Torquay United v Leicester City - 14/8/12

[Glostergull]

Hi Guys.
What was the crowd for tonites game

[bixieupnorth]

around 3400, inc 1100 from leics i think, so not as bad as i feared, altho a saturday game would surely have topped 4000? but as discussed elsewhere this just wasnt possible apparently

not too upset to be out of the league cup, a bye for the jpt was handy too, hopefully DD will get all four absentees ready for saturday?

[Dave]

Don't be to down hearted about this, the gulf in class between us and Leicester was huge they underlined why they are amongst the favourites to go up from the Championship, out of the teams from the Championship I have seen us play in cup compitions don't think I have seen a team attack with such pace and power that Leicester did, they were simply to quick and to strong , even at the back they were physical we are not going to come up against sides in league 2 anywhere near to the team we played tonight.

There were some positives, mainly in the first half we did get the ball down and at times played a bit football ourselves and did create a couple of chances, and the other positive to me is Saah and Downes allready seemed to have formed a solid partnership they did well at times to defend and hold out constant Leicester attacks and will not be tested like that during the course of the season.

Downes looks a quailty signing my man of the match, along with Saah and Howe.

[Mr_T1nker]

Don't be to down hearted about this, the gulf in class between us and Leicester was huge they underlined why they are amongst the favourites to go up from the Championship, out of the teams from the Championship I have seen us play in cup compitions don't think I have seen a team attack with such pace and power that Leicester did, they were simply to quick and to strong , even at the back they were physical we are not going to come up against sides in league 2 anywhere near to the team we played tonight.

There were some positives, mainly in the first half we did get the ball down and at times played a bit football ourselves and did create a couple of chances, and the other positive to me is Saah and Downes allready seemed to have formed a solid partnership they did well at times to defend and hold out constant Leicester attacks and will not be tested like that during the course of the season.

Downes looks a quailty signing my man of the match, along with Saah and Howe.

Exactly my thought and after seeing the goals on SSN I also think you were right that the fault lies with Oastler on the first goal,after I previously criticised Poke for being slow in coming to get the ball. Also impressed with Niall Thompson's cameo, looked very promising.

[Dave]

Not seen the goals back, thought Oastler should have got rid first time, again how many league 2 players would have had the presence of mind and the quailty to punish us from that.

Thought the free kick was harsh, I do believe their player was caught however carried on and got the shot off on target and well saved by Poke, therefore had the advantage so no free kick in my opinion which of course was well struck and they scored.

Despite their dominance the only good goal they scored was the third, we all know that if a keeper comes for the ball he simply has to get their first, Pokey was second best for their fourth and with the benefit of hindsight maybe should not have come, as I think the only option the Leicester player had was to head it first time.

Point is despite being so badly out played could have ended up with a closer score line.

[midtable]

Oh well, not being able to compete with million pound players is no great shame.
By the way I notice jonnyfive could not hear the game via Gulls Player and nor could I. Did it work for anyone? I asked the 'help' e-mail and they said no worries all is fine..even though it wasn't.

[OllieGull]

Even though we got outplayed, it would have been a lot closer if we took our chances, but at the end of the day these are players who are tipped to be in the best English league next season. Also I think it showed that without proper wingers, Rene can't do well because of a lack of support from wide areas.

[ROADRUNNER]

yes joey was at fault for the first and the second should not have been as it was never a free kick in the first place, also i thought rene worked his socks off almost on his own alnight, well done rene. downes looks a good signing to replace ellis.

[Lloyder5]

Don't be to down hearted about this, the gulf in class between us and Leicester was huge they underlined why they are amongst the favourites to go up from the Championship, out of the teams from the Championship I have seen us play in cup compitions don't think I have seen a team attack with such pace and power that Leicester did, they were simply to quick and to strong , even at the back they were physical we are not going to come up against sides in league 2 anywhere near to the team we played tonight.

There were some positives, mainly in the first half we did get the ball down and at times played a bit football ourselves and did create a couple of chances, and the other positive to me is Saah and Downes allready seemed to have formed a solid partnership they did well at times to defend and hold out constant Leicester attacks and will not be tested like that during the course of the season.

Downes looks a quailty signing my man of the match, along with Saah and Howe.

Agreed. The difference was pace, strength and size. We worked ourselves into some good positions but were eventually muscled out and when they got the ball they poured forward. Morris had a good chance and Mansell made the keeper save from a header. Thompson's was an interesting cameo, looked nervous and lost at first. However, when he got the ball to feet he flew past Konchesky and crossed hard and low, a little bit of what we need I think.

[Plymouth Gull]

Aren't you all just glad that Jamie Vardy isn't at Fleetwood? Bizarre to think he was below us last year, looked absolutely quality.

[Chris B]

Whilst I went to the game strongly expecting we'd lose last night, the manner of the defeat was disappointing considering how we've fared against other Championship promotion-candidates in the last two seasons. Leicester's play was impressively incisive both in possession and off the ball, but I'm glad Ling's assessment is a little less generous than most on these pages. The positives were Downes and Saah (again), Jarvis, and Rene's effort. It was disappointing Lathrope's last half an hour was every bit as bad as his first 30mins was good, and that Poke - clearly low on confidence - made a bit of a howler either side of two outstanding saves.

Here's hoping for a more positive start to the important stuff in the two tricky games over the next week.

[bengull]

This was always going to be a tough challenge against a team widely tipped to challenge for the championship, but without our best player, our most exiting pre-season prospect, and our most comfortable left-sided attacker it was made all the harder.

Actually thought we made a decent fist of it up until the first goal, was a gift for them and the confidence drained out of us. It was a clear communication issue between Poke and Oastler and I don't believe it would have occurred last season.

The game was over after the second goal, how on earth the referee decided that the lad getting a clear shot away on goal, on target, wasn't an advantage is beyond me. It was a ridiculous decision and would he have brought play back had the ball nestled in the net? 2-0 at half time and Leicester could sit back and pick us off on the counter-attack, it was a walk in the park and the second half was immaterial.

Would have liked to have seen Jarvis moved upfront alongside Rene in the second half, with Thompson and Morris out wide, this is an avenue I feel we need to explore if chasing a game against L2 opposition. We are versatile enough to do this and would stop Rene cutting the isolated figure he is forced to be for 90 minutes. Thompson absolutely skinned koncheskey when he came on, we missed that seering pace all game, Lloyd would have made mincemeat out of him had he been fit.

Thought that Morris and Jarvis tried hard in the first half and looked inventive, sadly because they lack pace they will always be he first targets for the boo-boys in the crowd, and once they make their first mistakes they face an uphill struggle in their games.

Interesting that Lingy chose to single out the full-backs for criticism, far from being spectacular they were up against two rapid wingers whilst getting little or no protection from two makeshift wingers. I actually though Nico was one of our better outlets going forward, can be absolved from blame of any of the goals but his usually reliable dead ball delivery was lacking.

Of more concern to me was the centre midfield, we really struggled to move the ball forward, instead moving it sideways and backwards. It's fine if we create chances though this possession, we didn't. If you are playing 3 midfielders against 2 in the centre, you have to dominate, we didn't

I am not worried due to the pedigree of he opposition, we won't be playing against that standard every week, once we get into our stride in the hustle and bustle of league two football, and welcome back Danny , Lloyd and Billy to the fold, we will be absolutely fine. We got battered against Southampton in Round1 last year and bounced back to beat uncle Buck's mob 4 days later, I expect a similar reaction.

The biggest concern though is Michael Poke, a decidedly unconfident display again. I just hope this is due to his lack of consistent first team football in the last 3 years. Shot stopping fine, commanding of the area; worrying. Just hope this is a communication issue that can be ironed out through games together with inbuilt trust and practice. Perhaps we were just so privileged to have Olejnik last season, think we might begin to realise just how good that guy is throughout the course of this season.

Can not wait for Fleetwood, 1-3. Rene, Bodin and Mansell.