You can only beat what is in front of you. Plymouth Argyle were clearly a side low on confidence and somewhat capitulated, with manager Wayne Rooney in his post-match interview describing his team’s performance after the opening goal as embarrassing.
The Pilgrims had managed to frustrate Bristol City for nearly an hour after Rooney had asked his team following their heavy defeat to Norwich City last time out to make sure that they were still in the game with 20 minutes to go. After Scott Twine’s opener, deflecting in man of the match Anis Mehmeti’s shot, City didn’t look back and Argyle were a well-beaten side.
When the half-time whistle went, there was that feeling of déjà vu. In truth, Plymouth Argyle were never really in the game with Liam Mannings’s side totally dominant. Whilst the scores were level at half-time, Bristol City had 71 per cent possession and had 13 shots at goal but only three on target. That really summed up the first half. We played some good football again but just couldn’t execute the final pass or deliver the right cross. Liam said in his post-match interview that he had said to the players at half-time that they needed to relax a little bit, pick out a pass at the end of it and have a bit of composure with the final action and that’s what they did in the second half.
We’d played well against Sheffield United, Burnley and on Tuesday night away at Watford without making the most of the possession and opportunities created. It was perhaps a lesson for players and fans alike to not get frustrated, persevere and just improve in those final actions.
It was good to see Twine back in the starting line-up, albeit that it was at the expense of Marcus McGuane who was forced to drop out injured, following a back spasm. There was good news on the bench with Sam Bell making a return to the matchday squad after a long period out with a hamstring injury. Sam will add to the pace in the attacking third.
There were lots of positives in the first half but as I say we just failed to execute the final action, whether that was a shot or a cross. We were a little too deliberate and perhaps moved the ball a little too slowly at times. We did get the ball in the net just before the break but Nakhi Wells’ effort after an Anis Mehmeti shot was correctly ruled out for an offside.
Argyle had the first attempt of the second half, Hardie’s low drive smothered by Max O’Leary. Rob Dickie should perhaps have opened the scoring from a Twine corner, but his header was straight at Daniel Grimshaw in the Pilgrims’ goal. Twine then went close with three efforts in quick succession, the first a side-footed shot from the edge of the box that went agonisingly wide as the City number 10 passed his effort a little too straight when it needed a bit of bend on it.
Twine then forced Grimshaw into a good save with a stinging drive. When Twine then went on to rattle the bar with his next shot, he must have been cursing the football gods with a feeling that it wasn’t going to be his day. The Gods must have heard him when moments later, when trying to get out of the way of Mehmeti’s shot, he deflected the ball past the helpless Grimshaw and into the corner of the net. The relief was palpable amongst the City players and fans and things didn’t take long to get even better.
There is a lot of talk about Mehmeti blowing hot and cold, and he comes in for more than his fair share of stick, but when he plays like he did in the second half he is a joy to watch. Mehmeti can frustrate with perhaps more touches than he needs to and delaying his shot at times but in that second half, he was bang on it. We forget that he is still young and as Anis himself tweeted after the game “Quote me on this, I got a lot more to prove.”
Anis’ attitude and willingness to learn is top-notch. Perhaps his first goal highlighted why some of that frustration in the stands is there as he drove into the area and took his shot early, curling the ball into the bottom corner and you can’t help but feel if he did that a little more he would get so many more goals. To be fair to Anis, the whole team upped the tempo, and passes were quicker and more instinctive.
Twine had run his course and his replacement George Earthy was soon in the thick of the action, controlling a ball on the touchline before threading a pass through the legs of his opponent onto Wells who squared the ball to the rampant Mehmeti who again demonstrated composure moving the ball inside before firing his shot high into Grimshaw’s net.
So typical of the man, Wells even at 3-0 up was unhappy at being substituted, wanting to add to his own goal tally but just how important that change will prove to be to Sinclair Armstrong’s confidence will be interesting to see in the next few weeks. Big Sincs had a couple of nearly moments before timing his run perfectly onto a Max Bird through ball before slotting under Grimshaw to seal a thumping 4-0 win and a scoreline reflective of City’s dominance.
There was so much to like about the second-half performance. We scored the opener and were then relentless, we put Argyle to the sword. Because Plymouth Argyle were poor, it may detract from how good we were. Defensively we were sound, and we attacked on both sides of the pitch with Cameron Pring and particularly Zak Vyner exceptional. Dickie was in total control while Luke McNally is showing a high level of consistency and the two are forming a good partnership.
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In the midfield, Max Bird was effective and in Jason Knight, we have an outstanding player. Knighty led by example, his energy levels were incredible, and he was a force all over the pitch. It was a welcome return for Twine and whilst he was a little quiet, Yu Hirakawa contributed. The substitutes in George Earthy and Sinclair Armstrong made an impact. It was a very good day.
I wanted to say a massive thank you on behalf of the Club and Section 82 to all those fans who donated gifts to the Salvation Army’s Christmas Present Appeal. The generosity of those who donated will bring smiles to the faces of many children at Christmas who would otherwise go without.
It was also great to see Geoff Twentyman and his daughter Hannah in the concourse of the Lansdown Stand before the game with Geoff signing copies of his ‘Top Man’ autobiography. Geoff is such a humble guy who had time for everyone that came along, having a chat and posing for photos as well as signing every book. You couldn’t have a more apt title. I’ve read the book, and it really is a great read for football fans of any club. A perfect Christmas gift (and I’m not on commission).
Our 3 Peaps In A PodCast player ratings were Max O’Leary 6, Zac Vyner 7.5, Luke McNally 7, Rob Dickie 7, Cameron Pring 7.5, Jason Knight 8, Max Bird 6.5, Yu Hirakawa 6, Scott Twine 7, Anis Mehmeti 8 *MotM and Nahki Wells 7. For the substitutes who must play a minimum of 20 minutes (including injury time) we went George Earthy 6.5. A game average player rating of 7.00. That’s an overall season-to-date average player rating of 6.33.
For Liam Manning it was 7.5, the Manager got what he asked for at halftime, I’m sure his calmness and confidence were a factor in the second-half performance.