ROMAIN Larrieu will come up against an old team-mate when Argyle meet Arsenal in the third round of the FA Cup on Saturday.
Larrieu played in the same French Army team as Arsenal's powerful defender William Gallas when the pair did National Service together over ten years ago.
"We were the last generation of players who had to do the National Service - everybody had to do it in France," said Larrieu.
"They [French Army team] used to recruit 25 players from every professional club in France and the coach at that time was Roger Lemerre, who took the French national team after that.
"I was in the team and so was William Gallas. We played for the French Army team for 10 months and we played international games.
"We would spend three days in Paris and then go back to play for our clubs on the weekend. He was playing for Marseille at the time and I was playing for Montpellier.
"We were playing in the same team but we have not kept in touch because he left early to join Chelsea. I stayed in France for a couple of years before moving to Plymouth.
"He was already a very good player then and he had played in the Premier League in France for two or three years.
"We had quite a good team. We had Laurent Robert as well, who played for Newcastle. We also had Kaba Diawara, who played for West Ham and Arsenal."
Old friends aside, Larrieu is expecting a busy day at the Emirates but he expects Argyle to continue their reliable defensive form.
The Frenchman believes the key for Argyle will playing to their strengths and enjoying the day without worrying about the situation.
"It will be a busy day defensively, not just me," he said.
"We have proved over this season that we are reliable. We don't really lose too many goals and we defend for each other.
"I expect to be busy but I don't really have a plan - I just want to get there and play. Every game is different.
"It is just 11 players, obviously very talented ones, but we shouldn't make a big thing of it. We shall go there, enjoy ourselves and play with a smile because it is such a nice occasion to be involved in.
"They play a different style to many Premiership teams, so I don't know if we need to adapt our game.
"Whichever position you play in, you have to play to your strength. We know our strengths and that is what we need to play on.
"If we do that really well, you always get a chance in a game. There are no games, whatever the difference between the teams, where the lesser team doesn't get a chance.
"It is up to us and, if we are on a good day, then we take our chance and get our noses in front, it could be wide open.
"Even though we put pressure on ourselves, the pressure is really on them. They have to beat us because we are a team from the league below.
"We just have to perform and show everyone, including ourselves, what we can do against this type of quality opposition.
"It is one of the biggest games but there are big games for different reasons.
"This is a big game for the glamour but, in terms of what it means for the club, it doesn't mean that much, unless we go on to win the FA Cup.
"When we played Rochdale away and we knew a win would take us to the next level that was a massive game at the time.
"I just want to play out of my skin and help Argyle give a good account of themselves."
