A poor performance away at Shrewsbury saw the gap between Plymouth Argyle in 22nd and 20th place outside of the relegation zone increase to 5 points. Goals from Docherty and Okenabirhie were enough to give Salop the three points on this occasion.

Starting XI

Macey – 5

Made some good saves including an excellent one that prevented the score becoming 3-0. That said, his kicking was poor and there are questions will be raised about whether he should have been doing better for the first goal.

Moore – 3

Moore has been made a bit of a scapegoat as a result of far deeper tactical issues but this cannot disguise his awful display against Shrewsbury. He failed to prevent a multitude of chances coming down the right-hand side and his use of the ball was very poor.

Songo’o – 6

Had some poor moments and lapses in concentration and the fact he was one of our better players says more about how bad those around him were. He was steady enough at the back and did well sweeping up a few balls that were put into the box.

Canavan – 6

Like Songo’o, he didn’t do a lot wrong defensively but his inability to pass the ball well is increasingly becoming a concern. For someone so composed defensively he often doesn’t think before distributing the ball.

Smith Brown – 6 – Man of the Match

Ashley Smith-Brown is a player I’ve often been very critical of but was the best of a bad bunch today. He wasn’t spectacular but was calm and collected, and looked sharp advancing on the left-hand side. His passing found a green shirt far more often than many others.

Fox – 4

Those who say his legs have gone are wrong but he had a poor game today and was completely overran. He was pressed tightly by Shrewsbury and once again his defensive weaknesses when he isn’t able to just sit in front of the defence and cover the midfield were exposed.

Ness – 4

For a player who was so good last season, Jamie Ness has been something of a curate’s egg this season. He seems to follow an excellent performance with a poor game on a regular basis and today was certainly the latter. As well as this, he was unable to get onto the ball enough and was wasteful when he did.

Sarcevic – 4

Another midfielder who was nowhere near his best today. His passing isn’t his strongest attribute generally speaking but it was especially poor today, with heavy touches consistently letting him down.

Lameiras – 6

He was taken off in an understandable tactical gamble due to the decision to match-up Shrewsbury’s diamond, rather than any major inadequacies on his part. He moved the ball well enough and could have scored but for an excellent save by Steve Arnold.

J.Grant – 4

Grant is a strong candidate for player of the month in November but this was a sour way to end a largely good month. He was too wide in the first-half to impact the game enough and lacked the defensive side that he is usually so competent at.

Ladapo – 5

What can you say about Freddie Ladapo? In a way that was a microcosm of his Argyle career. He showed the excellent movement that has earned him ten goals this season, and also showed the terrible composure and dodgy first touch that prevented it being twenty.

Substitutes:

Taylor – 5

He showed touches of the old Taylor magic with a few good passes and chest downs. However, it remains to be seen whether he is fully fit yet and there were a number of times whereby he mistimed his jumps, limiting his ability to win the ball.

Carey – 5

His critics will point out the bad moments in the game, of which there were plenty. Screaming at the linesman, delaying play restarting and not making obvious passes when players were in space stand out. But, in truth, he did add a touch of class in the sense that he was one of the only players to panic Shrewsbury defenders when carrying the ball forward and his set pieces were good

Riley – 5

Not a great cameo and did not look especially good. Yet, he at least succeeded in some more difficult passes and looked far more assured defensively. While he may be worth starting ahead of Moore this Saturday, it is worth remembering he only had to play against a side that were already 2-0 up and looking comfortable.