Keep Tight

ANYBODY who has seen Carl Fletcher’s Argyle side this season will know that the football on display is of a vastly different nature to the product seen at Home Park towards the end of last term.

So far this season, and without the pressure of a relegation dog-fight, Fletch has had his men attempting a more patient, passing style of play.

As the stats will show, despite the improved ethos, clean-sheets have been at somewhat of a premium and Carl believes that, whilst the new system makes the team a little more vulnerable, it is errors on an individual basis that have cost them dearest.

He said: “We’ve had a few individual mistakes throughout the season, a few errors here and there, but it’s just one of the things you get when defensively you’ve not too bad, the mistakes cost you.

“Last year, we never had the ball. When you have more possession of the ball and then lose it, you might be a little bit more out of position.

“Last season, we never made more than two of three passes in sequence so that probably made it easier to defend because we were stuck in a hole, so to speak.

“If you’re going to have possession, you want to have people in the right positions to receive the ball so that everyone has options.

“You can’t just stay rigid and where you need to be defensively, so it’s a case of trying to find that balance so that, when you’ve got [the ball], you’ve got all your options to be able to keep [it] with relative ease and, when you lose it, you can get back in to where you need to be defensively.”