Torquay United Fans Forum

Wolborough wrote: 13 Nov 2018, 06:17 The key to me is to is consistency in that the team needs to perform well over 90 minutes rather than 45 and this will come with experience and training as well as the possible introduction of a couple more players. The squad we have are not bad - sure GJ may ship out a couple more but even in our last three games although winless we have shown we have potential.

Agree with your post, the concern is that the more time it takes to find consistency the trickier it will be to aim for the top. I still have the opinion that we can win the league, I thought Bath were the only team to have played some football against us, lots of long ball stuff from other teams, but that was when Mr Negative was the manager... anyway, crucial game this evening!

The key to me is to is consistency in that the team needs to perform well over 90 minutes rather than 45 and this will come with experience and training as well as the possible introduction of a couple more players. The squad we have are not bad - sure GJ may ship out a couple more but even in our last three games although winless we have shown we have potential.

At no point do I disagree that our team needs at least two or three old heads to guide young talented starlets, although given the maturity and play of Connor Lemonheigh-Evans (age 21) maybe a few more youngsters may be the order of the day.

The point I am trying to make is every player in the team - irrespective of age - will have relative strengths and weaknesses in their position. Their suitability or otherwise to us will be determined by what we are looking for in that position which is determined by the philosophy set by the club and/or by the manager and the needs of the team at that particular time.

From reading between the lines, I think our manager GJ is telling us we are still short of technically competent players (irrespective of their age) that demonstrate an understanding for their position. And that, I think, is the hub of the question as to why we lost against Woking.

MellowYellow wrote: 12 Nov 2018, 18:19


To counter-balance the perception that our young talent contributed to our defeat, a Woking fan posted on this forum:



This appears to contradict the experienced street wise theory? from a Woking perspective.

I would argue that we looked stronger in midfield and won the midfield battle. And Woking looked to have several more experienced players in other positions. Even Ben Gerring must be considered as being experienced at this level compared with all of our side except Davis & Dickson.

Or our family link disappears, I look anxiously at Bristol City's results 2 wins in the last 10 games
both with injury time winners, let's hope their Chairman doesn't do anything silly

merse btpir wrote: 11 Nov 2018, 07:58 Lots of young talent with really exciting ability... when you need experienced heads particularly in adversity...The better opponents are more more street-wise .

tomogull wrote: 12 Nov 2018, 00:55 We are a side of young players, including the Bristol loanees. This showed against Woking

To counter-balance the perception that our young talent contributed to our defeat, a Woking fan posted on this forum:

charltonlaw wrote: 12 Nov 2018, 14:34 Woking fan here...Our 3 midfielders were all teenagers (due to injuries) and did brilliantly

This appears to contradict the experienced street wise theory? from a Woking perspective.

Our manager GJ response to our defeat was not reflective of players age but of players who "need to show a lot more" as only one or two players " looked like they had the ability to go and win the game". GJ response to our ineffectiveness to beat top teams is to go an find "the players to do that". For me our saving grace has been the Bristol City starletts and my biggest fear is Bristol City call them back before GJ finds suitable replacements.

Yes Davis and Dickson are not enough and both are very quiet on the pitch, the rest are very young

Experience through the spine of the team has always been the way to build and I'm sure Gary Johnson will address that asap now he's had time to assess the squad.

There is an interesting bit about Fulham today in my daily rag. Apparently, they invested heavily in good, young players during the close season with the thought that their value would increase. Where they went wrong, according to Danny Murphy who wrote the piece, is that they didn't bring in any players with experience to guide the young players, hence their position at the foot of the Premier. So as culmstock and Merson rightly suggest, experienced players are vital at all levels.

For once, and it may not happen again for some time I agree with Merse. Both this league and the league above have changed out of all recognition over the last two seasons, Look at the crowds and money in the National League, it surpasses in a lot of cases teams in league two, professionals in league two can easily negotiate the same deal in the lower league and shop window themselves for the future, I believe as does Merse that this means we need seasoned players to succeed even at our humble level, and while I enjoy blooding the youthful element if they are good enough they are not the answer in a hugely competitive league.

No need for a reality check. Gary Johnson has quickly turned things around and got us going in the right direction, but we're not quite there yet. To say Billericay and Woking are 'poor sides' is nonsense. Billericay are an ugly, no nonsense side. Woking are more of a footballing side and I think both will be in the top half dozen at the end of the season and either of them could hold their own in the National League. With just a little bit of luck, we could have won both games - and luck has a part to play.

A few thoughts -
a. We are a side of young players, including the Bristol loanees. This showed against Woking when we tried too hard and everything was rushed after the goal. We could do with a couple of experienced heads. Sendle-White will add that experience when fit.
b. Is it six players not fully fit? Hall, Sokolik, Sendle-White, Essuman, Edwards, Bass (although he wouldn't have played yesterday). That's a lot of players out of quite a small squad.
c. Smaller clubs, like Chippenham and WSM, will raise their game against us as we're seen as a 'big club' in this league.
d. The season is a marathon, not decided on a couple of games in October. Let's see where we are going into the New Year before we start asking for reality checks.

Personally, I think we have some decent young players at the club and Gary Johnson is improving their overall play. They can only get better as the season progresses as they gain in experience by playing together.

FA Cup Challenger wrote: 11 Nov 2018, 15:48 I would like to ask a genuine question of any TUFC Fans, this is not meant as a criticism or to provoke a reaction I am just genuinely confused ? I was at the game versus Woking yesterday as a total neutral and witnessed a pretty decent game with two pretty well matched sides, in my opinion Torquay should have Won it on chances created.
My confusion was caused by a small section of TUFC fans who were shouting abuse at the Woking players at the end accusing them of being cheats ....... why was this ?
I can only think that they thought the Woking winger had dived for the penalty (in my view it was a legit spot kick), they were fed up with the Woking keeper time wasting (he was but all sides do that and he was booked for it) or that they thought they should have had a penalty themselves (if play was still ongoing they would have but the ref had already blown for a foul and booked the Woking player).

Those are the only incidents I can think of anybody else have a clue ?

Peter

Sore losers.

Missing Asa Hall massively!!!

I would like to ask a genuine question of any TUFC Fans, this is not meant as a criticism or to provoke a reaction I am just genuinely confused ? I was at the game versus Woking yesterday as a total neutral and witnessed a pretty decent game with two pretty well matched sides, in my opinion Torquay should have Won it on chances created.
My confusion was caused by a small section of TUFC fans who were shouting abuse at the Woking players at the end accusing them of being cheats ....... why was this ?
I can only think that they thought the Woking winger had dived for the penalty (in my view it was a legit spot kick), they were fed up with the Woking keeper time wasting (he was but all sides do that and he was booked for it) or that they thought they should have had a penalty themselves (if play was still ongoing they would have but the ref had already blown for a foul and booked the Woking player).

Those are the only incidents I can think of anybody else have a clue ?

Peter

We are only 4 point off the 2nd and 3rd place and win our game in hand and we will sit in fourth spot - not exactly Mount Kilimanjaro to climb! We are were we are with players and I think most on here have been fair in their assessments of which squad players 'cut the mustard'.

On yesterday's penalty, Koue Niate got on the wrong side of the player and if you lunge in with a tackle the player will go down whether you win the ball or not. In this situation most referee's will award a penalty 90% of the time (even in the Premiership).

I find Naite, strong, solid and keeps defensive play simple but at the same time makes a number of silly mistakes that have the potential to be game changing. The finished article he is not, and this is a cause for concern, but age is on his side and Johnson will know better than anyone as to whether there is further potential in him.