Plymouth Argyle (H)

[Big E]

3 minutes ago, Zico said:

Aye, fair enough and didn't expect so many changes 

Whilst I didn't think Randall was great I think he'll start the next league game

Didn't see anything at all from McAtee when he came on

Be interesting to see who gets the nod on Tuesday

Mcatee can hopefully be moved on the make room for a replacement 

[Greg_BWFC]

15 hours ago, RONNIE PHILLIPS said:

Never mind a 2-0 win, McAtee won a header in their box near the end!!! A momentous day indeed 😀

Ah, thanks for confirming.

Thought i might have imagined it 😁

[Ani]

19 minutes ago, Zico said:

Aye, fair enough and didn't expect so many changes 

Whilst I didn't think Randall was great I think he'll start the next league game

Didn't see anything at all from McAtee when he came on

Be interesting to see who gets the nod on Tuesday

Given who we are playing midweek should be easy to get the day right 

[nantwichwhite]

11 hours ago, Johnnyrotten said:

I think there have been a few dismissive comments about Plymouth's performance that don't give us enough credit, but also downplay their threat.  They didn't threaten much but god that first half was competitive, every single ball from the 1st minute to the last had to be won and competed for. That doesn't happen against a bottom half side, for a spell they were right on it, and we scored against the run of play.  Not one of their players struggled in possession.  That winger (was it Mumba or Watts?) tore into us a few times, and our ex winger Amaechi beat us a few times and forced Sheehan into a first half booking.  They've been compared to an IE team but they were miles more fast and physical than that, they'll be winning games most weeks, we won't get such a tough 1st half against most teams in games when everyone agrees we played well.

In the 2nd half I was so impressed with how we took the game to them "despite" being 1 up then 2 up.  They looked beaten after our 2nd but we've had plenty games like that and know how it feels.  This was effectively one of those wins against a top 6 side that we couldn't get under IE, a great win rather than one against a poor side.  

Exactly, thought the same. I though the whole team played 20 metres further forward, the midfield competed and did not drop back. We broke up their play with fouls further up the pitch, a bit like teams have done to us for the past 18 months or so. 

[Wanderlust]

10 minutes ago, nantwichwhite said:

Exactly, thought the same. I though the whole team played 20 metres further forward, the midfield competed and did not drop back. We broke up their play with fouls further up the pitch, a bit like teams have done to us for the past 18 months or so. 

With pacy wingers and long balls from the back and middle they’d be mad to push up too far. Keeps the opposition honest. 

Edited August 10, 2025 by Wanderlust

[masi 51]

12 hours ago, Johnnyrotten said:

Last season, we variously had Schon, Williams and Murphy at left back at no little cost.  And sent the best of the lot to Crewe for a season.  OK he probably needed testing and some experience and it did him good clearly, but a loan till Jan would have been enough with the option of a recall, how did they miss his potential and sign 2 left backs instead of giving him a chance?  So glad that's all behind us.

Agreed and the fact that Conway spent all last seasons pre-season playing well in our first team made sending him out to Crewe more baffling.

Alongside getting shot of Iredale  how could you get things so wrong

[bolty58]

After watching the first two matches of the season, I couldn't be happier. Confident SS will get it right and get us up.

[Leyther_Matt]

11 hours ago, Ani said:

Conway - Looks very good. Talk about needing to improve the defensive side but not seen that. 

He’ll get better with every game on that front. Second half when he showed their winger down the outside and ended up winning the goal kick was outstanding full back play.

Far too early for making a comparison ability-wise, but almost has a touch of the Alonso’s with the way he carries himself and how he looks on the ball. Let’s just make sure he doesn’t do any driving. 

[Johnnyrotten]

8 hours ago, CambridgeBWFC said:

I didn't manage to watch it and I haven't gone through the comments, but the clean sheet excites me the most

The clean sheet was welcome and fully deserved, but that wasn't the best bit of yesterday for me.  That's 4 seasons running we've kept a clean sheet in the first home game (Wycombe, Lincoln, Wrexham the others).  Even last season we also got decent clean sheets at Wrexham,  Wycombe, Wigan etc.  But the comparison ends there, the performance yesterday was light years ahead, in its attacking intent and relentlessness.  And just seeing us winning headers in the attacking third for the first time since JDB and Jerome left, this is a different approach and attitude.

[bolton va va]

That 2nd goal was a thing of beauty with every part perfectly played  & timed. Any defence would struggle to prevent it.

Other thoughts.....Tutu had his best game defensively for us & i wouldn't fear him standing in for Cogley  if necessary now. Randall is miles ahead of McAtee, Conway is the best homegrown prospect in years & Simons is a very good player.

It's clear now that SS is a horses for courses manager, so no "never change a winning team " tripe, & by using the full squad it will hopefully minimise injuries.

MOTM . ACD highly effective with a final product , that full back would have been having nightmares last night, & if Gale becomes as good on the left. we're going to carry a real, fast attacking threat.

EIEIEIO

[Johnnyrotten]

2 hours ago, CambridgeBWFC said:

I agree that TSL will have a huge impact, the ability to go back to front quickly and accurately causes havoc at this level. Last season we really struggled with this. But the season before with Trafford and Bradley we did exactly the same. 

Last season under Evatt was wank, but let's not completely re-write history. The season before, whilst ending in a horrible way, wasn't all bad and had similar traits to the TWO games we have seen so far this season. 

 

That was 2022/23.  We've had 2 years of (mainly) Baxter and Cogley.  

But TSLs kicking is a different level to Trafford, he did loads of kicking into touch and taking too long.  No way does that 2nd goal happen with Trafford (2022 version, don't know what he's like now).  With us 1 up in the 2nd half he'd be tieing his laces and playing one two's with Santos, not looking to get us up the pitch quickly.

[Lt. Aldo Raine]

 

[tshape]

2 minutes ago, Lt. Aldo Raine said:

 

Was gutted he didn't finish that. Would have had goal of the season won.

[Eddie]

1 hour ago, masi 51 said:

Agreed and the fact that Conway spent all last seasons pre-season playing well in our first team made sending him out to Crewe more baffling.

Alongside getting shot of Iredale  how could you get things so wrong

To be fair, Iredale was poor and Conway will likely have benefitted from playing every week in that Crewe team last year.

We didn’t replace with anyone even half decent, I agree, but I think it’s a bit harsh to call those 2 decisions bad.

[Lt. Aldo Raine]

3 minutes ago, tshape said:

Was gutted he didn't finish that. Would have had goal of the season won.

I was really hoping he'd play it through to McAtee

[Johnnyrotten]

2 hours ago, Zico said:

Aye, fair enough and didn't expect so many changes 

Whilst I didn't think Randall was great I think he'll start the next league game

Didn't see anything at all from McAtee when he came on

Be interesting to see who gets the nod on Tuesday

I want to see Randall do well because he's a talent but I did think some of the praise he got for yesterday was slightly exaggerated, a few of us commented at 0-0 that he just couldn't get a touch, and he's never going to get into the game by tackling, he couldn't get going.  He definitely improved but he can do more than that on the ball.  Sheehan the same, anonymous before that slide tackle then 3 great corners got him into the game and he played well despite his blatant foul for the booking.  But he definitely had games last season where he dictated more than yesterday.

On McAtee, it feels fashionable to knock him and ignore any good stuff he does (not having a dig at you Zico, I just mean generally).  We know he can't compete for headers, but aside from that I'm not sure how anyone could criticise his cameo, he got involved, showed great desire, played a great cross field ball and put in a decent cross after a good run.  I don't want him to be our 1st choice striker or No.10 any more than anyone else does, but I think the script is already written before he kicks a ball which is harsh.

[Lt. Aldo Raine]

3 minutes ago, Johnnyrotten said:

I want to see Randall do well because he's a talent but I did think some of the praise he got for yesterday was slightly exaggerated, a few of us commented at 0-0 that he just couldn't get a touch, and he's never going to get into the game by tackling, he couldn't get going.  He definitely improved but he can do more than that on the ball.  Sheehan the same, anonymous before that slide tackle then 3 great corners got him into the game and he played well despite his blatant foul for the booking.  But he definitely had games last season where he dictated more than yesterday.

On McAtee, it feels fashionable to knock him and ignore any good stuff he does (not having a dig at you Zico, I just mean generally).  We know he can't compete for headers, but aside from that I'm not sure how anyone could criticise his cameo, he got involved, showed great desire, played a great cross field ball and put in a decent cross after a good run.  I don't want him to be our 1st choice striker or No.10 any more than anyone else does, but I think the script is already written before he kicks a ball which is harsh.

I think one of his problems is that he signed for a big fee and hasn't yet shown a great deal to justify it, with strong suggestions his professionalism and attitude last season were poor

I think the attitude thing means people don't have a lot of patience with him and want him to start actually showing something substantial quickly

[nantwichwhite]

6 minutes ago, Lt. Aldo Raine said:

I think one of his problems is that he signed for a big fee and hasn't yet shown a great deal to justify it, with strong suggestions his professionalism and attitude last season were poor

I think the attitude thing means people don't have a lot of patience with him and want him to start actually showing something substantial quickly

They have both improved which is great. Bit to go yet though. Randall found space a couple of times in the first half but Thiery shot instead of tge simple pass

[Johnnyrotten]

1 hour ago, Leyther_Matt said:

He’ll get better with every game on that front. Second half when he showed their winger down the outside and ended up winning the goal kick was outstanding full back play.

Far too early for making a comparison ability-wise, but almost has a touch of the Alonso’s with the way he carries himself and how he looks on the ball. Let’s just make sure he doesn’t do any driving. 

I get the comparison with Alonso.

Conway very much reminds me of Ben Davies (Spurs left back) in looks and running style

 

[only1swanny]

Just posted this on Facebook with people slating McAtee...

 Feels very much like a cancel culture thing. He's passionate about the club, clearly has some skill but going through a rough patch. He'll come out the other side a better player. He's got previous for this (At Grimsby), gotta be pretty shit to be signed as a hot prospect for a Premier League club and within 2 years be struggling in League One. Genuinely reckon he's going to turn good for us.

[Rival Son]

Great result and performance yesterday. Credit to many of the players has already been given. But my biggest credit is to Schumacher, who shuffled the team perfectly.

I hoped for Johnston for Forino, Gale for CMG and Randall for McAtee. I’ve been waiting for Cogley to be replaced, but never thought Tutu was the (short-term?) answer. I was disappointed to see Morley dropped, but Sheehan was very good.

My only gripe is this perseverance with McAtee as the replacement for Burstow. While we’re actively looking for an alternative, I can’t see how Lawrence would be less effective as a short-term alternative, and he might just surprise us.

One final point, and I might be on my own here. I thought Plymouth were superior to Stockport. A combination of us improving, and not being subject to the bad fortune and referring we experienced at Stockport, made the difference in results. Plymouth will be up there, at the end of the season.

Edited August 10, 2025 by Rival Son

[Lt. Aldo Raine]

8 minutes ago, Rival Son said:

Great result and performance yesterday. Credit to many of the players has already been given. But my biggest credit is to Schumacher, who shuffled the team perfectly.

I hoped for Johnston for Forino, Gale for CMG and Randall for McAtee. I’ve been waiting for Cogley to be replaced, but never thought Tutu was the (short-term?) answer. I was disappointed to see Morley dropped, but Sheehan was very good.

My only gripe is this perseverance with McAtee as the replacement for Burstow. While we’re actively looking for an alternative, I can’t see how Lawrence would be less effective as a short-term alternative, and he might just surprise us.

One final point, and I might be on my own here. I thought Plymouth were superior to Stockport. A combination of us improving, and not being subject to the bad fortune and referring we experienced at Stockport, made the difference in results. Plymouth will be up there, at the end of the season.

Lawrence is miles off it

[Lt. Aldo Raine]

I think Argyle could go down

[Rival Son]

7 minutes ago, Lt. Aldo Raine said:

Lawrence is miles off it

In the 9 role, so is McAtee! In horse racing parlance, McAtee is exposed, whereas Lawrence is unexposed.

We’re only looking at 2 or 3 matches, while efforts are made to recruit and get Dalby fit.

Nothing ventured …

[paulhanley]

For some reason I am savouring this win more than normal. Not sure why. Maybe because it was our first win for a good long time given the run of poor results at the end of last year. Maybe because it felt like an affirmation of the new regime, the new system and a good few of the new signings. Maybe its a deepening of the feeling that we are in the right hands with SS. Maybe its recognition that wins under Evatt going back to this time last year came attached with little pleasure because I/we were turning against the guy and his regime.

Whatever it is I'm glad. Having seen the newbies on yesterday I am looking forward to seeing Dalby, Taylor, Warren Erhahon and another new signing or two. 

Brilliant to see pace and a bit of power in a Bolton side and a manager making straightforward decisions that don't lead to a collective raising of the eyebrows of experienced football watchers.