Torquay United Fans Forum

I agree with this principle. Anything from Gillingham is a bonus and Barnet is the biggest game of the season for us - we need to win there and pick up enough from the last two games to scrape over the line. There is no chance that Rene will go three games without a booking, so he will miss 1-3 of the last four matches. We have a chance to at least guarentee that he will play in the crucial match vs Barnet, and with Bodin, Chappell, Jarvis and Benyon we still have enough options for Gillingham - these will be the players we will have for the crunch games anyway.

As well as he has played this season, a chunk of his bookings have been entirely his own fault, and we will be missing our top goalscorer when we need him most.

[quote="ferrarilover"]The players and formation and tactics we have employed over the last 40 odd matches are not enough to see us beat Gillingham. If we go there and try to play as we have done for the last 7 months, we will lose, so we have nothing to fear from sticking 10 pacy, forward thinking chaps on the field and seeing what happens. If we lose 4-0, so be it, we'd have lost 1-0 anyway, so we'll get the same number of points regardless.
Matt.[/quote]
The referee will probably be shite anyway...!! :(

[quote="SBP"]Thats it, I ve also had enough of these gutless performances.
I would drop Rene, Bodin, Oastler, Mansell and Jarvis. Not good enough!
My team for Gillingham would be.
Poke
Leadbitter Saah Downes Cruise
Thompson Labadie Craig Chappell
Yoeman Benners

I dont want balls lobbed into space, i want quick, high tempo passing from the back to front. Craig has to be given his chance in the middle to play to his strengths. Leadbitter and Cruise given the licence to raid down the wings which will give us extra bodies and options in attack.
Lets bloody give it to Gillingham, they will not be expecting it![/quote]


Wow, this is startlingly close to the team Diamondgirl and I picked while walking the dog yesterday. Swap Tommo for Mackers and you've got it. Ok, Ladders is now gone, so give Bodin his place back (Bradford was his first bad game in ages and it was a bad day for all of them).

Chappell will play in the Premier League one day, that kid is seriously good. NC is a central midfielder who is criminally shunted to the wing as an afterthought when Manse and Rene continue to have their names inked on the team sheet. Leadbitter gives us some much needed pace and forward thinking.
I'm not interested in phrases like 'lightweight', this isn't a rugby scrum, it's not 'America's fattest retards', it's football, a game where weight is mainly immaterial. We aren't a big side, we aren't AC Northampton, we aren't going to be bigger and stronger and taller than Gillingham and if we try so to be, we're playing them at their own game. A game they will win.

The players and formation and tactics we have employed over the last 40 odd matches are not enough to see us beat Gillingham. If we go there and try to play as we have done for the last 7 months, we will lose, so we have nothing to fear from sticking 10 pacy, forward thinking chaps on the field and seeing what happens. If we lose 4-0, so be it, we'd have lost 1-0 anyway, so we'll get the same number of points regardless.

Matt.

Forever- I did consider the inexperience and possibilities of the team being "lightweight". However how many goals have Howe and Benners scored in the games that they have played, hardly any. Howe gets another yellow and hes out anyway. Thompson's lack of experience may work to our benefit, he has no fear, just get out there and play, attack the fullback. Yeoman, I believe would be a chance worth taking. Gillingham like everybody else will have done there homework on us and frustrate Howe. The game will pass us by again. Its something different, its a fast counter attacking line up with pace all over the place. Maklin or Howe could be the first sub if desired.
Nobodies really expecting us to get a result from this game anyway. Lets go for it, attack them, do something that they are not expecting and put them on the back foot.
We cannot keep playing the same system, its not working.
My best recent memory was at Home to Shrewsbury 2-3 season ago when we absolutely battered them with attacking football and beat them 5 nil. I know things has changed since that game but i would rather take a chance and attack, it may just surprise us.

Like that line up SBP, however just little to much in the way of in-expereince and one to many lightweigts in there.

I would be inclinded to swap Tomson for Macklin and really would put Howe in with Benners,

Thats it, I ve also had enough of these gutless performances.
I would drop Rene, Bodin, Oastler, Mansell and Jarvis. Not good enough!
My team for Gillingham would be.
Poke
Leadbitter Saah Downes Cruise
Thompson Labadie Craig Chappell
Yoeman Benners

I dont want balls lobbed into space, i want quick, high tempo passing from the back to front. Craig has to be given his chance in the middle to play to his strengths. Leadbitter and Cruise given the licence to raid down the wings which will give us extra bodies and options in attack.
Lets bloody give it to Gillingham, they will not be expecting it!

Benners got a hat trick in our rearranged FA Cup tie v Stockport at Macclesfield in 2009.

Nicky Wroe got three against Cheltenham, I think.

Lee Thorpe against Grimsby if my memory serves me right, however I do have the memory of a gold fish so not sure if there has been one since.

Anyone know the odds on a Rene hat-trick at Gillingham on Saturday? It's some time since a Torquay player scored three in a match.
I can recall Efion Williams but somebody out there will know better! :bow:

But it's not just Rene is it? It's most of the team, for most of the season, and it's mostly psychological. But, Monday's game apart, they have been on a good run recently. No reason why they cannot recover their determination and self-belief and win a couple more games. Those who cannot should be substituted or dropped.

No do not drop Rene, you play your strongest team. One problem for me is Rene is one yellow from missing 3 matchs, in his performance there was plenty of evidence that is playing on his mind, he is a powerful lad and throwing his weight around is part of Rene's game.

Rene clearly seeemd to be pulling out of 50/50's that he would normaly go for, and whether he has been told or is doing it of his own back against Bradford he also was keeping his trap firmly shut, and thats the thing if you take the passion out of a player like Rene Howe, you take away a big part of the player.

I would be tempted to take him to one side and say get out there and play like Rene Howe, if you get booked so be it, we will deal with it, because we need to win games and fast and we need the old Rene Howe back.

Royalgull, I am merely saying that I believe that his form and contribution (even since the arrival of Elliot) have been poor. Initially I read posts saying that this was because the ball was played up in the air and he prefers to have the ball played to his feet. During the last 3 or 4 games I have seen the ball played to his feet on countless occasions only for him to lose possession or flick the ball on to the opposition. A strong front man like Rene should be more than capable of holding the ball up to allow the midfield to join the attack. I also think that he plays too deep on occasions - even out wide rather than being where I would like him to be - in the box.

All that said, it is a gamble but if the same performance level is maintained during the next couple of games would we have preferred to have at least attacked the opposition with pace and commitment - both qualities I think Yeoman possesses.

I hope your faith in Rene is well placed and I want to believe that he can contribute to us staying up. I am not berating the team or condemning us to relegation. I will support the team as I have done whether up or down next season. Equally I am not one of the 'told you so here is my post from March' brigade either. Indeed I hope I am able to say you had it right if things stay as they are and we do stay up.

There really is never a dull moment following TUFC.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/teams/torquay-united/top-scorers

4 games to go, goals/points of desperate need. you want to drop Howe? Seriously?

Howe has proven himself not just this season but also last season that he is more than good enough to play in the football league, his goal record and overall performance level for that length of time is more than good enough. It's not his fault he's surrounded by absolute crud who don't create anything for him.

is he slightly out of form? yes but having played the majority of our games he's probably struggling for a bit of motivation born purely out of a frustration of being the only player in our side with a football brain as 10 cloggers behind him aimlessly launch another ball somewhere within 30 yards of his direction.

I dunno I just don't buy it that he doesn't try or lacks effort, it's his style he's almost a bit Berbatov like but there's no way Fulham would ever drop their main striker either. People have different styles, they 'work hard' in different ways, it doesn't have to be chasing a 30 yard aimless nothing ball to show that. If we had 11 Mansell's doing that we'd go down because there would be no creativity, no flair, no chances made or scored. It's all about having a balance. With our style of play aka awful, I don't think having 2 little uns up there chasing nothing balls is going to help our situation of trying to win 2 out of 4 games.

When you are in a relegation scrap, players putting in 100% for the cause is an absolute must. I have serious reservations that Rene will do that.

If the past 4 or 5 games are anything to go by, I very much doubt we will see anything different from Rene and here lies the problem for me; one more card and its an early end to his season which if I am honest, I don't think he will be losing sleep about and the cynic in me says he may actually want this . I would always prefer to watch a team of 11 players desperate to impress and perform rather than play someone just because we signed them as our main striker. We really are in 's'*t' or bust territory now. We have to go out and win as many of our remaining games. Being overly defensive has contributed to the mess we find ourselves in. At least with attacking football the crowd will contribute - against Bradford there was little or nothing to cheer about. If you want the crowd to get behind the players and really make Plainmoor a fortress you need to give the crowd something to cheer about. It did feel like I was watching a Sunday league side at a couple of points during the game.

Having attended the Northampton game I do scratch my head and wonder how the side can play to two extremes in the matter of 3 days. That said, I still think Rene wouldn't have scored at Northampton. Still when my son and I left the ground, even though we lost, we both felt the performance was there. On Saturday at Bradford, we seemed to take 3 steps back.

Like many others I have serious concerns that we may go down; however if fate does dictate we do - then we should go all guns blazing and not fizzle out like a wet firework!