Torquay United Fans Forum

Oh dear. "players should play with a smile on their faces" according to Nicho. NO. they need to play with a steely determination to win etched deeply on their faces, Have a look at the rugger buggers. Are they smiling? No, they are determined to win, and when they go behind, their determination only increases. Smiles come at the final whistle with victory. Points and wins will bring confidence. What is needed now is to make the team realise that they were not good enough, but could be, given good team choices, max effort from each player, and some decent tactics and practised set pieces which are adhered to.
PS Rodgers for Assistant Manager?

Bomber mentioned Alex Russell, who I had flagged up yesterday. Really relevant experience. Only question is whether he can motivate a bunch of spoiled youngsters - an ability which I pointed out back in August appeared to be beyond Mr Cox. Alex Russell - anyone with any views?

I am glad that Cox has gone, he had brought in his players but could not motivate them, and despite a full preseason had not managed to install any defensive qualities, strategy or tactics. Who is next? Not Ling, please. We need someone with experience and the ability to motivate - that is the difference between these poor Conference teams. Then we need a coach who can teach these kids how to play as a team. I am no fan of settling for former players, but I have always had a sneaking respect for one ex-player who actually took training when the manager was absent and who has since got some useful experience elsewhere. Alex Russell please.

A disappointing first game for me, with little urgency from the start. Could be that both teams were affected by the very odd wait before kickoff for 15 mins of clapping tributes to recently deceased wrexham fans (not being disrespectful, but the match was delayed a full 10 mins). Never seen this before - hope it does not become routine as both teams seemed to start as if it was a slow-motion kickabout. That did not change until Wrexham and their supporters got fired up with their goals in the second half. Their first just needed a decisive boot away from one of a number of our defenders - poor goal. Their second was down to not picking up man on edge of area, and their third was in no way a foul or penalty . Ref was certainly a homer.

But Torquays midfield were harried off the ball, could not string two passes together, and no one, apart from Courtenay Richards showed the slightest desire or the determination to up their game. More emotion was shown by Quigley, obviously narked about being withdrawn (although LavelleMoore looked useful). Chaney completely mishit a decent chance near the end that Karl Hawley would have nailed, but the overall lack of pace, skill, effort, inventiveness was exemplified by Gus, (otherwise OK) who was over the half way line and with all the team in front of him in added time, but elected to pass back to the goalie!!

Questions already in my mind over Cox's ability to motivate and to pick a balanced team. Briscoe and Young sorely missed, and a few more of that ilk required.

Cannot understand the team selection as extra points are an irrelevance now. Should not Hargreaves be looking at the future ? look again at Gueguen, and blooding Prynn and Chaney. In fact if you are not planning for next year now, Hargreaves should have gone on holiday so he is back at Plainmoor to be seeking out those future United players during the summer.

Problems: 1.Our midfield & defense was torn to shreds in first half. We have decent defenders, but they were not playing together and midfield were not protecting them. No cohesion is right.
2. Cameron abysmal and did not try. Tried tricks and gave ball away. Get rid.
3. Ajala a good player but not on this surface. Pick someone else, (Brisco/Harding). Why have a right winger when that quarter of the pitch was waterlogged.
4. Bowman needs support from Brisco. Campbell helped but did not really link up apart from the goal.
5. Hargreaves seems to be tactically inept. One up front is no good. He could also have used other subs,

For the record, the pitch was heavy and tiring - there must be changes for midweek game or will be exhausted for next Sat. Rice saved the day several times but palmed the ball from one attacker to another for 2nd goal - however, neither attacker was being marked! Levi tries hard but does not have a commanding presence. Finally, great support from travelling gulls.

Half-time warming up! What a waste of time. If I was manager I would want all my subs in that dressing room listening intently to my take on the first half performances and the strategic and individual changes needed for the second half. Lethargically kicking a ball around is not going to help a player who comes on during the second half understand exactly what the manager requires. He needs to be part of that half-time team talk, and I see the subs absence from the dressing room as contributing to their attitudinal problems.

By the way, this is perhaps a separate thread, but what exactly is our assistant manager's role. Should he not be the one to be helping the manager to make the right tactical decisions during the match, and substitutions at the right time. Surely he should be the one saying "we need a change at HT because Richards is not a defender" and generally providing advice. Despite having had a wider role than coaching at his previous club, I do not see that support & interaction on a Saturday between our managerial team. Comments?

Always been a Herb Alpert "A Banda" fan myself, but yes, yes, lets have The Liberty Bell March. There is the Pythons connection, filming in Torquay in 1971, John Cleese connection being inspired to set Faulty Towers in Torquay, and his brilliant comment "...and I for many years followed the hilarious antics of Torquay United at Plainmoor".

It all falls into place - we are not deadly serious at TQ1, and "we are the best" or some rock anthem is not for us. Got to be the Pythons theme, surely.

I feel very sorry for Leadbitter. In several games during our freefall period he was the only one showing much endeavour, skill, determination and creativity. At the time I said that we needed to nurture this guy who could be worth half a million in a few years. We have not done that, following the usual Torquay line --- regular team member gets injured or suspended, the youngster comes in and is expected to do at least as well at the usual player for a month, then he is discarded again.
In previous seasons players like Ellis and Robertson were not really developed and at times both were treated shabbily by United, yet have easily stepped up a division. Torquay need to pay attention to developing these youngsters, and not view them only as a "spare". I hope that United dont regret letting him go, but to Daniel Leadbitter, Thanks and best of luck, mate.

Agree with a lot Bengul says. What is important is staying up this season. My view is that the Boards statement is detrimental to that. Its going to make the players uncertain, removing the confidence and motivation that Knill has brought about, because they will now be uncertain about how they should be playing and who they should be impressing. They will be remembering the dire football, defensive tactics, poor team selection, substitutions, and lack of any attacking spirit under Ling and that may reflect itself in their play for the rest of the season. This announcement is very unsettling for the players and only makes Knills job even harder. Poor bloke. On top of that, there is no way that the Board can have any idea whether Lingy will be fit to take on this job in 6 weeks time. As someone who suffered a stress related illness (breakdown) because of pressure and lack of support at work, plus travelling and staying away from home, I would not have been able to go back to work within a year, and only then with a phased re-introduction and removal of responsibilities. And even then, you wont know if you can hack it as before. The Boards promises are counter-productive and we seem to have a situation where they are undermining Knill, unsettling the team, opening their mouths before they need to (artificial pitches and play-offs !") and without concentrating on the urgency of staying up, not who will be Manager next season.
I say, support Knill as Manager and get Lingy to act as Chief Scout until he can prove himself capable of taking on any more responsibility than that, when he is fully well again.

not usually a contributor, but here goes... this was not a bad performance!! A fairly entertaining game and the team clapped off at the end. The same was true at my last match against Burton. But in both cases, there is simply not enough testing the opposition goalie. No snap shots from the edge of the area, not decent crosses, no neat one-two's or defence splitting passes. I guess that this means that the problem is quality, determination and invention. The only player to show glimpses of that was Leadbitter - lets hope that we can continue to develop him and the scouts from higher divisions will be snapping. But for today, Rene should have scored, Bodin was abysmal and also possibly to blame for not tracking back their goalscorer. Easton gave a creditable performance, and we are fortunate to have a good defender in reserve in MacDonald. I like Jarvis who is hard-working and skilful, but somehow nobody is linking effectively with Rene. Rochdale managed several snappy moves, quick passes and speedy shots whilst Torquay made none!
This poor run stems back to Ling I'm afraid. Overall, our player quality is not good enough, tactics leave a lot to be desired, and player selection is often poor. So it was today - a good winger would be a great asset (not Stevens), give Bodin a spell out of the team, don't leave it until the last 10 mins to get Benyon on, and don't have sub Macklin playing too far up, leaving big holes between forwards and defence. And finally, what on earth goes on in training when there is so little cohesion generally and no invention with any free kick or corner?
A new Manager for the remaining games may make Lings illness a blessing in disguise, but we need one who can bring in some quality loans and a harder, snappier edge to our play.