Hello friends and welcome back to another update as Plymouth embark on their second season in the Premier League. Before I go on a big thankyou for all the comments last time and fro those that showed interest in my proposed Gold Coast United story. That’s still and idea on paper for now as I want to see how I feel about it at the end of this season. Anyway, back to Plymouth…
August 2015:
The opening game of the new season saw us travel to Ewood Park where Blackburn totally dominated possession with 19 shots on goal to our lowly 6 and once again our passing let us down particularly in defence which led to the winning goal that Blackburn snatched deep into injury time with Ekong being the culprit.
We hosted Everton for our first game at Home Park and put in a far superior performance than we did against Blackburn with Marc Pelosi over on the left tormenting the Everton right back and was rewarded with a sensational goal after just 10 minutes as he weaved his way through the defence before beating the Everton keeper. An inspirational pass by midfielder Maurico created the second goal for Pelosi 6 minutes before the interval and that first half brace was enough to secure all three points.
Encouraged by the win over Everton we then faced Stockport County away from home in the second round of the League Cup. Striker Fatos Beciraj put us ahead after 22 minutes, sliding into the six yard box to meet a drilled cross from Mike Pelosi who minutes later went off injured. I’m not having any luck with the wide player’s fitness so far this season. Stockport created a well worked equalizer just before half time which totally demoralized our team in the dressing room. My plan in using “fringe” players totally back-fired in the second half as Stockport ran us ragged scoring two further goals as we crashed out of the competition. My League Cup jinx had struck again!
It was back to EPL action for our final game of August with a trip to The Toon which saw 17 year old Romanian Iosif Baesu unleash a stunning shot after just 8 minutes to give us the lead in front of the almost 50,000 crowd. Both McLaughlin and Zeytulaev had great chances that went narrowly wide before Newcastle equalized just after the half hour. A motivating half time talk meant we kept our heads up and maintained focus, defending well and creating chances with Baesu almost winning the game for us in the dying seconds but his shot hit the side netting. Still, it was a good away point.
September 2015
With the international break in full swing I arranged a fitness friendly which turned out to be a disastrous affair as we crashed at home to Scottish side Inverness CT.
Our first league game of the month as at Home to Aston Villa and it took them just two minutes to take the lead off a set piece. This was quickly followed by the sending off of left back Bruno Bertucci and I knew we were in trouble. Villa took over the game scoring two further goals in the first half and adding another in the second capping off an humiliating 4-0 defeat in which we were booed off the field for the second game in a row.
Next up we traveled to London and for the second time in a row we faced the claret and blue, but of West Ham. A very even first half was highlighted by a tidy performance by Chris McLaughlin up front but his shots lacked power to beat the West Ham keeper. Early in the second half left back Jamie Richards floated in a care free looking cross ball that McLaughlin met out of nowhere and glanced into the net, 1-0. Just after the hour Jaguare went on a scintillating run through midfield and was brought down in the box to which he duly converted the penalty kick to double our lead. West Ham pulled one back from a corner kick (no surprise there) though we held on for a valuable three points to halt our slide into the relegation zone.
The final game of the month was a less than inspiring effort at home to Watford where we relied on an own goal to save our blushes from yet another defeat in front of our home fans.
Results Summary:
League Table:
We’ve started off slightly better than last season though based on the results I would hardly say it’s an encouraging picture though we are above Arsenal! The title is already looking like a «two horse» race between the Manchester teams.
Fixtures:
We begin October with a sort of derby match against Southampton before what could be a key game with Arsenal based on the current table
Johnny Karp
27 января, 2012 at 10:00
It’s not a bad start in my view, you have a few new players and they will need time to settle in. Or maybe they have already found out that you want to leave and they don’t have a strong enough motivation because of that :) Just kidding, I’m sure that results will improve in the coming months.
Kevin
27 января, 2012 at 13:19
Hi Johnny
I’d like to believe about the whole thning about players settling/ gelling but others dont seem to have a problem — I’ve checked. Let’s face it my tactics aren’t good and I’ve always had difficulty transitioning to the top flight and this is another example.Oh well.
Johnny Karp
27 января, 2012 at 15:14
I disagree but I guess time will tell :)
Martin - F.M.J.S
27 января, 2012 at 10:35
Hi Kevin
It’s not a bad start with some mixed results but like you said it was better than last season’s start. Next month you have some big games against Arsenal and Man U and following month against Liverpool and Sunderland. Hopefully you will be able to get some results from those games.Good Luck. :)
Kevin
27 января, 2012 at 13:20
Hi Martin
More defeats on the way I would imagine :)
vaibhavc
27 января, 2012 at 11:23
Its an good start compared to last year. Unfortunate in the Carling Cup, complacency is very annoying. But you have some big games coming up as well. Liverpool, United, and Arsenal.
Kevin
27 января, 2012 at 13:26
Hi vaibhacv
Indedd my team were very complacent to the point of not even trying. I’m not expecting any improvement from them against those three teams you mentioned.
Darren Smith
27 января, 2012 at 11:52
Well that was certainly a mixed start but like Johnny has mentioned, you have loads of new players to settle and could be suffering from second season syndrome. Either way I believe the results will pick up eventually and certainly sooner than they did last season.
Kevin
27 января, 2012 at 13:29
Hi Darren
As I replied to Johnny I don’t have much belief in that gelling thing and we have yet to get over first season syndrome as far as I can tell :)
CsAtlantis
27 января, 2012 at 15:15
Hi Kevin, you are 1 point above Arsenal, I think you are doing just fine :P, a safe mid-table finish would not be bad but I believe a top half finish is possible for your team once your new signings finish blending in to the team
Good luck for the rest of the season
You were really unlucky against Stockport, every shot they had on target went in! :(
Kevin
27 января, 2012 at 17:17
Hi CsAtlantis
I wonder when the blending finishes? For the most part they have played together since the first week of July so I feel if they haven’t blended after 3 months they never will. As for Stockport they had two more shots than we did!
Woody
27 января, 2012 at 16:20
An alright start to the season hopefully you’ll continue to build on what you’ve achieved so far this season and not be dragged into a relegation battle like last year
Anyway good luck and well done
Kevin
27 января, 2012 at 17:18
Thanks Woody
I think a relegation is the more likely outcome but I appreciate your confidence and support.
TheZiggy
27 января, 2012 at 17:08
It’s an okay start to season. The next run of games will probably shape whether you’re in another relegation dog-fight, or keeping your heads well above water. The fixtures against Southampton, Bolton and Fulham look like key matches against teams you should hopefully pick up wins against.
Having Arsenal, Man U and Liverpool at home is tough, but hopefully you can at least hold them out with the Home Park faithful cheering the lads on.
Kevin
27 января, 2012 at 17:21
Hi Ziggy
Yep, the next two months wil no doubt shape the rest of the season though the way things are unfolding I can see at least 9 points being lost for sure over the next «few weeks».
Stromson
27 января, 2012 at 19:46
Hear the smoke, taste the fire, feel the clouds, and smell the leaf. Pants are the reason. It’s always the pants. They like to mamba too frequently, and it results in banana revolutions all over the moon. Hold fast, don’t sleep, and let the chocolate milk flow.
:thumb up:
;-)
Kevin
27 января, 2012 at 19:54
I like chocolate milk, if that’s the right answer…LOL!
Laxeyman
27 января, 2012 at 20:23
That’s not a bad start at all Kevin, considering your team are still blending together, and you’re ahead of Arsenal! You usually improve as the season goes along, so hopefully that will be the case this season too, and if you do, I reckon you can comfortably finish mid table :) Good luck!
Kevin
27 января, 2012 at 21:24
Thanks Laxeyman
I’m a bit scepticle about the whole blending thing especially as the team has been together for 3 months including pre season. Thanks for your support though.
Sears
29 января, 2012 at 15:23
I think you should be pleased with that start Kevin. Your already 6 points clear of the bottom three :)
Kevin
29 января, 2012 at 16:28
I guess I should, though I wanna be like Dorchester, Vauxhall or Brighton :)
Ana Garcia
29 января, 2012 at 19:28
I think your being a little hard on yourself as its not the worse start ever.
I mean six games gone and still loads of points to play for considering your still trying to establish yourself in the top division will always take time.
I think you will end up in a mid-table finish just keep your chin up! Its easier to look at the negative things but try and take the positives if you can. Forget defeats like the 4-0 and just move onto the next game.
You have a tricky run of fixtures coming but am sure you can upset a few of the bigger sides so the best of luck!! :)
Kevin
30 января, 2012 at 08:53
Thanks Ana
I wasn’t in the best frame of mind when I posted this update or replied to comments. Appreciate your kind words of support.