Where Do We Go From Here?

Where do we go from here?

A defeat against Bradford City last night was Argyle’s sixth defeat in seven games, a poor run of form that is always difficult to break.
The Greens are now just two points away from the relegation zone and are set for another relegation dog-fight for a fifth season in succession.
Included in those seven games was a poor performance and defeat in the FA Cup First Round game against Conference South side Dorchester Town, although the one oasis of positivity in a sea of doom and gloom was the 2-2 draw with League Two leaders Gillingham when the Pilgrims’ deserved to win.

It’s fair to say that PAFC are one of the bigger clubs in League Two so we should be challenging for the end-of-season honours; our natural and historic place is higher League One/lower Championship with home attendances figures and the size of our stadium more suited to those levels.
We should be doing better than 19th place in League Two.

The focus and finger pointing is now aimed at Carl Fletcher and his future as manager of PAFC.
After leading Argyle to relegation safety last season Fletcher deserved to carry on as manager this season. However, the situation last season was very different with the players, staff and fans united as one to fight off administration and then relegation; there was a siege-like mentality around Home Park.
The tactics on the pitch reflected this with Fletcher sending out his team to nullify the opposition and play for a point and not get beaten, this was proven with the 16 draws accumulated last season, the second-highest in League Two. The tactics worked, just, and Argyle avoided relegation to the Conference.

This season Fletcher has had to send out his team to attack and win games and has struggled. It’s a totally different mind-set to win a game rather than kill it and play for a point and too often Fletcher’s inexperience has shown through with tactical mistakes being made, he’s also been outwitted by the opposition manager on a regular basis.

Question marks have also been raised about Fletcher’s starting line-ups and use of substitutes; every fan is an armchair manager but we are not stupid and know a bizarre decision when we see one.

It’s a sad situation because everyone wanted Fletch to lead us to better things.
After five years of misery the decline of a great football club has to stop; the fans deserve better, whether it’s a new manager or Fletcher receiving some experienced help in the dugout, who knows, but something has to change.