"New World".... Take Two

Saturday marks a new dawn for Plymouth Argyle. Well, one that should of happened 12 months ago. But relegation showed a club that had more problems than it liked to show.

Nevertheless demotion to the npower League 1 seems to have been the wake-up call the club needed. New management has given fans the hope they needed after a season of disappointment, few goals and a stadium re-titled "everyone else’s Home Park".

Under Peter Reid and his 'simple football', Argyle have started playing properly again and the pre season performances, particularly in Holland against giants AZ Alkmaar have proved it.

The team has lost several notable names from the team sheet including Jamie Mackie and Gary Sawyer and most recently Damien Johnson to Huddersfield Town but these have been justifiable to get rid of the deadwood that didn't want to be a part of the Pilgrims or to relieve the heavy financial burden that Plymouth have.

But Reid's invaluable contacts have allowed quality trialists to come to Home Park such as midfielder Anton Peterlin and defender Lee Molyneux that has added strength and depth to his side.
The weekend’s opening game away to Southampton will be a fantastic test to see how far the team has come as the Saints will certainly be no push-over’s as the side, touted as league favourites, only just missed out on the play-offs three months ago.

Then there will be the rest of the league which is full of top opposition with plenty to prove such as fellow demoted sides Peterborough United and Sheffield Wednesday, Swindon town and newly promoted Notts County so this season won’t be easy.

So to my prediction:

We are a championship team, the friendly away to QPR where we dominated for the majority of the match and defensively superb showed this, therefore if we can keep up the performances, even if it means grinding out those 1-0 wins that are a sign of a promotion winning team, with our strikers on top form consistently throughout the entire season, then I really do believe we have a realistic chance of going back up at the first time of asking either automatically or via the play-offs.

And of course you, the Green Army. Without you Argyle would be nothing. So keep up the fantastic support that makes us the force to be reckoned with.

And who knows...come May 2011, the League One championship may be back in the safe hands of ‘Le Keeper’ Romain Larrieu, six years since it was there last.

New Argyle boss is making progress with the Pilgrims

http://www.givemefootball.com/league-one/new-argyle-boss-is-making-progress-with-the-pilgri

With finances tight at Home Park, new manager Peter Reid is relying on trialists to bolster the Argyle squad. And with former Everton player Anton Peterlin on the verge of signing on a one year deal, the persistence seems to be paying off, with hopefully more to come.

The American midfielder played a large extent of the pre-season games for Plymouth, including over an hour of the game against AZ Alkmaar. And it was enough to impress Reid with his energetic performances to earn a deal with the Pilgrims:

"He has done well in the games he's played, he has plenty of energy,” said the Plymouth manager. “We've got experience in [Damien] Johnson, [Carl] Fletcher and [Luke] Summerfield, but he's a bit younger and with legs. When it goes through, we'll be delighted to have him on board.”

Another trialist, former Pilgrim Tony Capaldi, who featured in Holland, is also looking for a deal, but with interest from another club, believed to be Crystal Palace, talks are on-going at the present.

The left back, who played over 100 times in front of the Green Army, is a free agent after leaving Cardiff City in the summer. But another left back who has also left his club in the summer and maybe competing with Capaldi for a contract is Lee Molyneux.

The 21-year-old spent a year with Southampton but only made four appearances in his entire time for the Saints. And the graduate of Everton's youth academy, who joined on trial at the weekend, will feature against Hereford United at Edgar Street in Plymouth’s penultimate pre-season friendly.

Reid is also looking at central defender Stephane Zubar, who is the younger brother of Ronald who plays his trade for Premier League club Wolverhampton Wanderers. Stephane, 23, has been with SC Vaslui in Romania's Liga 1 for the past two years making 33 appearances for them last season.

The manager decided to take a look at the defender after recommendations from the Wolves manager: “Mick McCarthy put me on to him and he will have a few days with us," said Reid.

Pilgrimage to Holland proves successful

http://www.givemefootball.com/league-one/pilgrimage-to-holland-proves-successful-(2)

The team’s week was spent at the Papendal National Sport Centre, near Arnhem, a top facility used by many national and international teams. The complex had the latest training equipment and sports medical centre, and provided the players with everything they needed to help them gain full match fitness.

The three games that the Pilgrims had planned were against top-quality opposition, including AZ Alkmaar who had featured in the Champions League only just last season. The other two, NAC Breda and SC Cambuur would also provide stern challenges with Breda playing its trade in the Eredivise and Cambuur only just missing out on a place in Holland’s top division this season.

And stern challenges they were. A win a loss and a draw not sounding like much, but it was the hard working performances that showed great promise ahead of this season in League One. The loss to Alkmaar was only by a single goal, a very dubious penalty.

But Argyle did well throughout the match with the defence of Krisztian Timar, Kari Arnason, Karl Duguid and returning trialist Tony Capaldigiving a committed performance, keeping AZ’s constant attacking threat at bay for the majority of the match.

The win in the first game against was also a battling affair with Plymouth doing well to deal with Breda’s strong possession approach before youngster Joe Mason got the only goal. The striker’s performances during the tour being a definite highlight, scoring three of the five goals Argyle did score whilst in the Netherlands.

And then to the final game staged in the SC Franeker ground where injury to defender Bondz N’Gala and tiredness from a long tour stopped Argyle from getting their second win.

But it wasn’t just on the pitch that benefited the Pilgrims. Spending a week in a hotel allowed the team to spend a lot of time together which for new signing Rory Patterson was just what he and the rest of the team needed:

“It's probably the best way you could think of because you are with the lads all day and night.

"You have breakfast and dinner together, so you get to know each other a lot easier.”

So with the team gelling on and off the pitch, new manager Peter Reid will have been nothing short of ecstatic with the outcome of the tour.

And with Reid’s philosophy of “play it on the deck” beginning to filter through the team, hopefully continuing in to the last two friendlies of pre-season against Hereford United and Queen Park Rangers coming up, the Green Army have “Dutch” to look forward to.

Who Wants Some Onismor?

In the Western Morning News recently, an article was ran about Zimbabwe international left-back Onismor Bhasera.

This seemed totally out of the blue, an international player who has been touted by several European clubs such as Lens and Le Havre as well as Premier League side Portsmouth who tried to sign him last summer but were scuppered by Bhasera's club Kaier Cheifs.

And now he had suddenly been training with Argyle for the past two weeks, and it raises further questions, why are e looking into a left back when we need a right back?

This can only have two reasons:

1. That Gary Sawyer whose contract runs out this summer seems like he no longer wants to be here and therefore Mariner is already looking for a replacement.

2. Jim Paterson who is our secondary left back and is currently out on loan to Aberdeen, has no future with Plymouth Argyle and there for Bhasera would be a likely candiadate.

I dont know much about this guy but if he is in the international squad for Zimbabwe then he has got to be fairly good then he sounds like he will be a great addition to Plymouth Argyle.

Mickey Evans: Legend of Home Park

Even Karl Duguid can beat Flop Fabianski!!

Pitch Problems continue but Pilgrims will soldier on!

The state of the pitch at Home Park has continued to be a source of difficulty and annoyance this season. Barnsley's visit back in November was called to a halt (being 4-1 down, it was a blessing!!) due to a torrential down-pourand the pitch had never recovered from that. A Snowy january and further downpours in the South-West has not helped the situation and this continued against West Bromwich Albion.

The pitch was boggy to say the least, but this was more to Argyle's advantage as it stopped Albion from playing the ball around and being fluid which they are so good at.

In the end it was 1-0 which was probably a little bit unfair as Plymouth had plenty of chances and should of had a penalty in the first half when Mackie was brought down in the area but to WBA's credit they are second for a reason and it showed.

The main talking point along with the terrible pitch, was the horror tackle by Jerome Thomas on Davvid McNamee, a clear two footed challenge infront of the referee and a straight red was thoroughly desereved. This led to a scuffle between several players from each side which went on to be punished by the FA.

There are talks of a new pitch being laid in the summer but will this be too late, as it is badly in need of TLC now?!?!

The Mystery of Alan Gow

Within Plymouth Argyle football club, a lot of the ins and outs during the January transfer window were to be expected, however the one that was completely baffling was Alan Gow’s move to Hibernian.

A £200,000 move from Rangers in the summer seemed like an absolute bargain for a talented and creative striker. And the Scotsman was an instant hit getting two goals in two games. He also linked up brilliantly when partnered with Jamie Mackie, setting up the goal that secured an unbelievable away win to Middlesbrough.

But ever since Paul Mariner stepped in as head coach at Home Park, Gow has not been given a chance to show his credentials to the new boss. Even in the F.A Cup, where Cillian Sheridan, whose loan spell was very disappointing, got the nod ahead of Gow.

I can’t see why, with a massive lack of creativity in the final third at times during games, Gow couldn’t have been placed in the attacking midfielder position, or just behind the striker linking up with the midfield.

Instead Mariner has continued to rely on Fallon and Mackie, and though both have scored, they have not been consistent enough.

With the arrival of Kenny Cooper from Germany on loan for the rest of the season, Mariner has bolstered the attack, but was it really needed when Gow was sitting on the sidelines ready and waiting on the side-lines??

Sorry, Mariner but I think you’ve lost out on this mistake and I hope it doesn’t come back to haunt you when, with a lack of goals and threat towards goal, Argyle will find themselves back in League One for the first time in six years, for not giving him a Gow!