Since becoming a head coach, Tom Cleverley has only been forced to watch a game from the stand, rather than the dugout, once before.
That came after picking up three yellow cards with Watford last season and, as fate would have it, he served his suspension sitting in the Directors’ Box at Home Park.
Hornets boss at the time, Cleverley saw a 2-2 draw play out on that evening. He will now be returning to a similar seat because of a ban earned from Argyle’s 3-2 win at Luton Town last weekend. Although he would not take that vantage point out of choice, the Argyle Head Coach will try to use it to his advantage, entrusting coaches Damon Lathrope and Kevin Nancekivell to perform touchline duties when the Greens take on Peterborough United on Saturday.
“Preparation throughout the week is exactly the same,” Tom told Argyle TV. “If anything, probably a little bit more detailed and open with Damon than I usually would be, just so he knows everything inside out, potential changes. ‘If this, if that’ scenarios; we'll talk through that.
“We'll be on a three-way call, which the guys normally are. I'll just be part of that call on Saturday.
“I'll be in there at half-time and full-time, and in the press room [after the game]; it's just for those 95 minutes, whilst the ball's on the grass that I'll be in a different position.
“I do think there’s advantages to that, in terms of, I’ll be less emotional. I can make more processed decisions. I can see the better view of the game. Ideally, I'm down there feeling it, they're hearing me, but in Nance and Damon there couldn't be two more capable people of voicing the team on Saturday.”
Argyle come into the game on a run of three straight wins, the last two coming in Sky Bet League One, against Stockport County and Luton respectively. The Pilgrims had their challenges in both games: Stockport had a disputed penalty just before half-time to peg Argyle back to 2-1, and Luton twice came back to equalise in a game which saw Cleverley and captain Joe Edwards dismissed.
Argyle have ridden those setbacks and still emerged with maximum points from the pair of games, with their boss being proud of the mental agility it has taken to come through.
“It’s two big character checks ticked off, I suppose,” he said. “I think the Stockport game was much more than that in terms of, technically, I thought we were excellent.
“I thought we played very well in that game, and it was the side to us that hopefully you'll see a lot more of.
“Luton was different to that. We had to really mentally dig in, defend our box, do the basics really well. The only thing that we're all a bit disappointed with is that I thought, from a defensive perspective, we've not deserved to concede four goals in those two performances.
“That is something that we're really motivated to improve, the amount of goals we concede. That starts on Saturday.”
Saturday will see the visit of the division’s bottom side, Peterborough United, but their position could well be a little misleading. Posh lost six of their first seven league games of the season, ending their winless run last weekend, with a win over Wycombe Wanderers.
However, the victory at home to Wycombe featured just two players that started their opening game of the season, with Peterborough steadily adding depth and experience to their squad.
Cleverley said: “We always watch our next opposition in big detail. Their performance against Wycombe was one of the most impressive I've seen this season from any team in our division.
“If you look at their first game against Cardiff, I think nine players who will start this weekend were not there or not in the starting 11. They're a completely different team. For me, they're in a false position right now.
“They won't be as young as people have maybe publicised, about how young Peterborough would've been; they’ve changed the age profile in the last couple of games.
“[It’s a] very different challenge to one that teams faced four or five weeks ago against Peterborough. They look to play football; it'll be a real game where both teams are trying to play through the lines and be dynamic with good attacking play. It’s a challenge I'm looking forward to.”
