1armedboxer

Cheers Brian. it could be the deluge of Christmas fixtures that kill us off. Woefully small squad.

1armedboxer

Evening Herald Report
The Christmas Period Round-Up

Going into the Christmas period Plymouth Argyle faced four tough games in eight days. It was essential that Mike Rogerson’s side got something out of the home matches against Derby County and West Ham United, while visits to Sheffield United and Queens Park Rangers would be tougher for the team. Injuries to Paul Wotton, Paul Connolly, Sam Tillen and David Friio, and the suspension of Tony Capaldi, meant that the Greens would go into the festive season playing with a threadbare squad.

It was an under strength side that took to the field to play Derby on Boxing Day, then. Rogerson had been forced to make six changes from the side that beat Brighton eight days before. Lee Hodges got the Pilgrims off to a great start, converting a penalty in Paul Wotton’s absence on the half hour after Paul Ifill had been pushed in the box by Mohamed Konjic. Another sterling performance in goal by Romain Larrieu meant that a horrible miss by Steven Milne in the last ten minutes counted for nothing and the Pilgrims had begun their Christmas with a win. 1-0

Not helped by Romain Larrieu’s transfer request on the eve of the visit of West Ham, Mike Rogerson was again forced to make changes. With several player in need of a rest, Rogerson was becoming worried that the strains of a long season would soon start to tell on his small squad. The boss was able to welcome back Tony Capaldi to the side, however, and it was Capaldi that created Lee Hodges’ opener on the half hour mark. Breaking from the left he cut the Hammers defence down the middle with a sublime through ball that met Hodges superb run and the midfielder had only to round the keeper and roll the ball into an empty net. Before half time David Friio, returning from both suspension and injury, added a second. Steven Milne crashed in a third just before the hour before man-of-the-match Capaldi stroked in his side’s fourth with ten minutes remaining. Mike Rogerson was understandably over the moon after the game. “That’s our best performance of the season by far,” said Rogerson. “The win against Millwall was good, but this is something else. Everyone was magnificent. We’ve had problems here lately with injury and suspension but the lads have showed the fight recently that we know we need, and at Home Park today they pulled apart a very good team. They’ve got some quality players in their side – Steve Lomas, Michael Brown, Bobby Zamora, Sergey Rebrov – but it’s not been enough today. We deserved the win and we deserved the margin of victory. I feel a bit sorry for Alan Pardew. There was nothing he could have done today. Everything clicked.” With Nottingham Forest going down 2-0 at 3rd placed Leicester City, the top of the table looks very tight indeed.

------------------------------------------Pld---GD---Pts

Nottingham Forest…………………25…+26…53
PLYMOUTH ARGYLE…………...25…+24…51
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Leicester City………………………25…+18…51
Sheffield United……………………25…+26…50
Wolverhampton Wanderers………..25…+22…48

New Years Day came with the news that Mike Rogerson’s assistant, Gerry McCabe, had failed to secure Tony Capaldi’s long-term future. Whilst David Friio and Paul Wotton amongst the squad’s top players were ready to listen to new contract offers, Capaldi was inexplicably refusing to sit down with Argyle representatives. Rogerson was lifted however, by the news that the Greens had spent £375k to bring in young Nantes defender Guillaume Rippert as well as paying £425k compensation to DC United for promising midfielder Freddy Adu.

Back to business and Plymouth travelled to Sheffield United on New Years Day. Steven Milne gave Argyle a dream start with an 11th minute goal but within ten minutes United had gone in front. A 2-1 reverse made all the worse by injuries to Paul Connolly, Sam Tillen, Steven Adams and David Friio.

End of Year Awards

World Footballer of the Year – 1st Ruud van Nistelrooy, 2nd Adriano, 3rd Thierry Henry
World Player of the Year – 1st Thierry Henry, 2nd Ruud van Nistelrooy, 3rd Ryan Giggs
European Footballer of the Year – 1st David Trezeguet, 2nd Samuel Eto’o, 3rd David Villa
European Goalkeeper of the Year Award – Gianluigi Buffon
European Defender of the Year Award – Ivan Helguera
European Midfielder of the Year Award – Ivan Helguera
European Striker of the year Award – David Trezeguet

Evening Herald Special Report
Monday 3rd January

Evening Herald reporter Rob Preece can today exclusively reveal that following a heart-to-heart between Plymouth Argyle manager Mike Rogerson and star player Tony Capaldi, the Norway-born winger has signed a new contract with the Greens. It is believed that Rogerson took Capaldi away from Home Park yesterday to an out-of-town location to discuss the matter. Capaldi, who had feared that the Pilgrims could not match his ambition, was given certain assurances by his anager, as well as a boost in basic salary for signing on for another year. “I’m delighted that Tony will be with us next season,” Rogerson told the Evening Herald. With the contract issue throwing a shadow over the festive period, it is believed that Rogerson’s satisfaction at Capaldi signing with the Greens is due mainly to his teams ability to get back to the job at hand.

Evening Herald Report
The Christmas Period Round-Up (cont.)

Plymouth boss Mike Rogerson was forced to make extensive changes to his side for the trip to Queens Park Rangers. Without no less than eight regular first team players, a makeshift Argyle side went down 3-1 having taken an early lead through Steffen Freund. More worryingly for Rogerson, however, was the fact that both Freund and Ryan Dickson went off injured in the last few minutes. Dickson has torn a calf muscle and will be out for 3 months whilst Freund broke ribs and will miss a month’s football.

retired_amyslack

Ouch - those injuries :thdn: Hope you can keep your form going despite them.

1armedboxer

Evening Herald Big Game Report

FA Cup 3rd Round

Following the busy Christmas period, Plymouth Argyle’s first game of January was the FA Cup Third Round clash with Wolves. With both teams flying high in the Championship, their respective managers could have been forgiven for viewing the match as a side issue. Argyle had a whole host of injury worries, while Wolves were without injured Carl Cort and the suspended Oliver Tebily.

Plymouth; Preece, Connolly, Tillen, Wotton(c), Rippert (Doumbe 45), Adams (Kousemaker 79), Capaldi, Ifill, Hodges, Friio, Crawford (Milne 64)
Wolves; Jones*, Clyde, Naylor, Craddock (Bjorkland 45), Lescott, Newton (Cameron 45), Kennedy (Cooper 67), Ince(c), Olofinjana, Sturridge, Miller

Wolves, forced onto the back foot for most of the first half, hit Argyle with a sucker punch on half time when Mark Kennedy scored from the spot after Guillaume Rippert had pushed Paul Sturrock in the box. The state of Argyle’s fitness began to tell in the second half as Steve Adams went off injured and Sturridge and Lee Naylor added to Kennedy’s first half effort to kill off the Greens’ Cup dreams. 0-3.

In the tie of the round, 4th placed Arsenal saw off 5th placed Manchester United 3-2 at Highbury.

Evening Herald Report
January Round-Up

With the wise old words of one Kenneth Mathieson Dalglish ringing in his ears, Mike Rogerson set about “concentrating on the league” after his side were ejected from the F.A. Cup. Having lost three games in a row for the first time under Rogerson, Plymouth Argyle needed to pick themselves up in a hurry. Big wins at home to Millwall and West Ham were fading into the ether as Rogerson’s side travelled to Reading. Steve Sidwell put the home side in front after only half an hour, only to turn from hero to villain, scoring an own goal after the break before Paul Ifill clinched all three points in a much needed Argyle win. 1-2

On Tuesday 25th Burnley visited Home Park. Fighting for their Championship survival, The Clarets were in desperate need of points. The Pilgrims, sitting in a top five separated by only three points, needed to add to their 2-1 victory at Reading Argyle through everything they had at the opposition. Stevie Crawford’s 73rd minute goal was enough to snatch the points after a good defensive display. With Nottingham Forest losing at Derby and Sheffield United seeing off Wolves, Argyle sat third with the top three all on 57 points.

Evening Herald Big Game Report

The last game of January looked like being a very important one in deciding final positions for the top sides. Although it was too early in the season to mark out definite spots, with Plymouth going to Wolves and Sheffield United playing Nottingham Forest, the top four teams were set to fight it out head-to-head to decide who went into February top of the table as the English Championship approached the transfer deadline.

Injuries forced Mike Rogerson into major tactical changes for the first time. Tony Capaldi was forced to play at full back as the Argyle boss adopted a flat back five without wingers, and pushed two up front to keep the pressure on the Wolves back line.

Wolves; Jones, Tebily, Naylor, Lescott, Craddock (Mulligan 61), Newton (Cameron 45), Kennedy, Ki-Hyeon, Ince(c), Sturridge (Clyde 61), Miller
Plymouth; Larrieu, Connolly, Capaldi, Wotton(c)*, Gilbert, Coughlan, Friio, Hodges (Ifill 80), Westlake, Milne, Crawford

The game was a tale of one half as it turned out. Stephen Crawford opened for Argyle 15 minutes in but the goal was cancelled out by Dean Sturridge’s effort on the half hour. Wolves pressed in the second period to make home advantage pay but the game petered out into a 1-1 draw. The result left Plymouth 2nd as Forest saw off the challenge of Sheffield United in a 3-2 thriller in which all of Joe Kinnear’s side’s goals were penalties.

English Championship Table
Saturday 29th January

----------------------------------------------Pld---G/D---Pts
Nottingham Forest------------------------30---+27----60
PLYMOUTH ARGYLE-----------------30---+23----58
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Leicester City------------------------------29---+22----58
Sheffield United---------------------------30---+25----57
Wolverhampton Wanderers-------------30---+12-----54

January Transfers

IN Guillaume RippertNantes£375k
INFreddy AduDC United£425k

1armedboxer

Evening Herald Big Game Report
Saturday 5th February, 2004

With things looking ever tighter at the top of the English Championship, Mike Rogerson took his Plymouth Argyle to a deceptively placed Ipswich Town. The Tractor Boys, lying down in 18th place, were fighting for survival more than pride, though the team they fielded looked to lack the invention and big names of Town sides of the past. Frank De Boer, a free summer signing and the ever-dangerous Darren Bent were in the line-up that stepped out onto the Portman Road turf, but the eleven as a whole showed why the club was in such a predicament. Forced to field a side wracked with niggling injuries and tired legs, however, Rogerson could have been forgiven for not looking forward to the long trip to Suffolk.

Ipswich; Davis, Naylor, Garry, De Boer, Pead (Wilnis 61), Richards, Miller, Magilton(c), Horlock (Moore 71), Kuqi, Bent (Counago 45)
Plymouth; Larrieu, Worrell, Capaldi, Wotton, Coughlan, Huggins, Friio, Hodges (Ifill 88), Westlake, Milne, Crawford

Ipswich started the match well, looking to hit Argyle with everything early on. Magilton looked busy in the centre of the park and Bent was lively up front. They were hit on the break after 18 minutes, however, when Steven Milne played a marvellous one two with Ian Westlake and then again with Stephen Crawford before guiding the ball under the body of the keeper. Against the run of play The Greens had the lead, and with their brand of counter-attacking football they were always going to be difficult to break down from there. Plymouth were helped immeasurably when, on the stroke of half time, a clattering Westlake tackle sent Bent sprawling in the centre circle. The physio was off the bench like a shot but could do nothing for the striker, whose afternoon finished at a quarter to four. With it went the home side’s chances.

Town huffed and puffed their way through the second half. Industrious and diligent but never creative, they were hit by the sucker punch when David Friio found Crawford inside the area with acres of space to himself. On the turn the striker smashed the ball beyond the despairing dive of Kelvin Davis and the points belonged to Plymouth.

Ipswich Town 0
Plymouth Argyle 2 (Milne 18, Crawford 71)

With Coventry holding Sheffield United to a 0-0 draw at Highfield Road and Forest having to come from two goals down to rescue a point at home to West Ham, Mike Rogerson saw his side go joint top with their win in Suffolk. Still not yet a third of the way through the season, the Pilgrims boss was well aware that a single error could still cost his Greens the chance of top flight football next season. “It’s a tough old campaign,” Rogerson told reporter Rob Preece. “There are battles on battles to be fought here and we need to keep our heads on. We’ve achieved what we set out to achieve – survival – and now we have to go hunting bonuses. We’ve won nothing yet and it’ll take a lot of effort in the final third of the season to come away with anything but bruises.”

1armedboxer

Evening Herald Report
Saturday 12th February

The visit of Coventry City to Home Park saw an almost full squad of fit players for Mike Rogerson to choose from for the first time since Christmas. With no one in need of a rest and only Ian Westlake missing through suspension, Rogerson sent out a near full-strength side to face the Sky Blues, knowing that keeping pace with Nottingham Forest was essential going into the final third of the season.

Rogerson did, however, stick to the flat back five that had served him well of late, and with the away side packing the midfield it looked as though the match would be bogged down in the centre of the pitch. No such luck for the pessimists. Arygle were in front on 20 minutes through a Steven Milne effort. With strike partner Stephen Crawford struggling to find his feet in the first half, Milne led the line admirably and Plymouth went into the break a goal to the good.

In the second period Coventry looked to force the game and were rewarded for their efforts when veteran defender Steve Staunton met an Isaac Osbourne corner to header the visitors level. Mike Rogerson was forced into a change minutes later when Lee Hodges went off injured. Fortunately for Rogerson, the substitution changed the game. Paul Ifill, on for Hodges and playing a more advanced role, ran the away side ragged. Coventry simply couldn’t cope with the tricky forward. With eight minutes remaining Ifill won the ball in midfield and fed Milne who slipped in Crawford to put the Pilgrims back in front. The Sky Blues pushed forward and paid for their enforced attack-mindedness. Three minutes from time Paul Ifill played Crawford in and the striker coolly chipped the keeper to secure all three points for the Greens.

Meanwhile, two late Nottingham Forest goals at Reading gave them a 3-2 win to keep them on top of the pile, but the goal difference was down to one. Leicester City were held to a draw at home to Preston.

1armedboxer

Radio Five Live
606 Program
Saturday 12th February, 2005
5.15pm

Alan Green:Bellamy on the score sheet as Newcastle beat Liverpool to stay top; Crystal Palace beat Manchester City but is it too late? Chelsea go to Bolton tomorrow and Arsenal must win at Portsmouth. In the Championship the race hots up at the top and in League Two Rushden continue to run away from the pack. Let’s have some calls. Robert in Plymouth, what can you tell us?

Robert: Good afternoon Alan.

AG: Good afternoon, Robert. Did you see the game today?

R: I did, Alan. We’re going up! I’ve seen the ups and downs of football but we were great today, we’ve been great all season and we’ll be watching Premier Division football at Home Park next season!

AG: Robert, is this something that’s been coming for a while in the Westcountry or has something happened to kick start the club? I mean, there’s huge potential down there but it never seems to come good.

R: Money has happened down here, Alan. We’ve had Dan McCauley down here as Chairman and he didn’t have his heart in it. He dabbled in big names that were past their best. Remember that Bruce Grobelaar and Peter Shilton effectively finished their careers here but they were past it. Now Paul Stapleton’s come in. He’s a supporter of the club, he’s a self-made man and he wants us up there with the Arsenal’s and the Chelsea’s.

AG: But there have been clubs with money before. Why are Plymouth any different?

R: Right, Alan, Mike Rogerson is the reason. The money’s been spent well, he’s got the best out of players that we thought he should have shipped out and he’s been prepared to play ugly football sometimes to get results. I used to stand next to him at the Devonport End at Home Park and he’s as Green as they come. He loves this club and this club loves him.

AG: Robert, the pundits are saying that it can’t last, that the next team is going to beat you and that it’ll end in tears, wh…

R: Listen Alan. They’ve been saying that since the first game of the season. They said it before we thrashed Millwall and they said it before we hammered the Hammers. They’ve been wrong every time. They haven’t been here, they haven’t seen us play and they haven’t seen the spirit that Mike Rogerson has obviously brought to the dressing room. The Greens are going up!

AG: Thank you, Robert. I for one will be looking forward to the end of the season to see whether Plymouth Argyle really can hold onto what they’ve rightfully earned so far in this campaign.

1armedboxer

Tuesday 15th February, 2005
Plymouth Sound Radio
11am

Plymouth Argyle manager Mike Rogerson arrived at Home Park this morning to be greeted by the news that influential defender and club captain Paul Wotton has sprained an ankle in training and will miss tonight’s top-of-the-table clash with Nottingham Forest. Rogerson, obviously disappointed by the news, spoke to our reporter on the scene, former Argyle midfielder Kevin Hodges. “I’m gutted,” Rogerson told Hodges. “It’s a massive blow to us. He’s been a rock all year. Wins everything in the air and gets himself on the score sheet as well and it’s going to be a huge loss for us. We’ll have to shuffle things around now and maybe play a bit differently. We’ll cope but it’s not ideal. Such a big game as well. The lads heart broken.”

Evening Herald Big Game Report
Tuesday 15th February, 2005
Plymouth Argyle v. Nottingham Forest

With the physio list back to haunt Mike Rogerson once more, the visit of Nottingham Forest to Home Park this evening looked like it could be a long night for Plymouth Argyle fans. Forced to shuffle his pack and drop either man of the match from the previous game, Steven Milne, or two-goal hero Stephen Crawford, Rogerson sat uncomfortably in the dug-out as the match got underway.

Plymouth Argyle: Larrieu(c), Connolly, Gilbert, Huggins, Coughlan, Adams, Capaldi, Ifill, Hodges, Friio, Milne
Nottingham Forest: Gerrard, Rogers, Doig, Dawson(c), Brennan, Reid, Beaumont, Evans, Impey, Johnson, Taylor

Plymouth began the game pressing Forest heavily, pushing them back into their own area for much of the first quarter of the game without creating anything clear cut. Steven Milne was busy and bustling up front while Paul Ifill caused problems down the away team’s left flank. It was Forest who scored first, however, as David Johnson hit the rounded Romain Larrieu to score from an acute angle. The hole vacated by the injured Paul Wotton was again exposed four minutes later when panic in the home penalty area led to a trip on Forest’s Paul Evans. The midfielder got up to put his side two ahead.

Rogerson, disappointed by the efforts of Tony Capaldi and Lee Hodges by half time, replaced both, switching to a narrow midfield system and throwing Stephen Crawford on to assist Milne up front. The change paid instant dividends as a superb cross from the left by substitute Ian Westlake was met powerfully by David Friio who pulled a goal back for the Greens. It was not to be enough though, as Rogerson’s side paid the price for some woeful second half finishing and failed to build on Friio’s strike.

Plymouth Argyle 1 (Friio 46)
Nottingham Forest 2 (Johnson 27, Evans pen 34)
Man of the Match: Paul Ifill, Plymuoth¸ 8*
Attendance 18,861

With Leicester City easing past Wigan at home, the defeat knocked Plymouth out of the automatic spots and sent them back into a fight for 3rd place with Sheffield United, who beat Ipswich 3-0.

1armedboxer

The end of February…

Evening Herald
Sunday 20th February, 2005

Travelling to Ninian Park for the Sunday televised game away, Plymouth Argyle boss Mike Rogerson knew that victory over struggling Cardiff was essential to his promotion aspirations. Still without the injured Paul Wotton, Rogerson need not have worried as his side put in a vintage display for the cameras, scoring four times in the last half an hour to record a 4-1 victory over the Welsh side.

Saturday 26th February, 2005

Six days later Wigan visited Home Park. Reeling from the news that Paul Wotton had strained knee ligaments whilst recovering from a sprained ankle and Stephen Crawford would miss a month with a similar injury, Mike Rogerson was forced to make wholesale changes to his starting line-up. Without a regular striker in the squad, Nathan Lowndes was given his first start of the season and Paul Ifill was pushed up front. Tony Capaldi had to start in his unfavoured left back position once more and Mathias Doumbe was brought in to bolster the back line. Rogerson’s primary tactic was to pack the midfield and make the visitors play long. Hitting Wigan on the counter attack worked wonders. Ifill got 2 and Lowndes another as Argyle won 3-0 thanks largely to a masterful performance in the centre of the park by Ian Westlake.

As Wolves held Forest and Leicester failed to beat Watford, Rogerson’s side moved to within a point of the leaders with goal difference equal and opened a 3 point gap on 3rd place.

1armedboxer

March, 2005

Saturday 5th
Leeds United 2 (Corr 18, Deane 19)
Plymouth Argyle 0

Tuesday 8th
Plymouth Argyle 2 (Capaldi 45, Milne 86)
Preston North End 0

Saturday 12th
Stoke City 1 (Hill 45)
Plymouth Argyle 3 (Coughlan 43, Milne 45, 64)

Saturday 19th
Plymouth Argyle 2 (Coughlan 67, Lowndes 90)
Watford 0 (Smith s/o 53)