'Argyle Would Be Safe If I Was Here From Day One', Claims Muslic
(SPOILER ALERT) He's right.
Miron Muslic has caused a stir by announcing that his Plymouth Argyle side would have been safe a long time ago had he been manager from the start of the season.
How this has the power to cause a stir, I do not know. For all of the new information I have learnt from the statement, he may as well have told us that water is wet.
Yes, bar a catastrophe of epic proportions, this season would have gone far better with him at the helm from the start of it.
A very simple statistic to help us along the way: points per game.
Under Rooney - 0.78.
Under Muslic 1.21.
Had they continued their season with Rooney, Argyle would have already been relegated and would be currently sitting on a sexy 36 (rounding up) points. A season under Muslic would have the greens on 56 (rounding up) and somewhere between 12th and 14th. 10 points above relegation, 10 points below the play-offs. Extremely unexciting, yes, but also marvellous.
This is also not factoring in the time it took his players to get to know him, get to understand his system, and learn to implement it effectively mid-season, in a relegation fight. Muslic was winless in his first four before guiding his side to back to back wins for the first time this season. Had he had a pre-season with the club, and time to get his message across in training and friendlies, it is far more likely that his side would have been able to hit the ground running, and his ppg would be higher still. Factor in, also, the probability that the players that he wanted, and that better suited his philosophy, would have been brought in in the summer. He is currently dealing with a squad set up entirely for a different style of play under Rooney (although what that style of play is, is still a mystery to most of us).
I have come to a stop. I sat down to write this with the intent of digging out all of the evidence to try and back up my point, but now I feel there’s not really much I need. That’s about it. He’s taken a team at bottom of the league and amassed, in 19 games, a run of form that would have left his side at mid-table. It’s an incredible achievement, and it’s bizarre that Argyle are still actually bottom as a result.
Yes, Argyle would have been safe a long time ago had he been there at the start of the season. And yes, bizarrely, Argyle fans would have had one optimistic, wonky eye on the play-offs.
If, number one, he stays and if, number two, he has a decent squad of remainers and newcomers, I feel I can actually, just maybe, look forward to league 1 next season, if that is indeed where Argyle end up. He’d have had them mid-table in the champ, surely he can get them out of the third tier at the first time of asking.
What do you think? I beg some maths nerds to prove me wrong.
Until then, in Miron we trust.