Plymouth Argyle: Jan — March 2016…and beyond

Hello friends and welcome back to my continuing struggle with Plymouth as our second season in the EPL draws to a close. We showed some slight improvement over the last couple of months so let’s seem if the team could carry that forward into the New Year.

January 2016

The start of the New Year began with the usual board meeting where I decided to keep the clubs expectations at avoiding relegation despite our current mid table league position.

With morale sitting at abysmal it was a terrible time to play an away cup game but that’s exactly what we faced as we took on Stevenage in the FA Cup 3rd Round. The home side took the lead after just 5 minutes exploiting a massive gap between my two central defenders. Beciraj soon put us back on level terms after which young Brazilian defender Marcao headed in the go ahead goal from a corner on his debut. Looking good by the interval we soon capitulated in the second half as Stevenage went on the rampage and got their equalizer just after the hour. They couldn’t find the winning goal try as they might and we were lucky to get out of Broadhall Way alive.

The next game away to Everton was totally forgettable as it played out to a boring 0-0 draw which meant we had gone four EPL games without scoring.

Well I had said I wasn’t going to sign anyone in this transfer window but once Manuele Cecconi popped up on my radar I changed my mind particularly as he had been released by the New York Red Bulls so cost nothing at all.

Cecconi started up front along with McLaughlin as we took on Stevenage in the FA Cup 3rd round replay. The young America immediately tormented the opposition back four but just couldn’t find that all important finishing touch, though neither could his team-mates. That would change on the stroke of half time as Cecconi set up Pelosi from a short option corner that we’d been training on to take the lead. Pelosi’s through ball would create a chance for his fellow countryman Cecconi who buried the ball into to net to double our lead. Kostas Fortounis who now seems more settled headed in goal number three to send us through to the 4th round to meet Swansea.

Next up was the visit of Newcastle who took the lead from a corner after just seven minutes as Kapellhof “walked away” from guarding the left post allowing acres of space for the goal. Newcastle controlled much of the first half though we weren’t completely out if it and a half time talk did wonders as my midfield trio created a masterpiece of a goal which was finished off by Jonjo Shelvey who drove the ball under the sprawling Newcaslte keeper. With the game heading for a draw Kapellhof turned from villain to hero as his long ball out of defence caught the Newcastle back four flat footed and substitute Iosif Baesu pounced on the opportunity to score the winning goal!

Morale was high as we travelled to Villa Park but we found ourselves undone by Villa’s slick passing which eventually led to a goal on the stroke of half time. Once more we were unable to capitalize on any possession with limited ideas in the final third. A statue like defence handed Villa a second goal just after the hour mark though McLaughlin did manage a consolation goal with 9 minutes remaining.

 The loss to Villa was quickly followed by two more as we crashed out of the FA Cup with a humiliating defeat away to Swansea where we had 56% of the ball but only managed two shots on target. A slightly better effort at Vicarage Road looked like ending in an away point until DC Ryan Shotten misjudged the flight of the ball allowing space behind him for the Watford striker to score the only goal of the game with just minutes left on the clock.

Goalkeeper Vladislav Stoyanov handed in his transfer request following these two defeats which I accepted and he was quickly snapped up by Russian side Terek for £700,000. Before the month was up my promising young defender from Brazil, Marcao handed in a transfer request also.

February 2016

We started the month off with the visit of West Ham United but with morale slipping deeper into the abyss the game was over by half time as The Hammers lived up to their nickname scoring three times in the opening 45 minutes sending us back towards the relegation zone. We now had lost four in a row scoring once in 360 minutes of football.

We stayed at home for the visit of 20th place Southampton which provided an opportunity to end our losing streak. A lively start was interrupted by the Saints being unfairly awarded a penalty kick after 24 minutes that….was saved by Loris Karis to keep us in the game. At the other end we came close but still couldn’t score. Early in the second half McLaughlin found himself all alone in the box after a brilliant through ball by Shelvey but he hit the post. With 11 minutes remaining we forced a corner which was driven in low by Mauricio and defender Kyle Bartley got his head to it and…..1-0! We tightened things up ran down the clock and finally won a game to the relief of the fans.

After the win against Southampton we found ourselves 14 points clear of the relegation zone and Sunderland had been deducted 9 points (not sure why) which was good for us!

 Next we travelled to London to face Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium and we got off to an unbelievable start as from an early corner defender Jamie Richards who was returning from injury rose above the pack and his header deflected off an Arsenal player and were in the lead. The Gunners came right back at us looking for a quick equalizer but we caught them on the counter and long clearance out of defence found Kostas Fortounis all alone and he simply ran the ball forward, rounded the keeper and it was 2-0 after just 16 minutes. Arsenal were deflated for the rest of the half and we could have easily added another two goals but with an hour gone Arsenal did pull one back and for the next thirty minutes desperately tried to find the equalizer but couldn’t. Right back Kappelhof was sent off in injury time but wasn’t enough to sway the game and we took all three points!

March 2016

We returned to Home Park to take on Fulham and in a frantic and gruelling encounter that left both sides totally exhausted we pulled off a come from behind victory. A stern half time talk did the trick with two goals in 15 minutes to snatch the victory.

Our three game win streak was about to come to an end at Old Trafford as Man United totally dominated a game in which we could not even get out of our half in the first 45 minutes. Thankfully there was no repeat of last season’s 7-0 thrashing and this time we lost by a score of 2-1.

Our return to Home Park saw goalkeeper Loris Karius sent off, William Ekong injured and we ended up with just 9 nine men on the field as Bolton capitalized on the numerical advantage beating us by a score of 2-1.The final game of the month saw us travel to Anfield which played out very much like our visit to Old Trafford where we couldn’t get out of our own half though we did only lose by a single goal.

Results Summary:

League Table: 

I’m pretty sure we can avoid relegation now with just another few points.

 Super Sevens:

I only have one which isn’t really worth showing so here’s how we shape up in terms of leading goal scorers which is not much better either :)

Fixtures: 

We have a good opportunity to pick up some additonal points before what looks like to be three straight losses to finish off the season.

 Last but not least our financial situation which continues to be quite healthy.

*** I decided not to upload the story at this point and thought I might as well finish off the seasonas there was not really anything to play for.

April — May 2016

Our first two games in April ended in a frustrating 0-0 draw at home to Sunderland and a 2-0 loss away to Stoke though that aside we were going to stay up for another season in the Premier League as 18th place Wigan couldn’t catch us.

Mike Pelosi who had been on international duty somehow got stuck in the USA and was still there come April and would not rejoin us for the rest of the season!!

Next up was 18th place Wigan where after falling behind to an early goal we managed to fight our way back into a 2-1 lead by half time. Following the interval we gave away three goals in the space of 20 minutes before pulling one back deep into injury time.

The last four games went by in somewhat predictable fashion as we beat Leicester at home by a single goal scored by Iosef Baesu and then promptly lost our last three against much stronger opponents.

 So we ended up in 14th place, one place higher than last season though I feel we could have done much better if we hadn’t been so inconsistent in front of goal.

That brings us to the end of this Plymouth Argyle story but before I finish here’s some final stats and information.

This I’m very proud of this considering how much debt we were in as a League 2 team.

Financial Overview: June 1st 2016

£17 million in the bank, not bad at all.

Thanks very much for reading this update and for all your comments and support over the last five seasons. I will be back with a new story and hopefully very soon.

Here’s a clue as to where… and as they saying goes «they always get their man» :)