Prepared Pilgrims look ready to start League One season

BASED purely on the results of the six warm-up matches, Plymouth Argyle have had a decent pre-season with a record of three wins, two draws and one defeat.

- CHRIS ERRINGTON

That one loss came against Championship club Bristol City and was by the only goal of the game after a defensive mistake from the Pilgrims late on.

Argyle netted 25 goals overall, although that total was inflated by the 15-1 rout of Gibraltar side Europa Point during their Spanish training camp, and conceded only five.

The Pilgrims did not win either of their home games against Championship opposition, drawing the first one 1-1 with Swansea City after a late equaliser from striker Ryan Hardie.

However, they finished their preseason schedule with trips to Torquay United and Yeovil Town won both, scoring seven goals without conceding any.

Yes, Torquay and Yeovil are two levels below Argyle but these are usually competitive 'local' matches so to beat them 5-0 and 2-0 respectively was encouraging.

Those are the facts based on the results in pre-season but manager Steven Schumacher and his coaching staff will have judged it on far more than just the warm-up matches.

For example, Schumacher has been experimenting with a 3-4-2-1 formation during games. It looks to have worked reasonably well. Will the Pilgrims' boss use it in League One action and, if so, how often? Time will tell.

Team selection for the opening fixture against Barnsley at Home Park on Saturday will also be based on how each player has performed in training, not just the warm-up matches.

Overall, Argyle's 2022 pre-season I would have to be considered as a success. Here are five of the main talking points from our Argyle reporter Chris Errington.

THE FORM OF RYAN HARDIE RYAN

Hardie played a big part in Argyle's successful 2021/22 season as he scored 19 goals in all competitions, with 15 coming in League One.

The Scottish striker has proven he has the pace to run in behind opposition defences, both at home and away, and cause them plenty of problems generally.