EFL opening weekend. Plymouth Argyle v Barnsley.

Plymouth 1 (Azaz 45)

Barnsley 0

——————————————————————

Plymouth 3-4-2-1

Cooper

Wilson

Scarr

Gillesphie

Edwards

Butcher

Randall

Mumba

Azaz

Mayor

Hardie

—————————————————————-

Barnsley 3-5-2

Collins

Andersen

Cundy

Kitching

Williams

Benson

Connell

Styles

Cadden

Cole

Aitchison

——————————————————————

I’ve walked away from Home Park this afternoon feeling like I’ve watched a decent team and very good one. I imagine the Plymouth followers are absolutly ecstatic after that performance from Argyle.

The only goal of the game came just before half time when one debutant Bali Mumba played a square ball across the edge of the penalty area to another debutant Finn Azaz who side footed powerfully high into the net from the edge of the box.

Argyle had good chances to be ahead before then with Azaz missing from close range and Joe Edwards slamming the crossbar.

Barnsley had one great chance at the other end in the first half with a shot that bounced down off the underside of the crossbar and rebounding to the running in Josh Benson whose follow up was cleared off the line by Gillesphie.

Barnsley made a change at half time with Conor McCarthey replacing Robbie Cundy which meant Anderson shifting to middle of the back 3 with McCarthey at RCB.

Almost immediately after half time Barnsley had another great opportunity when Aitchison was slid in one on one but Michael Cooper saved with his feet.

Argyle’s two best chances in the 2nd half fell to Joe Edwards whose finishing let him down.

Luke Thomas & James Norwood were both introduced just after the hour and both shown flashes. Norwood flashed a header wide from a Connell free kick and Thomas looked lively in the no10 role.

Right at the death Gillesphie cleared off the line for the second time in the match following a goal mouth scramble.

——————————————————————

A few things I want to mention.

As much as I’m a fan of all 3 of Argyles centre backs. For me, Wilson, Scarr and Gillespie are all good penalty box defenders but they do present opportunities for nippy forwards running in behind them. Fortunately they have, for me, the best goalkeeper in the league behind them. That said I do think the best teams will get chances and score goals against them. I fear this’ll be the difference between an automatic promotion challenge and a play off challenge.

Bali Mumba was really impressive, out of position at left wing back. He switched off a couple of times defensively but had the speed to get out of trouble. Going forward he was a threat all game long and linked up beautifully with Mayor.

Joe Edwards continues to get way more chances in a game than your average right wing back. Although my blog is not usually betting related, I wanna flag up in here that I’ll be keeping an eye on Joe Edwards’ anytime goalscorer price over the next few weeks.

He had four good opportunities today, including hitting the crossbar. He’s so often either driving into the penalty area or arriving late at the far post.

Although Randell and Butcher played fine today, I did feel like Argyle lacked a little control in the final quarter of the game and could’ve done with Houghton in there.

Azaz and Mayor just ooze class in the number 10 roles and Ryan Hardie is perfectly fine playing as a lone forward, just as Niall Ennis will be too. I struggle to see where Luke Jepchott fits into this system though.

With Conor Grant, Jordan Houghton and Panutche Camara all still to come back from injury or suspension things look very exciting for Argyle this season.

As for Barnsley, the back 3 all looked cumbersome and were been pulled into areas they didn’t want to go by Azaz and Mayor.

I think their strength is in their wingbacks, Nicky Cadden has obvious quality and although Bali Mumba got the better of Jordan Williams today I still thought he provided a good outlet throughout the game.

Barnsley were direct and that didn’t suit ball player Connell, nor really Sykes and Benson.

I thought Cole worked tirelessly and Aitchison had their best chance and did ok too. Norwood and Thomas are fine alternatives.

I predicted Barnsley to come lower top half of the table and I’m happy with that prediction based on today.