Tom Cleverley’s Argyle tend not to do things by halves.
During a super September, the Greens won five out of six, scoring 19 goals in the process. However, in football, just when you think you’ve cracked it, the opposite happens.
During a poor run over the next 11 games, Argyle scored just five goals, and all of them came from Lorent Tolaj. Suddenly, the Pilgrims looked bereft of creativity, and when Tolaj got suspended, things looked a bit bleak.
However, things were turning. The back end of that 11-game low scoring run included two 1-0 wins – Port Vale and Leyton Orient away – and a reduction in goals being conceded.
Now, different statistical runs are being developed. Argyle have scored in eight consecutive games for the first time since the opening months of 2024. Those eight games have yielded 17 goals, including seven in the last two.
Argyle are unbeaten in their last six away games, having won five of them. Five wins in the last six – by comparison, Argyle won only five of their previous 38 games on the road.
The most recent game, one that augments all those figures, is Tuesday’s 4-3 win at Bristol Rovers in the Vertu Trophy. A fun encounter, capped by Bim Pepple’s injury-time winner, but the kind of game of Cleverley knows cannot be relied upon.
“It’s not sustainable to win games 5-4 or 4-3,” Cleverley told Argyle TV, “but I do want us to be more entertaining than we were two or three months ago.
“Since we’ve gone to the 4-4-2, or 4-2-3-1, whatever you want to call it, it’s brought a real level of productivity and threat. There’s purpose behind everything we’re doing.
“Going back to Leyton Orient in the Vertu Trophy, we’ve been well into double figures for chances created per game. With the quality of players we have, that results in goals — five against Doncaster, four against Bristol Rovers, three against Burton. In there was Reading, where we missed a penalty and played with ten men for most of the game.
“We look a good attacking team now. But the balance of the team is my responsibility. I wouldn’t say Tuesday was our most controlled performance; we had less control than in games we haven’t won. That balance is important.”
Speaking of balance, we have looked at the stats for our side – let’s do Peterborough.
It is pretty impressive. Taking as a starting point the appointment of Luke Williams at the end of October, Posh’s league record reads: played 12, won 8, drawn 1, lost 3.
Peterborough are now 10th in the league, but at the start of the Williams era, they were bottom. In that dozen-game span, only league leaders Cardiff have accrued more points.
Cleverley said: “We’re relishing this challenge; and I say ‘challenge’ because it will be one. It’ll be a really good marker for where we’re at.
“It’s two teams in good form going against each other. We’re excited by that challenge. We’re focused, we’ll be well prepared and I’m excited for the game.
“It is kind of crazy to think that the last time we played — which wasn’t that long ago, just a few months — they were bottom and I think we were just above the drop zone. It certainly shows how much they’ve kicked on since Luke Williams has gone in there.
“Luke coming in has taken it to the next level. It’s really impressive what he’s done. He’s got them playing really good football, technically a very good team, pressing well, all the principles he’s coached through at Notts County and Swansea.
“It’s a team we’ve got a lot of respect for, but it’s also a team we’re excited to play, not fearful of.
“Naturally, Peterborough at home will want to dominate the football. We’ve got to try to force their mistakes, be really structured and disciplined out of possession, and then with the ball we need to be good — good in transition, good on set pieces, and as productive as we can be.
“They’ll be as respectful of us as we are of them. It should be two strong teams in good form going at each other, which makes it an exciting game.”
You can watch Tom Cleverley’s full interview now on Argyle TV.
