Plymouth Argyle: Season 3, Feb — Mar 2014

Hello friends and seasons greetings as I bring you this festive update to my Football Manager Story.

February 2014

The opening game of the month saw the visit of Norwich City and we got off to a flying start counter attacking from a cleared corner which was spearheaded by Lopez and finished off by Uruguayan forward Rodriguez. Our right back situation is a bit dodgy and Norwich to advantage of that to create an equalizer on the half hour though Conor Coady almost put us back into the lead at half time when his long range effort hit the post. Norwich came out the more enthusiastic after the break but couldn’t make headway into our net and again we caught them on the counter with Rodriguez once more the finisher. Norwich came up with a dramatic equalizer on the 90 minute mark but there was more drama to come as we forced a late corner deep into injury time which Soukouna headed in as we snatched victory right on the whistle.

Ladji Soukouna’s form continued as he headed us in front from a Bhasera corner 27 minutes into our match away to Charlton. Alexander Geynrikh was looking more like his old self as he sprinted away from his marker and delicately chipped the Charlton keeper to make it 2-0 some ten minutes later. Charlton didn’t have any response to our lead and rarely threatened our goal in the second half and a fine afternoon was capped off with a beautiful curling free kick into the roof of the net by Bhasera to make it 3-0.

We then faced Southampton at home who had previously thrashed Derby 4-1 and were in overall good form. Our encounter with The Saints ended in a 1-1 draw after which we travelled to Burnley where again we drew but this time it was 0-0. Those dropped points meant that Derby were just three points behind us and we played them next…

The final game of the month was at Pride Park as we took on promotion rivals Derby County without Wallace and Geynrikh who were both injured. The home side took the lead early on as we succumbed to intense pressure from a very motivated looking side. We struggled to really get involved in the game and when we did our finishing was weak and un-troublesome. A very fortunate corner provided the equalizer as the clearance was knocked back in by Coady and deflected off Ekong to make it 1-1 close to the interval. I couldn’t motivate the team at half time and watched Derby dominate the next 45 minutes eventually getting a well-deserved winner with just a minute remaining in normal time.

Even though we lost we clung on to second place by goal difference as February drew to a close but we will surely lose this slim advantage if we cannot improve our performances.

March 2014

We started off the month against Leicester City which was the first of three home games and took the lead after 16 minutes with a fabulous counter attacking move that was finished off by Oyenuga and assisted by Yu Hai who was making his debut. Nine minutes later Oyenuga scored his second as Coady’s through ball found space between the defence for him to latch on to and drive home. We should have taken the game by the reins but failed to do so and in the second half Leicester pulled one back and from there forced us to defend until the final whistle and somehow managed to take all three points.

The following game was just a frustrating 90 minutes as we came from behind to secure a 1-1 with Cardiff. Even with 59% possession we just couldn’t accomplish any more than one goal.

The final game of this three at home series saw us entertain Preston and with a slight adjustment to our set up we began to show signs of the same team that started the season. But it wasn’t until the second half that we truly came alive tormenting Preston’s right back with Yu Hai setting up Gameiro for the opening goal five minutes after the interval and Gameiro returning the favor with Hai squeezing the ball under the keeper for his first ever goal for Plymouth.

Next up was a hard fought battle in the North East of England against Hull where a superb strike just outside the box by Genriykh was enough to win this encounter and the three points. Sadly we lost another striker, this time Oyenuga to a sprained ankle and will now miss the rest of the season

Injury Report:

We returned to Home Park to face QPR and we got off to a thrilling start as Zeytulaev sprinted to the byline, whipped in a cross and there was Geynrikh to steer the ball into the net with just 1:25 on the clock. He could have doubled the lead minutes later narrowly missing a cross by Yu Hai though the Chinese international played in the perfect cross for Rodriguez who controlled the ball, skipped over his marker and WHACK into the roof of the net 10 minutes before half time. The Uruguayan came out like a man possessed after the interval and added our third goal with a close range shot. We were sitting pretty with a 3-0 lead and then in the space of three minutes the game changed as QPR ran us ragged and suddenly it was 3-2. Some touchline instructions steadied the ship and our nerves which eventually led to a brilliant interchange between substitute Josh Morris and Geynirkh with the Uzbek scoring the killer goal from just inside the box.

Having dispatched one London team we immediately had to face another in a top of the table clash with West Ham and now only two points separating us. Sensationally we took the lead at The Boleyn Ground as Ekong headed in off a Lopez free kick with just 10 minutes on the clock. We seemed to control the first half but could not add to our tally and then Carlton Cole single-handedly changed the game  after the interval tormenting our back four and providing two assists that swung the game in West Ham’s favor and thus ensured they took all three points.

The final game of the month saw us comfortably beat Barnsley at Home Park with Geynrikh scoring one and an own goal making up the other.

League Table:

We couldn’t topple West Ham but have established a nice cushion between us and Derby County for the automatic promotion spot.

Results Summary:

Super Sevens:

Geynrikh still keeps his top spot and wlI don’t see that changing. There’s a new player on the list Mouhamed Bougonou who I acquired on loan from Arsenal for a copule of months. This 17 year old was quite impressive in the game against Barnsley.

Injury Report:

Yu Hai and Josh Morris could potentially miss the rest of the season which is a bit of a set back.

Fixtures:

Certainly not the easiest of run ins but we just have to keep our heads, play our style of football and hopefully promotion to the Premier League will be the result.

Finally although I couldn’t beat West Ham I did get one over on «Big Sam» snatching the Manager of the Month award from him :)

As always thanks in advance for taking the time to read this and for leaving a comment. 

PS: As I’m on vacation until Janaury 3rd the «Season Finale’ report will not be too far off.

…and neither will this