In football, you always just take things one game at a time. That is, except when you take it two games at a time, of course.
Tom Cleverley has decided to make an exception to his own rule. A Head Coach straight of the school of pragmatism, he is frequently adept at deflecting any talk of play-offs and Trophy finals, preferring to accept the positive myopia of only being able to see the next opponents, and no further.
His vision, though, has taken a slightly more long-range view this week. On Saturday, his Argyle side were at Blackpool, knowing that the next four days inclusive were going to involve playing, travelling back, training, travelling to Leyton Orient, and playing again. A busy schedule, and also two games that could help define what the conclusion to the season starts to look like.
The first part of the story went very much to plan; Argyle were superb at Blackpool, winning 4-0 and controlling the game throughout. However, game two of the week comes along quickly, at Leyton Orient, with Cleverley revealing to Argyle TV that he strayed from his usual pattern, and spoke about both games to his players on Saturday.
“I thought we were outstanding on Saturday,” said Cleverley. “We've not dwelt on that and given ourselves too many pats on the back because we're back on the road again and we've got another really important game.
“Very rarely do I address two games at a time - it's normally just the next 90 minutes - but pre-match at Blackpool, I addressed the next four days at the same time.
“’Where do we want to be? Where do we want to go as a team?’ We completed phase one of that very well - and now we need to back it up.
“I think if there's one thing you need to play in this team now, it is intensity. The guys that have earned their shirt are certainly playing with that. The guys off the back of injuries might need a little bit more time to get up to that speed because you can see we're an intense team at the minute. We're very competitive, hard to beat, and that is a baseline for consistency.”
Orient are 18th in League One, but have only won one of the last nine league games. They do, though, boast Dom Ballard up front, whose 15-goal tally for the season is the joint-best in the division.
“We're expecting a technical challenge, but they have the ability to mix it up,” Tom said. “They'll be desperate for three points, as are we, and it'll be a tough test of our consistency levels.
“They're a team who have got a sort of mixture of profiles. They've got real physical players with [Dan] Happe, [Tyreeq] Bakinson and Sean Clare, players like this, real physical profiles, and good footballers as well. They've got a lot of technicians in their team, probably the most technicians you'll see in a team.
“We're really respectful of what Dom [Ballard] brings to the division. He's had a few loan spells previously and now it’s really clicked. To not have the physical profile of some of the strikers in this league and to be on 15, 16 goals shows you the quality, the sharpness, the level of finishing that he's got. It'll keep us really focused and switched on at the back.”
