Pilgrim's Progress

Competitive in all for competitions, showing off the squad depth that you have to have.

Nice to see you beat Arsenal in the cup. Now hopefully you do it in the league?

Farias Scoring Streak Continues

Plymouth Argyle continued their good form in the Premier League, rattling off three straight wins in February, after an opening draw against Brentford.

Star of the show was Facundo Farias, who hit four in the league, including a hat-trick against Leeds United.  Farias’ second of that match saw him reach the mark of 20 Premier League goals this season.

Farias Hits Goal 20

The Argentine continued to underline his value to the club, as he also assisted in Herrera’s goal in the Leeds match.

With the upcoming match against Real Madrid and the Carabao Cup final, the manager risked playing a mix of academy and fringe players at Stamford Bridge, and they did the club proud with a 2-1 victory.  Star of the show was right-midfielder Victor Alves, who opened the scoring with his first-ever Premier League goal and he also made what turned out to be the winner for Mikel Gomez. 

Plymouth dominated match possession, which was a total surprise to the Stamford Bridge faithful, especially given the teamsheet they saw before the match, as the Pilgrims got revenge for defeat at home to Chelsea, earlier in the season.  Chelsea did manage more shots, though, but Vincent Parra in goal was well up to the task.

Chelsea Manager Mauricio Pottechino was impressed with the side his team came up against.  “They have such energy and skill.  There’s obviously some great things going on at Plymouth, given the quality of the young players we were up against.”

Next for Plymouth – a meeting with Real Madrid in the Bernabeu.

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.