Prediction issued on possible Maksym Talovierov return to Plymouth Argyle | OneFootball

FLW’s Plymouth fan pundit has commented about fans calling for Maksym Talovierov to move back to the club on loan from Stoke City.

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Plymouth Argyle have had quite a mixed start on their return to League One.

Led by Tom Cleverley, the Pilgrims currently sit in the bottom-half of the third-tier, winning four, drawing one and losing six of their opening 11 league matches.

The ex-Watford boss will be hopeful that three victories from their last five games can transform their fortunes though, with the Devonshire outfit needing to show much more consistency if they want to be in contention to return to the Championship at the first time of asking.

A big reason for their slump has been their home form, with Plymouth winning just two of their six league games at Home Park.

The January transfer window could be a critical time for the Pilgrims to rise up the table and get themselves into the promotion conversation.

Central defender Maksym Talovierov was a fan favourite last season for his no-nonsense style in the backline, adapting to the challenge of the Championship so well despite Plymouth suffering relegation.

As they dropped down to the third-tier, the Ukrainian moved back to the Championship with Stoke City for a reported fee of £1.7m, but is yet to make his league debut for the club after a hamstring injury disrupted his preparations for the new second-tier campaign.

Already finding himself down the pecking order, some Plymouth fans may be calling for the 25-year-old to move back to Devonshire and help the club gain promotion back to the Championship at the first time of asking.

With this in mind, FLW’s Plymouth Argyle fan pundit has weighed in with his thoughts over whether he would welcome back Talovierov and if the move is a realistic one to pursue.

Speaking to Football League World, Plymouth Argyle fan pundit Luke Hodge has doubted whether Maksym Talovierov will make a sensational return to Home Park, believing his attributes don’t suit the way Tom Cleverley wants to play, while the club is already well-stocked with players in that position.

Asked about the calls for a reunion with Talovierov, Luke said: “Yeah, it doesn’t surprise me, there seems to be a bit of an obsession with past Argyle players returning to the club.

"Mentioned recently were (Ryan) Hardie and (Dan) Scarr. There's always players that we’re obsessed about coming back to the club and Maksym Talovierov, as good as he was for us last year, personally, I don’t see him coming back, and I don’t think we need him.

“We started off the season with a back four, so only two center halves, but we’ve now gone to three centre halves, so you think we may be short in that position. However, we’ve got a plethora of centre halves at the moment. We’ve got Ross, Mitchell, Galloway, Scuzcs, Wiredu and Pleguezuelo, whose going to be back in a couple of months.

“So do we need him? No, not really. A decent player, first and foremost is defending for Maksym. He likes to win his headers, his tackles, and I think playing football comes second-fiddle to that, whereas Tom Cleverley likes his ball-playing center halves and likes to be adaptable.

“There’s every chance at some point he may revert to a 4-2-3-1 and if you’re talking about two centre halves, ideally, he will like two ball-playing defenders and I don’t think Maksym fits that style of play in my opinion.

“I don’t think he’ll be back, unless the club want him, Stoke want to get rid of him and Tom Cleverley wants him, but I don’t think it’ll be happening.”

Plymouth Argyle have too many central defenders already

When looking at the Plymouth Argyle squad, there was a massive overhaul due to their relegation back down to League One, which meant it was always going to take time for everything to gel, particularly under a new regime.

You can understand the calls to bring Maksym Talovierov back to Home Park given the mixed results so far this season and the impact he had on the backline last term, but the Pilgrims already have six central defensive options when everybody is fit, and that should be more than enough to deal with the trials and tribulations that the third-tier brings.

The saying ‘too many cooks spoil the broth’ springs to mind about this situation, while as our Plymouth fan pundit Luke alluded to, Talovierov’s style of play doesn’t necessarily suit the way that Cleverley likes his defenders to operate, so it’s unlikely the ex-Watford coach is even interested in considering a reunion.

Instead, more patience should be shown to Cleverley that he can turn it around and get the best out of this current set of players, with such a drastic change in the playing squad needing time to settle before they can begin dominating the division and pushing for a return to the Championship.