THE APL PREDICTION LEAGUE & PREVIEW –
PLYMOUTH ARGYLEBOXING DAY – KICK OFF 3pmThis game marks the start of the second half of the season, so effectively a half term report for Neilson and the team, and if we’re honest with each other, it should read something along the lines of, 6/10 can do better.
I think the talent base is there, it’s a case of getting them playing as a unit, something we have rarely seen this season, although I cannot deny in the last few games we have looked more like a playing unit.
For me there are few players that are yet to reach their perceived skill level, or certainly consistently, and if they were doing the POTY Awards tomorrow I’d probably have Nesbitt as one of the leading contenders, who always seems to give that bit more than most of them.
Chuks is another that is probably up there, seems to get stronger week by week, and hopefully with the return of Sow they can build some type of profitable partnership, but I do worry that Chuks is one tackle away from another injury, and his absence will make us even less effective, and lets not forget in the Monday Meltdown video, Winkie stated that they would not stand in his way if the money was right from someone sniffing around in January........if that’s the case, the FRENZY BELL might well sound, because there are many out there that will deduce the club lacks ambition by effectively selling our best player, and it’s a pretty fair bet if we did sell, nowhere near the money gained will be re-invested in the team.
Anyway, let’s not worry too much about that just yet, we have business to sort out with Plymouth, who incidentally have been dealt a cruel blow with a 454-mile round trip in the festive period, I realise it could have been much worse, but surely a fixture with Portsmouth or Bristol Rovers would have been better, still its better than the 640-mile round trip to Blackpool they have on the Saturday following this game.
An interesting fact about this game, did you know that Plymouth have used 7 goalkeepers already this season, Kelle Roos is currently on an emergency loan from Derby, the contracted three keepers are all injured, two other loans have had spells at Home Park including the youth team keeper, who has come on as a substitute.
Also, Plymouth have the worst disciplinary record in the Football League with 6 red cards so far, this season, although in contrast we have had 47 yellow cards this season compared to their 29, and that ranks as the second worst record behind Oldham.
OK...lets look at the APL for this game.
THE STORY SO FARPlymouth currently sit in 22nd place in the League table with a record of
PLAYED 22, WON 5, DRAWN 6, LOST 11, GF 18 & GA 31 with 21 POINTS to their name.
Their league results so far in chronological order are as follows.
Peterborough 2 Plymouth 1
Plymouth 2 Charlton 0
Southend 1 Plymouth 1
Plymouth 0 Scunthorpe 4
Walsall 2 Plymouth 1
Plymouth 0 MK Dons 1
Plymouth 1 Blackpool 3
Bury 0 Plymouth 0
Plymouth 0 Doncaster 3
Wigan 1 Plymouth 0
Bristol Rovers 2 Plymouth 1
Plymouth 1 Fleetwood 2
Plymouth 1 Shrewsbury 1
Blackburn 1 Plymouth 1
KFC Chicken 0 Plymouth 1
Plymouth 1 Rochdale 1
Bradford 0 Plymouth 1
Plymouth 0 Oxford 4
Plymouth 2 Northampton 0
Portsmouth 1 Plymouth 0
Plymouth 2 Gillingham 1
Rotherham 1 Plymouth 1
Plymouth v Oldham (December 23rd)
THE MANAGERAnother Scot for Robbie to lock horns with, its Derek Watt Adams aged 42, born in Glasgow.
As a midfielder, he started playing at Aberdeen in 1992, other stints included, Burnley, Ross County, Motherwell, Ayr United, Aberdeen again, Livingston and finally Ross County again.
In total, he played 318 games scoring 67 goals, which included 41 goals in just 72 games for Ross County.
He took up management at Ross County in 2007, since then he’s been the assistant at Hibs, then back again to Ross County, and then Plymouth since 2015.
His management record is as follows
GAMES 422, WON 183, DRAWN 107, LOST 132, that’s a higher than average win ratio of 43.5%.
FORMER PLAYERS
Mathias Kouo-Doumbe is probably the only former Don, with Kevin Nugent and Paul Mariner as probably the most well-known former Pilgrims.
FORMER MANAGERSAdams is the 39th manager at Plymouth, and follows some famous names including, John Sheridan, Peter Reid, Paul Mariner, Paul Sturrock, Ian Holloway, Tony Pullis, Mick Jones, Neil Warnock, Peter Shilton, Bobby Moncur, Malcolm Allison and Billy Bingham.
THE MASCOTA disturbing looking character called Pilgrim Pete with rather large face hair.
FAMOUS FANSComedian Josh Widdecombe, former MP’s and now deceased Michael Foot and Clement Freud, Olympic rower Greg Searle, comedians Paul “Green Army” Whitehouse and Dawn French.
CURRENT MATCH ODDSMK Dons 4/6 (SkyBet) Draw 12/5 (Hills) Plymouth 7/2 (Paddy Power)
SHOOTERS BOOTSCurrent top scorer for the Pilgrims in all comps is Graham Carey with 5 goals.
LAST TIME ROUNDSaturday 9th September 2017 – Plymouth 0 MK Dons 1
Team – Nicholls, Williams, Wootton, Golbourne, Ariybi, Cisse, Gilbey, Nesbitt (Agard), Upson (McGrandles), Brittain, Sow (Muirhead)
Unused Subs – Sietsma, Lewington, Seager, Thomas-Asante
Goal – Nesbitt 8’
Referee – Charles Breakspear (7 Yellows, 1 Red)
Attendance – 8,566
League Position at time of Fixture – Pilgrims 20th, Dons 15th.
HEAD 2 HEAD2017/18 – Plymouth 0 MK Dons 1 (Nesbitt)
2010/11 – Plymouth 1 MK Dons 0
2010/11 – MK Dons 1 Plymouth 3 (Own Goal)
YOU’VE GOT NO HISTORYFormed in 1886 they turned professional in 1903, the club has won five Football League titles.
The 2009-10 season was the clubs 42nd in the second tier of English football.
The club hold the record of 5 for most title wins in the third tier of football.
The city of Plymouth is the largest in England never to have hosted top-flight football.
They are the most southerly, and westerly League club in England.
Their best cup runs saw them as semi-finalists on 3 occasions, 1983-84, 1973-74 and 1964-65.
Their record home attendance was a 2nd Division game, 43,596 against Aston Villa in 1936.
Argyle currently hold the record for the quickest 5 goals in English football, being 5-0 up against Chesterfield in just 17 minutes in January 2004, they went on to win 7-0, the goals themselves coming in a 13-minute period.
PREDICTIONThat’s it again, don’t forget there will possibly be multiple threads out there, so make sure you keep up to date with your predictions.
Usual rules with the usual deadlines of 1 hour before kick-off.
Have a Cool Yule.
WellDonEXAMPLEMK Dons 3 Plymouth Argyle 0
MKDFGS - Sow
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