence that will probably define our season - and we’re doing it on the back of a potentially moral or confidence sucking defeat - that’s not ideal - but I get it, it’s also not necessarily an indicator that we’re about to implode.

 

[tombrown]

There'll be one Irish Aussie cunt happ

There'll be one Irish Aussie cunt happy

Sorry, not a nice thing to say. I drank all Momo's beer in a bar in Alicante watching this - poor excuse but it's all I have.

 

[Frogfish]

So you say - but it will have an impact - it already is - maybe it wil galvanise us to “be better”, maybe it will lead to questions.

Jonathan Liew said it best in The Guardian :

“For Liverpool the echoes of this game will continue into next week, and possibly well beyond. Will the slight scheduling respite be worth the humiliation, the stunted momentum, the realisation among their title rivals that Liverpool’s vaunted squad depth may not be all that it seems?”.

Nah. A journo grasping at straws because there's not been anything negative to say this season. 3 defeats - two with weakened 2nd teams and one where we won the stats but lost the game.

After losing to Forest we won the next game at Milan 3-1, beat Bournemoutjh 3-0 and then West Ham 5-1.
After losing at PSV we went to Bournemouth and won 2-0 then beat Spurs 4-0.

Those defeats weren't exactly confidence destroyers, seems like they inspired us !

 

[StevieM]

Nah. A journo grasping at straws because there's not been anything negative to say this season. 3 defeats - two with weakened 2nd teams and one where we won the stats but lost the game.

After losing to Forest we won the next game at Milan 3-1, beat Bournemoutjh 3-0 and then West Ham 5-1.
After losing at PSV we went to Bournemouth and won 2-0 then beat Spurs 4-0.

Those defeats weren't exactly confidence destroyers, seems like they inspired us !

Yeah, but that’s early in the season and didn’t end our chance of a trophy.

 

[Frogfish]

Yeah, but that’s early in the season and didn’t end our chance of a trophy.

Oh Bournemouth and Spurs were early season? Damn my memory must be getting really bad because I can't remember a single game after them !

 

[Dirty Sanchez]

Can't be arsed tbh.

It'll be a completely different 11 against Everton - who weren't going to shit in their pants even if we beat Plymouth 8-0.

A good reality check for our squad, if anything.

After my anger and disappointment, this is how I have to adjust my mindset, in order to come to terms with what seemed like a silly, gutless, humiliating way to exit a decent cup competition.

 

[KopRed]

Chiesa was struggling big time. It's like watching one of those 40 year olds playing in a legends game.
You can see he has the heart, but his body does not respond. It's worrying.

Elliot was the worst senior player on the pitch by a mile. Forget the pen, he shat the bed and rolled on it some more.