Tuesday night was a night where frustration pervaded over Home Park, from the pitch, to the stands, and to the mouth of Tom Cleverley.
The Argyle Head Coach was his usual measured self when speaking after the game, but his body language belied a man who, along with his team, are doing all they can to arrest Argyle’s slide at the start of this season, but are falling short at the moment.
As Argyle lost 1-0 at home to Leyton Orient, making it four straight defeats to kick off the season, the second half saw increasing dissent from the home crowd, unimpressed by what they saw.
What they saw was a familiar tale, a variation on a theme at the start of this season. At the hour mark, it had been by no means a scintillating Argyle performance, but neither was it an awful one. The game was in the balance, it seemed. However, when Josh Koroma found space behind a defence split being trying to drop off or step back and play offside, and slotted Orient in front, Argyle never looked like fighting back. Misplaced passes, a lack of cutting edge and few tangible chances meant an unimpressed Green Army.
Cleverley accepts it is his job to try to put things right, and to identify what is leading to continuing performances where confidence seems to drain from his team until it is too late.
“After Saturday, there was a burning anger that we can do much better in the goals we conceded,” said Cleverley. “Now, this evening, we have to be much better, but I saw a group of guys who were focused, organised, were trying their best. We’re, ultimately, at the minute, falling short in various different departments, whether it’s that final product or technical ability.
“We have to address that, from a technical support, or if it is confidence, from an emotional support. I think there has been a clear sign that we need a bit more quality injected into the squad.
“We navigated through the early stages of the game well, if anything we looked a little bit on top. I thought we had a nice balance of being solid and organised, as all as creating final-third moments, we just had nowhere near the quality I know we have in the final actions.
“The ultimate goal is to put the two things together. Be solid, and add the threat we saw in the last 20 minutes at Lincoln. That takes a lot of work on the training pitch, and some quality.
“I take full responsibility. We all knew we were trying to complete our squad up until 1 September, and in that period of time, it’s my job to pick up as many points as possible, and we’ve not. Of course, we should be doing better. We shoulder that responsibility. Today was one of those nights where we’ve done everything we can, we’ve just fallen short of a team who right now are a better level than us.
“I’m disappointed for [the supporters]. It’s not been an easy three weeks; it’s not been an easy two years. It’s not taken that turn as quick as we’d like. I think they are on the right side of demanding from the team, rather than turning against the team. It’s not aimed at any individual players, which is important. They pay their money to voice their frustrations when it isn’t good enough – and it hasn’t been.”
