It had all been going so well for free-flowing Plymouth after their promotion, but the abrupt departure of Steven Schumacher to Stoke and the abandonment of their effective attacking style by replacement Ian Foster has left them on the brink – Jay May from Argyle Life gave us his lowdown.

How would you assess the season for Plymouth overall?

Up until the last couple of months I was really pleased. It never felt like we were in a relegation battle. It felt like we were hovering around the lower end of mid table, picking up important points, with a great home record. We smashed our transfer record twice in the summer to bring in Bali Mumba and Morgan Whittaker, both of whom we’d had on loan previously. There was a lot of buzz and excitement. Things were going great. And then in the last couple of months we have just gone into total free fall and relegation is starting to look like a very real possibility all of a sudden.

Plymouth in the league so far…
Plymouth 3-1 Huddersfield Whittaker 6, Mumba 73, Hardie 76 – Helik 45
Watford 0-0 Plymouth
Plymouth 1-2 Southampton Hardie 51 – Tella 49, Adams 90
Birmingham 2-1 Plymouth Hogan 8, Stansfield 90 – Hardie 60
Plymouth 3-0 Blackburn Azaz 27, Hardie 77, Cundle 80
Preston 2-1 Plymouth Holmes 1, Millar 25 – Hardie 61
Bristol City 4-1 Plymouth Bell 3, James 8, Sykes 33, Cornick 80 – Randell 26
Plymouth 6-2 Norwich Whittaker 15, 45, 59, Scarr 35, Azaz 45, Cundle 90 – Idah 72, pen 78
Hull 1-1 Plymouth Slater 44 – Randell 22
Plymouth 0-2 Millwall Flemming 59, Saville 90
Plymouth 1-3 Swansea Cundle 18 – Yates 56, Cooper 68, Key 90
West Brom 0-0 Plymouth
Plymouth 3-0 Sheff Wed Bunbdu 44, Whittaker 45, Hardie 76
Ipswich 3-2 Plymouth Mumba og 45, Hirst 54, Harness 86 – Whittaker 7, Edwards 90
Plymouth 3-3 Boro Mumba 34, Azaz 38, Whittaker 77 – Coburn 23, 60, Greenwood 64
Leeds 2-1 Plymouth James 21, Piroe 28 – Waine 84
Plymouth 2-0 Sunderland Whittaker 24, Azaz 40
Coventry 1-0 Plymouth Wright 75
Plymouth 2-1 Stoke Bundu 43, Randell 90 – Campbell 23
Leicester 4-0 Plymouth Mavididi pen 14, 52, Daka 49, Ndidi 55
QPR 0-0 Plymouth
Plymouth 3-2 Rotherham Azaz pen 45, 52, Whittaker 90 – Lindsay 16, Eaves 77
Plymouth 3-3 Birmingham Edwards 43, Waine 68, Whittaker 86 – Stansfield 15, James 39, Bacuna 62
Cardiff 2-2 Plymouth Butcher og 31, Grant 47 – Whittaker 17, 66
Southampton 2-1 Plymouth Alcaraz 56, Adams 63 – Hardie 90
Plymouth 3-3 Watford Azaz 20, Whittaker 27, Hardie 42 – Kaymebe 11, Kone 38, Andrews 57
Huddersfield 1-1 Plymouth Koroma 38 – Whittaker 12
Swansea 0-1 Plymouth Whittaker 18
Sunderland 3-1 Plymouth Ekwah 52, Clarke 59, Bellingham 67 – Hardie 39
Plymouth 2-2 Coventry Whittaker 54, Miller 68 – Simms 65, Kitching 90
Plymouth 0-2 Leeds Gnonto 10, Rutter 72
Plymouth 0-3 West Brom Kipre 61, Johnston 76, Fellows 90
Boro 0-2 Plymouth Sorinola 7, Hardie 31
Plymouth 0-2 Ipswich Galloway og 63, Moore 74
Sheff Wed 1-0 Plymouth Gassama 60
Blackburn 1-1 Plymouth Szmodics 7 – Whittaker 74
Plymouth 0-1 Preston Millar 43
Norwich 2-1 Plymouth Sargent 67, Phillips og 74 – Whittaker 10
Plymouth 0-1 Bristol City Wells 57
Rotherham 0-1 Plymouth Mumba 32

Any bitterness towards Schumacher for the manner of his departure? Incredible job he did for you guys, and it feels like one of those managerial moves that shafts both clubs and the bloke himself. Would have been better off sticking around...

There is a bit of bitterness, yeah. I think we’ve calmed down a bit now but there was a lot of anger to begin with. I think a lot of that anger came from the fact that he had done such an incredible job for us and that he could have continued to do so. Not just that, the fact that he was so embedded in the club, with 100% backing from the board, we could have been relegated this season and kept him on. He was fully part of the board’s long term plans and could have built a fantastic career here, gained so much experience, before leaving us for a much bigger team. We always knew he’d go eventually but Stoke did feel like a bit of a kick in the teeth. And, let’s be honest, it’s not going amazingly well for him there. I don’t think Stoke would stick by him the way we would have. It does seem like an odd decision and I’m intrigued to see where it takes him from here. All that said though, he did a great job for us, I have a bit of a soft spot for him and I wish him well.

What did you make of the initial decision to appoint Ian Foster as his replacement?

I wasn’t over the moon to be honest. He was a total unknown but I trusted the board’s decision. When Schumacher took over, we were his first proper managerial job. Our board has made a lot of good decisions over the last four or five years and so I’ve learned to trust them. They like to do things properly. But they got this one very wrong.

Why hasn't it worked out? Very unlike Plymouth to be pulling the trigger so soon?

Our whole thing is that we’re a values-driven club and that if you’re going to be part of the club, you have to buy into the values. One of those values is attractive, attacking football. It’s a non-negotiable here. I don’t know what goes on on the training pitch and in the dressing room but as soon as Foster arrived, the attacking football just stopped dead. We went from a really exciting team, banging in goals left and right, with a great home record, to barely being able to register a shot on target. Home Park has been a fortress this season, the only reason we’ve been in with a chance of staying up. And now we’ve lost five on the bounce at home without scoring a goal.

It is very unlike us to pull the trigger so soon, and I’m glad it’s unlike us because I like the fact that we’re a more thoughtful and patient sort of club but it had to be done. We were free-falling into relegation the way things were going.

How much bearing did the January business have on his failure? Azaz a big loss, quite a lot of inexperienced kids brought into a tricky situation...

Yeah Azaz was a massive loss. He was fantastic for us this season and it hasn’t been the same without him.

With regards to the kids being brought in, for me that was another red flag. Foster had spent years coaching in the England youth set up and then started bringing in all these teenagers. It just felt to me as if those were the only contacts he had. He just brought in a load of teenagers, threw them straight in the starting line up, breaking up the culture of a team that had gelled really well, and it just didn’t work.

Summer Ins >>> Morgan Whittacker, 22, AM, Swansea, £1m >>> Bali Mumba, 21, RB, Norwich, £1m >>> Conor Hazard, 25, GK, Celtic, £175k >>> Mustapha Bundu, 26, RW, Anderlecht, Undisclosed >>> Julio Pleguezuelo, 26, CB, Twente, Free >>> Lewis Gibson, 21, CB, Everton, Free >>> Kaine Kesler-Hayden, 20, RB, Villa, Loan >>> Finn Azaz, 22, AM, Villa, Loan >>> Lewis Warrington, 20, CM, Everton, Loan >>> Luke Cundle, 21, CM, Wolves, Loan >>> Kaine Kesler-Hayden, 20, RB, Villa, Loan >>>

Winter Outs >>> Macauley Gillesphey, 28, CB, Charlton, £300k >>> Matt Butcher, 26, DM, Wycombe, Free >>> Tyreik Wright, 22, RW, Bradford, Loan >>> Saxon Earley, 21, LB, Wycombe, Loan >>> Oscar Halls, 19, CB, Plymouth Parkway, Loan >>> Will Jenkins-Davies, 19, AM, Torquay, Loan >>> Zak Baker, 18, GK, Tiverton, Loan >>> Jack Endacoot, 18, LB, Tavistock, Loan

Was it right to sack him? And what do you make of the caretaker replacements? I thought Warnock was a shoo in until the end of the season...

Yeah it was right. It’s a shame, obviously. It’s not nice to see anybody lose their job. But he just wasn’t up to it. And there were rumblings that he’d lost the players, he never really connected with the fans. I think it was the right decision.

I feel slightly underwhelmed by our director of football Neil Dewsnip and assistant coach Kevin Nancekivell taking over. I was initially really hoping for Warnock to appear and save the day. It would have been very exciting and a great story if it worked. But in reality, I think Dewsnip and Nance can offer a sense of continuity for the players. I’m hoping they can allow the players to return to the sort of exciting football they were playing before, just picking up where they left off, as opposed to Warnock coming in and introducing a whole new style of play.

Stand out players/player of the year candidates?

Although he’s dropped off a little bit recently- Morgan Whittaker of course. Third top scorer in the league. We turned down a bid from Lazio for him in January, which is a really bizarre sentence for me to say. He’ll be gone soon so we need to enjoy him while we have him. He’s been absolutely vital to us this season.

Weak links in the side?

Our defence has always been an issue. We just seem to leak goals. I’m not tactically astute enough to pinpoint exactly what’s going on there, but we just haven’t managed to get it settled this season. If we can return to our goal scoring ways, then we can deal with a slightly leaky defence. But the way we’re looking now, it is a massive problem.

How do you see it going - will you stay up?

Friday at Rotherham will be telling for us. If we come out playing that attacking, exciting football that we became known for, then yes I see us staying up. We have to get back to what we were doing before and quick. And I have a bit of faith that that’s what’s going to happen. But if we come out looking like we have in the last couple of months, then I can really see is going down.

Links >>> Plymouth Argyle Official Website >>> Plymouth Herald – Local Press >>> Argyle Life/Green and White Podcast >>> Pasoti – Forum >>> Cornich Janner – YouTube Vlog

The Twitter @loftforwords, @ArgyleLife1886

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TacticalR added 11:48 - Apr 8 Thanks to Jay. That's quite a drop in form since Schumacher left. As the club has cultivated an identity, I now get why they didn't go for Warnock. As Plymouth did actually win at Rotherham on Friday perhaps this will pay off.
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qprninja added 12:10 - Apr 8 Stories emanated from the training ground of unhappy players caused by Foster making them train on Sundays and generally treating them like children, they all had to stay sat down at mealtimes until he'd left etc. I guess his methods didn't transfer very well from the youth international set up to club level. He lost the dressing room basically. The Argyle fans and players are going to be right up for this, if the QPR players are planning on phoning this one in, we are going to lose.

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francisbowles added 13:50 - Apr 9 Lost five in a row at home. Oh dear, that's really making me worry now.
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TacticalR added 14:48 - Apr 9 Thanks for your preview. The statistics tell us what we all know: we aren't doing well against teams around us (although at least we managed to beat Rotherham and Birmingham at home). Because the attack and the midfield have dried up it's difficult to know where our next goal is coming from. On Chair and Willock's 'wild' shooting, if I was Cifuentes I would at least tell them to try and get more central if they are going to shoot from outside the box. Once they have started scoring again, then they can gamble when the angle is against them. At least Andersen brings some thought to proceedings and makes sensible decisions on the ball. It's a bit unfortunate that Plymouth have got rid of Foster. We can only hope that they aren't picking up steam after their win at Rotherham.

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