Plymouth Argyle and Peterborough United went head-to-head just days ago in the Carabao Cup. The pair met at Home Park again, but this time in the league. Steven Schumacher’s men got their own back in emphatic fashion, with goals from Finn Azaz and Ryan Hardie making the difference. Here are three big talking points from the match.
Plymouth Argyle Dominate Peterborough United
Great to be back out there yesterday infront of a packed out Home Park, topped off with a win 🤩💚 pic.twitter.com/vn34zDB0Ou
— Jordan Houghton (@HOUGHTON_J) August 14, 2022
Working Wonders With the Loan Market
Starting first with the positives and a number of key contributors in the green and white were players on loan. Finn Azaz has been at the fore for Plymouth Argyle already this season. He was on target in the opener against Barnsley and he did just that this time out. Danny Mayor pulled it back for the Aston Villa loanee to fire beyond Posh shot-stopper, Lucas Bergström.
Azaz was on the score sheet and in the meantime, Bali Mumba put in a sensational performance. He spent the second half of last season on loan with Peterborough and came back to bite them this weekend. His tireless runs from the left wingback role continued to cause issues, to the point that he won the penalty. Ryan Hardie stepped up and converted this, making it 2-0 to the home side.
🏆 Today's Man of the Match, as voted for by the Green Army, is @BaliMumba8.
Well played, Bali! ⭐#pafc pic.twitter.com/BGknWyUAg3
— Plymouth Argyle FC (@Argyle) August 13, 2022
Two of the four Plymouth Argyle substitutes sent on by Schumacher were loan players. Striker Niall Ennis was one of two exceptions and he made a difference up front. Whilst he is a former Wolves player, physically imposing defender Nigel Lonwijk is at the club on a temporary basis from Molineux. The other player was Morgan Whittaker who is on loan from Swansea City.
Plymouth Argyle Lacking a Clinical Edge
Having beaten title hopefuls Peterborough, one would expect the overriding vibe to be all about positivity. This is somewhat the case but, at the same time, there are a few question marks present. It is still early days yet the Pilgrims’ form in front of goal raises eyebrows. No one can doubt the work rate of Hardie and his goal rate in 2021/22 speaks for itself. Beyond the Scotsman, it is slim pickings.
Luke Jephcott is constantly slipping down the pecking order in both Schumacher’s plans and the opinions of the Green Army. Elsewhere, Ennis hasn’t proven to be a consistent top-scorer with the likes of Azaz and Danny Mayor expected to produce a flash out of the magic out of the blue. These two players are perfectly capable of doing this several times a season, but the reliance on them delivering to this level week-in, week-out could come at the detriment of the team.
📊 Finn Azaz at Plymouth Argyle so far (League One):
– 3 games (231 minutes)
– 2 goals (2nd in the league)
– 59/80 passes completed
– 5/9 crosses completed
– 4/10 long passes completed
– 7 fouls won (6th in the league)
– 6 key passes⚡️ @finnazaz = Instant impact. pic.twitter.com/0O9sfpIOns
— Aston Villa Latinoamérica (@AVFCLatam) August 13, 2022
Casting an eye across the League One scoring stats for Plymouth Argyle last season and Hardie of course leads the way. He has 16 with academy graduate Jephcott next in line on ten. Four of the next six names aren’t playing at the moment for one reason or another.
Ryan Broom and Jordan Garrick have returned to their parent clubs while Conor Grant and Panutche Camara are out injured. Not to mention that the beloved Guinea Bissau midfielder Camara has been angling for a move away from Devon this summer.
Read More: Plymouth Argyle and the New League One Season
Peterborough Underwhelmed Down South
The final talking point from this comfortable Plymouth Argyle win over Peterborough United involves the visiting team. It is all well and good praising Schumacher and his team for their work in this one, but the Posh were very poor. Coming into this game, Grant McCann’s were the only side with six points to their name.
Peterborough being top of the tree come the end of the season wouldn’t be particularly surprising. This wasn’t represented in how blunt and ineffective they were at Home Park. A strike duo of Jonson Clarke-Harris and Jack Marriott is too good for this league yet both of them had little to no impact on the game.
🎥 Grant McCann spoke to Posh+ following the defeat to Plymouth Argyle and gave an honest assessment of his side’s performance with goals in each half condemning Posh to a first defeat of the season.#pufc
— Peterborough United (@theposh) August 13, 2022
Nineteen-year-old goalkeeper Bergstrom is on loan from Chelsea and he was their best player on the day. Mumba and Plymouth Argyle’s Joe Edwards in the wingback positions enjoyed their afternoons greatly, regularly foraying forward, and their opposite numbers had no response to that.
Rounding off and, performance aside, to get all three points against a rival for promotion to the Championship is excellent. Argyle lost to Fleetwood Town last weekend in disappointing circumstances and so this was a great bounce-back outing. It doesn’t get any easier for the Greens with visits to Charlton Athletic and Forest Green Rovers coming up in the next seven days.
