Not Acceptable

ARGYLE’S talismanic forward Graham Carey has apologised to the Green Army and promised a big improvement from the squad after Saturday’s 2-0 defeat at Oxford.

The Pilgrims fell behind to an early goal from former Argyle striker Jamie Mackie and then the game was lost in a disappointing second-half showing, as Curtis Nelson, another ex-Green, confirmed the Oxford victory.

The Green Army were rightly upset with the display and Carey is already targeting the home clash with Burton this weekend as a chance for redemption.

“It wasn’t acceptable, especially with the standards we set ourselves in the last couple of games, with our application, our desire and our quality,” said Carey. 

“It [the first goal] didn’t help, it gave them a bit of confidence, but we know that we’ve got players at the top of the pitch that can cause teams problems, but we just didn’t do enough to create enough chances. First half, we had a few chances that we probably should’ve scored, and then it would’ve been a different game, but the second half was really poor.

“There’s probably a number of reasons. We obviously didn’t do enough to get on the ball and, as a whole, as a team, we didn’t do enough with the ball. That all adds together, and we get that kind of performance, which is not acceptable, especially when we had so many fans here today.

“They pay their money to come and support us, and we’ve always been really great for that. The numbers we get away from home, considering where we are on the map, is unbelievable. To put in a performance like that is not acceptable. We know they’ll stick by us, but they’re allowed to criticise us as much as anyone else – even more so.

“We’re not at loggerheads with the fans; it wasn’t good enough, and they’re right to voice their opinion. It does hurt us, but we have to stand up as men and accept that. If you put in a performance like that, especially in the second half, then you deserve all the criticism you get.

“We did it last year: we stuck together and came out the other side, and we’ll do it again this season. We know we have enough quality in the dressing room to have a good season, but we just need to cut out silly mistakes and really show a bit more enthusiasm to go and win games.

“In the second half, we didn’t play the way we usually played, a bit too direct at times, but also up front we need to do a lot better when we do get the ball. So collectively, we all need to do better, but we know in the long-run, the fans will always back us. It’s up to us to give them performances they deserve.

It’s not nice at all; you don’t get many other professions where people can come and shout abuse at you and stuff, but we know that wasn’t acceptable. I can only apologise on behalf of the squad to the fans. Hopefully they continue supporting us, because as I said, we do have enough quality to have a good season.  

“We played well last week at home, and the fans were right behind us there. The atmosphere was great, and hopefully that can be the same, but we need to eradicate the errors that we’re doing as a unit – we’re giving the ball away too much and not being clinical enough in front of goal, and hopefully that can change.

We’re still confident. Obviously it’s going to hurt for the next few days, but building up towards the game next week, we’ll be confident that we can get a good result.”