Inside Home Park: First month has come and gone
SO the first calendar month of the 2010/11 football season has come and gone already.
While it is still very early in the League One campaign — four games played, 42 remaining — manager Peter Reid must have concerns about the way Argyle have started.
I, like many supporters I suspect, always thought goalscoring would be a problem.
And three goals in five matches — four games in League One and one in the Carling Cup — have proved that.
The Pilgrims saw top scorer Jamie Mackie, who only scored eight goals anyway, move to Queens Park Rangers at the end of last season.
They have effectively replaced him with Rory Patterson, a Northern Ireland international but a relative novice when it comes to the Football League.
He spent two seasons as a teenage professional at Rochdale but, after that, Patterson played in non-league football in the north west of England.
He then returned to Northern Ireland to play for Coleraine, for whom he scored 41 goals in all competitions.
That is an impressive record, no matter what the standard of the opposition, and Argyle took the decision to snap him up.
They did so by paying a £40,000 transfer fee to Glentoran, for whom Patterson had signed a pre-contract agreement.
It was always likely it would take the 26-year-old time to settle at Argyle, and so it has proved.
He showed his finishing ability with the last-gasp equaliser in the Pilgrims' 1-1 draw at home to Carlisle United.
But he then spurned a couple of excellent chances in the following game, the 2-1 defeat away to Walsall.
Patterson needs to find consistency in front of goal. If he does, then it will be a massive boost for Reid.
Otherwise, much could depend on 19-year-old Joe Mason, who, in my view, is the best finisher at Home Park.
Mason has the natural instincts of a goalscorer, and often pops up in the right place at the right time.
It is asking a lot of such a young — if talented — player to rely heavily on him to score goals regularly.
And the physical demands of a long League One season will probably take their toll on him at times.
But, to me, Mason must start matches as often as possible because he is always a goal threat.
The Pilgrims are solid enough in midfield, but they are lacking creativity there as well as a goal threat.
Reid tried to address that, within his limited financial resources, with the loan signing of 18-year-old Dean Parrett from Tottenham Hotspur.
It is still early days for him, but Parrett has shown some promise in his first three appearances.
The knee injury to fleet-footed winger Yannick Bolasie was also as blow to Argyle.
He has the pace to stretch any defence, and without him opposition defences know the Pilgrims will rarely get in behind them.
They can therefore defend high up the pitch, apply plenty of pressure on Argyle when they are in possession and force misplaced passes.
Bolasie's return from an operation cannot come soon enough, although it must be remembered he is still very inexperienced and consistency could be an issue for him.
The one area of the Argyle squad I was most confident about following the pre-season build-up was the defence, especially at centre-back.
Reid has Kari Arnason, Reda Johnson, Bondz N'Gala, Marcel Seip and Krisztian Timar at his disposal.
With the exception of Seip, all of them have already started games for Argyle in the centre of defence.
And, after an encouraging start to the season, it has been a worry to see the Pilgrims seem so vulnerable in the last couple of matches.
The defence struggled in the second half against Walsall, when the home side rallied from a one-goal deficit at the interval.
And Peterborough United netted three times in a 15-minute period when they beat Argyle 3-0 at Home Park on Saturday.
Arnason was suspended for that match, having been sent-off for a professional foul against Walsall.
And Timar was omitted from the team by Reid, with Johnson and N'Gala starting at centre-back.
It must have been tough to take for Timar because in pre-season and the opening couple of weeks of the League One campaign I thought he had done as well as anyone for the Pilgrims.
Reid reshuffled the defence because he feared the pace and movement of Peterborough's attacking trio of George Boyd, Craig Mackail-Smith and Aaron Mclean.
As it turned out, his analysis of their threat was spot on.
But Argyle defended sloppily — both individually and, collectively, as a team — and paid the price.
Conceding two goals from set pieces was particularly galling for Reid.
If the defence do not show a vast improvement — and, to be fair, I think they are more than capable of doing that — it could be a very difficult season for Argyle.
5 Comments
by David, Plymouth
Thursday, September 02 2010, 5:00PM
“You're right - the lack of quality in midfield has been a recurring theme for the last couple of years but previous and current managers seem oblivious to this.
How many strikers does a 3rd division team need? You could have the best strikers in the world and they would struggle with the cr@p service from midfield.
Mason and Patterson are too inexperienced to be expected to totally carry the striking burden but with a decent service they will score goals.
MacLean is a decent player but needs the ball to feet and even BWP is capable of scoring but his problem seems to be his mental attitude.
Young Liam Head hasn't been given a chance yet - he may not be good enough but if we don't give him a try we'll never know.
And Fallon of course is totally useless.”
by Bobbybiscuit, Plymouth
Thursday, September 02 2010, 2:59PM
“The trouble is that the service to the forwards is very poor. Forwards can only score goals if the midfield and backs push down the wings and create chances with decents crosses. Even take the ball to the bye line and balls pulled back across the goal. The midfield and wing backs must play to the strengths of the forwards. If not, the forwards will not score goals. Argyle play too deep and that I have commented on previous occasions. The other problem is that over the last couple of years, the silverware in the way of forwards who have the ability to score goals have been sold. Decent forwards are an expensive commidity. If PAFC have decent forwards who can score goals, they should be holding on to them otherwise it will be back to square one, like we are now. Its going to be a hard slog to end up in the play positions but goals have to be scored ...that means soring more than the opposition which is a problem for PAFC! Lets hope September sees a turn around in fortunes. Good luck..you need it1”
by Bobbybiscuit, Plymouth
Thursday, September 02 2010, 2:49PM
“The trouble is that the service to the forwards is very poor. Forwards can only score goals if the midfield and backs push down the wings and create chances with decents crosses. Even take the ball to the bye line and balls pulled back across the goal. The midfield and wing backs must play to the strengths of the forwards. If not, the forwards will not score goals. Argyle play too deep and that I have commented on previous occasions. The other problem is that over the last couple of years, the silverware in the way of forwards who have the ability to score goals have been sold. Decent forwards are an expensive commidity. If PAFC have decent forwards who can score goals, they should be holding on to them otherwise it will be back to square one, like we are now. Its going to be a hard slog to end up in the play positions but goals have to be scored ...that means soring more than the opposition which is a problem for PAFC! Lets hope September sees a turn around in fortunes. Good luck..you need it!”
by bobbybiscuit, Plymouth
Thursday, September 02 2010, 2:47PM
“The trouble is that the service to the forwards is very poor. Forwards can only score goals if the midfield and backs push down the wings and create chances with decents crosses. Even take the ball to the bye line and balls pulled back across the goal. The midfield and wing backs must play to the strengths of the forwards. If not, the forwards will not score goals. Argyle play too deep and that I have commented on previous occasions. The other problem is that over the last couple of years, the silverware in the way of forwards who have the ability to score goals have been sold. Decent forwards are an expensive commidity. If PAFC have decent forwards who can score goals, they should be holding on to them otherwise it will be back to square one, like we are now. Its going to be a hard slog to end up in the play positions but goals have to be scored ...that means soring more than the opposition which is a problem for PAFC! Lets hope September sees a turn around in fortunes. Good luck..you need it!”
by bobbybiscuit, Plymouth
Thursday, September 02 2010, 2:45PM
“The trouble is that the service to the forwards is very poor. Forwards can only score goals if the midfield and backs push down the wings and create chances with decents crosses. Even take the ball to the bye line and balls pulled back across the goal. The midfield and wing backs must play to the strengths of the forwards. If not, the forwards will not score goals. Argyle play too deep and that I have commented on previous occasions. The other problem is that over the last couple of years, the silverware in the way of forwards who have the ability to score goals have been sold. Decent forwards are an expensive commidity. If PAFC have decent forwards who can score goals, they should be holding on to them otherwise it will be back to square one, like we are now. Its going to be a hard slog to end up in the play positions but goals have to be scored ...that means soring more than the opposition which is a problem for PAFC! Lets hope September sees a turn around in fortunes. Good luck..you need it!”