Exclusive: Don Goodman drops Plymouth Argyle "pressure" claim amid Hardie/Bundu exits | OneFootball

FLW has asked Sky Sports pundit Don Goodman for his thoughts on Plymouth's new strike partnership ahead of the Pilgrims' return to League One.

New Plymouth Argyle manager Tom Cleverley will be facing "pressure" ahead of the new season, according to Sky Sports pundit Don Goodman.

Plymouth were relegated back to League One at the end of last season after two years in the Championship and, speaking exclusively to FLW, former Sky Sports pundit Don Goodman has warned that there will be "pressure" on the new manager ahead of the start of the new season.

Argyle's 2024-25 season ended in huge disappointment, with the team finishing one place off the bottom of the Championship, resulting in relegation back to League One. Freshly-relegated clubs are always among those expected to challenge for promotion the following season.

And there's one particular challenge facing Cleverley as he settles into his new position at Home Park. Plymouth have lost their two main goalscoring threats from last season, with Ryan Hardie having left the club for Wrexham and Mustapha Bundu having gone to the 2. Bundesliga club Hannover 96.

Goodman: "I think there's going to be pressure on Tom Cleverley"

Speaking exclusively to Football League World, Sky Sports pundit Don Goodman has explained that there will be pressure on Tom Cleverley at Plymouth next season, telling us that, "I think there's going to be pressure on Tom Cleverley to do well in League One because they got relegated from the Championship."

And Goodman feels that a lot of that pressure is going to come from the need to integrate two new strikers into their team. "Obviously they lost Ryan Hardie, but they also lost Mustapha Bundu, who scored the same number of goals as Hardie - they both scored ten", he told us.

Goodman is aware of the challenge of introducing two new strikers into the Plymouth team for the new season: "In terms of goalscoring, there will be an onus on these two new players. Neither have so far in their careers been particularly prolific, but then neither was Ryan Hardie. Until about four seasons ago he hadn't had a season in double figures."

But he also backs Tom Cleverley to be able to get the best out of his new signings, telling us that, "there's always room for development when you've got players of this age, and hopefully Tom Cleverley can get the best out of these two players".

Owen Oseni and Bim Pepple are Plymouth's two attacking additions... so far

Owen Oseni and Bim Pepple are the new attacking players brought in by Plymouth Argyle so far this summer.

Oseni moved to the Derby County academy from Ireland 2023, but was unable to break into the Derby team and, after spells on loan in the non-league game, was released by Derby at the end of the 2023-24 season, signing for National League club Gateshead.

He impressed on Tyneside, scoring 13 goals in 24 games, before a transfer to St Mirren, but his time in Scotland didn't work out and he was transferred to Plymouth for an undisclosed fee this summer.

Bim Pepple started his career in Canada, before signing for Luton Town in 2022. But he has spent the last three years on loan and was also transferred to Home Park for an undisclosed fee this summer.

Tom Cleverley seems aware of Plymouth's need for further reinforcements. Speaking at Plymouth's pre-season training camp in Switzerland, he said, "They're doing great and developing, and whoever does come in, in that position I'm sure those two will be pushing them all the way. We have a profile of a nine that we're looking for. We've highlighted two or three that are on our shortlist and we're all working hard for one of those to materialise."

It would certainly feel like a gamble, were Plymouth to start the new season with only these two relatively untested players leading their front line. The pressure will start to build quickly if his team doesn't hit the ground running.