Not Good Enough

DEREK Adams did not mince his words after the Pilgrims were humbled 5-1 by Yeovil Town in their final pre-season friendly before flying out to Holland for a week-long training-camp.

“We were shocking, from start to finish,” said the Argyle manager. 

“Our defending was abysmal and the will to try and score a goal wasn’t good enough, either. 

“We had a 20-minute spell where we could have scored three goals and we didn’t take it but, defensively, we were all over the place today – midfield and up front, as well.” 

Argyle were 2-0 down by the 11th minute at Huish Park to long-range strikes from Diallang Jaiyesimi and Rhys Browne before getting back into the game courtesy of a goal from former Yeovil player Joel Grant. 

Browne then scored a spectacular volley to make it 3-1 by half-time, after which substitute Alex Fisher netted a quickfire double.

Derek said: “We didn’t play well. 

“Our passing was slow and we didn’t do the things we can do. We didn’t defend well enough; we didn’t close the shots well enough on the edge of the box and some of the goals we lost were really poor; our finishing has to be improved, and finding that final pass, as well. 

“We’ve got to take all the responsibility in the defeat and not give Yeovil too much credit, because we were really, really poor. 

“Collectively, of the players we used today, we didn’t have one good performance. We contributed to our downfall. Yeovil didn’t play well – it was us that played badly.” 

The defeat was Argyle’s first in pre-season and came exactly a fortnight before they open the 2018-19 Sky Bet League One campaign at Walsall. 

Derek said: “We have still got two weeks to go and we have still got a lot of hard work to do. 

“You always get a wake-up call when you lose as many goals. You have got to look at it and do a lot better than we did today, obviously. The goals we conceded were terrible goals. 

“It doesn’t really matter what people say at this moment in time. It’s when the league campaign gets going that’s what really matters – once the league campaign gets going is when you get judged.”