FA Cup Round 1, Torquay vs Rochdale 9/11/13

[bengull]

Respect your opinion but I must disagree with you Mid, I saw it as the complete opposite.

I thought a triple substitution reeked of desperation from a manager who was lost as to how to tweak things for the positive. He could have introduced a substitute on the 60th, 70th and 80th minutes and given them time to adapt to their individual roles, all 3 at once just confused matters. I just don't think he knew what to do to inspire the team.

Hawley and Cameron barely touched the ball in their time on the pitch, whereas Craig (out of position) kept hitting it forward in the air. Unless done when the match is sewn up and won, triple subs rarely, if ever, work.

I am not a Knill basher and know the importance of getting behind the club, the boss, the players no matter how much sh**e is thrown our way, but if that was a team playing with confidence, inspired to get an important win, and who had a sense of purpose or idea of what they should be doing, then we are in a lot of trouble!

[Dave]

At the Portsmouth home match, me, and the group I stand with spent 90 minutes watching pompey attack Nico, they will score in a minute we said, and they did. So today we thought it would interesting to see how long it would be before Rochdale attacked down Nico's side, result 37 seconds, when are you going to wake up to this Mr Knill, club legend blah, blah, he is worn out, we have a young fresh left back, use him or lose him.

I have backed Alan Knill to the hilt as I always would any Torquay manager; however my patience is wearing very thin, said after Cheltenham home if this is how our team is going to develop then nothing to worry about, and what followed, nothing. We followed a solid home performance against Portsmouth with a good away win at Bury, at last my faith will be proven justified, my arse.

I do not buy into Rochdale were as poor as us, think we dragged them down to our level, that said, the fact that Ricey didn’t have that much to do was largely down to some first class defending from Downes and O’Connor, as Rochdale looked the better side throughout.

The Rochdale keeper, I very much doubt has had an easier match in his career, 1 shot for Christ sake, and that was after they had scored, we needed a cup run, desperately.

Azeez today was by some way Rochdale’s best player, Azeez was truly atrocious, in fact that’s praise indeed. How did he stay on the field so long? It summed it up for me in the first half when McCallum played a 5 yard ball which my 75 year old dad could have got to, and Azeez just stood there and watched it go for a throw in, pathetic.

Cannot argue with the three substitutions even though they were made about 20 minutes to late, however does anyone get the logic in putting Nathan Craig on the left, surely bring him on for McCourt and leave chappel on.

I’ve seen more life in a tramps vest than I saw from our team today, our side that was relegated from the football league showed more guts, desire and determination than we saw today, not good enough, not by a long, long, even longer way.

[Plymouth Gull]

And Rochdale were just a bad. Have a think about it, we were so bad that people in the crowd were considering self-harm to pass the time... and they scored with their first real chance on 86 minutes. How good can they have been?

We were both Evo-Stik standard.

Matt.

We dragged them down to our level of crapness yet they still found the net in the second half (Hogan had it disallowed), and Rice was by far the busier of the keepers. From the first minute Nicholson was being rinsed by that Henderson bloke. Hogan had a few second half opportunities denied by Rice and O'Connor. The first goal was terrible, again Nicholson caught out, while the second was also horrific, as we decided to ignore marking players at the corner, allowing a free header and then a free follow up.

Keith Hill tactically outclassed Knill today I'm afraid.

[Burnhamgull]

Craig could have come on for manse he can be subbed.

Really? I thought Captain Fantastic was exempt from substitution?

I had no idea................I feel a little embarrassed now that I don't fully understand the rules....

[gullintwoplaces]

Completely agree with Forever's assessment. We left the game before the end, only the third time in my life that I have done this. I just couldn't bear to watch any more of the game. Of all the poor performances, Azeez's was by far the worst. He was shocking, not a clue. I really despair, and I speak as somebody who has been fully behind the manager (more fool me it seems). I saw today a team that did not have a clue about what to do, shapeless, lost and totally bereft of competitive spirit. The three man substitution was mad, truly a sign of a manager who has moved into panic mode. God help us if things carry on as they are.

[Scott Brehaut]

Keith Hill tactically outclassed Knill today I'm afraid.

I'm sure he won't be the last either.

[Scott Brehaut]

Completely agree with Forever's assessment. We left the game before the end, only the third time in my life that I have done this. I just couldn't bear to watch any more of the game. Of all the poor performances, Azeez's was by far the worst. He was shocking, not a clue. I really despair, and I speak as somebody who has been fully behind the manager (more fool me it seems). I saw today a team that did not have a clue about what to do, shapeless, lost and totally bereft of competitive spirit. The three man substitution was mad, truly a sign of a manager who has moved into panic mode. God help us if things carry on as they are.

Interesting comments from you, and others, on the performance of Azeez - he came to us look like one of the answers - we extend his loan and suddenly he is muck.

Hmmmmm!!

[wodger of awabia]

What a bl##dy dreadful performance!! I find it very difficult to believe that Knill has had a week to prepare his team, absolutely dire! & Rochdale were almost as bad. I can't believe that the players are playing so badly. "On paper" we should be witnessing something much better, I believe that Leroy, Buckle & Ling would have been getting quite good results from this squad of players. OK Knill assembled a very poor team in the summer, but the Board have found the funds to enable him to sign our young loan players from good Championship & Premier sides. These players were good enough to be offered pro contracts & were obviously regarded as the best of the prospects at their clubs, so how come that Knill has got them playing like a bunch of scared schoolboys?

[Robiberto22]

By all accounts - awful today.

We need to move on quickly and focus on getting out of the mess we are in, there's always next year - bring on Chesterfield!

[nickbrod]

Went today full of anticipation after the last two performances but this was a total letdown. Apart from Downes and O'Connor who without them the defeat would have been greater, the rest were dire.
For a one-off cup game the tactics were terrible. Knill's comments on Radio Devon were dire too.
I've been right behind the mangership duo but after today I've begun to start wondering what's going on.
On paper we have a decent squad and over the next few months should be moving up the table. Let's hope there is no cup hangover like last year.

[Robiberto22]

Just heard the interview and Knill really isn't much of a talker lol Seems to confuse himself,front to back or back to front?

Credit for resisting the temptation to have a pop at the attendance / crowd though.

[SBP]

I thought last years FA Cup exit was bad, but today was just the same. Have we not learnt the lesson from last year.

Our performance appeared completely gutless, we had no idea what to do, no direction, completely useless.

What the heck are we doing in training?

I thought Rochdale passed the ball around nicely and never looked like we troubled them. They seemed to have more time on the ball and grew in confidence as the game progressed. They had a clear game plan and executed it successfully.

I really dont know where we go from here as a club. The fans deserve more than this.

[Dave]

Also the money that comes with a cup run, last years first round exit was cited as a major reason why we could not go out into the transfer market and strengthen when needed, going out in the first round is going to chuck another major spanner in the works.

[brucie]

I made a terrible mistake today - I went to the game. What a waste of sixty quid. As for pixie (or whatever her stupid name is) - suggesting that the south devon public don't deserve a football team - well that is claptrap.
That was actually worse than the Chris Roberts era. We have played a cup match and havn't had one shot on target in the whole game.
It was absolutely shocking - we are devoid of anything, do we actually train in the week cause we havn't got a clue.
Rochdale were not brilliant by any means but they won't have an easier win in the next ten years. We couldn't string two passes together, couldn't retain the ball for more than fifteen seconds. This was rock bottom stuff. We might as well have been parading two tortoises at full back.
Tonge was hopeless - he couldn't pass water.
McCallum - terrible (did he score two last week or did I dream it).
Either this group of players should be playing amateur football or other than that the management duo have completely lost the plot.
The 4-4-2 just doesn't work because we have the two slowest full backs in league 2.
Knill has to start at the back and address the problems from there. He hasn't got many decent players so leaving Pearce out is criminal.
He needs to reinstate him at centre half alongside Dwones and move the excellent O'Connor to right back.
That will at least give him three out of the back four who are decent players. Cruise should come in for Nicholson and that at least will give us a much more fluid back four.
What Knill does in midfield and up front god any only knows because we are a shambles. Yeoman scored yet again for Bideford today.
On that sort of form we are going down - apparently we have a much stronger squad now but every time I see us play we get worse. Really that was appalling

[Robiberto22]

Don't lose heart Brucie, plenty of footy to be played and we ain't even in the relegation zone yet!

We had a good performance last week , lets just bury this and move on!