Tighten the Ship
PREVENTING bad goals will be top of the Argyle list when Joey Barton’s Fleetwood Town visit Home Park in Sky Bet League One on Saturday.
The former Newcastle midfielder has made a good start to life in football management, as his side sit in 12th position, four points outside the play-offs.
Argyle manager Derek Adams knows we must tighten up at the back if we are to get back to winning ways and it is clear the manner of the goals upset him in the defeat at Luton last week.
“We lost bad goals against Luton,” said Derek. “We had more possession than Luton but they had more opportunities than us in the game. They had 447 passes, we had 440, so that tells you there wasn’t too much in the game but they had 27 attempts to our four or five.
“That tells you they were more effective than us in the final third. That’s where we didn’t do well enough against Luton; defending our goal and going forward trying to score goals.“
Fleetwood are not exactly in the form of their lives either, having only picked up four points from their last five fixtures. Irrespective of recent form guides, Derek knows the Trawlermen will carry a different threat.
He said: “They have taken in some different players on loan, so they have youth and some good experience in their team. They have got a new manager and they have changed their system a number of times during the season.
“They are quite fluid in the way they play. They play with wide players, who come in off the sides and they have got good competition for places.
“They like to start the game well. They have scored a good number of goals in the opening five to ten minutes of games, so we have to be wary of that. We also have to do what we have done against the likes of Stevenage, Scunthorpe and Gillingham, and take the game to them. “