Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Nehemiah Oriola is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Plymouth Argyle this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Add another name to the list: Newport County have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Owen Oseni. The answer from Plymouth Argyle has not changed — yet.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Michael Baidoo has his answer from Plymouth Argyle; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Nottingham Forest have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Two goals and a mark of 8.57 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.75 for the rest of it.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Aribim Pepple and Plymouth Argyle agree another 4 years.
Joe Ralls and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” David Carter, on a 3‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Nehemiah Oriola was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Port Vale in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
At 27 he has taken a place rather than been given one, and somebody else has to find something to say about it. Plymouth Argyle have a decision that made itself.
A 1‑0 win over Stockport County, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Jamie Paterson and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” David Carter on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Freddie Issaka was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Caleb Watts is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Plymouth Argyle know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Michael Baidoo scored, was marked 7.61, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Plymouth Argyle, and 1 appearances in 16 say he has earned the hearing.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Jamie Paterson and Plymouth Argyle agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Joe Ralls was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
A goalkeeper’s error has no defender behind it to tidy it away. He knew before the ball crossed the line, the crowd knew a second later, and there is nothing anybody can say tonight.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Murphy Cooper's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
It needed Roko Baturina to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Wycombe Wanderers, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
1 for Michael Baidoo, marked 7.90, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Bolton Wanderers held the lead for 3 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Plymouth Argyle answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 9 actions, 6.83, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against AFC Wimbledon in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Plymouth Argyle will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Joe Ralls was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” David Carter after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Successful dribbles: 13. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Julio Pleguezuelo has his answer from Plymouth Argyle; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Caleb Watts's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Exeter City defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Plymouth Argyle will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Plymouth Argyle can tell you which week it ends in.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Plymouth Argyle this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 David Carter left the room before anybody could ask which.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Plymouth Argyle can pretend not to have heard.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Plymouth Argyle have done the hard part with Brighton, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by David Carter to a room that had heard them before.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Plymouth Argyle, another week without a signature from Simone Giordano.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Oliver Irow
Add another name to the list: Bromley have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Luca Ashby-Hammond. The answer from Plymouth Argyle has not changed — yet.
Joe Ralls and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
A loan enquiry to Stade de Reims: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Plymouth Argyle, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Joe Edwards has his answer from Plymouth Argyle; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Murphy Cooper has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.