Pilgrim's Progress

The 'Bell' Tolls for Argyle

The Plymouth supporters that travelled to Madrid couldn’t fail to be awestruck at the sight inside the Santiago Bernabeu.  Sat up in the gods, at the very top of a corner in the stadium, they had a full view of the magnificent stadium and watched the dots far below play out an enthralling match.  Who would ever have thought that Plymouth Argyle would in any circumstances face the footballing powerhouse that is Real Madrid in any match, let alone a competitive one?  Unfortunately, their side was well-beaten in the end, as Jude Bellingham underlined just why he is one of the best players in the world.

Bellingham scored twice, made Immobile’s goal and was fouled in the area (a soft decision, it must be said) to enable Vlahovic to score the penalty.  It was a masterclass in football craft that underlines the massive gap between Argyle and a legendary club like Madrid.

2-0 down at half time, Bobby Stones sent his charges out in a different formation in the second half and they got back into the game with a fine run and finish from the half-way line by Adam Hlozek.  For a brief moment at 2-1, it looked as if Argyle could make a real game of this and they had several chances to draw level, but the penalty, soft as it was, made that all the more difficult.  Yes, right-back Rivera then made it 3-2 to provide some further hope, but Bellingham made it 4-2 six minutes later and continuing pressure from Madrid in the closing stages meant a final concession in time added on, as the Argyle players tired from so much chasing of the ball.

It is highly unlikely that the Pilgrims can rescue this at Home Park.  They will obviously try, but the Rolls-Royce that is Real Madrid is certain to prevail.  The question for Bobby Stones is whether to go for it and field his traumatised full first team again, or concentrate them on domestic competitions and give some of the developing players an experience to savour?

I think you have to go for it at home against Madrid. It's the Champions League, anything can happen and having a chance to play Madrid at a Home Park night never come up again.

The game sounds closer than the score showed. Avoid that penalty and finish some of the good chances and it's a new outcome.

Well, usually I would agree with @Stlducks4 with the "you have a chance" verdict. However, it's Real Madrid we're talking about here. They know the competition inside out, and they are themselves masters in getting out of situations such as the one you find yourself in. An early goal could perhaps shake things up, but I expect this side to be too experienced to know their way through on the back of a three goal win.

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@CO88LER5 wrote:
@JustinCase0110
Yes, I'm torn a bit at the moment. I'm not going to meet the objective for this, either, if I can't turn it around, so I might save a copy in case it leads to me being fired, should I go out.
What I'll definitely do is play a different formation to the one I played in the first half of the first match, just to see if I can find one that Real 'don't like'...

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I quite often do this as a just in case as some of the objectives are daft like not getting to semis when you shouldn't be anywhere near them. Some time what I do is record what happened initially then replay it to ensure I get objective but won't put down as any achievement as feels like cheating but also don't want my career ruined. Have trust issues with career mode lol

Anyways, that a side it's a tough ask for Plymouth against Madrid, but anything can happen..change up formation like you say and who knows, you might shock them, unlikely, but maybe

First Ever Domestic Cup

Plymouth Argyle have won their first-ever major domestic cup competition, beating Aston Villa 3-1 in the Carabao Cup final.  The victory also gains revenge for the Pilgrims’ defeat to the same opponents in last season’s FA Cup final.

Argyle fielded none of the regular first-teamers, following the epic match in Madrid just four days earlier.  Villa were therefore entitled to believe that they had a very good chance of adding to their FA Cup last season, but it wasn’t to be.  The victory underlines the strength in depth that Argyle now possess, largely through the development and nurturing of young talent.

Freddie Issaka, recently returned from a 3-month injury layoff, opened the scoring at Wembley and, although Villa equalised through Kostic, they managed to move up a gear and took the lead again in the 90th minute through academy graduate Valentin Galeano.  The victory was further confirmed with a goal from Hugo Rodrigues in time added on, meaning all three Argyle goals were scored by academy graduates.

After the disappointment of Madrid, the fans celebrated long and hard at the final whistle, and this is a confidence boost for the entire club.

Memorable European Night for Argyle

Plymouth Argyle made history in their Champions League tie against Real Madrid, prevailing against all odds in a memorable performance that had the capacity 18,000 Home Park crowd in raptures.  Lorenzo Battaglia scored twice and Facundo Farias once, as Plymouth beat the giant club 3-0, to send the tie into extra time and then penalties.  Plymouth had three penalties saved, as did Madrid, to send the match into sudden death.  Plymouth converted their sixth attempt to put the count at 3-2 before goalkeeper Max Baker faced Real’s sixth and promptly saved it to send Argyle through 3-2 on penalties.

Battaglia chips Courtois for his first

“What a tie.  We’ve grown up tonight,” said manager Bobby Stones.

“Congratulations to Plymouth,” said a clearly dumbstruck Carlo Ancelotti.  “Their manager surprised us with his line up and tactics, and we had no answer.”

Elsewhere, Plymouth eased past Brentford in the FA Cup 5th round, and won two matches in the Premier League, to leave them top as Arsenal stumbled with two defeats.

Plymouth will play Barcelona in the Quarter-Final of the Champions League.  "They're all hard ties," said Manager Bobby Stones.  "We should expect nothing less, now."

Crazy comeback there. A 10 out of 10 performance from your keeper, saving three in the shootout. I hardly save anything in my shootouts, so this is truly surprising to read for me. But well done! Real out, Barca next.

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@CO88LER5 wrote:
Doesn't always work, but it's down to where the penalty taker is looking just before they take the shot.
They sometime seem to look straight ahead, and that's when it's just a real guess.
I find it more difficult actually scoring a penalty - more than it seems in real life, anyway.

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Haha, I'm the exact opposite. I think I score from 9 out of 10... But I rarely save any. And my opponents seem to want to Panenka me far too often. Next time I'll try to notice where the penalty taker is looking. A solid tip.

Argyle Finish March On Top

Whilst Plymouth Argyle were engaged in cup competitions – FA Cup, Champions League – their rivals failed to take advantage and, at the end of March, the Pilgrims lead the Premier League, with matches in hand.

Arsenal in particular seem to have hit a wall, with a couple of defeats and a draw, one of which was a defeat to North London rivals Tottenham Hotspur that brings Spurs closer to their bitter enemies.  The in-fighting between the chasing pack is all to Argyle’s benefit, and they lead on goal difference.

Farias Leads Golden Boot

Facundo Farias’ hat-trick against Wolves on 8 March pushed the Argentine further ahead in the Premier League golden boot chase.  His 24 goals from 16 matches compares with Son and Jesus, joint second on 21 from 29 matches.

Farias also leads the Argyle ‘golden boot’ with 31 goals, way ahead of Rayan Cherki in second on 17.  The striker has also provided 9 assists this season, to round off an impressive 40 goal involvements, from only 21 matches.

More Academy Promotions

Two more youngsters were promoted from the academy in March, with exciting goalkeeper prospect Francisco Lopes (18) from Portugal and Brazilian high potential left-winger Cleber Tavares (17) making the step up to the first-team squad.

Arsenal hitting a wall - I hate to say I told you so 😉

Two games in hand, please do not let Arsenal win! 🙂

Well we all wrote off Plymouths chances making a comeback and they made us eat our words. Crazy tie overall and then to be rewarded with a tie against their rivals Barcelona. Congratulations on their first Domestic Trophy as well. 

Argyle Waste Matches in Hand

Plymouth Argyle’s two matches in hand were rather wasted, as they resulted in a defeat to Newcastle and a draw against Manchester City.

The match home to Newcastle saw the Pilgrims well beaten, with Alexander Isak in particular proving difficult to handle, including a brilliant bicycle kick finish to open their account.

Isak Bicycle Kick against Argyle

The matches being so close together in April, Manager Bobby Stones made heavy use of the squad, and the team fielded against Manchester City, being so close to the first Barcelona match, struggled to gain any momentum and fell behind to a Ruben Dias header from a corner.  It took until late on for Freddie Issaka to come up with the equaliser that prevented the damage in the two matches from being total.

Argyle Advantage in Champions League Quarter Final

The Pilgrims have the advantage over Barcelona after the first leg of their Champions League quarter final tie at Home Park.

A capacity crowd enjoyed a 3-1 victory over the famous club, courtesy of two goals from Adam Hlozek and a third from Facundo Farias.  Barcelona started the brightest and scored first from a fine piece of play by Raphinha in the 22nd minute, but the Pilgrims rallied and, after that, they looked most likely to score, as Barcelona failed to convert their marginal possession advantage into further goals.  Hlozek in particular has enjoyed his Champions League campaign and is one of the competition’s leading scorers on 7.

Argyle now just need to hold their nerve in the return leg at Camp Nou, which is, of course, easier said than done!

Progress in 2 Cups

Plymouth Argyle have made progress in both the Champions League and FA Cup competitions.

A daunting trip to Camp Nou was as hard as expected, with Plymouth pushed back in the first half and, at times, hanging on, although they did manage to restrict Barcelona to a small number of shots.  As the match progressed, Barca became all the more desperate and reckless and, in the 79th minute, Lorenzo Battaglia put Plymouth 4-1 up on aggregate with a determined run from half way, following a Barca corner.  He confidently slotted past Ter Stegen, after which Barca seemed to collapse.

Battaglia Scores the Opener at Camp Nou

He made it two a few minutes later to make the tie look far more comfortable than it actually was. 

Plymouth advance to the semi-final, where they will meet Manchester City.

The strength of the Premier League was underlined by the semi-final line-up, with three of the four clubs coming from England.  As well as Plymouth meeting City, Arsenal will face Bayer Leverkusen in the other tie.  It helps that Plymouth have seen off the two Spanish giants, though.  We could easily therefore see an all-English final.

Speaking of Manchester City, the two sets of fans will be sick of the sight of each other at the end of this season, as they also met in the FA Cup semi-final.  City fans will be especially fed up as Plymouth beat City 3-2 after extra time in a breathless match.  The match finished 1-1 at the end of normal time, with a late City leveller from Nunes following an early Plymouth lead from Lucien Devaux.  Erling Haaland looked to have sealed it for City in the 103rd minute, but Hlozek equalised before the end of the first half of extra time, and Freddie Issaka pushed home a last-minute winner during a melee in the City box.

Plymouth will meet West Ham United in the final.

Avoiding Villa this time, I see. What a thrilling semi final win. Minutes from winning it 1-0, then conceding late and going behind at the end of the first half of extra time. Impressive to be able to bounce back from that, but I suppose the quick equalizer helped a lot! In fact, I've noticed that goals fly in rather easily in the first 3-5 minutes after a goal, in both ends actually. Goals are often scored 3-5 minutes apart, in my experience. This may increase the expectations for the upcoming Champions League games vs City!

Plymouth Retain Premier League Lead

Going into the final month and after their final two Premier League matches of April, in what has been a busy schedule, Argyle remain at the top of the Premier League despite dropping points, as Arsenal failed to take advantage of Plymouth’s stumbles.

Argyle had a good win over Everton, in between the Barcelona matches, but failed to take all the points at home against Liverpool.  Nico Schlotterbeck twice scored headers from corners to cancel out goals from Cherki and Battaglia.  An area of defending that Plymouth needs to work on.

Argyle therefore lead Arsenal by one point, albeit with a game in hand, and a vastly superior goal difference.  

In terms of the Premier League golden boot, Facundo Farias seems to be favourite, going into the last couple of matches.  His 27 goals puts him 3 ahead of Arsenal’s Gabriel Jesus and 4 of Heung-Min Son; both of whom could expect to be aggrieved at not leading the chase with such impressive tallies.

Farias is way out in front in terms of overall goal involvements, on an impressive 44, and he is unlikely to be caught by his team-mates.

Argyle in Charge in Semi

Plymouth Argyle eventually took command of the Champions League semi-final tie, delivering a 5-3 victory over Manchester City at a pulsating Home Park.  It wasn’t without its scares, though, as City came from two down to take the lead when Jack Grealish scored in the 66th minute, to make it 3-2 to the Manchester side.

It came down to the intervention of Facundo Farias – who else – as he added two goals to his 19th minute strike, and substitute Freddie Issaka, as Argyle turned the match around in the closing stages.  The ever-lethal Farias scored a hat-trick as Argyle take a vital lead to the Etihad for the return tie.

3 days before this tie, a very different Argyle side took on Crystal Palace and very nearly lost control in the second half.  Cruising to a 4-0 lead by half-time through goals from academy youngsters Mikel Gomez and Pepe Escobar, Palace threatened a comeback after the break with two goals, as they got a stranglehold on possession.   They made life more comfortable when substitute left-winger Dan Ashton slotted home in the 84th minute, to enable the anxious crowd to relax.

What are odds on next match ending 5-4 to continue trend?

Great run and incredible results in the Champions League already overcoming 2 giants of Spain. Advantage Plymouth in The Semi Finals and seems everything is in their hands right now from retaining The Premier League title and reaching Champions League Final. Fantastic season so far

I echo @thurlow885 here, things going well, but goals flying in boths ends. Now that you're doing so well, even so quickly after being promoted to the top tier, perhaps you could 'afford' to sacrifice a bit of your attacking power to improve your defence. I know that a win is a win, but what separates the greatest managers from the rest might be their ever present desire to improve. Also in good times. And here is actually an area with quite some room for improvement, despite your otherwise magnificent results.

Some fantastic games for the fans lately. First the two against Barcelona they looked to be closer than the score suggests. Then the come back in extra time against City followed by City again on the CL. 

Improving the defense is the next step but for this season, let the fun continue and keep scoring goals! 

Just don't lose the CL final 5-3. 😉