derek Adams post Blackpool H 2
FOOTBALL is all about taking chances.
If Argyle had taken half of theirs this Sky Bet League One season, they would not still be seeking their first win of the campaign.
Saturday’s 1-0 home defeat by Blackpool was their season in microcosm: an early goal conceded, to Mark Cullen, they responded well and created enough opportunities to have wiped out the visitors’ lead.
A combination of good defending, bad choices, fine goalkeeping, and anxiety combined to frustrate manager, players and the Green Army alike.
“The players have got to finish off the chances that they are creating,” said manager Derek Adams afterwards. “We have created a good number of chances today, in and around their 18-yard box, but we haven’t put [the ball] in the back of the net.
“As a player, you get to that stage that, when you get that goal, you become confident – now, you are just rushing it, feeling ‘I need to score’, and that is the stage that we are in at this moment in time.
“When Blackpool sat back and we got into that 18-yard box, we were trying to find a pass that’s maybe not on, or not hitting the shot well enough.”
“We were better than Blackpool today. I know the Blackpool manager might say something different but I am telling you, for a fact, that we had more opportunities than Blackpool; we had more of the ball in the 18-yard box than Blackpool.
“I believe they caused us problems in the first period of the game – I’m not denying that – but, in the second period, we were camped in their half.”
Not that Argyle were without their moments in the first half, either. Freddie Ladapo hit the inside of a post with a cute backheel, and referee Neil Hair turned down appeals for a penalty after Joel Grant’s cross struck Donervon Daniels’ hand.
Derek said: “You get the referee going across to the assistant to see if it is a penalty or it’s not a penalty.
“We’re not getting a break at this moment in time.
“When that happens, we will go on a roll.
“It will turn; we know that.
“It’s football; it always does.”