Proof of life: An unnecessarily salty take on hitting rock bottom
Controversial takes on the transfer window and more
On 22 January 2025 at 20:45 Plymouth Argyle hit rock bottom.
A 12-month spiral of poor decision-making, terrible timing, and a healthy dose of bad luck came to a head in 45 minutes of car-crash football. And the facade of a well-run club burned.
Miron Muslic, the man appointed after Wayne Rooney was sacked weeks too late, watched on as his squad — that had no time to implement his ideas and was poorly suited to his style of play — played a half of football devoid of fight and heart.
At the same time Argyle’s talisman, Morgan Whittaker, watched from the stands as he agitated for seemingly any move away from Home Park. Argyle adrift at the bottom of the table, mentally relegated in January, and unable to attract new signings — things could scarcely get any worse.
Proof of Life
What followed might be a better measure of Muslic than promises of immense physical output or league heroics in Belgium.
Before I go on, I want to remind everyone that there’s no director of football at the club currently, and famously, according to X.com, “no football people on the board.” So it can only be inferred that Muslic is pulling the strings himself. And I believe that fact makes things even more impressive.
The day before the Burnley debacle Adin Osmanbasic and Eddie Lattimore, Muslic confident from Cercle Brugge, joined the club. While they must have been startled by what they saw at Burnley, it at least would have laid bare the challenge ahead.
The Transfer Window
As soon as the final whistle went, there started the unceremonious binning of Morgan Whittaker. Yes, the price was disappointing — but it’s clear to most people that he had to leave the club.
Whether Muslic spoke the truth about Whittaker in that press conference, something was lost in translation, or he purposely bent it in an act of immense psychological calculus, he took our star player out back and publicly shot him — uniting the fanbase in the process. Muslic then took an axe to the established first XI for Sunderland, and with the help of his backroom staff, finally got a tune out of the squad.
Say what you like about Rooney’s or Foster’s appointment, but desire, intensity, and application (or lack thereof) have been themes of each manager’s excuses. It was interesting that it took Muslic two games to make the same observations.
But he’s been far more proactive in solving it.
Muslic has overseen Whittaker and Cissoko’s exit, which takes some stones given our horrendous lack of creativity. But it seems he wants to replace flair with hard work. And there’s one big-name player I was surprised not to see out of the door with them.
Remembering that there’s no DoF in place, it seems Muslic has led us to an excellent overhaul of the defensive unit, with Niko Katic, Maksym Talovyerov, and Puchacz all looking the real deal.
But What About Attack?
Like any fan, I’d like to have seen more attacking signings. But one point I’ve not seen made is that beyond the clamour for “more attacking options,” we already have *loads* of attacking players for three positions.
Hardie, Tijani, and Obafemi all line up for the centre spot of the three. Bundu can play there too, and wide right (and is actually good at it). Muslic also likes Hardie there. That’s before we get to Al Hajj, Baidoo, and Wright all fighting it out for the other spot.
Yes, Wright is all energy and lacks quality; Al Hajj lacks energy but has quality; Baidoo doesn’t fit the system (yet, although I think he will); Hardie’s form has been poor (but is turning); Tijani isn’t fit or proven (yet). I could go on.
But it’s a rotten combination of gambler’s fallacy and blind optimism to say that someone like Allesana Jatta plucked out of League Two, or a loanee from a team in our league, will hit the ground running in the Championship immediately. In a team that doesn’t produce that many chances. Especially when God-knows-how-many years have proven that it barely happens.
My gut says that our best bets now are the players Muslic knows and is already working with.
And that’s backed up by a couple of comments:
Joe Edwards commented on Sky that Muslic was yet to turn his eye to attacking patterns, which hints that more cohesive play is coming.
And in a revealing translation of a Deadline Day interview between Puchacz and Meczyki YouTube Channel (by PAFC Polska) it seems the best is yet to come:"
“The coach is very demanding and generally, we've only had one week of training. It was only now before West Brom that we had an entire microcycle. I would actually start judging his work from this match against West Brom — for me, he has a record of 1-0"
‘He has a cool vision, I like what he implements in training, how he wants to do it, you can't hide that it shares a lot with German football - the intensity, the duels.”
After the draw at Sunderland was described as “proof of life,” a performance of spirit and backbone, driven by our new energy at the back and the old guard through the middle produced something not seen enough since Muslic took charge: spirit, desire and fight.
It’s too early to call this a turning point. We’ve seen these come and go this season. But given where we were two weeks ago — it feels bigger. And maybe I can just think about facing up to Liverpool this Sunday.
On 1 February 2025 at 14:15, Plymouth Argyle showed a pulse.
And it might just have got me dreaming (if not believing) that this team can surprise once again.
The manager is obviously a much more rounded and mature man than Schumacher,Foster and Rooney. He's not going to sleep with a hairdryer blowing in his face. He's not only comfortable coaching elite under 18's. His childhood has shaped him into a man that isn't willing to excuse a bunch of very well paid young men not to give 100% effort both physically and mentally. He will help them by simplifying their roles but once they know them he won't allow them to not do their job. The most mentally, the most childish, the most immature players in the squad have been moved on. They may have been the most talented but he could not trust them to give 100% and to stick to his game plan.He couldn't put up with individuals putting themselves before the team. Every utterance from the manager had been about getting the right mentality in the locker room. The mentally weak have left. Mentally strong players have been recruited.
Great piece as ever James - I think this manager is the real deal and he may well get us out of this hole we’ve dug for ourselves. The Eastern European recruits have already demonstrated what is required at this level and clearly have the mindset required by Muslic. Another good performance against Millwall next week will cement this view. Liverpool is a free hit and as long as we don’t pick up more injuries to key players, it should be a great occasion. But the key is our home league games to the end of the season - grind out some wins and if we can avoid losses, I have a sneaking feeling we will survive.