Plymouth Argyle head coach Tom Cleverley has slammed his players following a 3-0 defeat against Stevenage last night.
The Pilgrims entered the game in fourth in League One having surrendered the top spot on Saturday. A 2-0 home reverse against promotion rivals Huddersfield Town was heavily criticised by Cleverley, and the trip to Hertfordshire represented the ideal opportunity to bounce back at the first time of asking.
Over 1,000 Argyle supporters made the 500-mile round trip to the Lamex Stadium, but it was clear almost from the off that their team weren’t at the races. Alex Revell’s side took a deserved lead in the 19th minute through Michael Mellon and quickly doubled their advantage eight minutes later when Josh Magennis pounced on a loose ball at the near post.
The second half was more of the same. Although Plymouth created slightly more, they never really looked like getting back into the game. The clash was sealed in the 83rd minute when Pheonix Patterson made it 3-0 to the hosts.
Cleverley Issues Apology
On Saturday, Cleverley stated his team ‘shrank away from the challenge’ as they were well beaten by Huddersfield. Therefore, he was horrified by what he witnessed on the touchline last night. Speaking to BBC Radio Devon, the former Watford boss issued an apology to the supporters:
”I absolutely hold my hands up and apologise for that performance this evening because it’s unacceptable.
“When you represent a big club, you get a lot of pats on the back when it’s going well and these players have built up some credit over the last 11 months.
“But that can diminish very quickly with performances like that and we need to not take that support for granted – you need to earn that support, you need to earn those pats on the back and we certainly didn’t do that tonight.”
The Gaffer on tonight’s defeat 🗣️
📺 https://t.co/3FIyCthJSb pic.twitter.com/dyyl4xTEI4
— Plymouth Argyle FC (@Argyle) October 20, 2026
“The Bare Minimum”
Having now fallen to fifth in the table, Cleverley knows that he needs to turn their recent form around. Continuing, he issued a warning to his players that he will pick a team that is willing to fight:
“The bare minimum I have to coach, demand, pick a team to be able to do is compete and the last two games we’ve not at all,” he said.
“If you don’t compete, if you don’t win duels, if you don’t land on seconds, if you don’t run and fight then you’re going to find it difficult to score goals and difficult to keep it out the back of your net and that is what tonight looked like.
“Two centre forwards who were well managed by two centre-halves at one end and two centre forwards who caused mayhem at the other end, and in between that not much better either.
“So a lot of questions from the last two games and it’s my job to provide the answers and real clarity and direction come Thursday to make sure we know exactly how to go get a result on Saturday, and I’m pretty sure top of the priorities will be picking a team that is going to fight and compete.”
Plymouth face high-flying Cambridge United on Saturday knowing a return to winning ways will see them move up the table.
